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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Canucks draw first blood

The Vancouver Canucks opened last night's Stanley Cup Finals with a 1-nil win over the Boston Bruins with a goal in the dying seconds from Raffi Torres.  There was no lack of intensity in this one, if not shots necessarily with the Canucks going shotless for the first 9 minutes of the middle period.  I get that the league wants a game on Saturday, but do we really need two days off here with no travel required?  

Steve Buffery at the Toronto Sun says, among other things, that Atlanta didn't so much fail the NHL as the NHL failed Atlanta with a watered down product, and that "there aren’t enough goals. There aren’t enough open-ice plays. There are too many defensive schemes and systems."  No, I am not Steve Buffery.

Interesting TV stat: more people watched Game 7 of the Vancouver/San Jose series in Canada than did in the U.S. And yet U.S. TV continues to drive the bus.

UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar had surgery on his colon to try to remedy his nasty recurring bouts with diverticulitis, and he will be out of action until early 2012, which now doesn't seem all that far away given we're in June.

As crazy memorabilia goes, how about bidding on eBay on the penalty spot where Manchester United's Wayne Rooney scored the goal that took United to a record 19th English title?  The bidding is north of a million pounds sterling, or over $1.6 million Canadian/U.S.

Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement yesterday on Twitter.  Of course, he might well be kidding, but if he's honest with himself, he'll shut it down.  Shaq was a beast in his prime, as unstoppable as anybody has ever been, but it was a shame to see him bounce around to close out his career with a variety of injuries the last few years.

A recent SI players poll had Alex Rodriguez, Joba Chamberlain and Derek Jeter as the top three most overrated players in the game.  Told of the news, two of them reacted well and laughed it off as the price of being on a big name, high profile team.  The other was sour and surly.  Any guesses who fell in what category?  With so many allegedly overrated players, it is a miracle the Yankees are still winning the AL EastSweeny Murti at CBS says A-Rod may say some dumb things, but to call him overrated is one thing only: jealousy.

Colin Campbell is giving up his duties - fired? - as the NHL's lead disciplinarian, with Brendan Shanahan. taking over.  Memo to Shanny: just be consistent in any way, good or bad, and you're a huge improvement.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now won as many road games this year - 17 - as they won all of last season.  Finally, they're on the upswing.

Canadian and New York Met Jason Bay has three extra base hits in the last 30 games, while pulling an $18 million paycheque.  He must be heavily tied up with how his hometown Vancouver Canucks are doing.

Bob Klapisch of NorthJersey.com on New York Yankee Bartolo Colon: "no man shaped like a watermelon should be throwing 96-mph on the black."  BK looks at the stem-cell procedure that seems to have given new life to the once fading Colon.

Just one of a handful of rejected Stanley Cup promo pieces appears at right.  Rest appear here.

Soccer's transfer season is already in full swing, with plenty of speculation about who the big name squads will chase, and where the big name players will head.  Check out this link for a great daily running summary of what is happening, and being heard.

Have a couple beers you favor and are wondering which is the better option in terms of lower calories and better efficiency in terms of better buzz for fewer trips to the bathroom? Wonder no more. And while we're at it, the Beer Advocate will help you sort out which taste the best on their probably ridiculous, overly pretentious scale.

Game 2 of the NBA Finals goes tonight in Miami and the Dallas Mavs really need to bounce back if they're to spare me/us the nightmare of the Heat winning the whole enchilada.  The upside is they're certainly capable of great improvement over their game one showing.  Tip off is 9pm Eastern.

That's it for today, back tomorrow.

1 comment:

DeKev said...

Assuming you mean Game 7 of the Boston / Tampa series, not Vancouver / SJ...?

If so, that is an amazing stat. And, to think, Bettman thinks hockey in Winnipeg is not a good option. Loser.