Sports Guy North

SGN Returns - DWYC

2006-08-22T13:07:00.000-04:00

Well, I am now officially back from a nice, relaxing, summertime vacation - The last summer vacation I'll ever take stag, for the most part, with my upcoming wedding in October (only 52 more days of single life). I spent the time kicking back, relaxing, hitting up roller coasters and all in all ignoring the sports world. It's nice to get away some times, even from the things you love. Then again, it's great to get back home, crawl into your own bed, snuggle up to your girl and turn on Sportscenter while she tries to talk to you. That's especially true if your vacation took you through East Cleveland at one point. If any of you haven't had that pleasure before, I highly recommend it. Stop in at T & L's Christian Bookstore and Pest Control if you have a spare minute, it's conveniently located right beside the Walgreens that has the 10 foot security fence around it, you can't miss it.

Anyway, before I get into the Lilly-Gibbons brawl, or the Roughriders chances at the Grey Cup, or any of that stuff, I've noticed that the old inbox has been filling up while I was gone, so without further adieu it's time now for my version of the old mailbag - Dealing With Your Crap:

Curlgate

To get things going we'll start off with what's most important, Curling. More importantly, with a note about people finally respecting the power that being put on notice deserves. As you remember, due to slanderous accusations towards myself I had to put Curling on notice, and pronounced a certain curling publication dead to me. As you can imagine, this sent the curling world reeling, and with good reason. As the Publication itself said, "This is a full-fledged PR disaster!", and that's not the half of it. Even other top curling sources have turned on the once proud Curling News. Mike from inthehack.com said:

I think its unfair to punish an entire sport simply because of one outspoken curling sports "reporter"...

Do the rest of us curling fans a favour and replace curling with George Karrys on your bench.

That's right, he used reporter in quotes, and tried to shift all the blame away from curling onto one man. The curling world is running scared and are doing everything they can to be taken off notice. This kind of effort could have saved Chuck Swirsky a long time ago, but was completely lacking and resulted in his becoming dead to me. Curling, however, you keep it up and you could be seeing yourselves taken off notice soon enough.

Which brings up a good question - can someone who is dead to me be reborn? Certainly Jesus accomplished such a feet, but he was a carpenter and we're talking about mere curling reporters here. I just don't know if ethically I can allow it. In an attempt to regain face, however, George made the following offer:

Perhaps a free copy of the 2007 calendar (when printed) and a couple of free Keiths’ at the Brier Patch in Hamilton will change SGN’s mind and bring ye olde TCN back into the good books...

If you know me and my ethics you certainly know that bribery is a great place to start. I am in the Hamilton area most of the time, so be careful George, your offers will probably be taken up. Will that be enough, though? Time will tell. Of course, bumping the Brier Patch up to a ticket to the actual Brier itself one day would certainly move me towards taking all things curling off all lists altogether. Something to think over for all interested party's I'm sure.

Five Weird Things

Looks like while I was gone another of the great sports bloggers I "tagged" stepped up and joined Jim Lang in revealing his "5 Weird Things". Chris Young from the Toronto Star came back after a month's vacation (2 weeks longer than i got :( ) and immediately got to his list. So here, now, are 5 Weird Things about Chris Young:

1 The only domestic chore I like is washing dishes. And I actually really, really like washing dishes.
2 I once spent a winter living in a squat in London, sleeping on a cot in the kitchen. It was so cold
in the morning I'd hop out of bed, turn the gas stove on, get back into the sleeping bag and wait
until the room warmed up enough to get up.
3 Soccer allegiance borne out of that winter: Crystal Palace. More recently, thanks to NFL Sunday
Ticket, I haven't missed a Browns game since they came back. Between Palace and the Browns,
that's a lot of torn tickets.
4 When no one's home I like to turn the music up loud and dance with the dogs. That's not so
weird, really but the dancing ... my youngest stepdaughter says I dance like 'one of the ghouls in
a Michael Jackson video.'
5 Each year on my birthday, I decide what age I'm going to be depending on how I feel. Last year
it was 36. This year, it's 42.

All I can say is Chris - I have a sink full of dreams at home that you're welcome to come deal with (and I'm just going to ignore the dog dancing thing with a slight shake of the head, ha). So there it is, 2 down and 3 to go. And remember, Romanuk, Berkovich and Downie, the last one to comply will be put on notice, and as you read above that can be devastating, so get your 5 weird things posted ASAP. My money's on Romanuk, but I hear Mr. Canuck Op Ed is pretty stubborn himself.

Oh yeah, and I recently had a birthday too. By Chris' math last year I was 19. This year, I'm 42 right there with you Chris.

Fantasy BBall Trades

My apologies to those of you out there who send in fantasy ball questions while I was away, as in most leagues I know of the trading deadline has now passed. What can you do, though, it's not like I charge for my services, so keep those following up me-bashing emails to a minimum. That's a good way to get me to tell you to trade Roy Halladay for Hanley Ramirez anyway, so you're not doing yourselves any favours.

Closing Thoughts

Well, there are way too many other emails to deal with, so if I didn't get to yours yet, I apologize. As I go, though, I just want to send a shout out to an old friend of mine from the otherwise tiresome National Post, Adam Radwanski. It's always nice to see political minds branch out into the world of sports, as Adam has done with his new humourous take on the Toronto Argos at Boatmen Blog. I guess with the big man back at QB now the Argos aren't enough of a joke on their own anymore (as the Alouettes found out first hand last weekend), so Adam felt the need to step up the satire. A well done read for all you CFL junkies out there... all 3 of you, that is...

1 down, 4 to go

2006-08-05T01:02:00.000-04:00

Well, despite my best efforts to "tag" 5 bloggers that would surely ignore my challenge, I got my first reply already tonight. And which of the 5, you ask, was the culprit who spoiled my plans? None other than Jim Lang from Sportsnet. He replied to me a few times tonight, and the last time he sent his 5 Weird Things from his blackberry (oh to have the sweet sweet money of a real sportscaster... well, and the talent too... and the looks... and charisma... wait, wasn't I talking about the Langer? :p ).

Really, though, I am impressed that he took the time to answer, and he actually did a really good job of it. For that reason, as I take a break from packing up to head to Ohio for the next few days, I figured I should take the time to post his reply. So here, now, are Jim Lang's 5 Weird Things:

1 - my 2 kids have bigger ears than me. While I freely admit to having the biggest nose in Canadian sports, I have the ears of a newt. Hence my massive sideburns. Distracts viewers from my ears and freakishly huge nose

2 - I am quite sure I love sponge Bob square pants more than my 2 kids. actually Patrick reminds me a lot of Sean McCormick. Aka "the dude"

3 - If I wasn't a sportscaster I would love to be a military historian. Especially the history of world war 2 and the Canadian army's vastly under appreciated role in the liberation of Italy, France, Belgium and Holland

4 - I was born with out wisdom teeth. To many viewers of sportsnet and readers of our website my lack of wisdom has been painfully obvious for years

5 - I don't eat liver. Makes my stomach turn. Mind you I Feed it to my 2 kids. I guess its good for you and they like the taste.

Well played, Mister Lang. So I guess that changes my game plan from finding 5 people who will ignore the challenge to which deadbeat will be the last to reply. That's right, I've 360'd so much to calling the last person to do what I expected them all to do to begin with a deadbeat. They may actually even be put on notice as a result. Or maybe I'll have another change of heart and call the last person left my hero. It's hard to say at this point. What I can do is give big props to the Langer. As a respected hockey and CFL analyst and reporter, to keep up blog entries, keep up with comments, and even play our blogger games with us is very impressive. He obviously just loves sports and everything involved with them as much as we all do. For that he has my respect, as well as my write-in vote in the Toronto Star's Sports announcers survey in the "Best Hair" category. You should all send your votes that way for him too, he deserves it.

Anyway, the JF, Goober, Tank and a couple of special ladies are heading down to Ohio for a much needed roller coaster break this weekend, so you won't have me to kick around until Tuesday at the earliest. Everyone in Canada, enjoy your long weekend, Big Dawg best of luck studying, and don't miss me too much and everyone else just have fun. We'll be back shortly.

PS - I only picked that category for lack of a better labels to start coming back again. I do not have a man-crush on anyone, I never have, and I really still don't even know what it means. I hope all you anonymouses out there get that this time!

Five Weird Things about SGN

2006-08-04T14:52:00.000-04:00

So apparently I was called out by my old buddy Alanah at Vancouver Canucks OpEd to do some kind of Five Weird Things deal. Yeah, I had never heard of it either. Anyway, my computer is still broken (hence the lack of posts this week), but never one to back down from a challenge, I'm going to do this at work today - something I would normally not do, because I "should" be focusing my writing "talents" elsewhere when I'm here (ie. like on fantasy sports and espn.go.com). So anyway, here goes, a list of 5 weird things about Sports Guy North:

1. i don't remember anything about my life from before i was about 12 or 13. trauma induced? maybe, but like I said, i don't remember, so stop asking!

2. I am getting married on Friday the 13th in October. Really. I found a girl that was OK with doing that. Actually, I'm still kind of shocked that I found a girl that was OK with me at all to begin with.

3. i really believe that we don't exist. that we can't exist even. as a human, i don't have the capacity to understand something being created out of nothing, and i also don't have the capacity to understand something having been around forever with no starting point. if the big bang is true, its not an explanation because where did that matter come from. if there is a god, that's also not an explanation i can understand either, because where did she come from. and if she is just all powerful and what not, i still can't understand her being all powerful, forever in reverse time, without a starting point. all in all there is no comprehensible way that we could be here, so we just aren't. and that's how it is.

4. i am not an internet person. i don't know what fads are going around on it, i don't go into chat rooms, i never really venture away from 3 sports sites and a fantasy sports site. I don't even read blogs for that matter outside of a select 4 or 5. i just don't really do the internet thing. I've never even heard of 5 weird things until Alanah told me to do it. Apparently it's a fad. Who knew?

5. I cannot eat peas. Not even one pea. I have a gag reflex. If I'm even just eating rice and a pea sneaks into my mouth, it's all over.

So there you are Alanah, a list of my 5 weird things. I just hope you know that if I get fired for it, I'm coming to live on your couch!

Oh, and I guess along with this I have to send the challenge on to 5 other people. So I've decided to pass the challenge on to 5 bloggers who will no doubt ignore my challenge, making follow through much more easy for me:

1. Paul Romanuk because maybe if he sees how much Canadians miss his broadcasting, he'll come back from England and save us from the HORRIBLE options that we're left with
2. Jim Lang because if anyone has really weird stuff, it's going to be the Langer!
3. Chris Young mostly to just get him back out there blogging again. We've all missed your posts this past month!
4. Karlo Berkovich One of the best local sports writers around, and has done a great job trying to help bring blogging to his paper, so I figured I might as well give him some props while I'm out here.
5. Last but not least, I call out the sane (er) half of Vancouver Canucks OpEd, JEFF DOWNIE. And hey, don't blame me... this is all your wife's fault!

Enjoy yourselves.

The Kentbert Report

2006-08-01T21:54:00.000-04:00

So I'm logging into the email today, and I have my normal spread of emails to go through - people with baseball questions, married women looking for a go0d f$ck, offers to make big money from Nigeria (one of them will pay off, i just know it!), and so on, and then I see it. Something way out of the ordinary in my inbox - an email from The Curling News. I'm intrigued because, as you all know, I've always liked the curling. I give updates in my blog, called it one of the few Olympic sports worth watching, I never miss a Brier and so on. I am one of the few sports bloggers out there who actually bothers with curling in any way, so I thought maybe I was finally going to be praised for all my curling endorsements.

I open the email, and all it says is

Actually... there's lots of news.

http://curlnews.blogspot.com/2006/08/curling-in-august.html

Cheers,
TCN\

Simple enough, although it sure sounded like truthiness to me. I had mentioned during the blogathon on the weekend that there wasn't any curling news because curling was in it's offseason. I took the time anyway to devote one of my posts to curling, and sure I might have said that curling didn't make an interest read in the offseason, or something along those lines, but curling was still mentioned. Because of what I said I thought I was maybe being directed to some interesting news that came up in curling that I had missed, and was happy to take the suggestion... until I opened the page. At the bottom of the post, it says:

and this guy (REFERRING TO SPORTS GUY NORTH, OF COURSE) seems, on first glance, to be a complete arse, but hey, this was Blogpost number 38 during a 24-hour Blogathon – for charity – so maybe we’ll cut him some slack. Just this once.

Cut me some slack? Oh no, it is I who is the one that cuts slack for others. Nothing I ever do needs to have slack cut for it. As I mentioned throughout the blogathon, my work is gold. All gold. How anyone could find the nerve to cut me any slack is beyond reproach.

What's worse is that I read this Curling News blog post he sent to see what the "news" was which I "missed". The post mentioned a local curling club that's opening for the season in Edmonton, and that a couple more are opening up soon in Ontario towns. It mentions the one local club in Toronto that shut down, and was baffled over why there isn't a political uproar about it (anyone else out there baffled? anyone?). Some old team reunited, some random American did a news article about learning curling, and that's pretty much it. Absolutely nothing that is noteworthy outside of remote local interest stories.

In fact, if you dig a little deeper, on the tsn.ca curling page, they haven't had a new headline or post of any sort since June 15th. And that post was about how they are the exclusive home of curling coverage in Canada through 2014. That's right, the official home of curling coverage feels like there has been nothing worth mentioning in nearly two months, and I get called an arse (really, with the "r" and everything) for saying there isn't anything worth mentioning. In fact, on The Curling News' website itself, not this fringe blog that is somewhat associated with it, their main page has a listing of the top 15 male curlers as of May 1st, and a mention that the April 2006 edition of the paper is now available by subscription only. That's right, the very website who's blog called me out hasn't updated anything noteworthy in nearly 3 months.

I have always been a big supporter of curling, but now I don't know. Even though your calendar of naked women was a bold venture into my heart, I still think I'm going to have to do it - Curling, you are on notice. Next years might be the first Brier final ever I don't go out of my way to see. You certainly have a lot of making up to do before then. Curling joins the list of the following who are already on notice with me:

John Tortorella
Ken Hitchcock
Mosquitos
Jaromir Jagr
Denis Gauthier
Kelly Hrudy
Mini-Babcock
Bobbleheads
Anaheim Ducks
Curling

Along those same lines, The Curling News, I may be an arse, but you are dead to me.

And that's the Kentbert Report. Goodnight.

#48 A Blogathon Recap

2006-07-30T08:50:00.000-04:00

This is my 48th and final post of the 24 hour blogathon, so I'll take this time to sum up what we learned in this, the greatest sports adventure of all time.

Things got off to a rushed start as I introduced everyone to the days activities, and hopefully signed up this years Kick for a Million winner. Stephen Colbert then took over, explaining to us just how big his balls really are. Hammy and Bippy then reminded us just how fickle sports have become, especially in the CFL, which should be the least likely source. We then bid a tearful goodbye to a legend in Andre Aggasi, and I divulged my true testosteronism. While I enjoyed my Boo Berry, I introduced you all the the dorkiest person to ever bother with fantasy sports - and that says a lot.

We then all went on a list vacation, dropping by my top 5 fantasy players, the top 10 Non-Hockey Canadian Athletes (turns out there are only 3), and the top 30 sports movies of all time, with Dodgeball clearly leading the way. I then took a different turn through the Sexuality of women's sports, with lessons about acceptance and compromise thrown in for all the kiddies out there.

We then took the Rucchin award and applied it to other sports, with Jason Marquis seeming to run away with baseball's golden assist. I also shared my big decisions in life that I have run past my long time friend Garth Snow, who is always there to help a friend. A bit of a delay in the action was followed by a rousing description of just why Chess Boxing should be an, nay THE Olympic sport, and a trip back to the CFL looking for a certain Avery clip (still no help on that one).

Through the pain of arbitration and injuries, I was still able to send a shout out to the people that made today (yesterday?) possible, threw a special song in for a special someone, and even got some soccer in there for the fans of the lesser sports. It was a very giving time in my posts, apparently.

We then talked about a team looking to move, and a teammate looking to stay, while time and time again Jamaal goes to a non-Raptors team for basically nothing. Through recapping baseball, and prognosticating Basketball, we learned that staying at a concert longer than you intend to can lead to the worst post ever when you get home (see the Trienta if you don't believe me. I still don't know what that was). After re-grouping, Chucky Barkley got us excited about politics again.

At that point, 11 ball free for all foosball took over most of my train of thought, until we eventually put down goober to a shutout, and then praised him for breaking the colour barrier in that, the greatest of all sports. A post about curling, another ranking next seasons basketball standing, and all in all, just coming to the realization that there just aren't enough good sports in the summer, and we did our best to complain about that fact (oh, you better believe that soccer came up!).

We talked about the best things in sports, and we likened ourselves to Jeremy Burnitz's looping doubles, all the while producing pure gold up until the finish line... which was then moved 10 yards back. With nothing to do in the extra post, and playing under protest, we all prayed for a golden miracle... and a golden miracle we got as always on Sports Guy North.

Sports Guy North - Always gold.

9am. Goodnight everybody!

#47b An extra post. (annoyed grunt)

2006-07-30T08:28:00.000-04:00

Well, I assumed that this would be the time for my last post, but apparently I was wrong. They were actually looking for 49 posts, and since posts don't just appear out of no where, that is actually 24 and a half hours worth of work. I only signed up for 24, but if nothing else you can say that Sports Guy North is a very charitable person, so I will keep plugging for the good of my cause. And in a great baseball tradition of futility, I will play under protest, and will certainly not have any good come of it. Why do they even have that rule anyway? I have never seen anything come of it. But it is a sports tradition, and one that I am happy to have the honour of partaking in.

If only I could find some naked cyclists to take up my fight for me.... oh wait, there they are!

#47 One More To Go

2006-07-30T07:45:00.000-04:00

This is it, the second last post before the torture is over. Get Shorty is done, Saw 2 is done, Anchorman is done, some Joe Schmo came and went, and a few hours of foosball were played, with likely another half hour yet to come. All I need to do now is sit back and coast to the finish.

While that last part might be true for all the other bloggers out there, Sports Guy North clearly prides itself on producing nothing but gold no matter the circumstances, so on I must push. There will be no coasting here. Nothing that even resembles coasting even. Just gold.

Like a little looping double, I will Jeremy Burnitz myself into the record book of blog lore. I won't foul anything off my ankle, and i certainly won't go down on strikes like Shae Hillenbrand. Like Gorzellamy, I will pick up my first career win in the Blogathon, and build on it for years to come. Finding the gap in left centre, I will provide some nice run support for the proverbial blog world. Everyone trying to outdo me will have nothing but a nice effort and a lot of K's. From southern California I will destroy the Travis Hughes offering and take it home strong, recording my first major league save to boot and coming to terms with all of my 2006 draft picks. I'm more versatile, quicker feet, and all over BC baby.

All gold. And I'm out.

#46 No Post

2006-07-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

7:30am is when it really hits you - there just aren't 46 things in the sports world to write about at one time. They just don't exist. And I guess it makes sense, since people who are really really into sports don't tend to be people who can handle thinking about that many seperate things at once. No offense intended or anything, but really I'm not sure anyone could handle that much of any one thing. And certainly not sports people.

That said, there's nothing left to do for this post but bail to a video of some sort. To do this, I'm just going to type "sports" into YouTube, and run with whatever the first 2 videos that come up are. I sure hope they're enjoyable, and not footbag or something.

#45 The Best Things

2006-07-30T06:49:00.000-04:00

Time to do a speed post - that means the first thing that comes to mind for each one of the headings is what gets written. The topic this time will be "What is the very best thing in, or involved with each of the following sports right now". So here we go:

Hockey - Alex Ovechkin, of course. He is going to be the face of the NHL for years to come, and rightfully so. Never in my lifetime has a player been as dominant in his rookie season. Whenever he was on the ice he was the best player, and the one most worth watching. That's huge, even if he wasn't a rookie. I'll love to see what he can do with a few years under his belt, and maybe a linemate that knows how to do anything.

Baseball - Francisco Liriano. Much like Ovechkin, he has had a rookie season that has dominated most of the long standing veterans in the league. Even his teammate, and normally considered best pitcher in the league, Johan Santana's numbers pale in comparison. Baring a mental breakdown, Liri is the pitcher in the league for the next decade. It's a very special thing going on there.

Basketball - Has to be the Toronto Raptors right now. I've never seen a team change so much, in every way, in one off season. This isn't even remotely the same team coming back next year, and I think everyone who knows anything about basketball is excited to see how it'll turn out. Whether it's a huge turnaround like in Phoenix a few seasons back, or if it's a spectacular disaster, it's going to be fun to watch. European basketball is alive and well, and it has a new home in Canada.

CFL - The Hamilton Tigercats. Nothing better than waiting to see who gets blamed for their next inevitable loss, and to what extent they are punished. Easily the most fun thing to wait for in that league.

NFL - Watching people, as they do every year, claim that the Buffalo Bills are going to contend this year, and then watching the disapointment take over as they are out of the running coming the end of November. It's an annual tradition at this point, and one of the best shows around if you live close enough to get a ticket.

#44 6:30 in the morning

2006-07-30T06:25:00.000-04:00

Yep, it's 6:30 in the morning. Get Shorty has been on for 46 minutes and Goober has been asleep for 45. The JF is still going strong, though, no big surprise. Up here on the 15th floor there is nothing to see out the window, as the fog this morning is as thick as hospital pancakes. And still, tsn.ca and espn.go.com have each made 0 updates for the last 6 hours, which is of absolutely no help to me since I ran out of notworthy sports related topics hours ago. I think I made a few foosball related posts already in my delirium. But on I press, as there are only a couple hours left in this ordeal.

In case you just got in and were wondering why exactly I'm torturing myself this way, I'll explain one last time what's going on here.

This here is a blogathon for charity (Habitat for Humanity in my case) where from 9am yesterday and for 24 straight hours, I have to make 2 blog posts an hour. So that's pretty much it.

If you have a couple extra bucks - even 50 cents if you want - follow the link in the picture below and pledge some money to Habitat for Humanity.

A better description of what's going on can be found here - Blogathon Info

And that, in a nutshell, is the reason for the million posts and all-night 11 ball free for all tournament at the expense of Goober's ego. And while goober has now left us for good, I would like to send big thanks out to him and the JF for keeping me company and up all night. Likely would have bailed a while back if not for them. Thanks again also to Jimmy Biscuit from Erb and Erb insurance for providing the computer which also allowed me to post all night. Stand up contributions from 3 (well, 2 and a half) stand up guys. You really have to have good friends to make it in the world. Also thanks to my regulars who kept me company throughout the day as well - Sumeet, Adam, Alanah, Bippy & Hammy, Grifter, Stacey and Frank. Thanks also to everyone who donated money to Habitat, and those of you who may still chip in. You are all very much apreciated, and have helped me to do a very nice thing for the first time in my life :)

Oh, and Big Dawg, don't worry, I haven't forgotten you either. I never will. <3

#43 Notes of Note?

2006-07-30T05:48:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm actually not really tired, but it is 6 in the morning now so I should be, and that can only mean one thing. It's time again for the great nation of Hungary's favourite new feature - Notes of Note.

Well... kind of. I mean, nothing's happened in the world that really warrents noting since the last notes of note. And since notes of note are, and always will be, a complete collection of what's of note, that means there really isn't anything to add to the pot. But here goes nothing - a Notes of Note on Sunday the 30th so far.

Baseball Trade Rumours Looks like everyone has agreed on Abreu to the Yankees, Soriano to the Angels, and Tejada to somewhere. Those seem to be the gimmes so far as the baseball trade deadline very quickly approaches very quietly so far.

Foosball Update Goober held his own fairly well early on tonight (meaning up until 2am), but then laid down for a half dozen shutouts before the Big Dawg put the old 5:20am end to one of the noisiest games ever made (I wonder how the people on the floor below us were taking it, ha). Still, though, to be able to hold a couple of old pros off for that long only a few short months after breaking the 11 ball free for all colour barier is pretty impressive. A big shout out, and likely a future place in the 11BF4A Hall go out to the Goober. Keep striving for bigger and better things and one day you may reach your goal... as long as your goal is to only lose 10-1 that is.

Da Burger Apparently Big Ben Roethlisberger is looking good in camp, running with what appeared to be little discomfort. To recover to that point so quickly after a nearly life-ending self-enduced disaster is pretty remarkable... and it also changes my draft strategy for the upcoming NFL fantasy season. Hard to say just yet where I'm going to rank him. Hard to say what others are going to do too. It's nice to have a wild card like that to really make draft day interesting. You don't normally get enough of that in the NFL. God bless motorcycles.

Allen's Mediocre Return The big QB question in Toronto was answered tonight, as Damon Allen took the the field in the end. He took the the field and looked VERY rusty, leading the Argos to a huge defeat. Maybe Pinball was right, maybe Allen wasn't really ready to return until next week. I don't know that for sure, and I also don't know how Allen managed to talk Pinball out of his desires, but it happened and it did not go well. All in all, I'm pretty sure it's about that time to just hand the Allouettes the Grey Cup, at this point every other team in the league seems equally mediocre (Ticats excluded, of course. They are in a league of their own. It's fun, though, to see just who they'll blame and fire next week. My money's on the place kicker!).

#42 Jackie Robinson

2006-07-30T05:18:00.000-04:00

Jackie Robinson wore #42 and they retired it from baseball. So, post #42 should be about him. And now it is.

He was the first black man to play in the majors, and goober was the first black man to play 11 ball free for all, so it all comes together nicely tonight. nicely indeed.

5:30am. Apparently that's when everything really REALLY falls apart.

I appologize to everyone for this one.

#41 Just For Alanah

2006-07-30T05:01:00.000-04:00

This here post is just as a thank you to Alanah over at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, for all the hard work she is putting into this blogathon. She has raised a ton of money for a great cause, and it's the least I can do for her.

Enjoy, Alanah, I'm sure it's something you'll never see again on Sports Guy North

PS - Dan Cloutier was never really "that" bad :) Who loves ya baby

#40 The Warty

2006-07-30T04:25:00.000-04:00

Well, Saw 2 is 36 minutes in now, and it's going pretty well. So far not living up to the first one, but still very entertaining. If it can keep three guys awake at 4:30am, then I guess it's not that bad.

There's a guy on fire in the oven now. Why would you go in the oven if you've already seen that the house is rigged to do stuff. That just makes no sense.

The heat in the oven reminds me of a song I heard last time I was in the car. And I guess here it is.

Kind of a reverse remembering - heat, cold.... you know how it is.

Ummm... so to get something sports related in here, I present to you know the CHAMP car standings as of today. CHAMP car being the only bearable racing series, as you know.

POS NAME POINTS

1 Sebastien Bourdais 191
2 A.J. Allmendinger 168
3 Justin Wilson 165
4 Alex Tagliani 110
4 Andrew Ranger 110
6 Paul Tracy 108
7 Mario Dominguez 105
8 Cristiano da Matta 104
9 Bruno Junqueira 102
10 Nelson Philippe 98

#39 Just Putting Saw 2 On

2006-07-30T03:57:00.000-04:00

Nothing says 4 in the morning like a good, old fashioned horror movie.

Here, then, are my unnofficial early predictions for the NBA standings at the end of the year. It's a little bit out there, but keep in mind it's 4am here, so I reserve the right to change any and all of my picks at any point in time where I'm of sound mind.

East
Miami 65-17
Cleveland 60-22
Chicago 49-33
Detroit 49-33
Orlando 42-40
Toronto 41-41
Washington 41-41
Philadelphia 39-43
-------------------
New Jersey 38-44
Indiana 33-49
New York 29-53
Boston 28-54
Milwaukee 26-56
Charlotte 22-60
Atlanta 21-61

West
Phoenix 60-22
Dallas 58-24
LA Clippers 53-29
Sacremento 53-29
San Antonio 50-32
Denver 47-35
Memphis 45-37
LA Lakers 43-39
-------------------
Houston 43-39
Minnesota 38-44
Golden State 35-47
New Orleans 34-48
Utah 33-49
Portland 30-52
Seattle 22-60

#38 Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's CURLING TIME!

2006-07-30T03:28:00.000-04:00

What's going on in the world of curling, you ask? Nothing. Nothing at all. It's the offseason for curling, and the last time something happened was back in the middle of June when TSN and the Canadian Curling Association announced a 6 year broadcast and multi-media deal. From 2008 until 2014 TSN will be the one and only home of curling in Canada. We're talking Brier, Hearts, Men and Women's world curling championships and the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials leading into the 2010 Olympic games. If you are a Vic, Linda and Ray fan, then this has been good news for you. News you've been celebrating for over 2 months while absolutely nothing else has happened in your game.

Nothing at all.

So, how many of you actually read this entire post? I'm not even sure I did.

Wait, that's a different kind of curls, isn't it? Man, curling just does not make an interesting read. My bad.

#37 stuff

2006-07-30T03:00:00.000-04:00

The table's been moving fast and furious over there, I hardly noticed that it was 2:55. We got the shut out numbers up to 5 on the goobs, and we're feeling pretty good about it. We need a new type of take on the game. If any of you out there have a different way that you throw down the foos, let us know and it'll be on - Goober crushing style.

I'll take any other ideas on what to do to fill our down time in Sports Guy North central, or NAMBLA as we call it. We've got movies, and hopefully some more fooz variations coming in (if anyone out there is still awake!) but we have short attention spans and the ADD, so we need more.

Until then, I'll just put up again the why I've been posting since 9am, and I'm still up at 3am. Enjoy:

For those of you who may not understand why I'm doubling my alltime blog output, it is for charity. This is a blogathon where for charity (Habitat for Humanity in my case) where from 9am today for 24 straight hours, I have to make 2 blog posts an hour. So that's pretty much it.

If you have a couple extra bucks - even 50 cents if you want - follow the link in the picture below and pledge some money to Habitat for Humanity.

A better description of what's going on can be found here - Blogathon Info

#36 Three Quarters Done

2006-07-30T02:24:00.000-04:00

I don't have anything to say this time other than WE SHUT HIM OUT! All it took was 2:11am and Anchorman being on in the background. 3 games later, we shut him out again in a hellish game where I took one off the chops for the team. Litterally. It was intense.

I would like to take this time to thank some people for our victory. I'd like to thank my mom for always believing in me. I'd like to thank my day for the hours and hours of hockey in the garage growing up that helped me hone my goaltending skills. I'd like to thank Goober for being one of the all time worst foosball players that you'll ever meet. I'd like to thank God for creating little blue and red men. I'd like to thank the JF for potting a few goals on the way to victory. But most importantly, I'd like to thank Mark Messier's leadership camp for giving me the skills I need to succeed in a team sport as intense as 11 ball free for all. Without that camp, I fear I wouldn't be the same victorious person that I am today. That said, it's time again to look for donations towards the Send Sports Guy North to Mark Messier Leadership Camp fund. It's too bad that great charity doesn't take online donations, otherwise these efforts would have gone to a really needy cause.

:) 11 ball free for all shut outs forever!!! :)

#35 The Rant Post

2006-07-30T01:57:00.000-04:00

OK, so 2am seems like just about the time to be ranting about sports things that bother me. At the top of that list would have to be the lack of sports that are watchable in the summer. Of the big 4 North American Sports (NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA), only baseball exists in the summer months. That kind of monopoly of the sporting airwaves is rediculous... and unnecessary for that matter. Why exactly is Basketball a winter sport? It's clearly not. It's in the summer Olympics. It's played on playgrounds in the summer. So how exactly did they decide that as a professional sport it should be played from November through June. Is it just to line up with when school is in? I dont get it, and it's not fair to us sports fans out there. Baseball and Tennis and Golf and Car Racing just does not do it. And there's no reason not to have basketball in the summer. It's the whole reason sports channels started picking up poker and spelling bees and so on in their coverage. There's just nothing else to bother with in the summer. The problem is, now, that people got into those lousy year round games, and they end up staying on the sports channels into the good sports season. That's such a waste of time at that point.

