Arshavin goes off for four

Another Tuesday gone by, another electric game for Liverpool as they played to a 4-4 barnburner with Arsenal. Arsenals' Andrei Arshavin scored four for the Gunners, who had a winner denied in the dying moments from Cesc Fabregas. Amazing, and more goals scored than any of the five NHL games last night. The result opens the door for Manchester United to widen the gap as they face Portsmouth today, one of two games in hand for United...last nights save by Mariano Rivera for an Andy Pettitte win tied the MLB record at 57, held by then Oakland A's Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley...with all the empty seats, clearly the Yankees overestimated the draw of a new stadium and their team, and underestimated the economic climate...a recent SI article (March 23rd) says that within two years of being retired, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce. Within five years, 60% of NBA players are broke. Those are staggering numbers...while you've been reading today's entry, Roberto Luongo made six more saves. The Vancouver Canucks punched their ticket to the second round with an overtime win over the St. Louis Blues...it is only today, two days after Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo's year end presser, that I'm able to see straight after my eyes got locked into a rolling position after he declared this year's edition of the Raptors the best he's assembled. He was far more credible when he was killing them for being soft and lacking in pride...more on the homer debate at new Yankee Stadium where 20 home runs were hit in four games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there were eight four-games spans of 20 or more homers at the old Stadium, some of them overlapping, including 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So maybe what we saw on the opening weekend at the new park was just an anomaly? Further, given the homers launched for years out of Camden Yards in Baltimore, Minute Maid Park in Houston, Citizens Bank Park in Philly, and others, seems like a bit much right now. By the way, there was only one last night, off the stick of Johnny Damon...NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says Michael Vick will have to show signs of "serious remorse" if he is to be reinstanted to the NFL. Question: how is Goodell qualified to judge him that way?...Goodell might want to keep tabs on a potential far more explosive situation. Seems Mrs. Tom Brady - Gisele Bundchen - has won over $1 million betting on Inter Milan this season. If she starts hammering wagers in the NFL, there's going to be no media outlet not interested and that's something the NFL, which benefits from gambling despite pretending it has nothing to do with it, cannot afford...going into last night's action, the Toronto Blue Jays were 61-41 since Cito Gaston took over, the third best record over that time behind the LA Angels and Chicago Cubs...the way that PTP has gone of late after a smoking hot start - isn't that the way? - I'm looking for a can't lose proposition. And I've got it in Chivas USA, who visit a Dwayne DeRosario-less Toronto FC tonight. At +114, tough not to like them in any event, and hey, if I'm wrong, my boys win...have a great Wednesday.

Carl Crawford = Freak

Tampa Bay Devil Ray Carl Crawford is a freak. How else do you explain that he was recruited out of high school to go to UCLA as a point guard, or Oklahoma or Nebraska as a quarterback? Major programs one and all. Of course, when the Rays ponied up some cash, what high school kid wouldn't take it?...isn't it funny that Boston Red Sock David Ortiz was talking loudest about punishing players who used performance enhancers yet he's the guy who went from never hitting 20 homers before 2002 and then suddenly went 31, 41, 47, and 54 in 2006 before seeing his production tail off and now looking like a shell of his former self?. I know there's the impact of losing Manny Ramirez and age, but this is ridiculous. He's hitting .172 this year with no bombs and a scant three RBI going into action yesterday...Kevin Garnett gets shut down, potentially for the entire playoffs, and Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge goes and has a jammer. Coincidence? Methinks not...now that John Madden and Brett Favre have retired, how long do you figure until they leave their wives and shack up together?...after a 2-0 home loss, a rarity for the San Jose Sharks to lose at home, wonder how much perennial playoff flameout Joe Thornton slept last night?...one reason that Bryan Colangelo might want to think twice about retaining Jay Triano as the Torontor Raptors coach: his players think it is a good idea. Chris Bosh characterized the players as being "comfortable" with Triano. Of course, that cream-puff of a team is also comfortable with collecting paycheques and losing...nice of the New York Yankee bullpen to bring a blowtorch to a perfectly good 1-1 game late and turn it into a 10-2 laugher. That's 0-2 for New York teams opening stadia this week. SI.com's Tom Verducci weighs in with his take on the new Yankee Stadium...speaking of new buildings, met a guy from Dallas last week at BMO Field in Toronto who was up to see FC Dallas visit Toronto FC - alone no less - and asked him about the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. He repeatedly used the term "it is just obnoxious". Coming from a Texan, where everything is bigger, that is saying something...nice of SportsNet's Roger Millions to drop a "cocksucker" blast on live TV last night. Nicer of GBVH to pass it my way. Be sure to check that out below...your PTP winner today is to ride Jobamania and the Yankees to get off the schneid at home -1.5 +100. May the winners be ours!

Boom, outta here...

Pretty cool of the Philadelphia Phillies walking through the stands and a gauntlet of fans onto the field. Their starter last night Brett Myers may have quit drinking beer except for when watching football - a move that helped him drop 30 pounds this off season - but he pitched like the first half Myers of 2008, giving up three bombs as the reigning champs fell to the gonna-be-good Atlanta Braves. Expect a lot of Myers "boom, outta here" on The Jim Rome Show today. If you haven't heard the clip before, it is embedded below. The Bravos were a nice +121 winner if you had it...optimism may abound on baseball's Opening Day, but cold reality is going to hit in Toronto for games two and three where so far, fewer than 10,000 tickets have been sold...the NCAA final goes tonight in Detroit. Not sure about you, but I'm riding UNC to win it...the Toronto Raptors had a .220 winning percentage against teams better than .500. And somehow, GM Bryan Colangelo likes this team...the latest edition of People I Hate struck me on the way to the office this morning. People Who Don't Clean Their Car Off After A Snowfall. Turning on your windshield wipers is not cleaning your car off, you ignorant fools. I've contemplated starting a campaign where I buy a box of cheap brushes that I fire at cars who don't bother. If drinking and driving is sheer idiocy - and it is - this isn't far behind. If you can't see out of 3/4 of your cars windows, you're an accident waiting to happen...speaking of accidents, did you see WrestleMania? The Undertaker is lucky he can walk today after botching a dive out of the ring and going head first into the floor. Looked very, very bad. Overall, a great card and the final match - Triple H vs. Randy Orton - was pretty much the lone dud. I love Free To Air!...Manchester United looks like they'll be selling Cristiano Ronaldo this summer if the stories of them inking Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich are true. As great as Ronaldo can be, and he sure was yesterday, like this move. Ribery comes cheaper, and is a fantastic young player with a lot less drama...the New York Giants will likely trade for Braylon Edwards on draft day if the Cleveland Browns can manage to draft a top of the line receiver to replace him. You heard it here first...if you like stats going into your wagering decisions, Yankees starter CC Sabathia is 5-0, 2.38 against Baltimore in his career, 3-0, 2.60 in four starts at Camden Yards...how about the 10 Girliest Sports Fights?...back with your PTP later.