One thing that could make the summer a bit better, is if they turned soccer into something good. First off, obviously, diving has to go. A red card for every diving incident. Then there's the whole if you fake an injury you have sub off. That would be key. Unless the implemented one thing that would definitely improve the game - allowing infinite substitutions. people would have more energy to spare, so there would be a lot more challenges on balls and a lot less sitting around waiting for things to happen. There are so many places to go from there, but maybe instead of fixing something that's clearly broke, they should bring back something that isn't - SLAMBALL! Slamball was easily one of the best sports of all time. I'm going to look for a video of the time the guys foot fell off playing slamball, but until then just enjoy the clips that I did find. Certainly a sport that needs to go mainstream. If people gave it a chance, it would be gold.

#34 11 Ball Free For All

2006-07-30T01:29:00.000-04:00

OK, so a game of 11 ball free for all broke out here, me and the JF on Goober. What that is, if you don't know, is foosball with all 11 balls on the surface at a time. The goal when we play this way, is to shutout goober 11 to 0. So far tonight and yesterday, it just hasnt happened. I'm dropping the bal on the face offs every time. Somehow 1 or 2 or 3 just migrate into the net without any Goober help. Until the last game right before this post. We had him. We had him dead. 8-0 with 3 balls left, and he gets one from his defenseman. Devastating. Just devastating.

See, I've lost my touch on the face offs, and I don't know why. I'm solid from then on, but the face offs are just beyond me now. I dont know what to do. So if any of you out there has some tips on how we can shut out the Goober like he deserves, send them in. This just isn't acceptable. And that last one was devastating. Time to take a break and watch Anchorman before we get back to it. Maybe 3am is what we need to take him down again. I'll keep you all posted.

#33 Golf Again

2006-07-30T00:52:00.000-04:00

So to throw back, yet again, to the sex appeal in sports posts from much much earlier today, my attention turns to TSN's coverage of the LPGA Evian Masters. The headline says "Webb upstages Wie at Evian Masters", which is a nice attempt at avoiding the sex appeal issue in womens sports... on the surface. In reality, though, Webb won the masters and couldn't even get a headline to herself. The first sentence in the article is then also about Michelle Wie. That's kind of ridiculous. If I wont the Masters, I would hope I could at least steal the headline to myself away from some jailbate. But that's just me.

Laura Davis finished tied with Wie, but she wasn't playing in a skirt, so you won't see her mentioned until later on in the article. There are even more quotes from Wie in the article than from what's her name that won.

And that, right there, explains where women's sports are at right now. And since they've all see the money it generates, it is never ever going to change now. The outfits will just get skimpier and skimpier. Is that a good thing?

#32 The Barkley Post

2006-07-30T00:20:00.000-04:00

First off, here is a link to Charles Barkley talking about what I'm about to talk about below. I think it's better coming from his lips:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/?mid=12144597

Anyway, former basketball star and Republican Charles Barkley says he's decided to become a Democrat and will be running for governor in his home state, possibly in 2010.

"I really believe I was put on Earth to do more than play basketball and stockpile money, I really want to help people improve their lives, and what's left is for me to decide how best to do that."

Barkley has been talking about running for governor of Alabama since he was still playing in the league nearly a decade ago, but that was as a Republican. Why the change of allegiances? As he said:

"I was a Republican until they lost their minds".

Well put. But really, if you ask me, he probably would fit in a lot better with mind losers.

But anyway, Joe Turnham, the Alabama Democratic Party Chairman, had this to say about Chucky:

"I say welcome Charles Barkley. Charles Barkley has been a Horatio Alger story for many people, not only in sports but in business and broadcasting"

A Horatio Alger story. That says it all. Says is all indeed.

#31 An Appology

2006-07-29T23:55:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so about that last post... that's my bad. As my only comment on there says

what the hell was that?

Yeah, I don't know. People here just shouted out sports at me and I wrote stuff. It wasn't the best idea. I don't know why I thought it was solid. That's totally my bad.

I don't even know how to recover from a post like that. I think I should just put in a video to make up for it to all my boys out there, and try to re-group and come back strong for 12:30am.

Game plan underway. Here we go.

#30 The Trienta

2006-07-29T23:32:00.000-04:00

The 30th post is the weird one... and it's late already too... so here goes... hockey is a good sport. it's on ice. it's fast. basketball's pretty good too. it's not as fast but there is a lot of action. games tend to be troubled by either being blow outs or just needing to watch the last 30 seconds though. Dodgeball is pretty fun, but I'm undecided on if it's a sport yet. I do know that it screws up your arm pretty badly though. Baseball on the same day as a dodgeball game hurts. It's happened 3 times already this summer. No good. Golf is not fun, horrible to watch, but probably a sport. Michelle Wie makes it pretty good, though, to throw back to earlier posts. Football Canadian style is better than American. It's too bad all the better athletes play in the NFL. Watching NFL players play the CFL game would probably make for the best football of all time, including aussie rules. Speaking of which, now that is something. Like rugby but without the homosexual tinges to it. Curling is... a game. I enjoy watching it. I've never figured out why, but I rarely miss a Brier final. Tennis is the one sport that I actually enjoy watching the women play more than the men (beach volleybal excluded). And it's not because the women are hot, it's because they actually play a better brand of the game. Who enjoys watching a big serve, then maybe a return and then one more hit. Men's tennis has gotten bad, women's is where it's at. Squash is one of my favourite sprots to play, and is actually pretty interesting to watch too. It really should be more popular than tennis on both account. I'm not hearing any other sports named out here so this post is done.

Long live the Trienta.

#29 HOme a little Late from the Encore

2006-07-29T23:16:00.000-04:00

OK, my 11:00pm is 10 minutes late due to Theory of a Deadman's encore going a little bit long. So all I have time to say is this little bit from Tampa Bay:

here is an interestig news blip......a federal judge in Tampa ruled yesterday that security "pat-downs" of fans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games are unconstitutional and unreasonable. This throws into question the practice at NFL games. Pat-downs constitute unreasonable searches under the Florida Constitution and the 4th amendment of the United States Constituion.

if only that were true about concerts in Canada. Having to go in and out to make these posts, i got padded down at lesat 6 times today, and half of them by large men. I guess it's time to move to Tampa - it can't be any hotter or humid there than it was here today!

#28 The Raps Season

2006-07-29T22:33:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to figure out the raps lineup... help me out here... This is what I have so far:

PG - TJ Ford, Jose Calderon
SG - Anthony Parker, Fred Jones, PJ Tucker
SF - Morris Peterson, Sloki, Joey Graham
PF - Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jorge Garbajosa,
C - Rasho Nesterovic

out - kris humphries, d martin, pape sow

The JF had this to say about my supposed lineup - Sloki signed yesterday. the write-up said his height was 6-11 but didn't say anything about his position. so i guess that's the team. all but four guys are new. i think pj tucker will be given every opportunity to earn a spot in the nbdl.

Well said.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts out there on the up coming seasons lineup. That's my best crack at it. Maybe Sloki up to PF and the Bargain man at C. Maybe something different, but let me know what you've heard or think.

Hey Tank - feel free to come over and keep me company all night too, if you want. Goobs and the JF are going to be here. Big Dawg will probably be in bed by 12:30, though.

Actually, that goes for anyone else out there in the K-W area. Movies all night around here - i think Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and Saw 2 are up first!

#27 The Jays

2006-07-29T21:52:00.000-04:00

You know, only when I wrote 26 up there did I realize that I had gotten more than halfway done. Hooray for me! I have a feeling that the second half will go by much faster than the first *huge eye roll*

Anyway, one thing I did do with my day today was watch this afternoon's Jays game, so I guess I'll give a little bit of a recap of that.

The game started off promisingly enough, and very un-Blue Jay like. Normally this season they get behind early and make a big comeback, or they just take a while to get going. In any event, today was different as the Jays got out to a first inning 4-0 lead off the bat of Troy Glaus. Just 4 batters into the game Glaus' home run had the Jays up 4 to 0. Smooth sailing from there, right?

Well, hold on a second. Remember when I said it would be OK to have the weakened Rios in the lineup if he's still hitting holes? Well, he didnt. In fact, his bat didnt touch anything as he struck out all four times he was up to bat, including once with the bases loaded. He really does not look ready to be playing yet. That needs to be addresssed, with the extra s and everything.

Anyway, by the fifth inning call-up Dustin McGowan had already blown the lead, and the A's didn't look back strolling to a 7-4 victory.

As a special note for our Crazy Baseball Fantasy League, Tank will be happy to know that his first round pick, Reed Johnson, got beaned for the 15th time already this season. Also of note, Chavez broke the A's consecutive games at 3B without an error record with his 60th consecutive game. Not nearly as noteworthy to Tank, but probably a lot more so to everyone else :)

#26 Time and Time Again

2006-07-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

Reports Say Jamaal Magloire Could Move to Portland, in a deal that would send 6-foot-11 center to the Western Conference team. According to various reports, Portland is prepared to send guard Steve Blake, forward Brian Skinner and 7-foot-3 center Ha Seung-Jin to the Bucks in exchange for Magloire. And if that's all Magloire costs, then why was Toronto never interested in acquiring his services. It makes no sense to me. Bringing in a Canadian, even if he isn't as good as Canadians like to pretend, would be huge for bringing in fans and other publicity. He'd be like a god. Even if you had a better option, it would almost be better to downgrade just to bring that kind of free publicity in. But stuff like that never happens around here. Especially not now - he's not nearly European enough for the new Raptors!

PS - Alanah, I am currently living the dream ;)

#25 What's Up?

2006-07-29T20:46:00.000-04:00

#24 TJ's PJ's

2006-07-29T20:26:00.000-04:00

The best move the Raptor's ever made was one that most people are calling a mistake, trading Charlie Villanueva for TJ Ford. How people could call this a mistake based on talent alone is beyond me. Ford is one of the best young point guards to have come around since back when Kidd and Nash were coming into the league, and the Raps already had 73 people who could play the same position as Chucky.

Beyond that, however, as it turns out TJ actually wants to play in Toronto for the Raptors. Seriously. That's almost unthinkable for a top player in the game. What we're used to around here is people refusing to adhere to their contract once being dealt to Toronto, having to buy out players, and having players want to leave due to not wanting their kids in the Canadian education system.

Instead, this budding superstar had the following to say to reporters on Friday:

I think the winning attitude is definitely going to be here as soon as training camp's started, I think we're definitely going to be a lot better than we were last season. We're young and I think we're going to be energetic and we're going to be entertaining and we're going to have a lot of fun.

I just know it's cold, but I'm really excited to be here. I don't think people really understand how excited I am.

It's my job to come in here and just try to make everybody happy and get everybody involved.

I want to come in and play hard and try to have the city enjoy basketball like it was a couple years ago

Our ultimate goal is to get to the playoffs. We definitely want to surprise a lot of teams and surprise a lot of people.

Forget about basketball, i think that is the longest string of positive words that have ever come out of anyone involved with Toronto sports at any time ever. As a Toronto sports fan, I don't even know how to handle that kind of positivity. It's almost frightening. Refreshing yes, but absolutely frightening.

#23 Hartford Penguins

2006-07-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

So it looks like Sam Fingold's bid to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins is going to go through. Fingold is a Toronto native, and a Hartford business man. His $75 million bid somehow seemed more attractive than a bid put together by people absolutely commited to keeping the team in Pittsburgh. Fingold has ties to Hartford, and has also openly admitted to being open to moving the team to Kansas City's new arena. He has changed his story now, and has said

As passionate hockey fans, we are excited about this opportunity to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins. We agree with the current ownership group that the Penguins should remain in Pittsburgh, and that a new arena is crucial to the team's long-term success.

So many of the elements for success already are in place here, including a loyal fan base and a spectacular core of young talent, led by Sidney Crosby. The Penguins are an important part of Pittsburgh's sports landscape, and it is our objective to do everything possible to secure their future here.

It sounds good, until you focus on the last line - EVERYTHING POSSIBLE. That's sports business talk for it's as good as gone. If the current ownership was so committed to keeping the team in Pittsburgh, they would have taken the Cuban and Marino groups offer instead of this clearly unstable ownership team. Safe money says the Penguins are no more come 2010 at the latest. And with the "hockey" that they've been putting on the ice in resent years, maybe it's for the best.

#22 One For My Baby

2006-07-29T19:28:00.000-04:00

loving you is easy cuz you're beautiful
making love with you is all I want to do.
loving you is more than just a dream come ture
cuz everything that I do is out of loving you

du du du du du du
la la la

No one else can make me feel
The colors that you bring
Stay with me while we grow old
And we will live each day in springtimes
Cuz loving you
Has made my life so beautiful
Every day of my life
Is filled with loving you
Loving you I see your soul
Come shining thru
Every time that we oh....
I'm more in love with you

La la la.....
Du du du du du du... hey!

No one else can make me feel
The colors that you bring
Stay with me while we grow old
And we will live each day in springtimes
Cuz loving you
Has made my life so beautiful
Every day of my life
Is filled with loving you
Loving you I see your soul
Come shining true
Every time that we oh....
I'm more in love with you

La la la.....
Du Du Du Du Du Du, hey!

#21 The Soccer Post

2006-07-29T18:56:00.000-04:00

People keep asking where my soccer post is, and I guess when you write 48 posts you have to say something about soccer. I guess. So here, now, is my take on soccer:

3 videos that explain everything you'll ever need to know about soccer. Ta da!

#20 A Quick Shout Out

2006-07-29T18:26:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to take a second to give a shout out to a company that actually made this charitable work possible. The fact is, my computer broke this week, and it was not ready for today. Seeing that, one of the partners at a company in town here donated a laptop to me to use for the weekend, and asked for nothing in return. A very stand-up move, by a very stand-up guy at a very stand-up company. In fact, when I coached kids softball for 5 years a while back, they were my teams sponsor every year. Great community involvement, and great people all around.

That said, if you live in the Kitchener area are you are in need of products and programs for your:

Personal assets (home, cars, belongings/valuables)
Business interests (commercial buildings/property and liability)
Financial well-being (RRSP, RESP, life insurance)

Please go in and see Erb and Erb Insurance Brokers Ltd. They are a great company, and like I said without their help, I wouldn't be able to raise all this money for Habitat for Humanity today. Thank you again to Erb and Erb.

PS - if you were wondering how this was a sports related post, notice I did mention softball. Huh, huh. Oh I mentioned it. Speaking of softball, I'm playing on a team this summer in an office league and for some reason I NEVER score. I am having a ridiculous year, and am hitting 42 for 46 on the season, but somehow I've scored only 10 runs. It's so randomly bad that in one game I got a home run, but there is a 7 run mercy on each inning (sign of a great league), and the run that scored in front of me was the 7th run so i didn't count. What's worse is that the league only keeps track of runs scored on their website and nothing else. Such a great season and it's being shown as mediocre. Now I know what Dmitri Yushkevich must have always felt like.

#19 - Rios and Tanto

2006-07-29T17:42:00.000-04:00

Blue Jays fans were happy to see Alex Rios return to the lineup last night, and even happier to see him help lead them to victory with a couple of key hits. He did, however, boot a ball in right field that he would normally have gotten to, and also looked like there was no power at all to be found in his very slimed down arms.

Rios developed a staph infection after fouling a ball off his leg on June 27th. They are claiming that he only lost 5 pounds due to the infection, but anyone who saw him taking batting practice early last week knows that a lot more came off. He still looks much more than 5 pounds under weight.

It is great to have their best player back in the lineup, but it's going to be at least a month by my account until he's close to where he was in June. As long as he keeps hitting the holes in the meantime like he did last night, though, then it's still great to have him back.

The Blue Jays improved their record to 57-46 with the win, but looked to be primed to fall to 57-47 this afternoon (evening? I don't even know anymore!).

Speaking of the tired confusion that is the Blogathon, this one goes out to Alanah at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed. Here is a much better version of the song that you posted in your 18th charity post of the day. Much, much better, ha. I guess it does out to Tank and Mrs. Tank as well, since they didn't know this dance before ;)

#18 In Arbitration

2006-07-29T17:09:00.000-04:00

Here is a list, so far, of players in the NHL who have been awarded money in arbitration cases:

San Jose: Mark Smith - 1 year, $700,000
Pittsburgh: Ryan Malone - 2 year, $1.375 million per
Anaheim: Vitali Vishnevski - 1 year, $1.55 million
Florida: Jay Bouwmeester - 2 year, $2.175 million per
NY Islanders: Mike York - 1 year, $2.85 million
Chicago: Kyle Calder - 1 year, $2.95 million
Buffalo: Daniel Briere - 1 year, $5 million
New Jersey: Scott Gomez - 1 year, $5 million (a big thank you Patrick Elias!)

That said, I would guess that 100% of the players that settled prior to arbitration are kicking themselves at this point. These awards are ridiculous. There is no way the Sabres are going to pay Briere $5 million a year, and the Devils with their lack of a capologist wouldn't be able to fit Gomez in for that. $3 million for Mike York? I could do what Mike York does. It's all misplaced, and someone really needs to step in. I'm sure something will be different next off season. It has to be.

Players Remaining:

Boston Bruins - David Tanabe Aug. 3

Buffalo Sabres - Maxim Afinogenov Aug. 3, J.P. Dumont July 31, Paul Gaustad Aug. 2, Adam Mair Aug. 4

Chicago Blackhawks - Jim Vandermeer July 28

Colorado Avalanche - Brett McLean Aug. 4

Nashville Predators - Scott Hartnell Aug. 4

New York Rangers - Adam Hall Aug. 2

Phoenix Coyotes - Mike Comrie Aug. 4, Ladislav Nagy Aug. 4

Pittsburgh Penguins - Dominic Moore Aug. 2

Washington Capitals - Matt Pettinger Aug. 2

#17 The Avery Man

2006-07-29T16:40:00.000-04:00

The JF sent me this little piece about John Avery of the Toronto Argonauts this week:

i was watching cabbie's show before and he was asking people what was the first game they went to. and he asked john avery. he said his first game was with his guidance counselor. because he was in a special class. not because he was slow. he said that. then he made a failed attempt at mumbling through what the reason was for him being in the class before coming back to "not because i was slow". as he was trailing off he made some comment to the effect of it's not true what they say about the short bus. it was pretty good.

That reminded me of the best thing I've ever seen on TV. It was when the CFL unveiled their new uniforms a couple seasons back and they didn an interview with AVery about them. He said something about how nice they felt and how he wanted to go home and take everything off and put on some socks and lay in bed wearing it reading a book... or something to that effect... followed by a big woooo.

Needless to say, I NEED someone to find a clip of that interview, or a direct quote from it for me. It was too much, and it is the number one must see of any sports interview ever. It just doesnt seem to exist anywhere anymore, except maybe in a beautiful dream. A beautiful, beautiful dream. Maybe that's all it ever was. It was almost too perfect to be true.

Have the majority of my posts really been about the CFL? What's going on here. I haven't even mentioned Vishnevski's $1.55 million awarding yet, but I've mentioned the CFL 5 times. Solid.

#16 Chess Boxing

2006-07-29T16:17:00.000-04:00

So you may be asking yourself "Self, is Sports Guy North really that hard up to think of something to post that he's actually going to acknowledge Chess Boxing?"

And the answer is easy. Yes. Yes I am.

For those of you who aren't familiar, Chess Boxing is a match between two opponents just like boxing. There are eleven alternating rounds of boxing and chess sessions, starting with a four-minute chess round followed by two minutes of boxing and so on.

Between rounds there is a 1 minute break, during which competitors change their gear (seriously). The form of chess played is "blitz chess" (whatever that is) in which competitors have a total of twelve minutes. The match can be ended by knockout, checkmate, a judge's decision or if their someone's twelve minutes of chess time elapses.

And that, my friends, is the great sport of Chess Boxing. And, believe it or not, there is actually a World Chess Boxing Organization. Someone actually even has a blog to track his progress in training to become a Chess Boxing Champion.

Does the organization have a motto you ask? What self-respecting organization wouldn't?

"Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board".

God bless you boys.

#15 the FT

2006-07-29T16:07:00.000-04:00

Sorry again, I am still on the same delay as last half hour. I still can't say why, but these videos are in celebration. They won't make sense except to the people who they should make sense to. If that's not you, I'd suggest not watching them. Strongly.

To those who should watch them, though, ENJOY :-D

#14 A delay

2006-07-29T15:34:00.000-04:00

OK, so my next post is being delayed due to some HUGE news that I cannot divulge at this moment... it's huge, i'll fill you all in tomorrow, just please excuse the delay...

#13 Wayne's World

2006-07-29T14:56:00.000-04:00

Alanah at VCOE, a fellow blogathon participant, just reminded me about my new favourite hobby - Consulting Garth Snow on any decision I have to make.

This came up because Mister Snow released a letter to the public that concluded with the following:

I understand that I need to earn your confidence and respect over time. Over the next few weeks, I want to hear from Islander fans. I've asked the team to set up an email address where you can send questions and I'll answer as many as I can on the site. (Don't worry; my days are long enough to manage the team and address your questions). Comments are encouraged, too. Let's communicate and let's get behind the Orange and Blue.

It then listed his email address: askgarth@newyorkislanders.com

What Garth wants, Garth gets. So far that has included suggestions for tournaments he should send scouts to, why he needs to add Tie Domi to his squad, and a consultation asking for the "dream group" of executives in New York to decide for me what outfit I should wear for my wedding.

Now I'm looking for suggestions. I need new things to ask Garth. I need something new pretty much every day. Please send your help and support. This is even more important to me than this charity today (don't tell anyone though), so get them in!

#12 What's Going On Here?

2006-07-29T14:19:00.000-04:00

For those of you who may not understand why I'm doubling my alltime blog output, it is for charity. This is a blogathon where for charity (Habitat for Humanity in my case) where from 9am today for 24 straight hours, I have to make 2 blog posts an hour. So that's pretty much it.

If you have a couple extra bucks - even 50 cents if you want - follow the link in the picture below and pledge some money to Habitat for Humanity.

A better description of what's going on can be found here - Blogathon Info

Anyway, my buddy Adam just asked me the following (follow the link below if you don't know what a Rucchin is):

hey kent... any ideas for an NBA 'rucchin of the year'?...
my first thought goes to boris diaw

It's tough for basketball, and I'll take any suggestions you might have. It's easier to tell a few years later when a Rucchining may have been occurring. For me Kenyon Martin's days with Jason Kidd come to mind.

His question reminds me that the other day I was thinking of how the award applies to Baseball. The best I could figure is that it goes to the pitcher with the best record despite his numbers. It's not bad, but we need to figure out who to name the award after. Someone that made a career with a lot of wins, and a huge ERA. Bring your suggestions in.

Anyway, the front runners so far this year are:

Josh Beckett 13-5 with a 4.80 ERA and 1.26 WHIP
Kenny Rogers 11-4 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.28 WHIP
Joe Blanton 11-8, with a 4.78 ERA and 1.45 WHIP
Jason Marquis 12-8, with a 5.67 ERA and 1.41 WHIP
Steve Trachsel 9-5, with a 5.14 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP

I think Marquis is running away with this so far, bolstered by the fact that he is actually leading the NL in wins, despite and ERA that's flirting with 6.00. That is such a statistical anomaly. If he keeps it up all year, the award just might end up named after him.

#11 Female Athletes Continuation

2006-07-29T13:59:00.000-04:00

So after my last post about female's sex appeal in sports, I did a search on you tube for "Female Athletes" and came up with these as the top results:

I'm sorry about that first one (what exactly did that have to do with body building?), but this is actually what comes up in a search for female athletes. That says A LOT in itself about the dominance of sex appeal over everything else in women's sports.

What is worse is that the second video was trying to use sex appeal in sports to sell religion. That is a little too much to wrap my head around on this little sleep. Maybe I'll come back to it again at 3am when I'm really starting to lose it.

Truly baffling.

Motocross just came on. I have to go find the remote.

#10 the FHM paradox

2006-07-29T13:25:00.000-04:00

There is a show on Sportsnet right now called "beyond the Glory: Sex & Sports". Basically they are talking about how women's sports wouldn't be successful without the sex appeal. They are arguing on one hand that women's sports wouldn't be financially viable without sex appeal, and on the other hand that by selling the women's sex appeal takes away from the validity and respect for their sports. This is a very tough subject to tackle. It's true that when Anna was the face of Tennis, despite making a grand slam semi-final once, and never making the top ten rankings, that did take away from what the better players than her were accomplishing. But it's also true that many many men who would never bother watching tennis were turning their TV's on, increasing ratings, increasing sponsorship, increasing demand and thus increasing the payouts for women's tennis back into the pockets of those ahead of Anna in the rankings.

Then there was that soccer world cup where that US girl took off her top after winning the championship. All of a sudden there was talk about women's leagues and marketing and so on. As the memory of her little sports bra faded, so did interest in women's soccer. I'm not sure I ever hear it mentioned anymore.

The problems are this: Men watch sports much more than women. 18-34 year old males are the target demographic. Speaking as someone in that age group, I do enjoy attractive women. I enjoy sports much more (enough that I have never, and will never watch the lingerie bowl), however. But I enjoy it at the highest level. Women just are not built to compete in most sports the way men's bodies are physically made to. Watching WNBA games is about equivalent to boys high school basketball, and not even that good depending on the high school. The skill level is an issue, and since men are watching the sports the only way to counteract that is with sex appeal.

The question is, then, is that fair?

I don't know. I do know that if it is a sport with a male equivalent, it will not succeed without sex appeal. There is just no way around that, and there never will be. Half my suggestions for things to post today have been about Michelle Wie, or a list of the hottest athletes, etc. That's just the reality of sports.

And if you ask the players - ask Lindsey davenport how her millions of dollars compare to being a footnote to Anna's "dominance" of the sport during her prime, and I don't think she'll complain too much. Ask the hundreds of athletes who have posed in FHM or put out a nude curling calendar, and so on, and they weren't forced to do those things, they chose to. Heck, Andre Agassi did it back in the day. Why exactly did he get so many more endorsements than Sampras?

There is a balance there, but sports are primarily entertainment. That's why they get paid so much. Part of the reality for women in sports is that there is a sexual element, and they understand that before they sign their contracts. If it's something that really bothers them, then they should stick to playing in their home town, unknown and dominating, and gaining respect for their abilities from a dozen people that way. This is the business of sports, and if you're going to make that your career you have to take everything that comes with it, as fair or unfair as it all might be.

#9 Top 30 Sports Movies of All Time

2006-07-29T12:43:00.000-04:00

PS - this is guaranteed to be a Whoopie-free list

1. dodgeball Yes, I know that calling Dodgeball the greatest sports movie of all time is going to make me look like a bit of an idiot, but I don't care. That was the funniest movie I have ever seen. There's no way I can't make it top the list. Mock away.

2. league of their own OK, so they made a sports movie with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnel and Madonna. Even Jon Lovitz makes an appearance. And the movie is about girl's baseball. And somehow, what on paper looks like the worst possible combination to ever put together, turned into one of the best movies of all time. I don't understand how, but I don't question it.

3. major league I can't believe this movie came out 17 years ago. How is that possible? It seems like just yesterday that Jake Taylor was legging out that bunt.

4. remember the titans This movie goes beyond sports. One of the best.

5. happy gilmore The price may be wrong, but the movie got it all right.

6. rudy RUDY, RUDY, RUDY, RUDY

7. raging bull Bobby D at his all time best.

8. He Got Game Ray Allen should be called Jesus a lot more often than he is

9. les boys Most of you probably haven't seen this one, and if you're American you probably haven't even heard of it until now. It's a french movie about an amature hockey team, and it is a classic. Possibly the best film to ever come out of Canada.

10. Brian's Song Too sad to top the list in my books.

11. rocky Sequels are lumped together in this list, so I won't go on and on about Rocky 4 the war. That was... something...

12. the longest yard Burt Reynolds, NOT Adam Sandler, of course.

13. field of dreams Oh Ray Consella, how we've all wanted to give into our psychotic episodes like you did. We just aren't brave enough.

14. blue crush I'm sorry, I just love this movie, and you can't tell me not to! Gotta love those Bosworth eyes.

15. mighty ducks Quack quack quack Mister Duckswerth. Iceland - world's hockey power!

16. STICK IT! Whether it was intentional or not, this was one of the funniest movies i've ever seen. Go see it if you haven't yet. "you know boys?"... hahaha... it's almost too much.

17. White Men Can't Jump A movie that actually tried to pull off Rosie Perez as a sex symbol, now that is impressive

18. the sandlot The movie with the Big Dawg. Priceless fun.

19. bull durham The bottom of this list should just be called the Top (bottom?) Kevin Costner movies.

20. rookie of the year One of the best kids movies of all time, even outside of the sports genre

21. waterboy Oh mama.

22. hoosiers Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper should always make movies together. Always.

23. prefontaine Early Jared Leto makes me laugh

24. hometeam Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star? We do, we do.

25. the last homerun If you stop dreaming, you stop living. And if you ask Tank, to do this movie up properly, you have to watch it one sitting with Summer of the Monkey's. It's a must.

26. hoop dreams As much as I like basketball, I'm actually not a big fan of this movie. Not sure why.

27. angels in the outfield Danny Glover and Tony Danza, together at last.

28. Slap Shot Again, I am just not a fan of this movie. Not in the least. I've never understood it's popularity.

29. soccer dog You can never go wrong with a James Marshall movie... or can you?

30. air bud This is all of them in one - Seventh Inning Fetch, Golden Retreiver... all of that mess.

#8 Sports Movies Intro

2006-07-29T12:21:00.000-04:00

While I still have Sumeet keeping me company, I decided to take advantage of it and go for another top 10 list. This time, instead of cutting it short to 3, we'll extend it out to 30. So now, here are the top 25 sports movies of all time. We managed to think of 25 pretty quickly (and, as you can see, not likely with the best of effort), but ordering them is turning out to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. But here goes:

remember the titans This movie goes beyond sports. One of the best.

raging bull Bobby D at his all time best.

Brian's Song Too sad to top the list in my books.

the longest yard Burt Reynolds, NOT Adam Sandler, of course.

the sandlot The movie with the Big Dawg. Priceless fun.

bull durham The bottom of this list should just be called the Top (bottom?) Kevin Costner movies.

rookie of the year One of the best kids movies of all time, even outside of the sports genre

prefontaine

hometeam Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star? We do, we do.

the last homerun If you stop dreaming, you stop living. And if you ask Tank, to do this movie up properly, you have to watch it one sitting with Summer of the Monkey's. It's a must.

angels in the outfield Danny Glover and Tony Danza, together at last.

soccer dog You can never go wrong with a James Marshall movie... or can you?

air bud This is all of them in one - Seventh Inning Fetch, Golden Retreiver... all of that mess.

OK, this is taking a lot longer than the 30 minutes.... stay tuned for the completion... this is certainly NOT complete, as I hope you can tell :)

#7 The First Top 10 List

2006-07-29T11:55:00.000-04:00

For the sake of something to write about, my buddy Sumeet and I decided to try to come up with a top ten list of the best Canadian Athletes of all time - excluding hockey. The first three were reeled off pretty quickly, but then we ran into a bit of a snag that names like Mike Vanderjagt were thrown at. So I'll list the top 3 for now, and you guys can make suggestions for who should close out the list. Here goes:

1. Steve Nash - Say what you want about who should have won the award this past season, but Steve Nash was the back to back MVP of the NBA. Only the 9th player of all time to win consecutive MVP trophies, and only the second point guard ever to win the award more than once. The other? Magic Johnson. You just can't argue with that kind of comparison.

2. Lennox Lewis - He may be fighting under England for the money these days, but Len grew up around the corner from me so there's no way he isn't Canadian. Not only was he the Heavy Weight Champion of the world, but he absolutely dominated in the roll. No one was close to him while he ruled. Some people also don't remember that back in the day he was a gold medalist for Canada eons ago. A spectacular career from start to finish, and one of few Canadians known by name around the world.

3. Larry Walker - I know, I know, baseball again. But the influence Larry Walker had on Canadian sport will only be matched by the basketball players we see coming out of Canada in 10 years. A career .313 hitter, he came up one homerun short of 50 in 1997, and threw in 130 RBI to boot. The Canadians you see in the league today - Gagne, Dempster, Bay and so on - have a lot to do with Larry Walker. Without his influence on both kids desire to play, and scouts willingness to come to Canada, many of them wouldn't be what they are today.

So that's a pretty easy top three. Now get your suggestions in for the next 7. Those that come to mind are Catarina LeMay Doan, Eric Gagne, Donovan Bailey, Mike Vanderjagt, Jamal Magloire, Cindy Klassan... let me know who you think belongs.

#6 Post-Shower Hurry Up

2006-07-29T11:26:00.000-04:00

OK, I just took some time to take a nice, long shower, and now I'm a little pressed for time to get this post out. I'm used to deadlines, but this is nuts, ha. So I guess I'll take a quick look at the baseball world, as seen through the eyes of the players I have on my fantasy team. Reason being - it's time to check on my fantasy team, why else.

It looks like Chase Utley came up with a late-inning single, to extend his hitting streak to 28 consecutive games. Chase became just the 36th player to get halfway to Joe DiMaggio's record of 56 within a single season. Keep in mind Joe set that record 65 years ago, so about every second year someone gets halfway to his mark. This really is the toughest record in all of sports to ever get close to, and a lot of that is due to how much pitching has improved in those 60 some odd years. The Blue Jays have a middle reliever that can pitch 100mph. A middle releiver. That says enough right there.

Mark Teahen has a 5 game hitting streak going, and has been promoted to third in the Royals batting order. Over that time he is 8 for 18 with 3 HR and 7 RBI. If for some reason he's available in your league (as he was in mine a couple weeks ago) he is a must add at this point, no matter what other third basemen you have on your team.

Oakland A's Joe Kennedy (shoulder) threw 28 pitches in a bullpen session Thursday, and will be pitching every second day for a couple of weeks until his return, which begs the question: Why do I have Joe Kennedy on my team anyway?

Last Weeks Top 5 (on my team):

1. F. Liriano - 22K in 13 innings, 1W, 2.08 ERA and WHIP of 1.00
2. M. Prior - 5 2/3 innings of no hit baseball before being pulled due to pitch count
3. C. Utley - 3 HR, 7R, 2 SB and a .417 average in chasing Joe's record
4. M. Teahen - 3HR, 8RBI and .444 average
5. El. Alfonzo - 3HR, 7RBI and a .368 average from a guy I picked up last week to fill a day where Lo Duca was sitting. This kids got power and average potential, pick him up if he's there.

#5 - Boo Berry

2006-07-29T10:39:00.000-04:00

OK, I'm sitting here now enjoying a bowl of Boo Berry (something we don't have in these parts anymore, so I actually have it shipped in from somewhere in New England. Really.), and I just remembered that I had a NFL Fantasy draft at 10. When I went to check in on it, it was already over. Nobody live drafted, but I really can't blame them. This was our crazy league (We always have 4 - one with friends, one with people at work, one that you can't make any changes in, and one with crazy points), which is kind of a crap shoot anyway. I'm destroying people in our baseball crazy pool, because my guys all crowd the plate and get beaned constantly. To give you an idea of how the football league is set up, here is how the kickers are scored:

Field Goals 0-19 Yards (15)
Field Goals 20-29 Yards (15)
Field Goals 30-39 Yards (-15)
Field Goals 40-49 Yards (-30)
Field Goals 50+ Yards (999)
Field Goals Missed 0-19 Yards (200)
Field Goals Missed 20-29 Yards (15)
Field Goals Missed 30-39 Yards (-50)
Field Goals Missed 40-49 Yards (-10)
Field Goals Missed 50+ Yards (1111)
Point After Attempt Made (-7.9)
Point After Attempt Missed (2000)

Add to that 888 points for a safety, and the setup is random enough that I don't blame people for auto-drafting. I'm sitting at a computer this morning, and I was one of them. I got Derrick Wimbush, though, so I think I'm all set.

And if you think this league is the dorkiest thing someone could have done with a fantasy NFL league, have a look at this video:

#4 - Mini Notes of Note

2006-07-29T10:13:00.000-04:00

It may only be 10:30am, but it's Saturday so I'm tired anyway. As you know, that can only mean one thing. It's time for the great nation of Hungary's favourite new feature: Notes of Note

Graceful Retiree
Andre Agassi bid goodbye to a long career yesterday, losing 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 for Gonzalez in the quarter-finals of the Countrywide Classic in LA. Not quite the high-profile tournament you'd want to see him finish at, but something can be said about finishing your career in your home town. Those of us old enough to remember his long-haired, bad boy fashion rebel days of his early career should be stunned with how his tennis days will be remember. Not as a rebel, but as a consumate professional and all around great guy on the tour. It's amazing how much someone can mature from their early twenties to their mid thirties. I just hope it never happens to me.

My Testosterone Levels
I'm at about a 6 to 1 ratio now... I'm lovin it!

Arbitration
It seems odd to me that nobody told the Arbitrators in the NHL front office that there is a salary cap in the league now. Some of these rulings are just counter productive to what the league is trying to do. I can't believe the league hasn't stepped in yet in some form, because this is just not good for anything.

Michelle Wie
Goober told me to write about her, but I don't really know what to say outside of she's still hot, and still doing well on the LPGA side (although she doesn't have a single victory yet which is odd for someone that gets so much media coverage), and shouldn't be bothering on the PGA side. When asked what he wanted me to write about, he said "yeah she's hot, she's doin alright golfing so far, last I heard". Good stuff.

More Cowbell
There is ALWAYS time for more cowbell!

#3 - Hammy Bippy

2006-07-29T09:48:00.000-04:00

As you can maybe tell from the title of this post, I'm already hitting a bit of a wall with writers block... and that just does not bode well for eventual post #37. In any respect, I'm going to try to power through, and head back to the CFL for a second time already (yikes. I apologize to my American readers who make up like 99.9% of my readership. This is totally my bad.). This story just takes the fickleness of modern sports to a new level. When the Leafs sent Tie Domi packing unceremoniously, instead of letting him retire gracefully, that was one thing. When coaches get fired left right and center, and goalies are blamed for every problem in Philadelphia up to and including an increased amount of gun violence in the city, these are just things that we are used to, and whether they make sense or not have become a part of North American sports.

The BC Lions, however, have taken it to a ho nutta leva, in releasing Antonio Warren. Let me explain. Antonio Warren set a club record with 160 yards on 18 carries in the 2004 Grey Cup. In 5 seasons and 62 career games, Antonio Warren has 24 touchdowns, and 4224 yards on the ground and in the air. Antonio Warren was the Lions player of the year just last season. Antonio Warren missed one blocking assignment, that caused fragile QB Dave Dickenson to have to take a hit. One single hit. As a result, Antonio Warren finds himself unemployed today.

I guess the Lions needed a cheaper option than his close to $80,000 a year that he likely makes. In any event, when something like that happens you really just have to wonder what's happened to sports. On a positive note, though, I can't wait to watch Antonio wearing the old Blue in Toronto soon. Thanks for your fickleness west coast, someone out east will no doubt benefit from it.

#2 - Tour de Testosterone

2006-07-29T09:28:00.000-04:00

OK, I knew I'd eventually have to resort to fringe "Sports" in doing 48 posts today, so I figured I might as well get it out of the way early and save big news like the Canucks signing Jan Bulis for later.

We turn now to the Tour de France, and the Floyd Landis "scandal". In case you haven't heard, he tested positive for having high levels of testosterone, something that he didnt test for earlier in the race. If you don't know how steroids and increased testosterone can help you, it is not like in cartoons. You don't just pop the spinach can open and gain muscle mass and strength. It's something that takes months for you to build up an effect. People who claim his one day come back had something to do with it really just don't have a clue. Step up: Dick Pound.

The once highly respected and now highly questioned lawyer from Montreal had the following to say:

"When is this going to end? What is the UCI going to do about it?"

"You build up and create a new hero, and he gets slapped down," Pound said. "It's a serious blow."

Whatever Dick. I think Stephen Colbert definately put all of this best. This is priceless:

#1 - Intro

2006-07-29T09:05:00.000-04:00

The church bells are ringing next door, and I guess that means it's 9am. 9am on a Saturday, and instead of being in bed cuddling or sleeping or whatever, here i am sitting at a computer trying to wait a few minutes to pee. It's not as bad as 6am (good morning Alanah!) but it's certainly not the best way to celebrate your birthday.

Anyway, I have no idea how to start writing 48 posts in one day, so I might as well start with the CFL. Terry Vaughn was presented last night with a trophy for setting the CFL record for most career receptions, and he welcomed the award in tears. I don't know about you, but I find it hard to get emotional about a made up trophy in the CFL. Vaughn feels differently apparently.

Speaking of the CFL, Wendy's Kick for a Million contest is back again this year. After that guy hit the 50 yard field goal last year, I totally did not expect this contest to come back. But I guess they figure there's no way it happens twice. Sign up for the contest at that link there and prove them right.

CFL Scoreboard

Montreal 21, Edmonton 13,
Winnepeg 29, Hamilton 0

2006 Blogathon Info

2006-07-21T23:33:00.000-04:00

On July 29th, to celebrate my birthday I will be staying home and participating in Blogathon 2006. My efforts (or lack there of, depending on your take on my writing) will be to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, of Jimmy Carter fame.

Basically how this works is on July 29th I have to make some kind of post every 30 minutes from 9:00 am until 9:00 am the following day. They don't allow us to produce anything in advance, so basically whatever is randomly on my mind at the time is what you're going to get - but since it's me it'll be all gold, so be sure to keep tuning in all day and night. And remember, the quality of the writing will be directly proportional to the donations raised ;)

The donations aren't everything, though. If I'm going to produce 48 Pulitzer worthy posts, I'm going to need a little bit of help. So stop in over and over, leave me comments with suggestions on things to write about and other support you might have. Just keep me going. Alanah at Vancouver Canucks OpEd will also be getting down and dirty in this blogathon (she's playing for Canucks Place Children's Hospice, a very worthy charity. I've already left her a pledge, and if you have a little more to spare after supporting me, you should too :) ), but hopefully we won't just be left to keep each other company at 3am. Even if you just stumble home Saturday night stop in and leave either of us some kind of drunk idiocy that we can laugh at, anything will help.

About My Charity

In all seriousness now, Habitat for Humanity Canada is based in my hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo, and over the past 21 years has dedicated over 1000 houses coast to coast. What people don't always know about Habitat for Humanity is that it is not a give-away program. In addition to mortgage payments, each homeowner invests hundreds of hours of their own labour, called "sweat equity", into the building of their house and the houses of others.

What we don't always realize in either the Sports or the Internet world is that not everyone makes $5 million a year to play 16 games and spend all their time in a gym. Many people in Canada are living below the poverty line, and in unsafe conditions to bring up their families. That's where Habitat for Humanity comes in.

The three criteria to qualify for a Habitat home are (1) need for affordable housing, (2) ability to repay a Habitat mortgage and (3) willingness to partner with Habitat.

Need for affordable housing is defined by a family income that is below the government-set Low Income Cut-Off (poverty line) for their particular region, and existing living conditions that are inadequate in terms of structure, cost, safety or size. The ratio of shelter expense to total income is also factored.

Ability to repay a Habitat mortgage requires that the family has a stable income sufficient to cover the monthly mortgage payments and other expenses that come with home ownership.

Homeowners must demonstrate a willingness to partner with Habitat by contributing 500 hours of volunteer labor ("sweat equity") towards the building of their home.

Through volunteer labour, efficient management and tax-deductible donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable, no-interest mortgages. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments go into a revolving fund, which is used to build more houses.

Like myself, many of you have volunteered countless hours to Habitat construction, and that is the key to making this charity work. But doors and windows and so on aren't free, and often construction can be limited by resources not volunteer numbers or need. Anything you can provide for Habitat for Humanity would be greatly appreciated. Even if you aren't charitable, remember your donations will keep me up for 24 hours, so you can think of your money as going towards torturing your least favourite blogger on the inter-web. That's not too shabby either.

NOTE: You DO NOT send me money. Just commit your pledge on the Blogathon site, then after the event you can send your donation DIRECTLY to Habitat for Humanity, either online or by sending a cheque/moneyorder. If you need assistance at that point, let me know. I'll be more than happy to help.

2006 NHL Free Agency Update

2006-07-21T22:57:00.000-04:00

Anaheim - The Ducks, a team I became partial to last season, have become "On Notice" after trading Lupul and some draft picks for Chris Pronger. Outside of that, they have been fairly silent on the free agent front, agreeing to 3 years and undisclosed terms with their own breakout center from last season, Andy McDonald. And I was looking forward to buying the first "non-mighty" Ducks jersey. Pity. Only loss: Salei

Atlanta - Unlike the Ducks, the Thrashers have been very busy, having already signed multiple players, up to and including both bringing Freddy Braithwaite back from oblivion, and presumably handing Steve Rucchin himself next years Rucchin of the Year award ( 4.25 million in year three for Mr. Rucchin, by the way, whatever sense that could ever make). Darren Haydar, Jason Krog, Glen Metropolit, Johan Hedberg, Jon Sim, Kyle Wanvig, Nikko Kappanen and Scott Mellanby round out the singings. Losses: Mellanby, Abid and Savard.

Boston - The Bruins have significantly improved their team for the first time in years, signing Shean Donovan (2 years), Marc Savard ($20 million, 4 years) and Zdeno Chara ($37.5 million, 5 years). In landing 2 of the top 5 free agents of the year, the Bruins are giving evidence that last seasons selling out was temporary, and the playoffs are the only acceptable goal this year. Signed Mowers as well, for what it's worth (ie. significantly little. ie. at 32 he had his career high with 15 points last season. ie. there's a mowers in the league?). Also signed Wade Brookbank, Jeff Hogan and are bringing Jason York back from Switzerland. Losses: Reasoner, Gill.

Buffalo - Resigned Teppo Numminen for another year, and stole Jaroslav Spacek away from the Oilers. 2 players I'm sure Canucks fans would give anything for right about now. Derek Roy is staying put, and Henrik Tallinder got a contract extension as well. Oh yeah, Andrew Peters isn't going anywhere either (as if you cared). Neither is Brian Campbell (who managed to be a -14 on a top teams defense), who somehow got a multi-year deal. Biggest news, though, was that they managed to resign Martin Biron for barely over $2 million a year. Raycroft money for Biron. Does that say something about Buffalo, or does it say more about the Leafs? Losses: Grier, McKee

Calgary - Signed Zyuzin and lost Donovan. Brought back Jamie Mac. How do you spell inconsequential again? The loss of Chris Simon should help them be a little bit more watchable next year. Maybe Jim Playfair taking over the helm will free up a little more style points as well.

Carolina - Brought in John Grahame to take up Cam Wards backup roll, and third liner Trevor Letowski, while also resigning Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, Eric Staal Glen Wesley and Mike Commodore. They did also lose Aaron Ward, Mike Zigomanis, Matt Cullen and Doug Weight, but given the number of big contributing free agents they had on the payroll, this can't be looked at as a bad start.

Chicago - The Blackhawks decided that the best way to come out of the horrible situation they've found themselves in is by bringing in Patrick Lalime. God help them. Havlat (hockey's version of a soccer player) and Smolinski for Bell is the big news here. Oh God help the fans too. Resigning underrated rookies Rene Bourque and Duncan Keith are bonuses I'm sure many Hawks fans (if they still exist) are pleased about. Radim Vrbata signed on for another 2 years of torture. Losses: Anderson, Barnaby, Brown, Morgan

Colorado - "Stole" Tyler Arnason from Ottawa, Matt Murley from Pittsburgh and Mark Rycroft from St.Louis. Lost Blake and Hinote. Add to that the loss of Tanguay for a mediocre player that the media inexplicably built up, and the power house that was the Avalanche appears to be collapsing on itself. Resigning Liles is the only high note. Budaj and McCormick will be back riding the bench as well.

Columbus - Resigned Anders Eriksson. Lost Andy Delmore. Resigned Ron Hainsey and lost Don MacLean. Whatever. Trevor Letowski does more on the third line than people think, though, so he is an actual loss. Signing overrated today, underrated tomorrow Ty Conklin will be the solution some days, and the goat others. Interesting times ahead if they bother with him. Pascal Leclaire will be returning to pick up his slack, though. And in the did you know file - did you know that Jamie Pushor is still kicking around, and resigned with the Jackets? I remember him being like a -30 in Pittsburgh in like 2002, and I thought he took his cue and left afterwards. Apparently not. Who knew?

Dallas - Jeff Halpern AND Matthew Barnaby. Good show old chap. Oh yeah, and they lost Arnott, Guerin, and Willie Mitchel, but managed to hang onto Mike Smith and Steve Ott. Did I mention the changing of the guard in the Western Confernece yet? 30 games from Eric Lindros, who is coming off the least productive campaign (22 points in 33 games and a negative +/- for the first time), won't fix this mess. Between Lindros, Modano, Barnes and Halpern at least you know they'll win most face-offs before inevitably giving up the puck. Letting Niko Kapanen walk will result in even more turnovers. They really don't have too many "battlers" left there now.

Detroit - Resigned Chris Osgood, Dan Cleary and signed the farm over to Nicklas Lidstrom (with cause, mind you). Losses: Mowers... i guess... Gains: Hussey... i guess...

Edmonton - Marty Reasoner is coming home to Edmonton. Sun rise, sun set. Pisani, Horcoff, Stoll and Rolly are sticking around, while Morrison, Samsonov, Peca, Conklin and Spacek are hitting the road. Spacek is a big loss, everything else seems fine to me. Mediocre Tjarnqvist finds a new home. Sun rise, sun set.

Florida - Ruslan Salei and Alex Auld to replace Luongo. And you wondered how much worse things could get in Florida. Oh yeah, and Salei will "only" cost them over $3 million per year. Good times. Jamie McLennan knows a sinking ship when he sees one, while his replacement Craig Anderson moves from one Titanic to another. I guess Greg Campbell and Stephen Weiss don't. Maybe Horton does, though, as he only signed a one year deal. Not something the Panthers were likely looking for with one of their few true, young talents. Jon Sim left, and Juraj Kolnik stays. Call the presses.

Los Angelas - Brian Willsie, Rob Blake, Raitis Ivanans, Alyn McCauley, Kevin Dallman, Mike Weaver and Scott Thornton are in. I wonder which one of them it was that got $12 million over only 2 years? They also resigned Garon in net, who was interestingly enough only the 4th goalie in Kings history to win 30 games (Lessard, Vachon and Potvin each did it once) which is kind of hard to believe. Resigned the fragile Eric Belanger as well. Losses - Parrish and Corvo

Minnesota - Resigned Marian Gaborik, that's the good news. The bad news? $13.25 million for Mark Parrish (5 years) and $19.4 million for Kim Johnsson (4 years). Even $4.2 million for Carney (2 years) is a little bit out there as well. I don't even want to find out what they gave Radivojevic. I'm sure it's ridiculous. Someone in Minnesota has been attending the Mini-Babcock school of GMetry lately (ie. Jason Morgan is still in the league and someone signed him?). Speaking of which, they resigned Brent Burns, so I guess the conversion of him from potential top-line forward to potential 6th defenseman will continue. Shame. Losses: Kuba, Zyuzin, Tjarnqvist and Chouinard. So much for consoling their losing ways by being the team with the best names. Boogaard stays, so that could help. And apparently there wasn't a big market for Pascal Dupuis. Go figure. Somehow there was a market, though, for Kyle Wanvig. The other Koivu? Still Wild.

Montreal - Big move so far was bringing in Sergei Samsonov for the next two seasons. Sergei has some flash from time to time, but frankly in my opinion he became one of the most over-rated players in the league last season somehow. Habs fans will be sorely disapointed with his play if their expectations are as high as I suspect them to be. Resigned Francis Bouillon for nearly $2 million a year over 3 years (what?). Ribeiro, Aebischer, Higgins, Komisarek, Danis and Cote are staying put as well. Resigned highly overrated youngster Perezhogin to a one year deal, who despite all the hype only managed 19 points for the entire season. They only gave him $627,000, though, so it was a really good signing. I was just tired of all the Habs fans pretending up how good he was last year. 19 points, boys. Even Tie Domi has average 20 points a year over his last 9 seasons.

NYI - Signed over big old Andy Hilbert from the Penguins. Signed over big old Mike Sillinger from the Preds. Signed over big bum Chris Simon from the Flames. Signed over big baby Brendan Witt from the Preditors. Big news on the island! They did manage to get a cross town move for under-rated Tom Poti. There should have been a bidding war for this guy. I'd take him over Kubina and White any day. The way defensemen are valued in the league is in-decipherable to me. Wade Dub's taking the big step up to back-up goalie this season, finally realizing his full potential - as a back up goalie no ones ever heard of, that is. Loses: Garth Snow... Kind of...

NYR - Resigned Marty Straka for $3.1 million, brought in Aaron Ward for $5.5 million, Grandpa Shanahan for $4 million and Matt Cullen for $11.2 million. And here I thought that the new NHL would stop the Rangers stupidity in spending. Boy was I wrong. For some reason, though, Ortmeyer will be making another pointless "contribution" to the team again next year, although Dom Moore has taken his useless contribution to Pittsburgh - the land of useless contributions. Losses: Steve Rucchin, Tom Poti

Nashville - $22.5 million on Jason Arnott. I sure hope the Jason Arnott that's worth nearly that much bothers to show up for them. Improved team by losing Witt, Sillinger and Eaton. Resigned Mason and JF favourite little Jordan Tootoo, and as well brought in AHL superstar Ramzi Abid.

New Jersey - Resigned Elias (for one hundred billion dollars), Parise and Jamie Longnamenbrunner. No losses yet. But then Colin White for $18 million over 6 years. I can't even begin to comment on that stupidity. I had to check 6 seperate times to make sure it really happened. Six.

Ottawa - Spezza, Emery and Redden are staying in town, Chara is on the way out. I think they made the right decision. Especially now with Tom Preissing as his replacement. A top notch pick up to say the least, and not having to deal with Havlat anymore is a huge bonus. I might even be able to watch their games again now. Metropolit, Arnasson and Pothier are also out, Gerber and Corvo are in.

Philadelphia - Re-signed Nittymaki for a year, and brought in Baumgartner for 5. Despite what 'Nucks fans might pretend, that's not a great signing, as Flyers fans will find out soon enough. Lost Kim, but for nearly $5 million a year I don't think anyone there considers it a loss. No more Radivojevic either, but da berger and da pitt cannon are sticking together again. The Flyers also managed to coax Dan Corso back from Europe, likely to shore up their cross street neighbour AHL's roster. His career has been nothing but downhill since his MVP season in the Q in 1997. Newly signed reserve winger Boyd Kane will likely be at Corso's side on the Phantoms as well. Time will tell which side of the street the re-signed Matt Ellison will end up on. The Brashear experiment is over, but a new experiment starts with speedster Geoff Sanderson who signed on for 2 years. The Flyers are hoping 67 point Sanderson from 2003 shows up, not 16 point Sanderson from 2002.

Phoenix - Mike Morrison and Josh Gratton for a year, Zigomanis for 2 years and Ed Jovanovski for 5 years ( and roughly the cost of purchasing a small Caribbean island ). I think Wayne also hired some random family member to do some scouting or something as well. Re-signed Sjostrom and Seidenberg, two guys who I'm sure 95% of you have never heard of. Speaking of which, they also signed over Don MacLean from the Blue Jackets, who over 8 career seasons has managed to get into a total of 32 games, and resigned a trio of mediocre should-be AHL players in Sauve, Spiller and Saprykin while letting Geoff Sanderson walk. The three S's combined for 26 points and a GAA of 4 last season, in no particular order. Sometimes I wonder if Wayne really is still on the Oilers payroll.

Pittsburgh - Jarko Ruutu and Mark Eaton. Poor Crosby. Now Dominic Moore is coming over as well. Poor, poor Crosby. NO MORE HUSSEY! Landed Ekman and a prospect from San Jose for a second round pick? Someone fill me in on what happened there. There has to be a story behind that one. On another positive note, they resigned Colby Armstrong who, because of the depth of the rookie class last year, did not get the attention he deserved. This kid played on Pittsburgh, and picked up 40 points in 47 games and was a +15. A +15 on Pittsburgh. Ziggy Palffy was the only other player on the team to appear in more than 25 games and be in the plus, and he was only +5 and retired half way through. Even Crosby was a minus with his 102 points. This kid is definitely someone to watch, and by far the second best player on the team. There really should have been a lot more mention about him last year. Next season I know there will be.
San Jose - Mike Grier and Curtis Brown in, McCauley and Scott Thornton out. $1.8 mil a year for Grier seems a little steep, but nothing too damaging here. Tom Preissing is a huge hole to fill on D, and is in no way made up for by putting Mark Bell on the top line. Seriously, that's where they said he's going. Rucchin may just have competition for Rucchin of the Year afterall. Oh yeah, and apparently Patrick Traverse is still alive and on his way to California too. Also, apparently every mediocre player on the Sharks was a group 2 free agent, and apparently all 7 of them signed on the same day. In the longest, and most boring free agent announcement of all time, the Sharks disclosed having come to terms with defensemen Doug Murray (3 years), Jim Fahey and Garrett Stafford, centers Marcel Goc (2 years), Tomas Plihal and Craig Valette and right wing Grant Stevenson.

St. Louis - OK, let me start with this question: everything I see seems to say Jay McKee was signed for $16 million over 4 years. This isn't true, is it? 4 million a year for Jay McKee? It must be bad information. Anyway, they also brought in Guerin, Hinote, Drake and Weight in their best attempt at reversing the horrible, horrible mess that was last season. Along those lines, they also let Lalime go, now they just need a decent replacement to really turn things around before Jason Back Oshawa (re-signed) develops into a first string goalie. Kevin Dallman, Jeff Hoggan and Mark Rycroft are also leaving town, while Brewer, Woywitka, McClement and Sejna have signed on again.

Tampa Bay - ANDY DELMORE, MITCH FRITZ AND FILIP KUBA! WEEEE! At least Fedotenko will still be there. Oh yeah, and Afanasenkov will chip in another 15 points again next year too. Ryan Craig had a decent rookie year (28 points in 48 games), and has signed on for a second campaign.

Toronto - The mess. The huge mess. $20 million for friggin Pavel Kubina. $6.3 over 3 years for Hal Gill isn't horrible, if not just in comparison. Andrew Raycroft in net for a few years. Resigned Ondrus who was -10 with no points in 22 games. How does Mini-Babcock still have a job again? They did manage to sign the second leading scorer in the AHL from last season in Erik Westrum, but this is the Leafs so I'm sure he'll be in the AHL again next season after they sign a couple of injury ridden elders to fill out the roster instead for 5 times the money. Re-signing Nik Antropov and being out-bid for Lindros are the best moves of the off season so far. Eeek. The Leafs did manage to resign young defensemen Brendan Bell, Carlo Colaiacovo and Jay Harrison to one-year contracts, although I have no idea why they are staying in Toronto. The Leafs have clearly shown an unwillingness to allow their clearly talented young defensemen to have a shot in the bigs, and is continuing again this season. In bringing in Gill and Kubina, those three along with Wozniewski and Kronwall have only 2 spots to battle for, and that's assuming the Leafs don't bring in another old timer or Belak. If I were one of those 3 D-men I would have jumped on any chance I could to get out of town. Surprisingly, I'm only undecided on Peca's signing at this point. I'm even surprising myself with that one.

Vancouver - Willie Mitchell and Taylor Pyatt in, Carney, Baumgartner, Corvo, Ruutu, Brookbank, Auld, Cloutier out. Might sound like a lot out, but seriously, they are better off. Much better off. And that's not even taking the trades into account. Canucks fans are all a little weary still, but they shouldn't be. This is a much better team now than it was at the end of last season. Hopefully FINALLY announcing Marc Chouinard's signing will ease some of those nerves.

Washington - Resigned Brent Johnson, Steve Eminger, Kris Beech, Rico Fata, Brian Sutherby, ben Clymer and Brooks Laich, brought in Brian Pothier and lost Jeff Halpern, Boyd Kane and Brian Willsie. Oh the comings and goings of the Sutherby's. Managed to keep the guy with the stupidest spelled name in history (Shaone Morrisonn), in town as well. Also signed pointless winger Donald Brashear, who should be making his exit from the league permanently sometime around December.

Crazy Day Notes of Note

2006-07-19T01:34:00.000-04:00

Lately I’ve been updating 2 posts daily – one with NHL free agent signings (a post that is getting out of control fast) and one answering peoples fantasy baseball questions. Today, however, got so weird and out of control that I felt I had to break away from that for the day. Unfortunately, I got busy with some other things and got really tired in the process, and that can only mean one thing. It’s time

Staph Infections?

The boys at Forward Progress brought up Staph Infections today in their weekly props and flops feature. The Professional had the following to say about it:

I had never heard the term ’staph infection’ before and had no idea what it meant. Now I’ve heard it used a bazillion times on sportscasts but still have no idea what it means. It began with Sabres defensemen Jay McKee who was hospitalized when a blocked shot led to an infected leg during the Eastern Conference Final. Then Alex Rios fouled a ball off his leg and BAMMO!, staph infection. Now Jays starter and continous loser Ty Taubenheim has been put on the disabled list with, you guessed it, a staph infection.

Sportscasters have been saying ’staph infection’ almost as often as home run or field goal but no one has really bothered to explain what the heck it means (probably because dunderheads like Sean McCormick have no idea either)! Then reports came out that the Jays clubhouse was ‘disinfected’ in order to prevent an ‘outbreak of staph infections’. What is going on here people?!?

For those of you who aren’t familiar, “Staph” is staphylococcus bacteria, and is very common. Many people have it living on their skin most of the time, and it cannot do damage unless entering the body through an open wound. Generally it will only cause minor irritation (ie. puss, boils). Also as a general rule, healthy people do not become seriously ill from Staph infections. Those who do are people with weakened immune systems from chronic illness (ranging from diabetes to aids), elderly people, newborns, people recovering from major surgery, nursing mothers, injection drug users and people whose immune systems are weakened due to steroid use. This is really the list of endangered people, you can find it in most medical textbooks definitions if you try.