The Price is wrong, bitch

See Alexander Ovechkin's 42nd goal last night? Wow. All I can say. Watch it here...Jay Mohr filled in for Jim Rome earlier this week and offered this beauty on former NBAer Jayson Williams wife filing for divorce saying she doesn't feel safe around him - he's the guy who manslaughtered his limo driver years ago - because he urinates in the sink and takes Cialis: "how can you take Cialis and pee in the sink? Things are not going the same way! Maybe you do 'the ski jumper'?" Amazing...sounds more and more like Terrell Owens will be staying with the Dallas Cowboys if Jerry Jones hints are to be believed at face value. Get it? "Jerry Jones" and "face" used in the same sentence. Only at RM do you get this kind of stuff for free...Manchester United put on an absolute clinic yesterday in downing Fulham 3-0, adding to 'keeper Edwin van der Sar's clean sheet total which now has the all-time European mark in site, and adding to the PTP totals with the cover. United now sit five points clear of second place Liverpool in the EPL table with 13 games to go...Toronto Raptors coach Jay Triano get booted with five minutes to go. Surely I'm not the only one who saw that and figured he did it to go write a resignation letter. All kidding aside, the February 9th issue of ESPN The Magazine says "word out of the executive suite says Triano has a great shot at keeping the job" and that he and Bryan Colangelo "have a great connection" and "see the game the same way"...the NBA trade deadline is 3pm today. What, no 12 hour shows on our sports networks?...Al Strachan tells Hardcore Hockey Talk that Alexei Kovalev's issue is a simple one: a single guy enjoying the night life on Crescent Street far too much. Guessing leaving him behind on a road trip then might only increase his partying if he's not wise. But seriously, Strachan says he'll be back on the weekend and a decision will be made in the two weeks leading up to the deadline on whether to move him, knowing right now they're not likely to get value for him...Sir Charles Barkley has - finally - apologized publicly for his DUI earlier this year and returns to the TNT crew tonight. He also publicly thanked Alex Rodriguez and the NBA trade deadline for giving him great cover and keeping this off the front pages of all papers. The latter part isn't true...how to spend $1.3 billion, in under three minutes...folks, ignore the baseball will get a salary cap mental midgets talking. It will not happen and here's a slight clue as to why: league revenues last year were $6.5 billion. Say the players demand 55% of that - a slightly low number relative to what other leagues are doing - teams would need to spend $3.6 billion total to achieve that (rounding up slightly here). That may not seem daunting to you, until you realize the league's teams spent $2.669 billion on salaries last year. There are 30 teams. That averages to $120 million per team. You think that is going to happen? Even assuming that the floor is $80 million, that would give you a ceiling of somewhere around double that. Fine, have it, but expect about a dozen teams to close up shop in short order. That arrangement hurts those at the bottom end FAR more than it hurts the top revenue teams. Look no further than the NHL - you think the Toronto Maple Leafs care about the cap being in place? Hell no. They're more profitable than ever, save for missing playoff dates. But teams like Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Florida are DYING because of the salary floor. Great idea, if you want to see a third of the teams disappear. Moreover, a cap in baseball will never happen because not only does the union not want it to - though they should if they could get that 55%, the owners that matter don't want it either...have a great Thursday, back later with your PTP.

Bosh out?

In 2003 when MLB conducted its baseline tests and there needed to be 5% failures for MLB to implement testing, the Chicago White Sox to a man contemplated not taking the test which would be scored as a failed test, but the union talked them out of it. Wonder if any of the 104 failed were just no-shows?...shocked that nobody at yesterday's A-Rod presser that nobody figured "Boli" he used from the Dominican Republic is part of the word "anabolic". Pretty obvious, no? Why have we not seen that anywhere else?...the Boston Celtics traded E.T. to the Sacramento Kings. The NBA trade deadline is tomorrow at 3pm and thus far, the Toronto Raptors have yet to bring in a heart surgeon, but are said to be part of a deal that would see Amare Stoudamire brought in with Chris Bosh shipped out. Interesting, though Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo denies it. The Cleveland Cavs may bring in Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards in a move that would make for one hell of an Eastern Conference playoff race between the Cavs and Boston Celtics...looks like Alexei Kovalev's act is nearing an end in Montreal. Habs GM Bob Gainey has told him to stay home for the Habs two game road trip...2008 NHL first overall draft pick Steven Stamkos busted out with a hat-trick last night, giving him 10 on the year. If the Bolts can get some goaltending, a playoff spot should be theirs...soccer managers are a different breed, and speak with no regard for political correctness. How else do you describe Arsenal's Arsene Wenger calling today's 3pm matchup of Manchester United at Fulham one that United "will certainly win"? Good enough for me. Man U is your PTP today at -1.5 -121...I shouldn't find this t-shirt as funny as I do...as if I didn't hate JJ Redick enough, his three bomb at the end of the game cost me a split on my Orlando/Under wagers last night, sending it over, and of course, the Magic didn't cover the -8.5 in OT...have a great Wednesday.

Best promo ever?

The Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL are running a promo called "Don't Be Like Mike" after Michael Phelps bonging South Carolina. Here's the deal: anyone named Michael, Phelps, Cheech, Chong or Mary-Jane, or anyone who has won an Olympic gold medal gets a discount to a game next week. It gets better, if the Admirals score at 4:20, somebody in the arena will win season's tickets. As an added bonus, somebody will take home a weed wacker...the LA Galaxy say that David Beckham will return on March 9th after a deal was not completed by yesterday's deadline with AC Milan. Like any negotiation where the first offer isn't the best one, I'd wager that in this one, the first deadline isn't the last. He can walk after this season for nothing. The Galaxy would be crazy not to make a deal, it makes too much financial $ense...the Phoenix Suns are said to be looking to dump $40 million in salary - and pronto - as a result of their owner "lost" about $253 million in the stock market. Here's hoping somebody can save the great Steve Nash from that mess...among the witnesses of that plane crash just outside Buffalo on Thursday night include several Buffalo Sabres. GBVH passed on this incredible story of an AHL ref who switched to a different flight when a flight attendant told him he wouldn't want to bring his kids on the ill-fated flight because it was going to be especially turbulent..A-Rod was in the Bahamas as the steroid story was breaking last Saturday, partying with two lovely ladies, and gettin' his Goose on too, as you can see here...the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat finally got together on a trade that sends Jermaine O'Neal to Miami and brings back "The Matrix" Shawn Marion. The deal gives the Raptors loads of flexibility in this all-important off-season approaching and they'll need to make some big moves if they have any hope of retaining Chris Bosh. Frankly, with how Bryan Colangelo has operated of late - the original deal for O'Neal, the overpaying of Josee Caleron, the horrible Jason Kapono deal - I'm not sure there's much hope in Raptorland...good of LA Dodgers manager Joe Torre to wax on about A-Rod's drug usage. Funny, I don't remember him being so opinionated when he had Jason Giambi or Andy Petttitte on his team, but now he's going to talk about other teams players?...it is the NBA All-Star weekend, not that anyone should much care, but as is becoming tradition in these parts, we've got the Top 10 NBA WAGs...after selling 13,000 tickets in the pre-sale - incredible - there is now talk that UFC97 in Montreal could be in trouble because such fights are against the law. Better still, the governing body says it didn't know about last year's card. Really? If so, how are you fit to govern anything?...kind of hard to believe that the Toronto Maple Leafs have only scored four fewer goals than the Pittsburgh Penguins, no? They face each other tonight at The Hanger, and the Pens are your PTP for tonight on the puck line at -0.5 +118. Altogether now: "value"...and yes, last night's game needed an empty netter from the Montreal Canadiens to cover the 1.5 goals. Sometimes you get those breaks, sometimes you don't. At +275 though, that's a damn good break...have a great Saturday.

Sixburgh!

You can now call them the Sixburgh Steelers as the Super Bowl champs now have six of the trophies to top the rest of the league. It was a fantastic game virtually start to finish and particularly the fourth quarter. Maybe the best one yet? Ben Roethlesberger completed 70% of his passes and was money when needed most in the final drive. Is it me, or does every play Santonio Holmes makes seem huge? Not sure anyone would think the Steelers win a game in which they gave up 407 yards, but win they did...another season of the NFL come and gone in a flash. The beauty of the NFL is in its intensity - 5 months of meaningful games. By comparison, the NHL started a month later and is barely half way through its regular season. You simply cannot sustain attention for that long...destined to be the hottest selling jersey in the CFL: Saskatchewan Roughriders running back Justin Beaver...you'd think that Michael Phelps would know enough to not let a picture be taken while he's hitting a bong, no?...the Detroit Tigers are looking at trading a starting pitcher or two. I'd imagine you would, when they're virtually all garbage...wanna know what 1474 megapixels looks like? Check out this incredible picture of Barack Obama's inauguration, and zoom to any point in the picture. Crazy stuff...Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colanagelo is denying a report from Stephen A. Smith - and we know what the "A" is for - that says Chris Bosh has told the team he will not be staying after his contract expires after next season. My guess is that Smith will end up being right, but doesn't have any actual information of substance. He's likely just playing the guessing game so he can end up saying "told you!" when Bosh leaves, which I think he will...Craig Hartsburg's out as the Ottawa Senators coach and surprisingly, Pat Quinn isn't coming in, at least not yet. How a team with Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfreddson can't score is beyond me...word is Matt Cassel could be moved to Kansas City, where former New England Patriots personnel whiz Scott Pioli is now the general manager. Could he net the Pats a #1 pick? You'd think so, when Cassel is proven unlike everyone else in the top of the draft class the Chiefs might be looking at...Jamie Langenbrunner scored three game winners in multiple goal games last week. Impressive...New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs says Plaxico Burress cost the Giants a trip to the Super Bowl. That ought to do wonders for team chemistry if, as believed, Burress comes back...back with the PTP later. Have a great Monday.