Unless Rios is diabetic, or has a baby at home he’s somehow nursing, there’s one glaring conclusion to be drawn here. A conclusion that is being drawn left right and center these days, but somehow the McKee’s and the Rios’ of the world have managed to side step it. Despite Rios having 1 home run and a .383 slugging % 2 years ago, 10 home runs and a .397 slugging % last season, and then inexplicably increasing his output to 15 home runs and a .585 slugging % through only 72 games this season. Of course it could be (and likely is) just that Rios has been developing in his young career. But if people out there actually knew a little bit about staph infections you might be hearing it called into question from time to time. And at least there would be more reason than just randomly decided Edmonds increased numbers one year were due to steroids without any real proof, or that Teixeira’s numbers are down cuz he’s off the juice. At least these accusations would have some concrete merit outside of speculation and Jose’s self-promoting mind.

Rios Small Sized

Speaking of Rios, it was nice to see him up and hitting a few balls today, but at the same time it looks like his sickness cost him at least 20 pounds. At least. He looked just awful. If you own Alex in your fantasy league, take note – he is not going to be back in form any time soon. Not even close.

What? Just… just what?

So, there’s this article on ESPN today - Iraqi avoids Olympic kidnapping with casual dress

In the article, you’ll find the following passage:

"Can I have a doggie bag, please?" he asked a waiter, as he got ready to pack up the burrito and a few remaining tortilla chips from the basket. Those words "made all of us at the U.S. Olympic Committee know he'd be all right," Condron wrote in an essay recounting Hussain's time in the United States.

So, apparently, because Hussain had noticed someone else ask for a doggie bag at some point, and was able to regurgitate his words, that meant he’d be alright. That just might go down in history as the most bizarre way to judge a person. If you can mimic something you saw, you’ll be just fine.

Self-Promotion Lands an All Star Appearance

OK, so it’s one thing for Canseco to be back toiling in the minors again, but do they really need to encourage him like this? Despite striking out in his first 20 straight at bats to start his minor league stint (slight exaggeration included), they allowed him to make an appearance in their All Star game. If that isn’t bad enough, apparently he’s going to pitch an inning in the game. He’s apparently worked on a knuckle ball that’s he’s planning on showing off… worked on for 2 weeks. That’s right, he put a whole 2 weeks into strengthening his arm and getting ready to pitch. This is bound to end well.

The Smith Saga

By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about the strange goings on in New York today (the Ice Block has a good rundown if somehow you haven't heard yet). When the news first broke, it was announced that 40 days after hiring Mike Smith they were letting him go. That was all the first news said. To which the JF and I had the following conversation:

JF - this is weird... they just hired him
SGN - i wouldnt mind seeing an explanation on that one
JF - they probably just hired him to get tom poti. now that he's done that, he's of no use to them
SGN - here's how i picture the conversation going:

”guy, did you really sign brendan witt to 3 years and multiple millions of dollars? “

”yes. yes i did.”

”you're fired.”

The Snow Twist

Shortly thereafter I got an email from the JF saying “well they've updated the story....”. I opened the same TSN link again, only to find out that Garth Snow had retired, and was taking over the GM duties. The only logical reply I had to that news was “that doesnt even resemble the update i was expected. what happened? no really, what? No, come on.” The JF’s reply? “he must have asked for a doggie bag when he went out for mexican with the owner”

The Saga Gets Weirder

In a sense, I think the JF was right. The team owner Wang basically explained that Smith had to be let go because he adhered to a traditional GM roll of making trades and signing players that he deemed worthy based on the opinions of the scouts and his own judgments, instead of just doing what the other executives told him to. I got the feeling that either Wang or Nolan specifically had some issues with him, and not the whole executive staff. Clearly Wang and/or Nolan just wanted a fresh doggie bagger, and not a reputable GM with a couple of Stanley Cup rings to his name.

Later on Wang voiced this opinion again, in a little bit more of a subtle way by saying "We are running this as a business, incorporating the opinions of our hockey operations staff - including Ted Nolan, Bryan Trottier and Pat LaFontaine. Despite Neil's commitment to me that he could work in this environment, he later expressed to me on a number of occasions his philosophical opposition to our business model.
"In light of our differences, I felt that I had no choice but to make this decision in the best interests of the Islanders and our fans. I'm very proud of our draft and the roster additions our staff made this month. Our fans should know that with Ted, Garth, Bryan and Pat helping to lead the way, the Islanders are in very good hands."
So he’s upset that Smith wasn’t following the business model they set out, but they are happy with all the decisions and moves he made. It’s almost like a scene out of the original Major League movie – the team was doing too well, so the owner moved in to sabotage things so that the team would fail badly enough that he could sell it to move it to Orlando. The GM made good moves, so he has to go. I’m not sure that’s the message Wang really wanted to get across, but it’s hard to see it any other way.

The World’s First 6’3” Puppet

Shortly after the press conference, my suspicions about the entire executive staff not really seeing fault in Smiths actions were shown to be true, as Islanders Senior Advisor Pat Lafontaine handed in his resignation. So much for the fans knowing that the team was in the good hands of Ted, Garth, Bryan and Pat. Make that Ted, Garth and Bryan. Oh yeah, and Garth was clearly just brought in to be a yes-man figurehead, so really they’re just in the good hands of Ted and Bryan. Wait, Bryan is just the head of player development, right? So really the team is in the good hands of Ted Nolan, who despite winning the coach of the year award what seems like 73 years ago at this point, he was too hard to get along with and out there to hold his own job, or find another one in the league until now. Yes sir, all in all the situation looks bright for Islander fans.

Fantasy Baseball Advice

2006-07-17T22:37:00.000-04:00

5x5 10 temas - i was offered pierre for burnett. i need SB, and have some decent SP. is burnett too much to pay for someone with such a bad season?

Posted by Anonymous | 1:18 PM

Pierre may have had a slow start, but that went away a while ago. Over the last month Juan is hitting .367 with 8 stolen bases. In fact, only Reyes has a better average out of everyone in the league with at least 5 stolen bases in that period of time. This should come as no surprise, as Pierre is a career .300 hitter with over 100 SB in the previous 2 seasons. On June 9th his batting average was only .230, and most people, much like you, gave up on him. In the 30 games since then, he has brought his average up to .280 by going 49 for 134 with 12 SB. Meanwhile, Burnett is 1-3 this season, with a 4.25 ERA. While I do expect that to improve, if you need SB, have extra SP, and your only price to get Pierre would be Burnett, I don't see why you even had to ask this question. I'd do it in a second.

---------------------------------
so if teixeira isn't back, is he still a top 10 first baseman? how would you rank the top 10 first basemen?

Posted by Frank | 2:59 PM

Hopefully since Teix has gone 1 for 12 without a home run since his 3 HR games, I don't have to explain anymore why I don't think the old Teix is back. As for my top 10 first basemen, that's pretty tough this season, as many players you could make both a strong case for and against (ie. Delgado and Lee). As of right now, however, these are my ten guys who should qualify at first base in your fantasy league (not necesarily positionally there right no, or someone you should use at 1B instead of another position where they qualify):

1. A Pujols
2. D Ortiz
3. J Thome
4. L Berkman
5. R Howard
6. A Dunn
7. C Utley
8. J Giambi
9. P Konerko
10.N Garciapara

Morneau, Swisher, V Mart and Johnson would be in the next group, followed by Teix, Delgado, Lee and Kent.

---------------------------------
teixeira hit three homers tonight. did he manage to fix his swing over the past week? it seems to have worked nicely! however, when you look at his stats you see that he actually got 31 doubles in the first half which should shatter his career best. i guess the ball was just dropping a little short this year. hopefully he goes on a bit of a run now. run on my point? you bet!

Posted by Tank Roberts | 10:12 PM

Kaz Matsui gets a home run in his first at bat every year, but based on that would you trust him to be your power hitter? I don't think one game means that Teix's power is back. He should get about 5 more home runs than he had in the first half, and keep up his average. A solid player to have, for sure, but I wouldn't be expecting the old Teix to be back based on one game. Even Erick Hinske had a stretch recently where he went 8 for 14 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI in 4 games, but I'll wager that you didn't pick him up based on it. All that said, 30HR, 100RBI and a .290 batting average is nothing to sniff at, especially with all the doubles. Teix is solid, but he's not even close to a first round pick anymore.

---------------------------------
there is a guy in our league that is curious about a trade but afraid to post it here. let's call him "magic man". he is doing quite well in the hitting categories and has been offered rivera for beltran. since you know the league, do you think he should do that deal?

Posted by Tank Roberts | 10:20 AM

Can he afford to give up HR and RBI? Does he have a suitable OF replacement? Is there room for him to go up in saves? On the surface, I'd say he's not likely to benefit from such a deal, only because I doubt he has a suitable OF replacement for Beltran. If he has Ibanez or someone on his bench, however, that's a different story. If the need is there, I would do the deal, but I'd try to get a 2nd tier OF back in the deal as well, in exchange for a mediocre closer. And as always Beltrans injury worries play a factor as well. This trade is close enough to even that it all depends on personal preference and need.

---------------------------------
the second place team in my league is desperate for SB and could use some SV too. i have offered him two deals. in the first deal, i offered hanley (for SB), dempster (for SV), and thames (for HR) for hafner. while it doesn't look good on the surface, i think he needs SB enough to consider this. the other offer was hanley and thames for sizemore. am i "mr. lowball" or do you think i am actually trying to help him?

Posted by Tank Roberts | 12:42 PM

Mr. Lowball.

---------------------------------
helton for thames?

Posted by Anonymous | 10:46 AM

Helton had a slow start to the season, but come on. This is comparing a career .252 hitter to a career .334 hitter. Even with the slow start, Helton has already caught Thames in average (way higher of late), is way ahead in runs, has huim in RBI's, and can only go up from here. This is a no-brainer.

---------------------------------
wright for utley?

Posted by Anonymous | 12:11 PM

You might think this is a tough one based on their numbers - Utley has 12 more runs and Wright has 21 more RBI's, but outside of that they are almost identical - but if you look at it positionaly it's fairly easy. Qualifying at 2B you have Soriano and Utley, and then it's a fairly significant step down to Lopez and Figgins, and then another big step down to Uggla and Weeks. After that you're looking at Phillips, Sanchez and taking a chance on Jeff Kent. In other words, this is the weakest position in the game, and in Utley you have a player who would be solid even if the game wasn't positional. That's priceless. At 3B, Cabrera, Rolen, ARod, Nomar and even Atkins aren't that far off of Wright compared to what you'd no doubt be upgrading to at 2B. In other words, unless you have Soriano I don't see why you wouldn't be going for Utley, even at the extreme cost of Wright. The way people would look at it, though, you could probably also get an upgrade at another position in the same deal.

---------------------------------
please write a post about jorge sosa if you have time.

Posted by Tank Roberts | 3:01 PM

I don't know who WhoreHey slept with to land the closer role in Atlanta, but there's no way it can last. Since taking over the job he has blown 2 out of 5 save opportunities, and has given up 5 runs in 5.1 innings. Even as far as Atlanta options go, WhoreHey isn't the best choice. How someone with a 2-10 record, 5.40 ERA and only .6 strike outs per inning is given the closer role is beyond me, and it just can't last. Even if it does, the numbers he puts up might hurt you more than the 10 saves he'll pick up the rest of the way.

---------------------------------
and possibly a beltran vs. ichiro one.

Posted by Tank Roberts | 3:01 PM

If you ask me, these two players have about equal value. You'll read more about Beltran this year, mostly because of the contrast between how well he's performing this year versus last. As far as a pure power hitter goes, they don't get much better than Beltran. On the other hand, not many players capable of 60 stolen bases ever hit .350. Basically, the question comes down to if you need stolen bases and average, or if you need RBI's and home runs. And if you do need the power, are you willing to take the risk on Beltran staying healthy. He's a little too risky for my blood, but his potential reward is worth it to the right buyer.

---------------------------------

Updated

2006-07-11T23:05:00.000-04:00

People keep asking me where the posts are. For those that haven't noticed, I have been updating the post below labeled July 6th as the NHL free agents are signed and let go. I guess I could update the date each time I do it. Maybe I will. But not so far. Anyway, it's up to date as of July 11th at 11pm right now, so enjoy. I'm hoping to get an NBA version up and going soon, before there get to be too many signings to catch back up with. We'll see how this week goes.

Outside of updating free agents, there's not much going on in the sports that really interest me right now. So if you have any questions for me, things you'd like me to write about, advice for your fantasy baseball/football teams and so on, let me know and I'll tackle those things. Otherwise it's pretty much just free agent updates for the next month or so.

Elias For Only $1 Mil More Than Kubina. Thank You Mini-Babcock!

2006-07-02T01:35:00.000-04:00

The Eddie Griffin Files

I'm told from time to time that this is, for the most part, a sports humour sight of sorts. Sometimes that's intentional, sometimes my opinions are just so warped that it seems like a joke, and other times this stuff just writes itself. In that vein, here now is a direct quote about Eddie Griffin of the Minnesota Timberwolves from a fantasy sports website.

Details are surfacing about Eddie Griffin's March automobile accident near a convenient store parking lot, and they're not pretty. He was allegedly driving drunk and masturbating to a porn DVD when he struck a parked SUV. He was then caught on video tape staggering around the convenient store, telling people he was drunk and that he didn't want to go to jail. He also told the owner of the vehicle he hit that he would buy him a new car, as long as it wasn't a Bentley. Officers took him home, reportedly without issuing any sobriety tests and a civil suit has been filed against Griffin and the city of Minneapolis. Griffin has undergone alcohol abuse treatment in the past, so it will be interesting to see how this ends.

Free Agency Day One

Atlanta - Johan Hedberg. Gotta wonder which version of Hedberg is going to show up for the Thrashers, or even if we're going to really get a chance to find out depending on how far down the bench he slides.

Boston - Boston brought in 2 of the big 5 free agents from this summer, signing Zdeno Chara for 5 years and Marc Savard for 4. When Ottawa signed Wade Redden yesterday, you knew that meant the end of Chara's time in Ottawa. By the same token, Chara's signing in Boston would surely mean the end of Hal Gil's days there.

Calgary - The Flames signed defenseman Andrei Zyuzin. Somewhere I imagine his mom, and possibly a crazy uncle of his, cared to some extent.

Carolina - The Caine's let Gerber go, clearly putting their faith in Cam Ward going forward. They also found a backup who, thanks to scapegoating, came in at a much lower price than he should have, as John Grahame signed a 2 year deal. Grahame's time in Tampa was ended for certain when the Lightning traded Freddy Modin for Marc Denis the other day.

Columbus - The Jackets quietly signed Alex Svitov Anders Eriksson. Shhh.

Detroit - Resigned Chris Osgood to a two-year deal. I really hope Red Wings fans weren't getting to used to being in first place every year.

Los Angeles - The King of Kings is heading back to La La Land, as Rob Blake signed a two year deal in the city that Wayne made today. You have to wonder some times just how short fans memories can be.

Montreal - Signed D-man Francis Bouillon for 3 years. Sounds French enough to me.

New Jersey - BIG WINNERS! The Devils managed to resign one of the biggest names in the league, and the most coveted free agent of the year as Jamie Langenbrunner signed a multi-year contract. In 236 games with the Red and Black, Jamie has 140 points, along with 34 points in 43 playoff games. Oh yeah, and I think some Patrick Elias guy may have signed as well.

Minnesota - The carney. He's still not that good.

New York Rangers - Signed forward Matt Cullen, defensemen Karel Rachunek and Daniel Girardi and goaltender Stephen Valiquette. Oh those Rangers.

Ottawa Senators - How do you replace guys like Dominek Hasek and Zdeno Chara? By signing Martin Gerber and Joe Corvo, of course. Sens fans will hardly notice a difference there.

Phoenix - In the biggest surprise of day one, the Coyotes managed to steal Ed Jovanovski from the Canucks and his boyfriend in Florida. I think Canucks Oped put this one best - Jovo Link Here.

Toronto - Signed defenseman Hal Gil and Philip Kubina. Kubina signed for $5 million a year. For Kubina. And I'm not kidding. How am I not kidding? I must be kidding. But apparently I'm not. So the top 4 defensemen in Toronto now make 1/3 of the salary cap, and include the names Gill and Kubina. Seems like a great plan in the works. If only they had some good young defensemen just waiting on the Marlies, like maybe Ian White, Carlo Colaiacovo, Brendan Bell, Jay Harrison, Marc Moro or Andy Wozniewski, so that they didn't always have to make these ridiculous signings at the expense of both talent and player development. JF Jr's new name is "Mini-Babcock". When you hear me refer to any new mistakes by Mini-Babcock from now on, it means JF Jr.

Tampa Bay - Remember when people used to try to pretend that Andy Delmore was decent? Good times.

Vancouver - Willie Mitchel. He's better than Baumgartner. Just need to find suitable replacements for the other 17 defensemen they lost now.

Notes of Note Returns

2006-07-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

Notes of Note

This was an incredibly busy day in sports, at least as far as the standards of June 30th would suggest. It's also late and way too humid here in Washington, so I'm dead tired, which can only mean one thing. It's time for the long-awaited return of the great nation of Hungary's favourite new feature: Notes of Note.

Rucchining Ohio's Capital

So it seems the Lightning have fully dropped the scapegoat label on their goaltenders for last seasons questionable play, despite how obvious the coaching issues became come playoff time (you may recall Tort's being put on notice by me back in April). Both Grahame and Burke were shown the door for next season, opening the door for the to send former Rucchin of the Year turned semi-respectable goal scorer turned ineffective Rucchin, Freddy Modin, to Ohio's capital for Mark Denis. Denis appeared to be one of the goalies who was greatly effected by the reduction in pad size as he put up his worst numbers last year. For me, the key to this deal is that the Jackets also pick up 32 year old rookie goaltender Fredrick Norrena, who has owned both the Finnish and Swedish Elite Leagues, along with a couple of Olympic shutouts and a Bronze at the Worlds. Seems almost like the Lightning would have been better off with him in net, instead of serving as Pascal Leclaire's backup in Columbus (for now. there's no way this guy isn't the number one by December). But when you put so much effort into making a scapegoat, then you have to put as much effort into looking like you replace them, and a rookie goalie doesn't accomplish that. Front office politics, you gotta love it.

And Swirsky Dies A Little More Inside

Apparently part of the new GM's plan in Toronto is to make the games better by taking away the things that got Chuck Swirsky to his utmost annoying levels in the past. First, and most devastatingly he lost all his lall when Boner was jerked out of town. Now the Raptors have sent his other love child, Charlie Villanueva, off to Milwaukee in exchange for TJ Ford and a cash donation to the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. Personally I'm both surprised that they were still able to get that much value for Chucky, and at the same time I think they should have been able to get more. The problem is, the media seemed to decide out of no where last month that Villa had topped out, and would not see any improvement in his game going forward. A 14 point wing-man forever. I really don't buy that. He came along wonderfully for the Raptors, and that 48 point game he had against the Bucks showed some signs of real potential for the future. I'm really not sure sometimes how the media just decides the way things are (Pronger's "domination" comes to mind), but it happened in this case, and now Villa's on his way out.

TJ Ford, however, is a decent point guard, who showed promise of being one of the greats before that slight mishap (ie. broken spine) caused him to miss an entire season. When he came back last season he put up decent numbers (12.2 points and 6.6 assists), and looked to have recovered his strength playing 35.5 minutes per game. The Raptors did have too many forwards in the lineup after drafting the Italian Bargain this week, so moving one for a point guard was definitely a need. TJ is by no means a bad player, but the problem I have is that if the Brevin rumours were true, they have effectively gone from Knight and Villanueva to Ford and Italian Bargain. Seems like a downgrade in both cases to me, especially when you figure in Bargain plays Bosh's position while Chucky doesn't have to. It's almost like Colangelo is just trying to get rid of all of Babcocks players to distance the team from his regime. This would all make a lot more sense if there was a Bosh and Graham for Iverson and Delambert deal in the works. Maybe I'll have to start that rumour and get the ball underway to making that trade happen.

Looking Forward to Pronger???

That's right, I'm as stunned as you - I'm actually looking forward to something Pronger related. Apparently on Tuesday he's going to "address the media" about certain rumours that are flying about surrounding his request for a trade out of Edmonton. This suggests to me that the rumours are true - he really did knock up that hot reporter, and his wife really does want to get as far away from her as possible. If it wasn't actually the case, then I'm sure he wouldn't bother to take the time to formally address it and direct attention elsewhere. The lady doth protest too much, methinks, as they say. He really is getting off easy (no pun intended), though, if you think about it. It's one thing to be forgiven for cheating, but I wish I was rich enough to be able to get away with actually impregnating another woman. That's not something that can just be forgotten with space and time. It's a kid. It's always there. Mrs. Pronger must really love the money that the media has earned for them. Such a classy family those Prongers are.

End of an Era

The Leafs fixed two of their glaring problems today, buying out one of their few real leaders in the locker room, and cutting loose a solid, but aging, goaltender in favour of an awkward, but young, replacement who can be described best as Tellqvist with a varying degree of less talent. It's not that Belfour and Domi are great players anymore (or ever in one case), but the reasoning for their moves are just baffling. Cut those two because they dont fit with the teams long term plans, but then bring back 40 year old Gary Roberts. Where's the explanation for that one? Does it mean that Nieuwendyk will have to come back as well? But now all the front office needs to do is sign Berg and Belak to long term deals to solidify their spot as least frustrating team to cheer for ever!

Germany Germany

In the futbal today, Germany took down Argentina in a shoot out, much to the disdain of the Argentinians who apparently felt they won the game still despite the fact that they didn't outscore the other team. Argentina is so bad to watch. So many dives. So much whining. Even for soccer it's just gross. Then the "fight" at the end was just ridiculous. For those of you out there who were cheering against Germany, here's a link to make you feel better. Something that will sadden every German that ever lived. Germany Link.

Willy Mo

I know this is off topic, but how friggin cool would this be - Cool Link.

Chara, Lidstrom and Some Twins

First off, before Chara and Lidstrom call a press conference to deny rumours about them hooking up with some tall blond twins from Sweden, the twins in question are the Sedin Brothers. The bros were each signed to 3 year $3.875 million per year contracts today after career years that saw them score 75/71 points last year, bringing their 400/397 game career points totals to 221/222 points. In other free agent news, Pisani resigned for $8 million over 4 years, while Lidstrom signed a two year deal worth $15.2 million. On the other hand, Zdeno Chara rejected the Senators last offer and will be testing the waters of free agency in July. With the money that Pronger, Lidstrom and McCabe are commanding, you have to think his price tag will be at least $6 million a year, although in my mind I'd probably still have him slightly under $4 million. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm guessing it'll be a lot closer to his price tag than mine. Now, what are the odds that he doesn't end up going to the Rangers somehow?

All Free Agent Team

Speaking of inflated values, I leave you now with my list of the top 6 free agents this summer positionally. If your team wants to end up with any of them, they better be willing to pay through the nose, because the quality drops off fairly quickly.

C - Marc Savard - rumours have him heading back to Calgary to center a line with Tanguay and Iginla Just imagine the level to which his Rucchining would rise in that situation. Easily 30 goals and 100 points in store for him there
W - Patrick Elias - Turned the Devils entire season around upon his return, and owned the first round of the playoffs. Easily the most talented free agent of the summer.
W - Brendan Shanahan - He may be getting long in the tooth, but he had a rejuvenation last season, finishing with 81 points in 82 games.
D - Ed Jovanovski - Keenan was looking to bring him back to Florida. With his best friend Todd just acquired by the Panthers in a trade, the odds of his landing back in the sunshine state greatly improved.
D - Zdeno Chara - Please let the Leafs sign him instead of trading for Pronger. Please let the Leafs sign him instead of trading for Pronger...
G - Manny Legace - this guy should have been a started in the NHL for the past few years. His scapegoating in the playoffs should mean more interest in his services from other teams than from the Wings. This is good news for all of you out there who hate the Wings, as their decade and a half of domination in the West could be coming to an end.

Are We There Yet?

2006-06-30T10:14:00.000-04:00

This one is for all of you out there, like me, who are already counting down the days until "it" is over. T minus 9 days, I believe.

Draft Recap

2006-06-29T01:22:00.000-04:00

Today was what should have been a big day in Toronto sports, as for the first time ever the Raptors had the first overall pick in the draft. Going into the draft, however, the only positive note I could come up with was, "well, at least its not 2000". Outside of that, there is no worse year to waste having the first overall pick in. Or any pick for that matter, as the Phoenix Suns clearly showed by giving away not one, but 2 picks for absolutely nothing. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but one of their "trades" on the night was as follows:

to boston:
21st pick (rajon rondo)
brian grant

to phoenix:
paid contract of brian grant (in other words, nothing)

They followed that up by selling their other pick to Portland. You can't help but respect that blatant and open disrespect for the talent in the 2006 NBA draft. And I can't help but agree with their assessment.

That's why when I heard rumours about the Raptors possibly trading the first overall pick and Alvin Williams for Brevin Knight and a second round pick, I couldn't believe the Raptors luck. When the rumour then turned into the third overall pick instead of a second round pick I was floored. There is no one in the draft that can have an impact like Knight is capable of - that being 8 assists per game and one of the best assist to turn over ratios around. Had they made this trade, their starting line could have been Knight, MoPe, Chuck, Bosh and the big man they stole in exchange for Matt Bonner. In the East, that's all you need to easily make the playoffs.

Apparently, though, that ship has sailed as the Rap's showed up at the draft and took the next great European disaster with the number one pick. At least Aldridge could, theoretically, eventually amount to something. This Italian Bargain is probably the 5th best Power Forward in the draft, and just has every sign of your typical draft day bust - as seen in this top twenty list which was assembled by Sports Illustrated before the draft - Top 20 NBA Draft Busts. Of note in the list are the entire 2000 first round, as well as former-Raptor (praise the lord!) Half-a Man Araujo rounding out the list at number 20 - getting the nod over fellow whitey's Darko and Big Country. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if the entire 2006 draft didn't knock him off the list in time, with the Italian Bargain leading the way. I just hope that the Knight rumours weren't true, and that the Raptors aren't forever cursed with Babcocky GM'ing. It's bad enough that the Leafs seem to be these days.

Speaking of which, it looks like McCabe finally signed the incomprehensible 69.3 billion dollar a year contract that the Leafs offered him. I may have stood up for McCabe over and over last season, but not to the point of condoning what they're wasting on him long term. And apparently his contract has a no buy out and no trade clause, somehow, so they're in it for the long run with him. 1/8th of every seasons salary cap will be pure McCabe for years to come. Guaranteed. At least this should put the Kaberle, Steen and a draft pick for the Super Hero of all Super Heros rumour to an end. And that means one less recurring nightmare for me. As these days in Toronto have been going, I'll certainly take it.

By the way, a few draft questions before i go: how do you take that guy first overall, and not end up with the freakiest looking guy in the draft? Does anyone in this draft other than Thomas have a chance at being a superstar? And if so, how did he go at #4? How will PJ Tucker do in the NBDL? Why did Philly pay for Edin? How badly is the Italian Bargain going to soccer things up in Toronto? And if you don't know what that last part means, I'm sure your best guess will do.

Oh, and and one last thing: can someone find out for me if this is, in fact, real - Discovery Channel Link

Joe Mikulik: A God Amongst... Men?

2006-06-26T23:21:00.000-04:00

I sat down to write my first post in a month today and I found myself too overwhelmed with what to write about. So much happened in the last month, that there is just no way to jump into it without leaving something key out. Picking where to start was just too much of a challenge for me to handle: Carolina winning the Cup; How happy I was not to see Pronger win the MVP; How I couldn't even watch game seven for fear of the later occurring; Jagr's surprise award pickup; Jack Adams actually going where it was deserved; Soccer... So much diving... The penalty kick in the Australia game today, and how I've given up on soccer forever on account of it... More diving... Ways to fix soccer.... soccer soccer soccer... And how exactly does rolling around on the ground holding your face help a sore leg anyway?; David Wright making me look like a genius for taking him 3rd overall in my fantasy draft over Teixara, despite what everyone said at the time; Josh Towers; Tiger Woods missing the cut all three times I've picked him for my fantasy golf team; The Bertuzzi/Luongo trade; the Tanguay/Leopold trade; the Andre "Don't Call Me Jim Carey" Raycroft disaster in Toronto; the unbelievably frightening Pronger for Kaberle, Steen and a Draft Pick rumours that haunt my dreams; Shaq winning without Kobe; Wade winning without Shaq, ha; Brevin Knight for Alvin Williams and the first round pick rumours; The Red Rockets exodus, and it's effect on the psyche of Chuck Swirsky; The list just goes on and on and I had no idea where to start. And then I saw it: Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Mikulik of the Single A Asheville Tourists.

This just might be the best over-reaction, under-performing swan dive that you will ever see, assuming that you never played campus rec ball hockey on my team back in "the Ross days". And then it just keeps going and going and going. I'm not even sure I could say something to make this any funnier than it is on it's own. Just sit back and enjoy... and then explain to me what exactly he's doing with the water at the end there? It's like he's ruining his own sand castle that he got down on his hands and knees to make. He seriously got down on his hands and knees and piled dirt up over the plate. That is what a grown man did.

If I was an owner of a AA team, or even a Major League team for that matter, I would bring this guy in for an interview for a managing job. Not to hire him, but more like in the movie Fun With Dick and Jane, where Dick is out looking for a new job and they take him into the office because they all wanted to meet the guy that made such an ass of himself on national TV. Because this guy has guaranteed now that this is all he'll ever be. A footnote in the funny pages, and never, ever a coach again outside of the single A club he's temporarily with. I sure hope that sand castle was worth it.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say for today. Feel free to pick through the list above, or suggest anything else to me that happened in that last month that you'd like my take on. I'm open to any and all ideas right now. And with that, I'll leave you with this video that was sent to me by my buddy goober. It's a compilation of hockey goals from all over the world and all levels of play really. It calls itself a top ten, but there are a lot more goals thrown in there, and it is actually one of the better pieces I've seen. Of note are a Corey Perry goal (#4) in London, that by the looks of it I'm probably the only person out there who hasn't seen it. It's too much. Also, goal #3 is almost like out of a Mighty Ducks movie. The shot at the end where it kind of looks like the whole other team is just chasing after him and no one else is there has the same kind of fake movie feel to it. Only apparently it can really happen, so maybe the hockey scenes in those movies weren't as disturbingly unrealistic as they seemed. Maybe Iceland really is a hockey power that everyone should be scared of. Only time will tell, I suppose. Until then, just enjoy the footage, get your suggestions in, and I'm going back to bed. Goodnight everybody.

Thank you

2006-06-24T23:12:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that sent their best wishes this past month. Once I get the strength up to write, the posts will start up again and soon enough I'm sure I'll be annoying you all with my illogical garbage once more.

Until then, if you have a dire need for illogical garbage I hear the World Cup is going on. I'm sure you can catch a game or two of that from your local television provider. Enjoy, and thanks again for your thoughts and wishes. They all meant something to me.

Peace,

KM.

The Ringer

2006-05-19T02:42:00.000-04:00

An LA of a Night

I don't know about you, but my TV was filled with Los Angelas sports tonight. The first game involved the Phoenix Suns guaranteeing themselves 14 games against Los Angelas teams in this years playoffs by failing to get anything going all night. That may sound like an unfair thing to say about a team that scored 106 points, but if you watched the game you know what i mean. 80% of the Suns points came at times where they weren't in striking distance of the Clippers. If they got within 9 points, Elton Brand just threw down 6 straight points and so on. That's pretty much how the entire game felt. The Suns were never in this one, and they only got 106 points because the Clippers decided they were allowed to. Not the kind of performance that they'll need to bring in game 7 if we're going to get the Nash Dirk semi-final battle that we're all hoping for. I've already lost all hope of any NHL series that I was hoping for, don't take this one away from me now for the sake of Sam Cassel. Dude looks like a frikkin alien, I know that I'm not the only one tired of looking at him by this point.

In the second game, the Blue Jays were taking on the Los Angelas Angels of Anaheim to end the night. The Jays looked down and out in this one, tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 9th, and the Angels with a runner on first and third with no one out. Instead Scott Downs came in and got Kennedy to fly out to left, followed by Frasor getting Cabrera to pop out to first. After then intentionally walking Vlad, Frasor struck out Tim Salmon looking to end the inning. The Blue Jays then went on to score 4 runs in the top of the tenth to take the matchup 8-4.

With that win the Blue Jays have won 6 of their last 8 games to move to 23-17 on the season. This is the kind of improvement those of us tired of the Red Sox/Yankees dominance were hoping to see this season. Just 40 games in, and the Jays are already 6 games over .500, a mark they never reached through all 162 games last year. Their success lately also puts them just a half game back of the Yankees, and only 1 game off of first place Boston. To be in that position despite early season pitching struggles with both injuries and Towers (who is 1-7 with an ERA of about a billion) bodes well for the rest of the season. In the short run, however, they've called up Ty Taubenheim to make his major league debut on Saturday at Coors Field. Not the best park to make your debut in, but the ball hasn't been flying out of there as much as in the past, so here's hoping for the best. Chacin's absence is a hole they'll need a lot of help to fill. If all goes well, when Chacin comes back maybe a replacement for Towers will finally be found. Hopefully the team will also finally realize they need one.

Dan Cloutier: An Alanah History

Sports Guy North prides itself on being accurate in it's reporting. It was pointed out to us that there may have been a few errors in our in depth report on the life and times of Dan Cloutier. For the sake of accuracy, those errors are listed as follows:

LeMar was not Daniel Cloutiers middle name.
Daniel was not 6 years old at birth.
Some people know that Mont-Laurier exists. I assume Daniel is one of them.
Cloutiers comparisons had nothing to do with his relative height compared to me. In fact in his early years his style of play did earn him the comparisons. It also helped earn him a Memorial Cup, something that even the best of teams would require a high calibre CHL goaltender for.
Cloutiers selection at the end of the first round, while surprising, was not in the same realm of unbelievability as Araujo's early first round selection. Cloutier was a highly touted goaltender, and was ranked higher than Theodore in most scouting reports at the time. His career has seen him as the number one goalie in Vancouver for a few years now. Halfa-man, on the other hand, wasn't even supposed to be taken in the first round, and will never make a significant contribution to any NBA team.
While it may be said that he lacks focus, Daniel has the size, speed and competitive nature to be successful in the NHL.
Cloutier did not purposely let Potvin and the Kings catch up in the standings, they accomplished that feat on their own. Trading Felix was the real issue, and that had nothing to do with Cloots.
I'm fairly certain Daniel did not purposely get in the way of Niedermayer. His injury hurt the Canucks chances this year, as over the previous 4 regular seasons Dan's numbers consistently improved, likely more so than anyone else in the league.
Finally, the chosen career highlights may not have portrayed Clootier as accurately as could have been. A different list of career highlites are as follows:

-Named to Ontario Hockey League All-Star Second Team, 1995-96.
-Winner, Dave Pinkney Trophy, 1995-96.
-Named to American Hockey League All-Rookie Team, 1996-97.
-Rated New York Rangers' top prospect, The Sports Forecaster 1997-98.
-Rated New York Rangers' top prospect, The Hockey News 1998-99 Yearbook.
-Named National Hockey League Player of the Week, March 18, 2002.
-Named National Hockey League Player of the Week, February 17, 2003.

Hopefully these errors and omissions won't alter your view on our quality media outlet in the future. We will continue to do our best going forward to prevent such errors, and correct them as they occur. Thank you for your understanding.

Rawk the Bawl Finals

It's been about ten days since I remembered this existed, so I guess that means that it's time to move our Rawk the Bawl competition onto the much anticipated finals. The semi-finals were not as close as the previous round, as Run DMC destroyed Ron Artest, and Redman easily took down D12 (finally).This means that the NBA finals, hip hop style, go down as follows:

(3) New Jersey Redman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redman - How high indeed. Redman faced down the odds and took out powerhouses Kanye West and D12 to squeak New Jersey in the the finals. Red will be in tough in the finals, though, going up against the grand-daddies of Rap. It'll take a lot of magic brownies to get high enough to get over this hurdle.

(7) LA Lakers Run DMC - http://pages.sbcglobal.net/tmoren/rundmc/ - For the last time, AGAIN, yes I know that Run DMC isn't from LA. As I said THRICE already, since the Lakers were unable to buy up aging talent to help Kobe this year, I thought I would do it for them in this medium. Lakers fans need some sort of consolation this year, and they seem to be easily taking steps towards it behind the power of old skool. Redman should be the toughest competition so far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Run walk away with this competition. Agree or disagree as you will, either way get your votes in for Rawk the Bawl's champion today.

Dan Cloutier: A People's History

2006-05-18T00:42:00.000-04:00

Cloots was born Danielle LeMar Cloutier (pronounced KLOO-tee-YAY) on April 22, 1982. He was 6 years old at time of birth. LeMar was born in Mont-Laurier, Quebec, a town known for not being known by anyone. In his time there, he managed to grow nearly as tall as me, which helped to garner early comparisons to a young Ron Hextall. Apparently his combative, fiery nature may have added to the illusions, as can be seen in the video at the end of this post.

Always one to defy all odds, despite mediocre numbers in being carried by a strong team to the Memorial Cup, Cloutier was the surprising Halfa-man Araujo pick of the first round of the 1994 NHL entry draft, taken 26th overall by the New York Rangers. His potential was seen by the Rangers as being greater than Jose Theodore, Patrick Elias, Milan Hejduk and Daniel Alfredson, who were all still available at the time of his choice. Even before his career started, Cloots was already more successful than 4 potential Hall of Famers. A sure sign of things to come.

As his career got underway, a few roadblocks stood in the way. Most notably were his lack of focus, inability to find a puck in crowds, and his lack of winning games. After being traded from the Rangers to the Lightning, the Sports Forecaster in 2000 had this to say about LeMar:

"Counted upon as an emerging star and No. 1 netminder via the Rangers, Cloutier's first year in Tampa as the go-to guy was good at first but miserable shortly thereafter. So miserable that the Lightning dealt for another "goalie of the future" when they acquired Kevin Weekes from the Islanders during the past summer. While the Lightning's defensive shortcomings didn't help his cause, Cloutier's .885 save percentage made matters even worse. A spirited and fiery competitor, his humbling 1999-2000 season may help in the long run. Too early in his career to count him down and out, but he'll now have to work his way back up as the No. 1 man, a job Weekes also has his eyes set on. A warrior, Cloutier is destined to a nice future nonetheless."

And it certainly was too early to count him down and out. Despite following the season described above with a 3-13 start and a 3.52 GAA, his career wasn't headed down the road to obscurity as many with better numbers had before him. Despite the fact that he no longer fit into the Lightning plans, nor did he have any apparent trade value, Cloots stood up against the odds again. Against all odds and logic, the Vancouver Canucks saw enough value in his less than mediocre numbers to trade both a top defenseman (who would go on to play nearly 30 minutes a game with the Islanders) as well as a second round draft pick for his services.

Always the selfless hero, Cloots inclusion in the Canucks ranks allowed them to move Felix Potvin, something that gave a new life to his career. Wanting to see Felix get back on his feet in LA, Cloutier laid the forces down, allowing Potvin to miraculously catch the Canucks in the standings by going 13-5-5 compared to cloutiers sub-.500 record. As a result, the Canucks had to face the eventual Cup winning Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs A classy move from a classy guy who just wanted to see his former teammate succeed.

In his first 4 seasons in Vancouver, Cloutiers production steadily increased along with the talent of the team in front of him. His GAA consistently decreased from 2.43 to 2.27, and his save % steadily increased from .894 to .914. At the same time, a young Alex Auld was looking good in starts with the Canucks, putting up a save % in the .930's and a GAA under 2.00 in limited play. Despite failed playoffs after failed playoffs under Cloutiers distracted watch, the Canucks brass still had faith in Cloots and refused to look elsewhere for help. Showing yet again that he's always the team player, after starting the 2005 season with a 3.17 GAA and .892 save %, Cloutier knew the time was right for Auldy to get his chance in the NHL. Knowing that the team would never give up on him, for no discernible reason, Cloutier did the only thing he could, and on November 20th he purposely got in Rob Niedermayers way, partially-tearing his ACL. Despite the fact that a partial-tear need not end someone's season, Dan elected for surgery, thus paving the way for Alex's emergence as a bonefide #1 goaltender.

Career Highlites

1999-2000 - Career High for Separate Injuries in one season: Strained Groin Nov, Strained Groin Feb, Strained Neck Mar, Strained MCL Mar
1999-2000 - Suspended 4 games for always classy move of purposely kicking someone in the head
2000-2001 - Got losing down to such an art that he managed to lose a game without facing a single shot. Seriously, it was Oct 18 against Minnesota. Look it up if you don't believe me.
2000-2001 - Furthered Kevin Weekes and Felix Potvin's Careers
2001-2002 - Furthered Niklas Lidstroms Career
2002-2003 - Allowed Joe Sakic's 500th career goal
2005-2006 - Furthered Alex Auld's Career
2005-2006 - Wasn't responsible for either the Devils or the Sharks elimination from the playoffs, making him relatively harmless enough now to have his own post on SGN.

Anchorman (A Tribute)

2006-05-17T00:49:00.000-04:00

You're so wise. You're like a miniature Buddha, covered with hair

This one goes out to Rasheed Wallace, and no it's not just a commentary on that ever expanding monk-like bald spot that's taking over his head. No, this one goes out to his always wise words. After guaranteeing a victory in game four, and having his Pistons come up short 74-72, a wise man knows better than to admit defeat and try to regroup. No no, a true wise man looks within himself and comes up with something profound to ridicule the people who just handed them their pants. Something like:

"The sun shines on a dog's ass every once in a while, doesn't it?... I ain't worried about these cats, there's no way in hell they beat us in a series."

Graceful in defeat as always, and certainly smart in setting more fire to spark a team that's already on a roll. Well done big man.

That's Science

What makes this somewhat eerie is what a blogger at Undisclosed Location wrote about Cleveland sports back in 2004:

"Cleveland tops the list of the 15 most tortured sports cities, and Graham Hays of ESPN2 predicts that our torture will continue for the next 100 years. Sad part is, with all that I've seen in Cleveland sports some of these ridiculous scenarios he describes could actually happen to some degree. We were already screwed over by Boozer this year, who decided to renig on his verbal agreement and bolt to the Utah Jazz (He did it all for the money. There is no other explanation. How do they have a better shot of winning than us with LeBron and Z?).
Despite all the crushing disappointments, I have faith that someday it'll turn around for this city. The sun shines on a dog's ass every once and a while doesn't it?"

So, either 'Sheed is a Undisclosed Location reader with a long long memory, or maybe the Cleveland prophecies are coming true. Maybe this one game, this one time defeat of a "guaransheed" will be the only sunshine on the dogs ass that is the Forest City, and they are still in for another 100 years of torture. I guess only the next century will tell, but hey, that's science.

Excuse me... is that 'sex panther' you're wearing?

No, it's not sex panther, but it is as close as you can get - Chacin! I found it really hard to believe that a cologne would be named after one of the ugliest men in sports who's best known for pitching in sun glasses whether he's indoors or in a thunder storm. I know that the idea come from a recurring skit on Toronto sports radio station FAN 590, and that at the June 27th game 10,000 fans will receive a sample of "Chacin Cologne", but is it actually going to be something that's sold in stores? It's pretty funny as a one time gag, and great that Chacin has enough sense of humour to go along with it, but if Leslie Cosmetics are actually planning on going forward with this in sales then someone there really has no understanding of either baseball fans, or women. There is nothing that makes sense about this product.

I'm in a glass case of emotion

I knew the Devil's were finished after that 20 second complete destruction early in the series, but I really didn't see the Sharks coming apart the way that they have. 3 straight losses to the lowly and hated Oilers, without even putting up anything that resembles a fight. It's like an annual ritual in the NHL now - all the Western Conference teams lay down to let a far inferior Alberta team waltz into the finals. I'm really getting that feeling now that God has taken up a Spring residence in the Princess Province, because nothing else makes sense at this point. Hopefully Joey and the Rucchin have enough pentagrams in their pockets to take on the big man in the next two matches. Dropping a series to a questionable playoff team after having a 2-0 lead is a horrible way to end one of the best second halves in history, and certainly no way for Joe to have to end one of the best seasons I've seen. They have to do something different to make that happen, though, as Joe said:

"We didn't put up too big of a fight in the last two games. I don't know what you've got to do, but just grab whatever confidence you can get and just go out and play the game of your life."

You know, times are changing. Ladies can do stuff now and you're going to learn how to deal with it.

They sure can, and even better than the rest of us, as evidenced by the nominees in my Miss Sports Blogger 2006 contest. Any one of them could easily write me under the table, and I'm by far the best male sports blogger out there. Hands down even. So that speaks volumes for all of these women. In the end, though, there could only be one winner, and your votes have spoken.

Second Runner Up (and lucky that I didn't pull her from contention after the last round of the playoffs), with 23% of the vote was Carolina Hurricaines-backer Acid Queen over at Sweet Tea, Barbeque and Bodychecks. At least the Hurricaines didn't manage to steal everything this week.

First Runner Up, with 27% of the vote was Christy (feel better and entertain us again soon!) Hammond over at Behind the Jersey. She may be the one person out there that was hurt more by the Red Wings first round shut down than I was. Instead of calling it the consolation prize, we'll say it's the Presidents Trophy. Wings fans are used to settling for that booby prize by now.

Finally, your winner of the 2006 Miss Sports Blogger contest, receiving 41% of the vote, was Alanah from Vancouver Canucks Op Ed fame. As you all wish, she is now Miss Sports Guy North (Jeff - please note that it's Miss not Mrs). We all know that in any good relationship it's the woman who's really in control, so along with the prestigious title, Miss SGN will get to decide what I post once a week until the end of the NHL and NBA playoffs, which should be 6 weeks. She can decide whatever freedoms i will or wont have with her themes, supply pictures, tell me to do the whole thing talking about how great her and the Canucks are, whatever she wants. The sky is the limit, Miss SGN, you've earned it!

NHL NBA First Round Summary Points

2006-05-16T02:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of post lately, but i got really sick the last few days. I haven't even left my bed for a little while. I think I've worked up enough strength, though, to put something together again for my loyal readers. Hopefully it'll make a little more sense than that last Colevelando Cavalanche post, but I make no promises. Anyway, here is my attempt at summarizing the playoffs so far for all 32 teams that made an appearance. I'll start tonight with the 16 first round losers and continue once the second rounds are completed. I thought I could handle it all, but sitting up that long apparently isn't going to happen.

New York Rangers - Jaromir Jagr's selfish and pathetic attempt at being a goon cost him his shoulder and his team their best chance at winning a playoff series in a long time.

Memphis Grizzlies - Oh.... COVER Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitski... we thought you said let them do every single thing that they want to. Our bad.

Denver Nuggets - We got the Clippers in the first round? Sweet, that means we don't have to try. I mean, it's just the Clippers, right?

Milwaukee Bucks - Holy crap, we scored 124 points in a game against the Pistons. Moral victories count too, right?

Nashville Preditors - Take one team whose success relies entirely on a goalie, add to that a series against the hottest team in the league and a pinch of an injury to said goalie, and you have the recipe for a disastrous end to a break out season.

Dallas Stars - Well, as long as the old Jose Theodore doesn't show up and steal 3 overtimes, we should be fine.

Tampa Bay Lightning - three goals on four shots!

Philadelphia Flyers - Buffalo scored 27 goals on us? That will make this years annual using a goalie as a scapegoat much easier than normal!

Montreal Canadiens - Their playoffs turned around in the blink of an eye, so to speak.

Detroit Red Wings - It's not bad enough that they found a way to annoyingly lose to the Oilers, but the Canadian dollar went up so much in the past little while that I actually lost $32 when my tickets were refunded to my account. Punks.

Washington Wizzards - Maybe Lebron does finally have what it takes. No answer for that in DC.

Indiana Pacers - We traded Ron for what now?

Chicago Bulls - Shaq and Wade vs Hinrich and Chandler. That's the first round of the NBA playoffs for ya.

Sacremento Kings - When we brought in Ron, we didn't factor on having to play the Spurs so early in the playoffs. We thought if we did, though, we'd at least get 3 games out of him before he had to elbow Manu Ginobli in the face. We did know he'd get there eventually, though, how could he not?

Calgary Flames - Phew, that was a close one. I love you, Ilya, you are my hero!

LA Lakers - A 3-1 lead and the only guy who can cover Kobe suspended. Kobe can even start playing a little bit selfishly, and we'll still be alright, right? Right!?!?!?!

On a somewhat related note, i was watching the Cavs game tonight and all I could think was that LeBron doesn't actually quite have enough yet. They may have won this game, but taking a low percentage, long shot with 9 seconds left, and 5 on the shot clock in a one point lead wasn't the best move. Somehow this series is tied at 2, and while I hope the Cavs can pull it out, even after winning 2 straight I wouldn't be putting my money on them.

National Basketball Hockey Association League Playoff Update

2006-05-13T04:17:00.000-04:00

I've been a little bit out of it this week, between getting really sick and failing miserably at working towards a deadline, so I may have missed a few things, and gotten confused many times over. Even in my weakened, confused and misinformed state, however, I still feel it's my duty to explain my views on this weeks events, no matter how out of touch they may be. Hey, maybe I do have a future in sports broadcasting after all.

NFL Expansion Announced for Toronto

In an unexpected turn of events, it appears as though the National Football League announced an expansion franchise to begin playing in Toronto for the 2007 season. Despite claims that the NFL had no plans to expand to Toronto in the near future, it was announced this week that the Toronto Football Club, or FC for short, would start play next year. I had heard rumours of maybe a Major League Soccer team coming to Toronto, but a football team is so much better. 2007 can't come soon enough now!

NBA Pre Playoff Wrap-Up

The NBA playoffs finally got underway this week after a 2 week break which followed the regular season. As expected, and as is customary in the NBA, the 8 teams I said would be around at the start of the playoffs are the 8 teams that are there. Despite this fact, people all over the place were still calling the pre-playoffs the best first round in NBA history. Best ever, and it still resulted in the 8 obvious winners pulling off their series. That's the NBA for you.

The Second Rounds

Western Conferences

Detroit Mighty Duckstons vs Colevelando Cavalanche

Big Ben Ilya has been huge in this series, absolutely closing the door on the Cavalanche. Definitely the most entertaining big man in the game, he never ceases to entertain, and has easily carried half of the team on a sweep to the semi-finals, with the other half sure to follow soon. This series was just over before is started, and currently sits at 6-0.

Miami Sharks vs New Jersey Oilers

With the big man and his little buddy tearing up the league, most people didn't give the NJ Oilers a chance against Shaq Thornton and Dwayne Cheechoo. Those people clearly underestimated the speed of Pisani Kidd and company, as well as the resurgence of once washed-up power forward Sergeince Cartersonov, as they have roared back to make this a series at 4-3. Its a good start if they want to be able to have the fan base to pay for their new $78 billion arena in Brooklyn.

Eastern Conferences

Carizona Sunicaines vs Los Angelas New jersey Metro Clipvels

This one's ugly. Carizona came in as the higher seeds, but still no one respected how they got their, with most people calling the underdogs to win easily. With this series sitting now 5-1 for the favourites, it's easy to see just how wrong we all were. And it's sickening. Actually, I realize now I'm still not ready to talk about this one. It's really just not ever going to happen. I blame that game for being the reason I got so sick. My body just refused to go on after that absolute and disgusting phoning it in. If ever there was a reason to fire a coach that shouldn't really be fired, that game was it.

San Ottawa Senaspurs vs Dallalo Sabricks

The preseason favourite in most peoples books, versus the well rounded team that doesn't get the respect it deserves. If it weren't for Manuartin Ginoblavlat being on the SOS they would be a lot easier to watch, but just one jackass is enough to destroy even the best played games for me. Surprisingly, this series now sits at 4-2 in favour of the team no one gave a chance to win. Once they got 113 points and 7 goals against the supposed best teams in the league, however, all bets were out the window. Look (and pray) for the underdogs to come out on top in this one. The less Ginoblavat I have to watch, the healthier I'll be. And Right now, all I can think about is feeling better again, so I'll take all the help I can get.

Worst Notes of Note Ever

2006-05-11T02:27:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, but it will only continue for another day. My Friday deadline will have passed soon enough, and I'll be able to find the time again to properly update you on the world of sports. It's not Friday yet, though, so I have been busy, and suddenly it's 2:30 in the morning. It's late and I'm tired, so you all know what that means by now. It's time for the great nation of Hungary's favourite new feature: Notes of Note. Sadly, however, it won't resemble what you're familiar with. I have no time to elaborate, so it's all point form all the time today, baby!

- I'm sitting here waiting for triple overtime, and I'm loving it. You all have to admit, this game is WAY more entertaining than any Calgary Edmonton game would have been.

- Vesa Toskola has officially become my favourite player right now. I can't even begin to say enough great things about his game, not to mention how entertaining he is off the ice. The league needs a player like this right now, he'll work wonders for them.

- Buffalo up 3-0. Who could have possibly predicted that they'd win the series? Oh wait, that's right, I did.

- Has Daniel Briere always been this good? He was never bad, but he also wasn't ever an elite player. There's no other way to describe him this year, though.

- You'll notice as I'm writing here that there is a certain series I'm not mentioning. My heart, just like a certain teams game, just hasn't recovered from the Game 2 mental lapses yet. Neither of those things likely ever will.

- Lupul had 4 goals in one game to secure a 4-3 overtime win. That's huge. Absolutely huge. I know you're probably sick of people mentioning it by now, but I can't underestimate huge huge and historic that performance was. Oh sure, 4 out of 4 of the goals were either flukes of nice set ups by someone else that my mom could have put in the net, but come on, 4 of them went in. That must mean that he's a superstar, right?

- The longer and longer the playoffs go, the less and less Jonathan Cheechoo is looking like a Rucchin, and the more and more he is looking like a marginal player just trying to stay up with a team by hitting everything that moves for no reason and skating all over the place without a set position. But damn he's really trying his little heart out, you have to respect that.

- Horcoff just scored to keep every series from going to 3-0. They deserved this game, the Sharks barely showed up and just relied on Toskala the entire time.

- The footage of the Oilers cheering and congratulating each other in the hallway on the way to the dressing room is one of the best shots of team elation that I've ever seen. Quality shot.

- Why oh why oh why are the Blue Jays still committed to keeping Josh Towers in the starting lineup? They are far and away the division leaders without him, but throw in his 0-7 record and they are 2 games back. Coaching and office moves on Toronto will never cease to boggle the mind it seems.

- It looks like the Toronto MLS franchise is going to be called Inter Toronto. That's awful. Why did they switch over to European names in that league a couple years ago? Doesn't anyone else miss the New York New Jersey Metro Stars? There is nothing wrong with bringing back the Toronto Blizzard name, and everything wrong with Inter Toronto. Of course, this is the city with great team names like the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays, and a basketball team named after a character in a movie that was popular at the time, so I guess it's fitting. Luckily it's just the MLS anyway, so no one will ever notice.

- Well, that's it for me tonight as my week of punishment continues. So that I don't feel like I'm the only one suffering, here is a clip to let me know some others are in pain too. Good night everybody!

R.I.P.

2006-05-08T22:10:00.000-04:00

Today, at the 19:57 mark of the third period, Sports Guy North, aka Kent MacDonald, aka Graham Kent aka Miguel Sanchez, died of a heart attack induced by a case of the worst phoning it in by a defense in history. He was 26 years old.

Loooooooong Weekend

2006-05-08T02:54:00.000-04:00

Well, this wasn't the best weekend for sports, at least not in my view. Luckily it ended off with the Sharks and Ducks both looking great again tonight. Nothing helps brighten up a dreary couple of days than being proven right, that really is my favourite thing in the world. The Ducks/Sharks battle that I foresaw when they were longing for a playoff spot seems inevitable at this point, and it's really thanks to a few key players. Actually, all the ups and downs this weekend can be chalked up that way.

To start with, there is Ilya Bryzgalov, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite athletes out there. In the 3-0 Ducks victory, Bryzgalov tied the NHL record for consecutive shutouts in the playoffs at 3. The original record was set by another rookie goaltender, the baby-faced Leaf Legend Frank McCool, who managed the feat against the Red Wings in 1945. When asked about his record feat, Ilya replied in his non-shalent manner that is becoming refreshingly familiar by this point, saying "It's not a big deal for me. It's fun because we won the game". How can you not love this guy? This is the same goalie, who after knocking the Flames out in game 7 in the first round said "It's not a big deal, it's just a game. A game you want to win, yes, but just a game." He's an amazing goalie, cool as a cucumber, hilarious in the media and instantly becoming a fan favourite. He's almost enough for me to want to cheer for the Ducks against the Sharks next round, even.

Speaking of whom, Joe Thornton has been drawing 100% of his opponents defensive attention so far these playoffs, and you have to wonder when teams are going to learn that won't cut it. Joe is proving yet again that he is a team player, and is happily seeing his numbers decline as his teammates benefit from the open ice and light up the nets. Marleau was happy to step up yet again, as somehow his opponents keep forgetting that he would be good enough to be a #1 center on most other teams. If the focus is on defending Joe at the cost of everything else, then Marleau will get a couple points and the Oilers will only get 15 shots every game, and this one will be over faster than even I thought. Another player note from the game - Ville Nieminen was absolutely ridiculous out there, throwing 15 body checks that registered in the books, and probably a few more that didn't. The physical, but clean game that the Sharks through at the Oilers was something they had no answer for, and Ville had everything to do with that. I can't imagine a way in which the Oilers can recover from this game. The series is over at this point.

One series over, and one not started yet, and the Devils and Hurricaines get their series underway Monday night. That's right, there was no game on Saturday as scheduled. There just wasn't, and I don't want to hear anyone claiming that there was.

Switching sports now, I'm going to skip right over all the Spurs wins. I've never been able to stand that team, ESPECIALLY Ginobli. I can't even watch any games where he's playing. It just can't be done, and hence I obviously can't comment on the games. Moving on then, Kobe Bryant took a double hit this weekend as the Suns completed their comeback, knocking out the Lakers in game 7 on Saturday. This was followed Sunday afternoon by Steve Nash being named league MVP, an award many (including yours truly) thought should have gone to Mamba this year. Not only did he not win, but he didn't even end up in the top 3 in voting. I really don't understand how this happened. Statistically, he was far and away the league leader this year. In a value to his team sense, Kobe also made the biggest difference. I can't picture that team winning even 14 games without Kobe in the lineup. I'm going to guess that his off-court antics in recent years helped deter many votes from coming up beside his name, and that's just not right. I can see the argument for Nash, but there is no reason for Dirk to be finishing ahead of Kobe. Probably not Lebron either. And as much as I dislike Kobe and the Lakers, this whole situation just isn't right. Just isn't right at all.

Alright, one last note before I go to bed - it's time to move our Rawk the Bawl competition to the semi-finals. The second round was a lot closer than the first, and there were a coupld of ridiculous results as D12 beat out DMX, and Ron Artest inexplicably beat out Chamillionaire. in the other series, Redman beat out Kanye West, and Run DMC took down my favourites Hed PE. This all means that the semi-finals come together as follows:

East

(1) Detroit D12 - www.d12online.com - These guys are solid right through, except for that white guy that's finally gone (Darco) and that fat guy who doesn't get much playing time (Cato). You still see how it relates.

(3) New Jersey Redman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redman - He can go higher and higher and higher, apparently. Even Kanye West was no match for Redmans skillz. Hopefully he can pull off another surprise this week as he goes up against Eminems rag tag crew.

West

(8)Sacremento Ron Artest - http://sportsguynorth.blogspot.com/2006/02/dream-son-dream.html - Ron's wish came true, and he somehow managed to beat Cham in the second round. My guess is no one has ever heard a Ron Artest song, and they were just voting for him based on his bball skills. If somehow he takes out Run DMC I'll know that somethign fishy is going on.

(7) LA Lakers Run DMC - http://pages.sbcglobal.net/tmoren/rundmc/ - For the last time, yes I know that Run DMC isn't from LA. As I said TWICE already, since the Lakers were unable to buy up aging talent to help Kobe this year, I thought I would do it for them in this medium. Lakers fans need some sort of consolation this year. I really get the impression that you guys all purposely just do what I say not to do. I'm going to have to learn how to use this knowledge to my advantage. Stay tuned, and get your votes for Rawk the Bawl's semi-finals in today!

2006 NHL Award Nominees

2006-05-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

The NHL released the complete list of award finalists on Thursday for the NHL awards ceremony on June 22 in Vancouver. As I'm sure you know by now, there was no way I was going to agree with their selections, so here now are the NHL nominees, my nominees, and who I think should/will win the awards.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
League Leader in Goals
2006 Award Winner: Jonathan Cheechoo

This isn't one of the awards that's voted on, obviously, it's based on statistics. Against all odds, the man you all voted Rucchin of the Year came out of nowhere (some would say carried in the shadow of Joe Thornton) to pull ahead of Jagr in the end with 56 goals. Jagr finished in second place with 54, followed by Ovechkin and Kovalchuk tied for third with 52.

Lester B. Pearson Award
MVP As Voted By the Players Association
NHL Nominees: Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Ovechkin, Joe Thornton
SGN Nominees: Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Ovechkin, Joe Thornton

The main contenders for this award are Jaromir Jagr, whose Rangers slipped at the end of the season all the way to the #6 seed, Alex Ovechkin whose Capitals were out of the playoffs in early October, and Joe Thornton who took the Sharks from well out of the playoffs to one of the top 2 teams (along with the Ducks) in the west going into the playoffs. For this reason, among many others, he is the one and only MVP this year. Hands down. The Russian President was a close second, and may have won the award if his team made the playoffs, as he fell just short of the ultimate dream of having more goals (52) and assists (54) than anyone else on his team had points (Zubrus finished with 57). In the end Thornton wins easily.

Frank J. Selke Trophy
Best Defensive Forward
NHL Nominees: Rod Brind'Amour, Mike Fisher, Jere Lehtinen
SGN Nominees: Brenden Morrow, Mike Fisher, Martin Gelinas

These awards are always all over the place, and I don't think anyone ever really knows what they're based on in the end. That's why I'm pretty surprised that we had an overlap between my nominees and the actual NHL nominees at all. For that reason, obviously my pick for this award is Mike Fisher. If I were picking from my nominees, Morrow would be the man, as I know that personally I'd rather go in 1 on 1 against 90% of the defensemen in the league than on Morrow. Fisher's career year was a pretty close second, though, so I'm not too disappointed with his pick. Lehtinen wasn't even top three on his team in terms of this award this year. His inclusion was truly baffling. I really hate dinosaur picks based on their names alone. Morrow and Modano were leagues ahead of him this year, along with about 50 or more other players in the league. His selection was a huge slap in Morrow's face.

Jack Adams Award
Coach of the Year
NHL Nominees: Peter Laviolette (Car), Tom Renney (NYR), Lindy Ruff (Buf)
SGN Nominees: Mike Babcock (Det), Tom Renney (NYR), Lindy Ruff (Buf)

Lindy Ruff has done way too much with way too little. There is no other explanation than him for the Sabres success, and it's really no surprise. He has been coaching Buffalo since 1997, and in that time has had a better than .500 record with a complete lack of talent outside of the crease. He gets a strong effort out of every player every night. When the team was in trouble near the end of the season, he did what he had to, grabbed onto the Tucker incident and used it to propel the team again. You may or may not agree with what he said, but you can't argue with the results. Hands down winner, with special mention also to Tom Renney for doing something other coaches have failed to do: get Jaromir Jagr to seem interested in playing day-in and day-out. He managed to do it all year, even, but the slide to 6th will be enough to keep him from the award. Ruff hangs on to as predicted at mid-season. How Babcock got left off the ballot in taking a team to the Presidents Trophy, when people were openly questioning their ability to make the playoffs before the season started is beyond me. How quickly people forget their own ridiculous assumptions they made just 7 months ago.

King Clancy Memorial Trophy
On and Off Ice Leadership
NHL Nominees: Mark Messier, Mark Messier, Mark Messier
SGN Nominees: Mark Messier, Mark Messier, Mark Messier

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

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
Perseverance and Dedication to Hockey
SGN Winner: Patrick Elias

This award always goes to someone coming off of an injury of some sort. If there is a disease involved then it is a mortal lock. Elias was bound to both come back, and to dominate at some point during the year. When he did come back, he turned around a team battling for the last playoff spot to the #3 seed. He elevated everyone's play, and scored as he is known to do. Had he played all year, he too would be in the MVP consideration. The award was, and is, obviously his.

William M. Jennings Trophy
Goalies on Team with Fewest Goals Against
2006 Award Winner: Miikka Kiprusoff

Kiprusoff rode Haseks injury, and some solid play down the stretch, to steal this award from the Hasek/Emery tandem. The Patrick Roy trophy appeared to be on its way back to Hasek this year, but the boring play of the Calgary Flames helped solidify this result. Luckily there won't be 4 rounds of watching them play this year, as the Ducks were the perfect first round opponant to take the boys down.

Vezina Trophy
Outstanding Goalkeeper
NHL Nominees: Martin Brodeur, Mikka Kiprusoff, Henrik Lundqvist
SGN Nominees: Manny Fernandez, Mikka Kiprusof, Manny Legace

It's somewhat surprising that we only agree on one of the three nominees here, but at least the one we agree on is the clear cut winner. I can see the argument for Lundqvists inclusion, but Brodeur in the regular season was not himself this year. His 2.57 GAA and .911 SV% were destroyed by Legace's 2.19 and .915, and Fernandez's 2.29 and .919. Overall, however, they were all overshadowed by one man, and as much as it pains me to say it, Mikka is the Vezina winner this year. There's no way around it.

Conn Smythe Trophy
Playoffs MVP
SGN Picks: Joe Thornton, Patrick Elias, Daniel Briere

The result of this one, obviously, will depend on who ends up with the real trophy to end the year. So far, these three players are head and shoulders over everyone else in their quests for the Conn. I know that I don't have to tell you just how excited I am to say that a first two picks. You've all pointed out my alleged "man-crushes" many times by this point, so you know.

Calder Memorial Trophy
Rookie of the Year
NHL Nominees: Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf, Alex Ovechkin
SGN Nominees: Sidney Crosby, Henrick Lundqvist, Alex Ovechkin

So here it is, the award with the nominations that you knew would bother me the most. And you're right - it's killing me. How the hell did Phaneuf get the third nomination? He is not great on defense, and most of his game out of the offensive zone is just cheating. On the other hand, Lundqvist did enough to be nominated for the Vezina. So what happened here? Well, the media was in desperate need of a new Chris Pronger, and did they ever find one. I've never seen someone so undeservedly built up in the media. It's actually worse than Chris Pronger's MVP season at this point, because quite frankly he wasn't even close to being the best rookie defenseman in the league. Meszaros looked like a seasoned veteran, while Phaneuf made mistake upon mistake in the defensive end, and ended up with a plus minus 29 points lower than Mesz's. It's just not right what kind of power the media has when they make their decisions about stuff. Long live the New Prong!

Oh yeah, as for the winner, Crosby was probably everybody's pre-season front-runner, but Vechky quickly took control. Have you heard anyone mention Crosby's name in MVP talks? Not likely. This is the clear difference between their rookie campaigns. Ovechkin is the rookie of the year, but Crosby's run to nearly catch Alex in scoring will make the vote a close one. As for the battle for runner up, Lundqvist, Meszaros (a defenseman at +34 in a rookie season is ridiculous), Svatos and Crosby would easily be winners in any other season. That's not to mention Michalek, Steen, Tyutin, Seabrook, Vanek, Prucha, Boyes, Wellwood, Vorobiev, Whitney, Ouellet, et Al. I have never seen a rookie crop like this years. Nothing but great hope for the future here (ignoring my future struggle with the media over the New Prong, that is).

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Biggest Pussy
NHL Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk, Patrick Marleau, Brad Richards
SGN Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk, Brad Richards, Steve Rucchin

Who cares? (Rucchin was robbed!)

James Norris Memorial Trophy
Best Defenseman
NHL Nominees: Niklas Lidstrom, Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Zubov
SGN Nominees: Niklas Lidstrom, Lubomir Visnovsky, Sergei Zubov

Wade Redden is strong defensively, and offensively, and being on a team that was such a clear front-runner for the Cup made him the early favourite. Injuries late in the year took him out of the running for what should have been his award after Bryan McCabe's injury set in. Lubomir Visnovsky's played slowed down in the second half as well, with all of this coming together to open the door for Lidstrom to walk away with this award. Zubov may give him a run in the voting, but Lidstorm averaged over 28 minutes of ice time this season, and had over 100 more shots on net than Zubov. Zubov may steal it, but it should be Lidstrom's award to lose at this point.

Hart Memorial Trophy
MVP
NHL Nominees: Jaromir Jagr, Mikka Kiprusof, Joe Thornton
SGN Nominees: Jaromir Jagr, Eric Staal, Joe Thornton

This is pretty much the same as the Lester B Pearson award because I'm speaking in both cases. When it's not player votes, however, Jagr may have a better chance at coming out on top. I figured Staal might get more votes this way, but apparently not. It was Kipper that did instead. This is why I prefer the Pearson award. The players know much better than anyone else what's happening on the ice. They recognize easier who they have to look out for on a game to game basis. They recognize Ovechkin, and that means something.

Art Ross Trophy
League Leader in Points
2006 Award Winner: Joe Thonton
Thornton found the perfect Rucchin, and soared to the top of the standings with 125 points, followed closely by Jagr at 123. Ovechkin lead the rookies, finishing third with 106 points, and linemates Alfredson and Heatley tied for 4th with 103.

Stanley Cup
League Champs
SGN Stanley Cup Champions: San Jose Sharks

I just left this award in here to remind people of how I saw the playoffs coming together, and here is what I said:

No matter what I write here, you're all going to question it. So I'm not going to bother. My ranks for odds to win are 1. San Jose 2. Detroit 3. New Jersey 4. Anaheim 5. Ottawa. Sorry Carolina, Calgary and Dallas fans, it just isn't in the cards this year.

As predicted, Calgary and Dallas have already booked tee times, and outside of Detroit, my top 5 are all still in it. Top five that were highly questioned, I might add, especially the San Jose New Jersey final. The lesson here; Never doubt Sports Guy North when it comes to hockey. It just won't pay off.

NHL Second Round Preview

2006-05-04T01:28:00.000-04:00

As Predicted Here - Ducks In 7

The brackets for the second round of the NHL playoffs are set, as the final game of the first round came to a close tonight. And I must say - what a relief. Thanks to my new hero's in Anaheim, and the fact that no one reminded the Flames that they had a game tonight, there will be no battle of Alberta to suffer through this year. The Calgary Flames were sent packing with a 3-0 shut out loss at the hands of the Ducks and their rookie goaltender it what couldn't be described as anything other than an all around boring affair. I am anything but glad that I said yesterday I would set the time aside today to watch this game, but at least it'll give me a greater appreciation for the Flamesless playoffs going forward. Speaking of which, lets look ahead now at the upcoming playoff series.

Eastern Conference

(1) Ottawa vs (4) Buffalo - Starts Friday

No upsets in the East, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone that's surprised by that. These are the 4 Eastern teams, and this is where they belong. This series will be a doozy. Their season series went as follows:

Ottawa 5 Buffalo 0
Ottawa 10 Buffalo 4
Ottawa 6 Buffalo 1
Buffalo 2 Ottawa 1
Ottawa 4 Buffalo 2
Ottawa 3 Buffalo 1
Buffalo 5 Ottawa 4
Buffalo 6 Ottawa 2

That's 56 goals in 8 games. On average that works out to a 5-2 game. Briere looked amazing in the first round, but so did the big line in Ottawa. Logic says that the Sens should walk away with this one. More big names, the number 1 seed, winning record head to head, better defense, etc. On top of that, I'm not exactly sure how the Sabres are able to win. But they keep winning, and the keep winning big. Lindy Ruff has clearly shown that he is the best regular season coach in the NHL, and has carried that into surprise playoff success in the past. I'm going to give Lindy and Ryan Miller (I have yet to hear a suitable explanation for how the best American goalie by far was not added to the Olympic team) the edge in this one, and pick a huge upset. For once, I can't wait for a Sabres series. This one will be something. Sabres in 7.

(2) Carolina vs (3) New Jersey - Starts Saturday

Patrick Elias had 11 points in their 4 game sweep. Brodeur allowed 4 goals on 118 shots. He is reminding me right now of the 2003 playoffs where he finished with 7 shutouts and a .934 save percentage. Only right now it's at .965. Cam Ward looked decent in his starts, but Montreal without Koivu in the lineup is not the same as New Jersey. Not even close. Devils in 5.

Western Conference

(5) San Jose vs (8) Edmonton - Starts Sunday

For the first time I can remember, the "underdogs" won all 4 of the series in the West. I say that in parenthesis because in my mind the Sharks and the Ducks were actually the favourites in their series. They had the better teams, and the better performances in the months leading up to the playoffs and their victories are no surprise to me. Despite everyone disagreeing with me, I picked the Sharks to be the Western Conference Champions, and now they seem to be set up to have the easiest route possible to the finals. No Detroit. No Dallas. No Calgary. A first round match up against a weak team whose strength in net was injured for the playoffs. A second round match against a team that barely got into the playoffs, and plays a weak defensive defenseman nearly 30 minutes a game. Marleaus line loves coming out of the corners, they will have a field day with him. The Oilers had a big upset in the first round, but their high wont carry them further than 5 games against a team they just don't match up well with. Dwayner may get them into game six, but I'm still going to say Sharks in 5.

(6) Anaheim vs (7) Colorado - Starts Friday

Imagine being the number 6 seed and having home ice advantage in the second round of the playoffs. I don't have the stats, but I don't remember this ever happening before. Luckily, though, the Ducks and Sharks were the best Western Conference teams in the second half of the season, so it is anything but undeserved. As I said before "the Ducks and Sharks are probably the best teams in the West", and that Detroit and Dallas aren't going to want any part of them in the playoffs. As it turns out, they'll never even get the chance. Colorado, on the other hand, are finally playing like the team they should have been all year. Playoff Theodore has also made an appearance, It's hard to pick a rookie over playoff Theodore, even with Selanne and McDonald flying high. Calgary with it's weak scoring options took the Ducks to 7 games. There are 10 guys on the Av's that can score on you in a number of different ways. As much as I hate to do it, if Theo holds up I'm going to go with the Av's in 6. I like the Ducks lineup, and if they keep it together it will be them and the Sharks battling it out for a few years in the West, but I think the Av's have one more shot at it this year. You bet Sakic will be on his game for sure. He'd love to show he can go all the way without Forsberg before he retires. That should be enough to take the Mighty out of the Ducks forever. Avalanche in 6.

2006 Post #100 - A Notes of Note Celebration

2006-05-03T02:16:00.000-04:00

Notes of Note

The night has managed to disappear yet again without me writing anything. It's already late, and as you all know that can mean only one thing; It's time for the great nation of Hungary's favourite new feature - Notes of Note.

I'm working towards a huge deadline next Friday, so there may be a lot of Hungary pleasing between now and then. Either that, or a lot of missed posts. Either way, just bare with me. The deadline will be met, and I'll find the free time to spend on annoying Pronger fans properly again shortly after. Until then, it's going to be all about Hungarians.

Selfish, Spoiled Brats

What is with the over-abundance of selfish plays this year? The obvious ones were Jagr injuring himself in a missed attack, and Iginla looking like an idiot at the end of the last Flames game. Tonight now I'm watching the Phoenix Lakers game, and with 10 minutes left in a game where the Suns didn't have a secure lead, and face elimination with a loss, Raja Bell took selfishness to a whole nother level again. Upset about a non-call on Kobe for some minor interference, and then an elbow that Kobe caught him in the face with, a short while later he actually close-lined Kobe to the ground. Seriously. Obviously that was a double technical, and resulted in his ejection from the game. There will also probably be further disciplinary action from the league. That's exactly what the Suns need being down as they are in the series. For those of you not familiar with the Suns this year, they have almost worthless defensive habits. There is no one outside of Raja who could possibly dream of covering Kobe. The Suns managed to hold on tonight to bring the series to 3-2 for the Lakers (Kobe took a second technical later on to solidify that result), but if Raja is suspended for game 6, then Kobe scores at least 40 and the series is likely over. Such selfish disrespect for your team in the playoffs is inexcusable, and it keeps happening over and over again these days. Someone needs to teach the kids of today the difference between playing an emotional, strong game, and being selfishly undisciplined. More and more this is seeming like a lost trait, and it's sad. There just is no need for selfishness in the playoffs. I for one long for the days where that just went without saying.

The only saving grace from the play was the look that Steve Nash gave Bell immediately afterwards. It was exactly the look that your mom always gave when instead of punishing you for something, she just said that she was "really disappointed in you". That was all over Nash's face. It was priceless.

Boris Props

Props go out to Boris Diaw who is continuing his surprising career season. He finished tonight one assist short of a triple double, and scored 25 points. The real question at this point is what were the Hawks doing using Diaw at guard last year? He is tall and solid enough to play inside, and it's not like the Hawks really had anyone of note on their team to step in above him. Maybe it has a lot to do with playing with Nash, but he is really coming into his own and is showing signs of a promising career. No matter what, you have to respect his effort.

USA Hockey?

The Americans have assembled a powerhouse team for the world championships. If you haven't seen yet, their first 15 players are:

F - Dustin Brown, Marty Reasoner, Ryan Malone, Andy Hilbert, Richard Park, Ryan Kesler, Jim Slater, Drew Stafford

D - Joe Corvo, Hal Gil, Andrew Alberts

G - Craig Anderson, Jason Bacashihua

Honestly, I didn't make that up. Those are the 15 players they announced for their World Championship team. It's not bad enough that Ryan Malone is their best player (unless Drew Stafford is better than his merely playing at the University of North Dakota would suggest he is), but their goalies were the back ups on the two worst teams in the league. Actually, Bacashihua was really St.Louis' third or fourth string option. I knew American hockey had gotten sad recently, but this is ridiculous. These guys would get blown out ban AHL team.

Souray With A Fringe On Top

Don Cherry tonight mentioned the Norris Trophy and Sheldon Souray in the same sentence. I didn't know what to do with that thought, so I just moved on and tried to pretend it never happened. I think you all should do the same.

Battle of Alberta

I have set aside time to watch the Calgary Anaheim game. That's right, I'm actually going to attempt to sit through an entire Flames hockey game without falling asleep. I think I can do it just out of shear fear over the possibility of a Super-Hero MVP for life Pronger versus snore-fest Flames series haunting my future. You just know it is all that you're ever going to hear about in Canada if it does happen, and there is only so much Pronger for MVP talk that I can stand. I also can't decide how to pick which is the lesser of two evils. I'm inclined to say the Oilers since I always had a soft spot for them, and they brought in one of my favourite goalies at the trade deadline. But they also traded my buddy Eric for my nemesis Chris, and that's tough to get over. Calgary is so boring, though, and they have the sure to be new Pronger on their defense (another player with weak positioning, and relies on cheating but has already been mentioned as a future Norris winner for no reason I can understand. He really is Prong 2). I seriously wouldn't know how to pick if this series sadly comes up. So, when in doubt, I turn to the one soure I can always rely on - Sunshine Girls.

They both make great cases, but as you can see Calgary is apparently who I'll have to cheer for. I think that would be the better bet for getting the Sharks to the finals anyway. Edmonton could actually give them some troubles with their speed, but we'll see how it all plays out. I'm fairly certain at this point that my much-maligned pick of San Jose in the finals will certainly be realized no matter which remaining Western teams they have to face.

If you want your own 14-month Sunshine Girls Calendar call Toll Free 1-877-624-1463 to place your order. The price is $19.99 including shipping and taxes. Be sure to mention Sports Guy North to receive absolutely no special offers. (By the way, I figured that I was allowed to post this section based on the Karma I earned with my pro-female sports blogger posts of late. Speaking of which, remember to vote for Miss Sports Blogger 2006 in the poll to the right. These ladies talents need to be recognized. I know that they provide a great deal of my daily entertainment at the very least.)

More Cowbell

Speaking of Pronger, I've received a mixed bag of emails about what I've said about him. What I received from Adam was my favourite, though, and since it's one of the many that support my side, it'll be the only one I post here. I think it says enough on it's own.

"oh man, that really sucks!!... I never would have seen that coming. EDMONTON...
even with pronger in the line-up. man, i've been watching him since you
mentioned how bad he is, and holy crap, he is never in position... it's nuts"

Yes, it is nuts. What's even more nuts is that no one seems to notice or care. I just don't get it.

The Alberta Conspiracy

2006-05-01T23:44:00.000-04:00

So Angry

So Very Very Very Very angry tonight. I don't know that I can actually write I'm so wound up. I'll do my best, but if I just have to bail at some point then so be it.

When exactly did God move to Alberta? Why did he move there? Was he sick of paying taxes? Is he a huge rodeo fan? Someone tell me this as I sit here with my now void second round Red Wings tickets, dreaming of yet another Wings Av's battle. Voided at the hands of the lowly Edmonton Oilers of all teams. Pisani got 2 goals in under 4 minutes. PISANI. This kind of stuff isn't right.

I didn't see the game tonight, but the highlights sickened me. When we got home I put on the Score channel, and I had to let the result come and go by 3 times before it registered. Chris Pronger was moving on. As I let this event sent in, I flipped over to the Calgary Anaheim game just in time to see the Ducks score, giving me momentary relief. Perhaps I could forfeit seeing a playoff game in Detroit in exchange for not having to see any more series with Calgary's horrible boring play. That feeling, however, was short lived. On the play Anaheim distinctly scored, then after the puck was in a couple Calgary players ran into the goalie, and somehow the ref disallowed the goal and gave a penalty to Anaheim for a play that occurred after the puck was in.

Shortly after I got a message on msn from my parents, who saw that I just got home. The conversation went as follows:

john and donna says: :'(
1G - SSY! says: I am SOOOOO angry :@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@
john and donna says: so you know what I am talking about?
1G - SSY! says: SCORES
1G - SSY! says: yes I effin do
1G - SSY! says: and now the goal doesnt effin count
1G - SSY! says: effin eff
1G - SSY! says: EFF
john and donna says: Detroit is like Buffalo Bills, they fold in the playoffs
1G - SSY! says: THAT WAS WAY AFTER THE GOAL
1G - SSY! says: WHAT A HORRIBLE CALL
john and donna says: on a more positive note....I am back in 2nd place ...one point out of first...
1G - SSY! says: :@:@:@:@:@
john and donna says: well you will have to get tickets for Toronto for next years playoffs
1G - SSY! says: so... angry...
john and donna says: which call do you think was wrong?
1G - SSY! says: in the anaheim calgary game
john and donna says: not watching that game.....what is the score
1G - SSY! says: 1-0 calgary
1G - SSY! says: anaheim just scored, then after the puck was in someone ran into the goalie and they disallowed the goal and gave a penalty... but it was after it was in!
john and donna says: are you cheering for annaheim
1G - SSY! says: I hate calgary
1G - SSY! says: hate them so much
john and donna says: why?
1G - SSY! says: cuz I hate their style of play, and their coach, and their players
john and donna says: imagine a calogary edmonton series is next
1G - SSY! says: :@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@:@
1G - SSY! says: @:@:@:@:#@#:"23qk;'21
1G - SSY! says: 3
1G - SSY! says: ards
1G - SSY! says: FD
1G - SSY! says: 'g fd' rdo
1G - SSY! says: th d
1G - SSY! says: r
john and donna says: potty mouth
1G - SSY! says: so angry.... so very very angry....
john and donna says: angry is not good
john and donna says: disappointed maybe but not angry....
1G - SSY! says: ANGRY
1G - SSY! says: what if you had leaf tickets for the second round, and they were the #1 seed and then they lost to the #8....
john and donna says: mildly annoyed at best.....
1G - SSY! says: this is dad now, not mom, isnt it?
john and donna says: no.....its ALF
1G - SSY! says: go ask mom that question and type to me her exact answer please
john and donna says: she said she would be PO'd (another potty mouth)
1G - SSY! says: exactly
1G - SSY! says: so mad.

So there you have it, my take on tonight happenings. It's a little bit gruff and unpolished, but I thought that my feelings at the time would best describe the actual emotion brought on by the evening. Anaheim has managed to come back, and look like they're going to force another game, so there is some relief. But if there is a Calgary Edmonton series in the second round, mark my words - it will never be acknowledged on my blog. Not to make fun of Pronger, not to take joy in a Calgary loss, not ever.

Well, now there's Iginla being a selfish ass again at the end of the game. A lovely close to a lovely Calgary game.

Worst day ever.

Miss Sports Blogger 2006

On a hopefully more positive note, I'll close with a reminder to vote for Miss Sports Blogger 2006 in the poll to the right. Alanah got off to a quick start, but a couple of the other contenders are coming on strong. If you want to check out the writing that you are voting on, here are the links to their sites again. Get your vote in today, it's still anybody's game.

Anne Ursu aka Batgirl

Acid Queen over at Sweet Tea, Barbeque and Bodychecks

Alanah, part ofVancouver Canucks Oped

Christy at Behind the Jersey

Stephanie the Zany Sports Lady

Bring Out The Brooms

2006-04-30T01:53:00.000-04:00

Elias Watch: To The Max

It's late, and I wasn't going to post today, but then my boy Elias brought his legend to a-whole-nother level. He finished off the Rangers this afternoon with a 2 goal, 3 point performance, bringing his playoff totals to 5 goals and a staggering 11 points in just 4 games. That's nearly 3 times the points as the Rangers had goals in the entire series. And people questioned my calling him the playoff MVP this year, I think those questions are gone at this point.

Jagr attempted to come back today, but left just 53 seconds into this match, bringing an end to the closest he's ever come to trying for an entire season. In one, brainless, selfish moment he put a decided end to the entire Rangers season, and for that he should be driven out of New York. But he won't. I'm sure it'll be the coach, if anyone. Between the questionable use of a rookie goalie just off injury, the bonehead play by Jagr to knock himself out of play, and the legendary play of Patrick Elias, this matchup never even gave the illusion of being a series. Let the brooms reign, the Devils are the first team through the first round!

As it turns out, the Senators also managed to squeak through to the second round today, finishing off the defending champions in 5 games. The champs who, much like Jagr, had someone in Tortorelli who helped to sabotage their cause. Realistically, however, without Khabibulin in net I wouldn't have picked the Lightning to win last season, and accordingly couldn't see them having a chance against Ottawa this season. Some might point to the season he had with Chicago this year and claim that his best days are behind him, but Khabs has always been someone who plays up, or down to his surroundings. If he had Tampas team around him, instead of the semi-AHL squad in Chicago, things would have been very different. But he made that bed himself, so I don't feel too bad for him. Anyway, I had the camera out to celebrate the Devils sweep, and looking around my place I saw a Senators flag and my Khabibulin jersey, so I thought I would throw them on for Ottawa as well, to try to keep things even.

Since I was already taking pictures around my house, I guess I took it a bit further and shot off some other pictures of random things I saw lying around that were sports related. Among them are some steal blades, vintage Leafs schwag, a goalies view, Olympic gloves a Brew, and a bobblehead that you'd expect me to have an enema before getting. There's no reason to put those there, but by the same token there's no reason to be up at 3am taking them. So, enjoy!

Tying Up Loose Ends

2006-04-29T03:06:00.000-04:00

On a night where the Avalanche failed to tie up a sweep in their series against Dallas, I decided to tie up a few loose ends of my own that have come up in my past posts. If memory serves me, I need to finish off one poll, start another poll, and move a series to the next round. That's the goal, so lets get to it without further delay.

2006 NHL Rucchin of the Year

The people have spoken. With nearly 100 votes received now, the sample size is significant enough now to declare a winner. With 14% of the vote, the second runner up, with no offensive talent and yet 65 points to his name, was Mike Knuble. With 26% percent of the vote, and benefiting more than anyone has from twins since the days of Full House, the first runner up was Anson Carter. That means that not unexpectedly, the 2006 NHL Rucchin of the Year Award winner is:

plus equals

Jonathan Cheechoo.

Mister Cheechoo ran away with the voting, finishing with 48% of the vote in the five man race. Really, though, before the voting got under way there was little doubt who the winner would be. It is not every year that a player manages to Rucchin 50 goals. That's something special, and certainly deserving of the award. This legendary season will now be immortalized forever, and I'll be sure to let you know how his receipt of the award goes. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2006 Rucchin of the Year, Jonathan Cheechoo.

Miss Sports Blogger 2006

Since the Rucchin voting has now closed, my sidebar would be naked with a lack of polls. For that reason, my search for a new question led me back to my post from April 12. As a fan of the Zany Sports Lady's blog, I was excited to learn that she was nominated by Dr. Blogstein for Miss Blogger 2006. I quickly learned, however, that his award had less to do with her writing, and more to do with the half naked hockey picture of her and her friend that graces her pages. Stuff like that isn't right, because in the sports world it's hard enough for women to be respected for their opinions or accomplishments. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate beauty contests as much as the next guy, but I also appreciate more than that. For that reason, I am going to have my own contest - Miss Sports Blogger 2006.

The main difference is, there will be no pictures or physical beauty involved. I will list the nominees and based on the writing in their blogs, and that alone, you all get to decide who wins the honour of Miss Sports Blogger 2006. Here, now, are your nominees:

Anne Ursu aka Batgirl. If you're into baseball, especially the Twins, then hers is the site for you. Her feminine twist on normal baseball events can be more than refreshing.

Acid Queen over at Sweet Tea, Barbeque and Bodychecks. I must admit, I have a special place in my heart for Carolina Barbeque. If I could only have one food for the rest of my life it would be a pulled pork sandwich off the BBQ. Unfortunately, she openly likes cats, a practice I certainly don't endorse. She's vulgar and opinionated, though, so I'll never let her know that.

Alanah, who is one half of the Vancouver Canucks Oped. One of the funniest sports blogs out there, their pro-canucks point of view is out-weighed in my mind by their anti-Oilers stance. With my feelings on Pronger, that means Alanah is #1 in my books.

Christy at Behind the Jersey. Speaking of anti-Oilers, this blogger is a Red Wings fan through and through. Her claim to fame in my books is her Behind the Blog posts where she interviews other hockey bloggers, A classy move from a class act.

Stephanie the Zany Sports Lady. The Sports Lady knows her stuff, and it shows. She's a Stars fan, though, so she may need a bit of a pick up after their unexpected early exit coming up in the next few days. A vote for her might just be what she needs to keep going right now.

So there you have it, your 5 nominees for Miss Sports Blogger 2006. You know how to vote, so get to it. I'm not sure what the winner will get, but I'm sure it won't be much.

Rawk the Bawl Round 2

The first round of Rawk the Bawl is over, and it wasn't even close. Mike Jones and Young Buck each received one vote, and were the only losers that weren't shut out. This result wasn't unexpected given the first round matchups. It was supposed to reflect the basketball matchups, and the thing about basketball is that the first round is usually that predictable. Round two could prove to be a much closer battle, though, so get your picks in today. The next round looks as follows:

(1) Detroit D12 - www.d12online.com - These guys are solid right through, except for that white guy that's finally gone (Darco) and that fat guy who doesn't get much playing time (Cato). You still see how it relates.

(5) Washington DMX - http://www.nme.com/news/dmx/17307 - I know he's from Maryland, but that's close enough to DC for me. This matchup should prove a lot tougher than the first round cake walk against Lil Bow Wow. Ha, that guy.

(3) New Jersey Redman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redman - How High can he go? Only Method Man knows the answer to that one.

(7) Chicago Kanye West - http://kanyewest.com/ - I have a feeling this match up isn't going to go the way that I want it to. I just can't stand the Kanye.

(4) Dallas Chamillionaire - http://www.chamillionaireonline.com/ - Sorry Dallas, but I had to borrow from Houstons hot Rap scene for a lack of any real Dallas presence that I could think of. Chamillionaire may have the all time stupidest Rap name, but he does lay down some mad lyrics.

(8)Sacremento Ron Artest - http://sportsguynorth.blogspot.com/2006/02/dream-son-dream.html - Make a wish, son, if you want to beat Cham.

(6)LA Clippers Hed (PE) - http://hedtheband.com/ - Look them up if you don't know them, they're something. They really are my personal favourites on this list. Bartender was the best song of 2001, and who among us can't relate to Amerikan Beauty?

(7) LA Lakers Run DMC - http://pages.sbcglobal.net/tmoren/rundmc/ - I said this last time, but sadly I'm going to have to say it again since I received emails telling me DMC isn't from LA, and so on. Yes, I know that they aren't from LA, but since the Lakers were unable to buy up aging talent to help Kobe this year, I thought I would do it for them in this medium. Lakers fans need some sort of consolation this year. Now, we have an agreement. No one needs to tell me they're not from LA. Done and done.

Notes of Note - First Round Edition

2006-04-28T01:09:00.000-04:00

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

Imagination

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

Pronger Frustration

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

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

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

Fool Me Thrice, Shame On Bettman

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

Sabres. Win. Beat them down. NOW!

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

Worse?

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

the dee oh double gee

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

Throwing the Goalies to the Wolves

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

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

Rawk the Bawl

2006-04-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

Rock the Brackets, BBall Style

Chris Young from the Toronto Star had a great idea to set up brackets for the NHL playoffs based on songs that reference each team, right from Ride the Lightning, down to Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance. He then asked his readers to submit their picks for the playoffs based on their musical tastes.

In the comments section, Chris called me out saying "I almost was going to do this for the NBA, then decided to spare people the pain. actually I got a bit busy, and I just don't know hip-hop well enough, outside of the usual suspects. It'd be something -- hey, maybe the Basketball Jones will jump on it. Or Kent". Since my own readers have also called me out for not having enough basketball coverage lately, and it is fundamentally impossible to ignore 2 call outs, I've decide to put my hip hop shoes on and take a stab at it. For my game, though, I have selected Rap/Hip Hop artists who share a home town (or state as needed) with the teams in question. I also don't have deep newspaper pockets, so unlike Chris' NHL brackets, there are no prizes in my game. Submit your picks anyway, though, because if you don't I will make Mike Jones the Rap champion of the world. I have that kind of power.

Eastern Conference

(1) Detroit D12 - www.d12online.com - These guys are solid right through, except for that white guy that's finally gone (Darco) and that fat guy who doesn't get much playing time (Cato). You see how it relates.
(8) Milwaukee Black House Gang - http://www.myspace.com/blackhouseproductions - One of their guys is call Ebonix. Really. No, really. I figured that gave them about as much chance against D12 as the Bucks actually have.

(2) Miami MA$E - http://www.g-unitmase.com/ - This is the man I single-handily blame for ruining the good name of rap. It was his teaming with puff daddy that brought about singing about having too much, videos just about boobs, and mo' money mo' problems, and brought an end for almost a decade of any kind of hard core rap lyrics in main stream rap, outside of maybe Hed (PE).
(7) Chicago Kanye West - http://kanyewest.com/ - This guy gets enough attention in the media as it is, so I'm not feeding more into it. MA$E against Kanye, it's just like my nightmares.

(3) New Jersey Redman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redman - Redman is a classic who needs no intro from me
(6) Indiana Johnny Socko - http://johnnysocko.com/ - I apologize, but that's about as "hard-core" as Indiana gets since Ron Artest left town.

(4) Cleveland Lil Bow Wow - http://lilbowwow.com/ - Hahaha, that guy. And he's up against DMX. Hahaha.
(5) Washington DMX - http://www.nme.com/news/dmx/17307 - I know he's from Maryland, but that's close enough to DC for me. This guy has more years spent in jail than Bow Wow's had in the world. If he doesn't walk away with this one I'm going to be very disappointed in all of you.

Western Conference

(1)San Antonio Mike Jones - http://www.rapdict.org/Mike_Jones - the worst disgrace of a rapper of all time, for the worst disgrace of a basketball player of all time (ie. Manu). Seems fitting.
(8)Sacremento Ron Artest - http://sportsguynorth.blogspot.com/2006/02/dream-son-dream.html - The Kings traded for the Tru Worrier this season, and managed to only slightly improve their ranking in the Rap world. I guess it's because he was spending too much time trying to teach math classes in elementary schools throughout the country, and not enough on his mad lyrics.

(2) Phoenix NastyBoy Klick - http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/10-06-97/tw_mus.html - Read the article in that link, it explains everything.
(7) LA Lakers Run DMC - http://pages.sbcglobal.net/tmoren/rundmc/ - I know that they aren't from LA, but since the Lakers were unable to buy up aging talent to help Kobe this year, I thought I would do it for them in this medium. Lakers fans need some sort of consolation this year.)

(3)Denver Faz Brayke - http://www.purevolume.com/fazbrayke - How could I not pick Faz Brayke for a basketball piece? It just couldn't be done.
(6)LA Clippers Hed (PE) - http://hedtheband.com/ - My personal favourites on this list, depending on the day they can lay out radio hits like Bartender, or slap you with stuff that couldn't dream of mainstream play like Crazy Legs or Amerikan beauty. Sounds fitting for the Clippers to me.

(4) Dallas Chamillionaire - http://www.chamillionaireonline.com/ - Sorry Dallas, but I had to borrow from Houstons hot Rap scene for a lack of any real Dallas presence that I could think of. Chamillionaire may have the all time stupidest Rap name, but he does lay down some mad lyrics, yo.
(5) Memphis Young Buck - http://g-unitworld.com/index.php?id=youngbuck - Always middle of the pack. Not likely to be going anywhere big, but you also know that they're not going away any time soon either. Now it's your turn to guess - was I describing the Grizzlies, or Young Buck? Heck, I'm not even sure.

Brotherly Love?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Here is where a real disparity in sports exists. Ron Artest rode his name to a suspension by brushing Ginobli's ugly face with an elbow, an incident that wasn't even a flagrant foul or anything. Denis Gauthier, on the other hand, took Thomas Vanek hard from behind into the boards, in a game that was already decided and out of hand. He got got 5 minutes and a game misconduct on the disgusting play. Was he suspended? Not a chance. What makes it worse is that this was his second such hit in the last month. He was suspended two games last time for his hit from behind on Toronto's Kyle Wellwood, and apparently didn't learn his lesson. From the front office, to the coaching staff, right through to the goons in the lineup, the Philadelphia Flyers have been a classless organization for years, and if they don't start punishing them for their actions it won't ever stop. The league does not need incidents like this in games that are out of control.

After the game, Lindy Ruff said the Flyers were acting like idiots, and I'm not sure there is anyway to argue with that, in their drawing 17 penalties in the course of the game. What did Big Fat ken Hitchcock have to say after the game? He had to have agreed that his group played like idiots, right? He certainly went on the normal coaches tirade about his team taking stupid penalties, and not focusing, and how letting a team beat them 8-1 is unacceptable, etc etc, right? Not the BFK! Instead he thought his team acted suitably, and even commented about Lindy calling them idiots by saying "That's Lindy's opinion," Hitchcock said. "I've seen his teams do the same thing. So he ought not to talk about that."

Maybe I missed something. Can someone share with me when the Sabres have done something like that? It's unbelievable the way the Flyers handle themselves, especially the office staff. They have some great talent on their team, but every year they blow it in the playoffs. The blame usually falls on the goalies, and the main reason for that is that the organization knows nothing about goaltending. When was the last time they had a #1 goalie who was number 1 all year and allowed to build the confidence needed in that position? The reality is that it is NOT the 70's anymore, and you can't go out there in the playoffs like the Broad Street Bullies and expect to be successful. Until someone gets that message into Booby Clarke's head, as talented as the Flyers are they are NEVER going anywhere. If I were a Flyers fan I would be beyond pissed off at this point. They have gone way beyond the realm of anything resembling acceptable

Dealing With Your Crap

2006-04-25T02:43:00.000-04:00

Today I’m going to handle a couple of the questions that people have been sending my way. Today's installment is something that Internet people typically call "the mailbag". As I've said before that’s dumb. I didn't receive anything physically in the mail, and certainly not a bag. But I have received a lot of crap in my inbox, so now it's time to get through some of it.

Was Jagrs Move the Stupidest Move Ever?

I'm going to have to go with no on this one, but only because I can still remember the pain of the Half-a Man Araujo draft like it was yesterday. It certainly is up there, though, because Jagr had the puck at the time, so what could he have possibly been thinking in taking his hand off his stick to throw a straight-arm at the little devil? The whole basis was without warrant, but then he goes on to not only miss the attempted attack, but also injure himself and put an end to the New York Rangers entire season. It's like that quiet kid in class who gets picked on all the time and finally loses it and decides to go after his bullies with one of those sissy punches that comprise the extent of his arsenal, only to inevitably be put in the nurses office as a result. Actually, now that I look at what I just wrote, I change my mind. In one selfish move that he couldn't manage to pull off, he single-handily ended a teams entire season. It was, in fact, the stupidest move ever. He has unseated Rob Babcock. Now that is impressive.

You think the leafs didn't make the playoffs because mccabe got injured?

Surprisingly yes, I think a team that finished 2 points out of the playoffs missed the playoffs because of an 8 game losing streak. I see how that could come as a shock to you, but they just needed to be 1-6-1 in that run in order to be in, and yes I think their most offensive defenseman could have made up that difference.

Did You Get Enough Money To Go To Mark Messier's Leadership Camp Yet?

No, sadly my donation total has come up slightly short thus far. There is still hope, though, so please continue donating money to my cause: The Send Kent to Messier Leadership Camp Fund. Paypal your donations to CSULBHockey@netscape.net. We thank you in advance for your kindness. With your help, one day this dream will come true.

Who Was Your Vote For Rucchin of the Year?

I have to go with the people on this one. Cheechoo is the first 50 goal Rucchin since the good old days. You can't argue with that kind of borrowed success.

When Do We Get To Vote On the 7 Sutherbies?

I must say, I don't understand what this would even mean, but I have already thrown my support towards the King Sutherby. It's Willsie for mayor as far as I'm concerned. Nonetheless, whoever left that comment please elaborate on what you meant. If there is a way we can incorporate the Sutherby's into a vote somehow, I'm all for it!

we love you sports guy! kiss!

OK, I know that wasn't a question, but it's always nice to feel loved. Keep the love coming SGroupiesN!

Why Haven't You Done Anything About the NBA Playoffs Yet?

This is a fair question, I suppose. My coverage is usually spread somewhat evenly between the sports of interest in North America (outside of NASCAR, of course). Lately I have been almost exclusively covering hockey, and some of you are understandably wondering why that is. But it's simple, there is nothing going on in the NBA right now. Once the playoffs actually start next week, then I'll get to paying attention to yes.

The thing about the NBA is that there are always at most 4 teams in each conference with a real shot. Year after year after year the first round is meaningless. I "could" have done predictions for the first round, but the reality of it is that it would have looked like this:

Eastern Conference
Detroit over Milwaukee in 5
Miami over Chicago in 5
Indiana over New Jersey in 5
Cleveland over Washington in 5

Western Conference
Clippers over Denver in 5
Phoenix over Lakers in 5
Dallas over Memphis in 5
San Antonio over Sac Daddy in 5

See, boring stuff all around. I would have probably said something about Artest having to play against the original soccer hero, Ginobli, making it the only first round draw that would have been impossible for Sacremento to overcome. The reason being is that I couldn't get through 3 games against Ginobli without having to elbow him in the face, so I can't imagine Artest making it through 5. As it turns out, he couldn't even make it through one.

To be fair, what went down should have been anything but a suspension. Only the most lethal combination of circumstances could have lead to it. Take one person who the league is always going to be looking for any reason to punish, add to it a soccer player diving through the air and rolling around like he got shot, only to miraculously have no ill effects 2 minutes later, and you have yourselves the recipe for an unwarranted suspension, not to mention the end of the Kings hot run. The only thing that could have made the first round interesting is pretty much over, so back over to hockey I go.

The Sharks? Are You Nuts?

I really don't see why people still can't see that the Sharks are for real. What more would they have to do? They had one of the best records in the league after a terrible start, the had the league scoring leader, the league goal scoring leader, a goalie with a 23-7 record (and the only playoff shutout so far, by the way) and Nashville as a first round opponent. If you aren't seeing San Jose as a favourite, then that sounds like a problem with you, and no reason to question me about this anymore.

Can You Explain the NHL Playoff Seeding?

Well, OK. Here is a basic NHL playoff seeding explanation:

it is not a true bracket, that is to say that you don't know what series your next round opponent will be coming from. To start, the winners of the three divisions in the conference are seeded 1, 2 and 3 based on their points. After that, the 5 other teams with the most points get the 4 through 8 seed, no matter what division they are from. This means the 4th and even 5th seeded teams could have more points than the 3rd seed.

Anyway, as normal the 1 plays the 8, 2 plays 7 and so on. Once every series is finished, whichever team has the highest rank plays the team remaining with the lowest rank. That is to say, if the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th seeded teams each won, then 2 would play 8 and 3 would play 5. That is how the NHL seeds teams in the second round. I hope this helps.

Who Are You Calling A Tramp, You Hoar? I'll Bitch You Down!

I don't think that comment was intended for me, but I can't run the risk of inadvertently being bitched down some day. I am not the kind of person who can handle a bitching in the downward style. So I'm going to apologize to whomever wrote that, and I will try to do whatever i can in the future to stay on your good side. Just please, keep your down bitches to yourself.

Do You Have A Man-Crush On Insert Name Here

Whoever keeps asking this question, please stop already. I don't have a man-crush on anyone. I don't even know what a man crush is, but I'm fairly certain that whatever it is, I don't have it. I do, however, appreciate the rookie season that Alex Ovechkin had, and I think it will go down as one of the top 5 rookie seasons of all time. I also feel that Elias is the reason the Devils are the team they are right now. Neither of these things have anything to do with a crush, so lets just let that go already.

Why Do You Hate Canada?

Another common misconception around these parts seems to be that I hate Canada. People do draw strange conclusions sometimes. I called Vancouver to miss the playoffs in January because the had a borderline team as it was, and then they ran into injury problems. They and the Kings were the 4 and 5 seeds at the time, but it was obvious to me that they were done. It had nothing to do with what country they play in. I mean, you don't see my American readers asking me why I hate America since I said the Kings would miss the playoffs. It's just not a normal conclusion.

As for my playoff picks, saying that San Jose, Detroit and New Jersey had the best odds of winning the Cup instead of Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton, I apologize. I forgot about the National pastime of blindly cheering for all Canadian teams once the playoffs come around, even if it's your teams normal arch rival. I've never quite understood where the natural tendency in Canadians to do this comes from, but it seems to be ingrained in the entire population. I guess that's why the CFL's popularity has been growing so much in recent years - every year "your" team is guaranteed to win! God bless Canadians.

You Are Such A Closet Leaf Fan

So I hate all Canadian teams, but I'm a huge Leaf Fan. I understand. But to dispell some of those rumours anyway, here is a Best Buy commercial that I came upon over at Chris Young's blog on thestar.com.

Sorry mom.

Are You the Son of Sports Guy

I don't actually know what this question means, so I'll turn it around to you guys - what does this mean? I get asked about Son of Sports Guy all the time, and I never know whats going on. Nor have I ever cared to ask, but enough is enough and now I want to know. Who is the Son of Sports guy, and why is everyone always looking for him?

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

Patrick Elias - No, It's Not A Man-Crush

2006-04-23T01:36:00.000-04:00

Elias Watch

Some days everything comes together. You wake up in the morning a minute before your alarm goes off, only to find that your gorgeous girlfriend has french toast and bacon waiting for you, wearing nothing but a smile and the syrup for your toast. After a while, she goes off to her 6-figure job, leaving you to watch sports and cartoons all day in your underwear. I'd describe where it goes from there, but I think you all get the gist of it. Some day’s life just seems to revolve around you.

That is the kind of day Patrick Elias had.

I may be letting my Devil's fan roots be shining through here, but when you have a day like that, you deserve to have a whole post to yourself.

The scene was set for Elias’ return from injury at the start of January. Patrick missed the first 3 months of the season while recovering from Hepatitis. Most people assumed that his game would have lost a step due to the illness, but he made an immediate impact in the Devils lineup. Scoring 16 points in 10 games and leading the Devils to an immediate 8 straight wins and into a playoff position. As the season went on, he finished with 45 points in 38 games, and the Devils came from just outside of the playoffs up to the number 3 seed in the East. I’ve said many times before that Elias is one of the most under rated impact players in the league, and one of only a handful of guys whose presence in the lineup can turn games around on a regular basis

Going into the playoff, some people still had their doubts about Patrick and the Devils. Even the JF himself asked me if he was the only person who thought the Rangers would take out the Devils. My reply to him was simple – he should be. I went on to explain that:

“Lundqvist isn’t 100% and looked awful in his one game he came back in. They went 7-15 to finish off the year, while the Devils won 11 straight and against top teams - Ott, Buf, Phi, Pit, Pit, Mtl, NYR, Car, Phi, Phi, Mtl. Plus they have Brodeur and Elias. Jagr can get a couple games, maybe, but they don’t have a shot. Not even slightly.

As far as Lundqvist goes, rookie goalies tend to not handle coming back from time off well. I’m not sure why, but they can’t. The series wont go well for NYR at all.”

With that, the stage was set for Elias to start his run at the Conn Smyth Trophy. He did anything but disappoint in his first game. Patrick scored 2 of the Devils record setting 5 power play goals, and assisted on 4 others as the Devil’s won their 12th straight game 6-1.

How a coach could let his team play such an undisciplined game in the playoffs is beyond me. At one point Malik even took at shot at someone’s face right in front of the referees gaze. It was one of the most selfish games I’ve seen players on a team play, and the Devil’s certainly made them pay for their mistakes going 5 for 13 with the man advantage. What’s worse is one of their selfish plays cost them their top player. On the final goal of the game, Jagr took a swipe at Scott Gomez, and managed to injure himself in the process. This is horrible news for a team that has a lot of trouble finding the net lately, even with Jagr in the lineup.

On a positive note for the Rangers, Steve Rucchin was back in the lineup for this game after missing seven matches with a broken foot. The confusing part of his return is that he only played 40 seconds on the penalty kill, while Blair Betts centered nearly 11 minutes of the time. It’s a wonder that 5 power play goals were scored with that kind of thinking going on. I’m hoping it’s just because he’s not at 100% yet, and once the game got out of hand they didn’t see the use in risking having him out there. If you’re not going to have him killing penalties, why exactly are they paying Rucchin to be on the team?

In other games on Saturday, it was Colorado 5 Dallas 2, Montreal 6 Carolina 1, and in the only exciting game of the day, Buffalo took Philadelphia 3-2 in double overtime. Robert Esche stopped 55 of 58 in the losing effort, showing that he did indeed deserve the nod for the playoffs. It is Philadelphia, though, and they have a tendency to turn on their goalies at the drop of a hat. Look up Vanbiesbrook, Cechmanek and any other goalie you can think of’s stats in the series that got them blown out of town. You can almost count on something similar happening this year; it’s almost an annual tradition in Philadelphia at this point.

Notes of Note

2006-04-22T02:58:00.000-04:00

Another weeks over, and I am exhausted. That can only mean one thing – it’s time again for the great nation of Hungary’s favourite new feature, Notes of Note.

Mets News – Kaz’s Home Run Derby

Kaz Matsui was reactivated off the 15 day DL to make his first start of the season the other day, and had what has become his typical start to the season – a home run in his first at bat. He has done this in his first three seasons in the league to set the record to start a career, and is the first person to lead off 3 straight seasons this way since Ken Griffey Jr. from 1997-1999. There are a couple of points that make this a little bit more spectacular. Firstly, this year’s lead off home run was an inside the park job off of Padres ace Jake Peavy, the first inside the park home run of his career. On top of that, in his career Matsui only has 11 home runs, despite being on pace for 162 each season after the first game. A 5 home run a season guy getting one in his first at bat 3 straight seasons is about as improbably as you can get in baseball.

More Mets News – God’s Chosen Julio

Speaking of which, this game also brought another improbability to note: Julio Franco is still playing baseball. Honestly, he is. He broke into the league a few decades back, long before my fiancé was born, and now at the age of 47 he has become the oldest player to ever hit a home run. He was already the oldest player to hit a grand slam, a pinch-hit homerun, and to have a multi-homerun game. Adding this new accolade gives him the all-time gerontological grand slam. And he’s not finished yet. Franco was signed to a two-year contract, despite the fact that he turns 48 in August, and is hoping to be the first player to ever hit a home run in his 50’s.

"God gave me the great gift to play the game of baseball, and I want to play until I'm 50. If He gives me two more years, don't you think He's going to give me another one?"

God works in mysterious ways, and apparently he’s a huge Julio fan. If he’s available still in your fantasy league, jump on this future star now. How can you argue with his biggest fan?

Hockey Playoffs Day One

As the playoffs get underway, a trivia question was brought to my attention (somewhat painfully). Who was the last player to score a hat trick on the opening night of the playoffs? That’s right, it was Alex Mogilny. I can’t wait to see how he does tomorrow when the Devils series gets underway. Because he is playing, right? Right?

Calgary 2 Anaheim 1 (OT) – Groin Watch Edition

There’s a picture on the right of a jock, and that can only mean one thing this season – another groin bites the dust. J-S Giguere is the newest victim of this year’s injury fad. I called Anaheim to take this series, but then due to this injury, an inexperienced Ilya Bryzgalov found himself in net today. Clearly Julio’s number one fan, as he shall now be known, is conspiring against me, and my desire to not have to watch many Flames games.

Anyway, the Ducks but up a great fight, but eventually let it slip away in overtime as Darren McCarty scored 9:45 into the first extra period. You have to wonder just how much money he had on that result. I’m sure it would have paid off at least 500 to 1 for him.

Ottawa 4 Tampa Bay 1

What? Ottawa blew away the Lightning? How could anyone have seen that coming? Certainly not Scott Burnside (it’s still not fair). Alas, the Lightning were out-classed, and out-matched. For most of the game it almost felt like the Sens were just toying with them. I’m pretty certain, actually, that they were.

Nashville 4 San Jose 3

I’m sure everyone will be quick to point out that my Stanley Cup pick dropped their first match of the post season. Well, the thing is that sometimes Paul Kariya has games like that. Sometimes he can still conjure up memories from his days on Steve Rucchin and that other guy’s line, and he can have a 4-point night. Sometimes, however, isn’t 4 times out of 7. Toskala and the boys will still finish this one off in 6.

Detroit 3 Edmonton 2 (Double OT)

Watching this game I was reminded of a couple of points that have been plaguing me for years. First off, I was reminded of why I have been calling for Dwayne Rolloson to be a number one goalie for years now. Dwayner stopped 54 of 57 shots, and stood on his head as the only reason that Edmonton was even in this game. Through 4 and a little bit periods Edmonton only managed 25 shots on net, and couldn’t keep up with the speed of the Red Wings game. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun fast game all around, but the ice certainly was tipped to one end.

Secondly, I was reminded of the Chris Pronger effect. Pronger, not surprisingly, was out for all three Detroit goals. The Wings come out of the corner and into the zone with speed. There is nothing that Chris can do to counteract that. Of note out of many samples, early in overtime, Lang was coming out of the corner. For some reason, Pronger threw his whole body onto the ice, which might not be a bad idea since if he were standing there would be no way he’d stop Lang and not take a penalty. Lang, however, still found his way through the sprawling mass, and had the best scoring chance of the first overtime. In that instance, Chris was bailed out by Rollosson, as he was most of the night until the second overtime. Pronger followed a puck around the boards that he couldn’t reach, instead of going to his guy, a play that you would bench an 11-year-old over. The puck, then, found its way to his man, and long before he could get there in a very slow attempt, the puck was thrown on net, found a bad bounce and went in. The other 2 goals involved Pronger standing there as his guy put the puck in the net.

This is Chris Pronger’s game. Come out of the corner on him, and do whatever you want. And this guy won an MVP award at one point. Have I mentioned before how wrong something like that is?

Shout Outs for Shout Outs

This past week me and/or my blog found it’s way to be mentioned all over the interweb. I thought I’d finish off this week’s edition of Note of Note by returning the favour, and linking up some links to the places that linked me for linking purposes. Link.

There were the normal call outs from my friends at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, whose normally classy blog has recently turned into Anti-Oilers central. Since Mister Pronger finds himself playing for the Oil these days, this means that they are quickly becoming even better friends of mine. Really, though, if their blog hasn’t been on your normal read list, you are missing out. They give sports bloggers everywhere a great name. On the other hand, the boys over at Forward Progress took yet another shot at Red Heads, so of course my name was rolled through the mud over there again. It was also the Rucchin time of year again (remember to get your votes in soon, try to slow Cheechoo’s domination if you can) so that was mentioned and debated in different message boards, and drew attention elsewhere like on the Toronto Stars page. If you aren’t familiar with Chris Young’s Jabs, then you are really missing out. He is one of the very very few people in the mainstream media who actually takes the time to read other blogs and actually be involved in the Blogging community, whatever that might be. His ideas are creative, and his posts happen with extreme regularity. What he is doing for the Star is the mould that all other media outlets should be striving for in their blogs. A top-notch job from a top-notch guy.

But the strangest one of all was on what appears to be a cities blog. It’s apparently a sight dedicated to the city where that racist soccer player I mentioned plays. They seem to just throw links on to any mention of their city that exists on the interweb. What I wrote about wasn’t exactly positive, so it would seem to me that they don’t really screen what they print. Knowing me, I can’t resist the urge to test that theory. For that reason, I’m going to Caxias do sul as soon as I can. I hear that it stinks so much in Caxias do sul, everyone has to wear nose plugs and capes all the time. I want to go make sure it’s true, and take pictures of the favourite pass time of Caxias do sul – midget tossing. Most importantly, Caxias do sul is the birthplace of both Spam and Chubb, so how can I resist? I’ll be sure to let you all know how my experiment goes.

What Do Pat Quinn's Career and the Regular Season Have In Common?

2006-04-21T00:14:00.000-04:00

2006 NHL Playoff Bracket

With the playoffs set to get underway, and my awards ceremony behind us, it's time now to focus on the upcoming NHL Playoff Matchups. The first round has a couple of interesting match ups, primarily between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres, and between the Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. To me, at least, the other series seem quite predictable, although I'm sure like every other year there will be some surprises in store. That's the great thing about sports - they aren't played on paper. That's why leagues that are worth watching have playoffs, not just final standings.

Eastern Conference

(1) Ottawa vs (8) Tampa Bay
Heatley, Spezza, Alfredson, Havlat, Chara, Redden, Phillips, Meszaros, Emery/Hasek. And Scott Burnside over at ESPN actually picked the Senators to lose to a Grahame/Burke mess in net. That's a spectacular mistake. How can someone like him have a sports writing job, but here I sit writing this thing on my own time? It's not fair. It's like when I watch Berg and Belak "play defense", or see John Ferguson Jr "GMing" without being given the chance to do either myself. It's just not fair. Senators in 6.

(2) Carolina vs (7) Montreal
A couple weeks ago when I was looking forward at the playoff picture I had this to say about Montreal: "Montreal - Best Case Ottawa, Worst Case Carolina. The Habs do not want the Caines. Trust me. It would be over fast". Well, you gotta dance with the one who brung ya, so I gotta stay true. Hurricaines in 5.

(3) New Jersey vs (6) New York Rangers
The Devils set the NHL record for longest win streak to end a season, by finishing with 11 straight wins. The way Brodeur and Elias are playing right now, it's hard to imagine that streak not continuing for a couple more games. Rookie of the year candidate Lundqvist made the Rangers season, as was evidenced by their slide to the 6th spot at the end of the year. Without him at 100% the Rangers are sunk. Jagr can pull a couple games out of his pocket, though. Devils in 6.

(4) Buffalo vs (5) Philadelphia
A Buffalo Philly playoff series yet again. How many times are we going to have to pretend to care about a Buffalo Philly series? At least, for once, I didn't buy tickets to a game in the series (which means my mom got an Easter present for once that wasn't playoff tickets). It could go either way, so I'll say Philadelphia will take this one since everyone else is taking the Sabres and I like being different. Besides, we've all seen what Forsberg is capable of doing in the playoffs. Flyers in 7.

Western Conference

(1) Detroit vs (8) Edmonton
Let the destruction begin, although the Wings leading scoring, Datsyuk, is going to miss at least the first game of this one. That will help a bit, but with a mismatch like in this series, it's not going to matter. Pronger, remember, plays in Edmonton, and the playoffs are where his defensive deficiencies shine. Unless the IR grows to include Legace, Lidstrom and Zetterberg, this one will be over before it starts. Red Wings in 5.

(2) Dallas vs (7) Colorado
This will be a good and, and in the end the series will go to the better goalie. If Aebischer was still in Colorado, I might be more inclined to swing their way, but there are way too many questions right now about both goalies left in the mountains. Add to that Jason Arnott, Brenden Morrow and Sergei Zubov's amazing years and Dallas should have no trouble in this series. Stars in 6.

(3) Calgary vs (6) Anaheim
Calgary Calgary Calgary. Phaneuf is this. Kiprusoff that. Stanley Cup run this. Quack quack quack, Mister Duckswerth. Ducks in 7.

(4) Nashville vs (5) San Jose
After Joe's arrival, the Sharks have been arguably the best team in the league. The Preds rode Vokoun to a great record, and then lost him. You're tired by now of hearing this same stuff over and over so I'll make it simple. Sharks in 6.

RIP Paddy Q

Some other notes from today to take care of before calling it a night - the firings. The Leafs got it wrong in firing their coach and not their GM, and the Kings got it wrong by firing their GM and not just giving it another year to build. They don't have a bad team in LA, just one that wasn't ready yet. And they need to get rid of the distraction himself in Avery. Once Labarbera has another year of experience and gets his head in the right gear, he will be one of the best, and the Kings will be competitive. I liked their rebuilding in LA, but lack of results for one year means a job lost, as Pat Quinn knows very well. If McCabe hadn't got injured the team would be in the playoffs right now, and Quinns job would be secure until the next "emergency" in Toronto. The problems with the Leafs are by no means his fault. The front office staff, and particularly the GM in Toronto have no idea what's going on. Not really rebuilding, not really going for it now, not allowing young guys to develop unless there are injuries, and a trading deadline that saw a real defenseman (Klee) leave down for a Luke (Richardson). It was like bringing Keith Carney into Vancouver and pretending that was a good pickup to solidify the defense. It doesn't make sense, and at least to me that was transparent from a 3000 miles away. The GM's in these cities need to be destroyed. Not just replaced, but literally destroyed. They shouldn't be allowed to mess with NHL teams ever again. The fans just deserve better.

So, what did we learn from all of this? If you're a GM and you decide to rebuild, your team will improve and show hope for the future (ie. LA Kings, Toronto Raptors), but you will lose your job in the process (ie. LA Kings, Toronto Raptors). If you don't rebuild, and stick with the guys in place who had some success in the past but clearly can't cut it anymore, your job will be spared because you can blame the coach (ie. Toronto Maple Leafs). "These guys were fine before, he must have just lost his touch behind the bench". It's disgusting, and I really just don't understand how front office staffs, especially MLSE, can be so blind to reality over and over again. I need to move out of Toronto. It's the only way to relieve my frustration. I hear East Rutherford is a nice town.

2006 NHL Award Winners

2006-04-20T01:09:00.000-04:00

We find ourselves in the small amount of downtime between the NHL's regular season and the big show, and I noticed that there wasn't nearly enough hockey talk out there to fill the dead air. For that reason, I've decided to dedicate my post today to the NHL by making my choices for all of the NHL awards for the regular season. So, here now are Sports Guy North's 2006 NHL Award Winners.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
League Leader in Goals
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Ilya Kovalchuk
2006 Award Winner: Joe Thornton

I know what you're thinking: "What the H-E-double hockey sticks is he talking about? It was Jonathan Cheechoo who lead the league in goals. Is Sports Guy North on drugs?" Well no, I am not on drugs. Nor have I ever been on drugs. Heck, I don't even drink so that's not it either. The thing is that you're wrong if you think Cheechoo lead the league in goals. 17 goals does not lead the league by a long shot. Thornton had his 29 goals, plus the 36 he banked in off of Cheechoo for a total of 65 goals, coming well ahead of Jagr in second place with 54. Ovechkin and Kovalchuk tied for third with 52.
Dany Heatley was my pick before the season started, because in combination with 2 of Ottawa's top guys helping to feed him the puck, he was a guaranteed 50 goal scorer, and another 50 assists as well, as I will mention below. How people thought Atlanta got the best of that deal will forever confuse me. He is, and will be for many years to come, a valid MVP candidate. At mid season I predicted that Ilya and Ovechkin would battle for the lead, and while their battle did end in a tie, I did not account for Thornton's huge surge towards the playoffs and his first MVP award.

Lester B. Pearson Award
MVP As Voted By the Players Association
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Bryan McCabe
2006 Award Winner: Joe Thornton

Apparently before the season started I was on a huge Dany Heatley kick. His name will come up more than a few times in this process. At the half way point of the season, Bryan McCabe was the leafs team. No one was more valuable to their team. At the time I said "Imagine that team (the Capitals) without him (Ovechkin). The same can be said for Palffy and McCabe, however, two scenarios which we are going to find out about now. These are two teams that are in a lot of trouble without their stars, which is the big reason they are in the MVP running for the first half." The Leafs more than proved me right by going on an 8 game losing streak without McCabe, completely taking them out of the playoff picture. That injury did change the course of the season, however, and McCabe fell off the face of the MVP race.

The other main contenders for this award were Jaromir Jagr, whose Rangers slipped at the end of the season all the way to the #6 seed, and Alex Ovechkin. The Russian President was so important to his team that he fell just short of the ultimate dream of having more goals (52) and assists (54) than anyone else on his team had points (Zubrus finished with 57). I predicted at mid season that Staal and Thornton would likely fight for MVP rights by the end of the year. Eric Staal, probably undeservedly, fell out of the spotlight as Joe Thornton took the Sharks from well out of the playoffs to one of the top 2 (arguably 3) teams in the west going into the playoffs. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone not taking the Sharks in the first round. This is a team that everyone gave up on before Joe's arrival. For this reason, among many others, he is the one and only MVP this year. Hands down.

Frank J. Selke Trophy
Best Defensive Forward
Pre-Season Pick: Mike Knuble
Mid-Season Winner: Brenden Morrow
2006 Award Winner: Brenden Morrow

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

Jack Adams Award
Coach of the Year
Pre-Season Pick: Randy Carlyle
Mid-Season Winner: Lindy Ruff
2006 Award Winner: Lindy Ruff

Lindy Ruff has done way too much with way too little. There is no other explanation than him for the Sabres success, and it's really no surprise. He has been coaching Buffalo since 1997, and in that time has had a better than .500 record with a complete lack of talent outside of the crease. He gets a strong effort out of every player every night. When the team was in trouble near the end of the season, he did what he had to, grabbed onto the Tucker incident and used it to propel the team again. You may or may not agree with what he said, but you can't argue with the results. Hands down winner, with special mention also to Tom Renney for doing something other coaches have failed to do: get Jaromir Jagr to seem interested in playing day-in and day-out. He managed to do it all year, even, but the slide to 6th will be enough to keep him from the award. Ruff hangs on to as predicted at mid-season.

King Clancy Memorial Trophy
On and Off Ice Leadership
Pre-Season Pick: Mark Messier
Mid-Season Winner: Mark Messier
2006 Award Winner: Mark Messier

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

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
Perseverance and Dedication to Hockey
Pre-Season Pick: Patrick Elias
Mid-Season Winner: Patrick Elias
2006 Award Winner: Patrick Elias

This award always goes to someone coming off of an injury of some sort. If there is a disease involved then it is a mortal lock. Elias was bound to both come back, and to dominate at some point during the year. When he did come back, he turned around a team battling for the last playoff spot to the #3 seed. He elevated everyones play, and scored as he is known to do. Had he played all year, he too would be in the MVP consideration. The award was, and is, obviously his.

William M. Jennings Trophy
Goalies on Team with Fewest Goals Against
Pre-Season Pick: Dominik Hasek
Mid-Season Winner: Domink Hasek/Ray Emery
2006 Award Winner: Miikka Kiprusoff

Kiprusoff rode Haseks injury, and some solid play down the stretch, to steal this award from the Hasek/Emery tandem. The Patrick Roy trophy appeared to be on its way back to Hasek this year, but the boring play of the Calgary Flames helped solidify this result. Hopefully there won't be 4 rounds of watching them play this year, though, and the Ducks are a great first attempt at taking the boys down.

Vezina Trophy
Outstanding Goalkeeper
Pre-Season Pick: Dominik Hasek
Mid-Season Winner: Dominik Hasek
2006 Award Winner: Miikka Kiprusoff

As is true about the Dominik Hasek award. From the moment he signed with Ottawa on, this one was a lock in my books. There was no denying Hasek his 7th career Vazina trophy, to tie him with Jacques Plantes for the all time record. Nothing but an injury, that is. Don't worry, though, I won't use this as a place to yet again bring up my thoughts on having international competitions in the middle of an NHL season, and especially in the playoff drive. When the Sens bow out early, everyone in Ottawa will be on my side.

With Hasek out of the running, I looked for absolutely anyone else to give this award to. Brodeur had a lot of wins, but his numbers weren't up to par this year. Manny Fernandez had a spectacular first half, but his play really dropped off after his little buddy was traded to Edmonton. Huet didnt start soon enough, Gerber's stats weren't as strong as they should have been. By default, Miika is the vezina winner this year. There's no way around it.

Conn Smythe Trophy
Playoffs MVP
Pre-Season Pick: Dominik Hasek
Mid-Season Prediction: Daniel Alfredson
2006 Award Winner: Joe Thonrton

Hasek looked to be primed to carry the Sens to the Cup this year, but injuries have taken away any real chance of that. All things equal, Alfy then deserves the award. He has been this teams leader right from the start, and suffered through all the adversity placed upon him because of it. If the Sens do end up going all the way, this will finaly be his year. Datsyuk, Lidstom and Legace will duke it out if the Red Wings win the Cup as expected. But I'm going out on a limb here, and I'm calling the Sharks this years Stanley Cup Champions, and Joe Thornton the easy playoff MVP if that happens.

Calder Memorial Trophy
Rookie of the Year
Pre-Season Pick: Sidney Crosby
Mid-Season Winner: Alex Ovechkin
2006 Award Winner: Alex Ovechkin

Crosby was probably everybody's pre-season front-runner, but Vechky quickly took control. The race was somewhat close for a while, but in the middle of the season Alex looked to already be in a class above Crosby. Have you heard anyone mention Crosby's name in MVP talks? Not likely. This is the clear difference between their rookie campaigns. Ovechkin is the rookie of the year, but Crosby's run to nearly catch Alex in scoring will make the vote a close one again. The race for runner up is an interesting one this year. Lundqvist, Meszaros (a defenseman at +34 in a rookie season is ridiculous), Svatos and Crosby would easily be winners in any other season. Thats not to mention Michalek, Phaneuf, Steen, Tyutin, Seabrook, Vanek, Prucha, Boyes, Wellwood, Vorobiev, Whitney, Ouellet, et Al. I have never seen a rookie crop like this years. It is the stuff that dreams are made of, and should give us all an over-abundance of hope for the future of the league. It has been an exciting year, and many of the names listed will be hoping for the same success as their first playoff run gets underway.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Biggest Pussy
Pre-Season Pick: Pavel Datsyuk
Mid-Season Winner: Brad Richards
2006 Award Winner: Steve Rucchin
Who cares?

James Norris Memorial Trophy
Best Defenseman
Pre-Season Pick: Wade Redden
Mid-Season Winner: Bryan McCabe
2006 Award Winner: Niklas Lidstrom

Wade Redden is strong defensively, and offensively, and being on a team that was such a clear front-runner for the Cup made him the early favourite. Injuries late in the year took him out of the running for what should have been his award after Bryan McCabe's injury set in. Lubomir Visnovsky's played slowed down in the second half as well, with all of this coming together to open the door for Lidstrom to walk away with this award. Zubov may give him a run in the voting, but Lidstorm averaged over 28 minutes of ice time this season, and had over 100 more shots on net than Zubov. Zubov may steal it, but it should be Lidstrom's award to lose at this point.

Hart Memorial Trophy
MVP
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Bryan McCabe
2006 Award Winner: Joe Thornton

This is pretty much the same as the Lester B Pearson award because I'm speaking in both cases. When it's not player votes, however, Jagr may have a better chance at coming out on top. Could also see a lot more Staal votes this way, but not likely.

Art Ross Trophy
League Leader in Points
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Jaromir Jagr
2006 Award Winner: Joe Thonton

The guaranteed 50 and 50 was enough for me to think Heatley would lead the league in both goals and points. Heatley did exactly as I expected, but 3 others managed to do even more. Thornton found the perfect Rucchin, and soared to the top of the standings with 125 points, followed closlely by Jagr at 123. Ovechkin lead the rookies, finishing third with 106 points, and linemates Alfredson and Heatley tied for 4th with 103.

Prince of Wales Trophy
Eastern Conference Champion
Pre-Season Pick: Ottawa Senators
Mid-Season Prediction: Ottawa Senators
2006 Award Winner: Ottawa Senators

Nothing unexpected here, although Hasek's injury allowed the Hurricaine's to keep it close.

Clarence S. Campbell Bowl
Western Conference Champion
Pre-Season Pick: Detroit Red Wings
Mid-Season Prediction: Detroit Red Wings
2006 Award Winner: Detroit Red Wings

Most people did not pick the Wings at the start of the year. They'll all deny it now, but talk about Legace not cutting it was everywhere, and I just never understood it. Most picked Colorado to miss the playoffs and Phoenix to be in. None of it made sense to me, and it's nice to see in the end that I'm not crazy. It's everyone else that's nuts.

Presidents' Trophy
Best Regular Season Record
Pre-Season Pick: Ottawa Senators
Mid-Season Winner: Ottawa Senators
2006 Award Winner: Detroit Red Wings

Could have gone either way. And it did.

Stanley Cup
League Champs
Pre-Season Pick: Ottawa Senators
Mid-Season Prediction: Ottawa Senators
2006 Award Winner: San Jose Sharks

No matter what I write here, you're all going to question it. So I'm not goign to bother. My ranks for odds to win are 1. San Jose 2. Detroit 3. New Jersey 4. Anaheim 5. Ottawa. Sorry Carolina, Calgary and Dallas fans, it just isn't in the cards this year.

2006 Rucchin of the Year Voting

2006-04-18T02:30:00.000-04:00

Rucchin of the Year

It’s the time of year again that Sports Guy North fans look forward to the most. The leaves are blooming, the Leafs are not, the Easter Bunny has come and gone, and the Andrew Peters of the league have been set aside to save their legs for the all important and pivotal 8th game of the first round. That can only mean one thing: It’s time to vote again for this year's Rucchin of the Year. If you’re not familiar with this award, you can find a description here: Rucchin of the Year Nominations. Basically, the award goes to the player who had the best season that had more to do with his linemates, and less to do with his own talents. If you’re still confused, think of the days when Steve Rucchin was playing on a line with Kariya and Selanne at the top of their games, a situation where even my mom could have gotten 50 points. Remember also the goal he scored off of his lid, leading to a concussion and a lot of missed time over his career. Now you’ve got the right idea in your head, so you’re ready now to see the nominations for the 2006 NHL Award for Rucchin of the Year. Remember to pick your candidate wisely this year, as we will be “presenting” the “award” to the “winner”. Think carefully, and then use the poll in the right margin to vote for your Rucchin of the Year.

Martin Straka

A perennial favourite, Straka found himself on a line with one of the leagues best again this year, and really made the most of it. Playing in LA and Pittsburgh last season without a real linemate, Marty put up only 26 points in 54 games. This season, basking in Jagr's glory again, he has 75 points in 81 games. He has also improved from a –43 over the last two seasons, to an impressive +18 this year.

Most people would argue that Straka has had a solid career up to this point which should be sufficient to prove his not a Rucchin. Well, this isn’t the case if you dissect hi actual results themselves. The difference between the 6.5 years where he was able to Rucchin, and the 6.5 years where he wasn't is enourmous. And since they are spread throughout his career, they are not influenced by age or injury. Weighted over an average 82 game season, his statistics are as follows:

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

The numbers are staggering, and it's about time that such a dominantly Rucchin-like career is recognized. Somehow he has managed to avoid this honor in the past. What better time than when he is in the lineup with Steve Rucchin himself? Vote for Marty Straka, and give him this long-awaited and fitting culmination to his illustrious career.

Slava Kozlov

Another career Rucchin, Slava's numbers soared to new heights on his arrival in Atlanta. In his three seasons before arriving in Atlanta, he had 36, 38 and 32-point campaigns. His first season in Atlanta, playing with Kovalchuk and Heatley saw him put up 70 points. His second season saw his numbers tail off a bit to 52 points, as Heatley missed 50 games and he was only able to Rucchin off of Kovalchuk’s talent. Throwing Hossa into the mix this year has taken his abilities to new heights, and he finished the season with 70 points in 80 games.

The argument could be made that Slava is just a very inconsistent player, and not really a Rucchin. If you look at his worst slump of the year, however, from March 2 to March 14 where he didn’t register a single point, it was also a time where he found himself not taking a regular shift with either Hossa or Kovalchuk. Coincidence? That’s up to your votes to decide. He was Atlanta’s representative over Marc Savard in the end, because Savard has had an all around decent career. He has been at a point a game pace since arriving in Atlanta, consistent no matter who was on the team at the time. He also had some decent seasons in Calgary before that up until his injury problems.

All in all, Slava seems the more logical Rucchin choice in Atlanta. You tell us now if he has what it takes to go all the way.

Jonathan Cheechoo

Jonathan was the first half’s runaway winner in the Rucchin voting. He had 16 points in 25 games before Thornton's arrival, 77 points in 56 games afterwards. Going further back, even, he had only 63 points in 145 games prior to this season.

Some people argue that Cheechoo has a great shot, but is that really the case? Many people have hard, nice shots, but if someone doesn’t feed them the puck perfectly, it’s not going in the net (Freddy Modin in Toronto comes to mind). NHL.com writer John Kreisler said it best:

“No one has been helped more by Thornton's arrival than Jonathan Cheechoo, whose 53 goals are a career high. Cheechoo had just seven goals when Thornton arrived from Boston; since then, he's had 46, the most in the NHL during that time. Thornton has assisted on 36 of them, including two in Thursday night's 5-3 victory over Vancouver. Cheechoo's shooting percentage before the trade was 8.3; since the deal, it's 20.5.”

I predicted sometime around the midway point of the season that Jonathan would be the favourite for this award come the end of the season. Only your votes will have the final say in proving me right or slightly less right.

Anson Carter

This underdog just might have enough bite to steal the award. Lost in the hype of the Canucks top line of Naslund, Bertuzzi and Morrison (the teams normal Rucchin candidate) was a soaring, underrated second line. The Sedin twins finaly officially came into their own this year, with Daniel getting 71 points and brother Henrik netting 75 points. Luckily for Anson, he was carried on their backs for their trip to stardom. Here is how Anson himself described his first goal of the year:

``It was a great play by the twins (Henrik Sedin took a pass from his twin brother, Daniel),'' Carter said. ``For me, pretty easy. Just put it in the net. ... A nice little saucer pass right on my stick.''

That pretty much sums up the rest of his year as well. Carter had 33 goals that came tied to 53 Sedin assists. In fact, he only had one unassisted goal on the entire year. Every single other goal had at least one Sedin assist on it. 100% of them. In fact, only 8 of the 61 assists on his goals came from anyone else on the team. Clearly Anson’s stats have at least 90% to do with the play of the Sedins. Statistically, if you deem the Sedin’s play of high enough caliber that someone might be able to Rucchin off of them, then Carter has to be your Rucchin of the Year. There is no way around it. The question becomes, then, are the Sedin’s that good yet?

Mike Knuble

For parts of 2003 and 2004 Knuble played on Boston’s top line and had decent success. Outside of that, however, his career was an offensive mess. He had 40 points in his other 150 games in Boston, and 63 in his other 200 games in the NHL. How is life different playing with Peter Forsberg, you ask? How does 65 points in 81 games sound? After his first 5 seasons in the league he had 69 points, and has come just short of that mark this year alone.

The strangest thing about Mikey’s success is that I can’t think of a single positive thing to say about his offensive play. He’s horrible. He has an iffy shot that he uses far too often, he isn’t fast, he doesn’t have good puck control, he’s questionable in the corners and really doesn’t contribute much. Defensively, I like his game, but that is not what this award is about. If all of the sudden defensive or penalty kill stars like Jim Dowd or Garry Valk were playing on Forsbergs line they’d get 60 points too. And that is what this award is about.

So, those are your nominees. Other candidates of note include Morrison in Vancouver (didn’t quite Rucchin well enough this year, and lagged behind his line. When someone’s lost the ability to Rucchin, and is in a contract year, it’s hard to imagine a reason to bring him back), Tucker in Toronto (I couldn’t include him because I can’t have him win an award. That would justify his position in the league, and as Lindy Ruff said we just can’t have that), and of course Scott Walker who scored a beautiful goal of his head early in the year very reminiscent of the very origin of this award. When all was said and done, however, your 5 Rucchin of the Year nominees stood out above the rest. Vote now and let your voice be heard. The award is primed and ready to go to your choice.

Oh yeah, and as always at election time, take a minute or two to check out http://www.darcyhordichuk.com. It has been updated for his move to Nashville and looks fabulous!

Losers, Winners and Something Kinda Both

2006-04-16T03:20:00.000-04:00

R.I.P. Leaf Land

Normally I would write a humorous obituary for the Leafs season at this point. This being Easter and all, however, I've decided against it for the sake of my mom's sanity. I feel bad that the Leafs had their mini-run to end the season, because it unrealistically got most Leafers hopes up. Pulling off a big win against Ottawa didn't help either, followed by Carolina managing to come back against Tampa, and getting a powerplay in overtime. Every step along the way just made the inevitable reality that much more painful. When Tampa got penalized I said "Power Plays that are 4 on 3 are dangerous. Especially with Tampa. They get breakaways. I think this is it, the Leafs are officially done." I got a hell of a look for saying that, and a worse one when it came to fruition. For that very reason I am not touching the Leafs in this post with a 50 foot poll. It's just too soon. All I'm going to say is that the 8 games in a row that the Leafs lost when McCabe was injured is what cost them. If they won even half of those games they'd still be battling for 6th right now. They also made a goalie change much too late. Belfour obviously wasn't Eddie anymore, but for some reason the move to Telqvist came too late.

His injury then also opened the door for J-S Aubin to steal the show. Up until recently, Aubin's time in the minor leagues has been almost as big a disgust to me as Mogilny's. In 1998 when he came in the league with Pittsburgh he played 17 games and only lost 6. He played some great hockey in Pittsburgh on some very bad teams, and through it all he managed to keep a .902 save percentage for his career. When the Leafs signed him I remember asking the JF if they were going to be smart enough to use J-S as a starter instead of Eddie. Although he knew they should, he also knew there was no way. I was excited about his signing, though, and am less surprised about his recent play than most. He always looked like a top goalie in Pittsburgh, and it's nice to see him getting the chance to show it again. He and Telqvist will make a great duo next year, and I just hope the Leafs brass will be smart enough to realize that instead of needlessly throwing money somewhere else. Let the rebuilding officially begin (a couple months too late, of course).

Playoff Time

With Tie Domi now setting tee times, the playoff picture is coming more into view (at least in the west), and we even know a couple of the pending match ups. Like every year, not everyone's teams will be making an appearance in the playoffs,but there's always something to cheer for. For me, it's that Detroit wins their series, as I have tickets to game 5 of their second round. I hope also to see them either play Anaheim or San Jose, since those are the top 3 teams, as well as the 3 most entertaining teams in the West. For others, it's cheering against Edmonton for different reasons than I have (ie. perhaps some Canucks fans sympathize with this group). In any event, there's one thing that unites all hockey fans in the playoffs, no matter what rink or golf course their allegiances are playing on: Playoff Hockey Pools.

For those of you out there still looking for pools to get in on, there are a few that come to mind. First off is a normal one, for most Canadians at least: Rogers Sportsnets Playoff Fantasy Hockey. The prizes are semi-decent - $500 at Boston Pizza and a $1,400 TV for first, and other prizes for 2nd to 5th as well as for 1st and 2nd in each individual round. If you're looking for a group to join after you sign up, go for group name "A A A a Sports Guy North" and the password is 123.

A couple of new pools that are new and interesting are on EBay.ca - EBays 2006 Playoff Hockey Pool, and on futureshop.ca - Future Shops Free Playoff Hockey Pool. The futureshop pool may not allow groups, but it does have great prizes. $25,000 worth to be exact. The EBay pool requires an EBay user ID, and awards $15,000 in prizes. If you're looking for a group there, go with League Name: EBayoffs and League Password: ebay. Each of the three pools is different in its own way, and offers great prizes. Between the three of them, there should enough to keep you until June, but if you know of any other good ones that I missed, feel free to let me know.

Rucchin of the Year Nominees

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions for Rucchin of the year, there were a lot this year. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the poll up on my site. As of right now, it looks like the nominees are going to be Cheechoo, Straka, Tucker, Carter, Morrison, Knuble and Kozlov. I think 7 nominees is more than enough. I might cut Tucker and Morrison out by tomorrow and get it down to 5. We'll see. If you disagree with the nominees, or if you have a favourite Rucchin not in the list, hurry up and make your opinions known. If no one makes a good case, then these will be your choices come tomorrow. Consider your vote wisely, we're actually going to be sending an award to the winner this year!

Stupid Somethings

2006-04-14T03:09:00.000-04:00

Brazil + Soccer = ...

Our attentions turn back to a soccer country again today, and you know that means - something stupid happened. In this case, a Brazilian soccer player was charged with racism for chanting "monkey" on the sidelines of his game. TV images showed former AC Roma player Antonio Carlos shouting the term from the sidelines during a game on March 5th, after his hard foul on Gremio midfielder Jeovanio.

It's sad the degree to which racism exists in some people. If ever there was a situation where racism should just never come up, this is it. First off, soccer's governing body FIFA just increased their own anti-racism regulations last month, so its obviously something that they will be strongly looking out for in the next little while. Secondly, last time I checked, half of Brazil's 200 million residents are either black or mixed-race (yes, there is a reason why the hottest girls always seem to be from Brazil. I'm not sure what it is about mixed race girls, but it always turns out right!), so if you're going to be a bigot it just may not be the wisest place to pull that crap. Last, but certainly not least, in Brazil Racism is actually a crime that comes with a 1 to 3 year jail term. I struggle to think of any other way that you could have more thrown in your face trying to convince you to keep your idiot ideas to yourself. Nonetheless, stupidity always prevails. Or is it something else?

While a 1 to 3 year jail term for racism sounds like a harsh punishment, there is a catch. He is a soccer player, and soccer players in a soccer country are like the captain of a football team somewhere in Texas. Rules just don't apply. For instance, Brazil has yet to implement FIFA's racism rules, and on top of that if Carlos is a good enough player, he probably won't even hear a single boo at his next home came. Soccer comes first, even before human degradation. Keep in mind, this is a world where people are killed with some consistency over the results of matches, and even during the course of a game. If that wasn't enough, however, here is what local prosecutors had to say about his pending sentencing:

the player can avoid a trial if he agrees to have 10,000 handbills made with the saying, "We are all equal," and "Say no to racism." He would have to help distribute the handbills during sporting events in the city of Caxias do Sul, where Juventude hosts its matches

That sure sounds about equal to 3 years in jail. Maybe someday soccer fans will evolve to join the rest of the world, but I wouldn't count on it happening in our lifetime. We're talking about people who actually look forward to sitting down and watching a few hours of soccer non-stop. That's a lot of evolution they need to go through.

Elias Watch and Slowed Stupidity

The Devils beat Philadelphia today to move into a tie with them for 5th in the Eastern Conference. The win gives Elias and the boys ample space so that they can't be caught from behind, BUT it puts them into dangerous territory. As always seems to be the case, finishing 6th place in the conference is much like winning the lottery. Riding on Elias' back, his 12 points in their last 7 games have helped the Devils to 9 straight wins, and do the unthinkable by moving to within 3 points of the Rangers for first place in the Atlantic. If they catch the Rangers, they will move into 3rd in the Conference and likely face the Flyers in the first round. Should they stay ahead of Philly in 5th place, they would open against the Sabres. Staying in 6th, however, would mean they draw the Rangers in the first round, the weakest of the three teams, and struggling of late. They even managed to lose to the lowly Penguins and Islanders this week, not to mention the Devils themselves. Although they won't admit it (Lemaire isn't as dumb as, say, a Swedish hockey coach), I can't imagine any reason other than stupidity would make the Devil's come out and play hard against the Flyers on Sunday. Maybe Elias will just happen to need a day of rest, that would do it.

Canucks No More

As was obvious to me, and apparently no one else, the Canucks season finaly came to it's inevitable conclusion tonight as they lost for the second time in as many games to the Boston Bruins former GM. As a result, the 16 teams I called a couple of months back the easy to see playoff teams are, in fact, the 16 playoff teams (assuming Atlanta and Toronto don't pull off some kind of miracle. Aubin and Mats sure are trying their best, but it's too late. If only they has started one game sooner, should be the chant of the Leafs faithful as their bandwagon eventually crashes again). San Jose, 8 points out of the playoffs even when I called them the eventually fifth seed, seem to be on the way to fulfilling that prophecy as well. They are the second best team in the West, and I'm confident the playoffs will give even more evidence of that. Detroit, Dallas, San Jose and Anaheim should be the first round winners if they don't have the misfortune of lining up with each other. And much like you and me, the Leafs and Canucks will have a great view of the Sharks run to the finals when it starts in just over a week now. Mind you, the Red Wings will have a lot to say about that statement, and probably no one else. If Thornton isn't the MVP this year, then something went horribly wrong.

Angry Toyota Sell Out Day

2006-04-13T01:53:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those days. To top it all off, in our own parking garage, in a rather upscale apartment building, for the second day in a row our car was keyed. We just moved spots, by order of building "management", to a place that was way too small for 2 cars, and also beside the levels entrance to the building. Despite arguments by my sister and my fiance (the two cars owners) about the idiocy of the whole situation, we were forced into said spots. After 4 days, our car has been keyed twice. This second attack was down two whole panels and the trunk. Who does something like this in their own enclosed parking lot? There is no way this second one was an accident. As is the case in any good hockey organization, we've come to the point where it's time to send in the enforcer. We will be parking in different spots, and we will be parking for free. If there's one good thing about the 40 pounds I've put on in the last year and a half, it's that you can be a lot more intimidating at 6'2" 200 pounds, than 6'2" 160 pounds. The sad thing is that it shouldn't have to come to sending in the enforcers. There should have been understanding in the first place for the ladies concerns, but secondly you shouldn't have to be concerned about intentional destruction along with the normal risks. Just like in hockey, additional equipment in the league should not have lead to a more risky game and more injuries, but it did. And the instigator rule, in theory, should not lead to more injuries, but that's not how the human condition works. If someone isn't worried about repercussions like John Kordic coming in and feeding him his own nose, then he's less likely to pull up if an opponent is in an awkward position.

While this is true of humans, that doesn't make it right. And in hockey, as in life, it is just getting out of hand. I am very disappointed by the lack of common courtesy that apparently exists in this day and age. If any of you finds yourself considering keying a car, or following through a little too much on a check, or even not returning a message from your mom, please stop for a second and give common courtesy a second thought. For me. That way this horrible day, and this waste of what could have been a great article won't be for nothing. Even if just one little inconvenience is avoided somewhere in the world, I'll be vindicated a little bit. And that's what life is all about - vindicating minor occurrences in the life of Sports Guy North.

The other main problem is that my Fiance's car is a Saturn. Unlike a normal car, the thing is plastic or fiberglass or whatever non-steel thing it is. You key it hard enough, and it becomes a pain to fix. Steel can be hammered out, plastic cannot. This makes all of this a bigger pain. It would be great to be able to get a new car, but the Big Dawg has 3.3 years worth of payments left on her car, and what she'd be able to sell it for at this point is likely less than the payments she has left on it. So here is my new plan - I need a car company to step up and help us out. Ideally, I would be looking for them to take her car as a trade in for the exact value of the payment needed to buy it outright, then sell a car to us at cost. Nothing fancy, even just your run of the mill $22,000 sedan, small SUV or even a van if need be. In exchange, the company would become the sole advertiser on Sports Guy North, and no matter where my writing career goes they would get free advertising for my entire existence in a prominent place on whatever I am writing. The car they sell us would also have some of that graphic advertising on it, for the car company or whomever else they would get as a sponsor. I would also likely mention their products with great frequency. Basically, I'm so angry right now, I'm willing to completely sell out for a small amount of help in return. As an example, let's say Toyota steps up and takes the deal (I'm fairly certain at this point GM would never be interested after my glowing review of our Saturn). They have a joint contest with the NBA right now, so I would certainly post a press release for the contest, as well as a video. It would look something like this:

Press Release

-- Fans Have a Chance to go 1on1 with Carmelo Anthony, Marc Ecko or Jermaine Dupri --

Houston, Feb. 16 -- Toyota and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have teamed up to give fans the chance to go one-on-one with icons in the sports, fashion or music world by placing a vote for the best NBA play of the week.

One Grand Prize winner will have the opportunity to “Get Game” with Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, “Get Style” with fashion and media icon Marc Ecko, or “Get Beats” with music mogul Jermaine Dupri.

To participate in the contest fans log on to Toyota1on1.com to vote for one of three video clips showing the best plays of the week from NBA action. Votes can be cast every day via the website or by text messaging PLAY to t1on1 on a mobile phone. Each vote enters that person into a sweepstakes with a weekly prize featuring an IPod Shuffle, NBA merchandise or Ecko clothing.

At the end of the promotion, one Grand Prize winner will be chosen from all the people who have voted for the plays of the week. That Grand Prize winner will have a choice of going “1on1” with Anthony, Ecko or Dupri.

“Basketball fans have diverse interests and through Toyota 1on1 we wanted to give them a chance to really pursue their passion, whether it's on the court with Carmelo Anthony, learning about fashion from Mark Ecko or getting a deep dive into the music industry with Jermaine Dupri,” said Jim Farley, Toyota Vice President of Marketing.

Each of the icons is a standout in his business:

Carmelo Anthony

NBA rising star, Carmelo Anthony, was drafted No. 3 in 2003 by the Denver Nuggets and started in all 82 games that year. Anthony was selected as the 2005 Rookie Challenge MVP, a member of the 2004 U.S. Senior Men's National team and was the third-youngest player in the NBA to reach the 2,000 point mark.

Marc Ecko

From fashion to footwear, gaming to publishing, Marc Ecko is an artist, designer and entrepreneur who stands out for his ability to fuse the many parts of today's multicultural society into seamless, relevant styles and trends. Ecko heads the full-scale global fashion and lifestyle company, which last year alone billed more than $1 billion.

Jermaine Dupri

Grammy Award winning music mogul, Jermaine Dupri, has 20 years of experience in the music industry and is the founder and CEO of So So Def Recordings and president of Black Music at Virgin Records. Dupri has helmed the release of platinum albums for Janet Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey and Bow Wow, to name a few.

In addition to being able to view and vote for the best plays of the week on Toyota1on1.com, the website will link to video profiles of some of the top NBA players on “Toyota Moving Forward Moments,” appearing on NBA TV and NBA.com, a photo blog where people can submit their “Fan of the Week” photos, a listing of the celebrity icons' favorite tunes and online versions of some of the unique games from the Toyota Zone at the NBA All-Star Game Jam Session.

ABOUT TOYOTA

Toyota established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates ten manufacturing plants including one under construction. There are more than 1,400 Toyota , Lexus and Scion dealerships in the U.S. which sell more than 2 million vehicles a year. Toyota directly employs more than 32,000 people in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $13 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design.

No purchase necessary. Sweepstakes ends 5/1/06. Void where prohibited. See official rules at Toyota1on1.com

And there you have it. An offer to be Sports Guy Norths exclusive sponsor, as well as free advertising anywhere my career happens to take me, in exchange for buying out a dented 1.5 year old Saturn, and providing a replacement car at cost that can even be splashed with advertising as desired. It's a great offer, so Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, Ford, Volkswagen, anyone, step up and get it while you can! Only time will tell how good of a deal you're getting. It's a gamble, but what sports fan doesn't love gambling? It's not like you'd be betting on the Canucks to make the playoffs, this here is a gamble that could actually pay off!