LeBron comes up small

Dallas 112 Miami 103. Hey LeBron...oh-oh!  You called that the biggest game of your life and came up with that? A sign in Dallas last night read: "not 6, not 7, not 8...points".  To that, if all goes well in Miami in the next few days, you can add "not 6, not 7, not 8...championships"  that LeBron spoke of.  I really can't think of a more despised athlete right now.  As for the game itself, ridiculously entertaining stuff.

What time is it in Vancouver?  Twelve past Luongo.  The Canucks host the Boston Bruins tonight in a pivotal game and with a world of pressure on the home side's goalie and team overall.  A quick Bruin start would be awesome to see the panic set in.  One group sure to panic is staff at the Rogers Arena.  As soon as the game is done, they'll be working frantically to get the arena ready for UFC 131 tomorrow night with Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin slated for what could be an explosive heavyweight main event.

For the first time ever last night, in 161 games, David Ortiz was hit by a New York Yankee pitcher. CC Sabathia finally drilled him on the leg after a couple days of talking junk and over the top celebration of a homer. You'd think that got the biggest ovation of the night at Yankee Stadium, right? Nope, when they showed LeBron and the Heatles lost, that got the biggest ovation. Ortiz blamed the media post-game for getting hit: "I finally got hit. I hope you motherfuckers are happy."  Classy.  The Sox are now 8-1 against the Yanks this year and have swept twice at Yankee Stadium. Word is in honour of the Yankees rapidly sinking season, there is talk of swapping out "God Bless America" in the 7th inning with this.

Usain Bolt says that he could and hopes to play for Manchester United "because I've watched football over the years".  If it were that easy, I'd be playing that, the NFL version, NHL and on your tube for some WWE action as well because I've "watched a lot".  Give me a break, Bolt.

TSN Radio's James Cybulski asked Dan Shulman if Jose Bautista was approaching "legendary" status.  Yeah, after a strong year and two months, the man's a legend.  Freaking please.

ProFootballTalk looks at the top NFL candidates to move to Los Angeles.  No such article appears for Toronto.

Big sports weekend ahead with both the NHL and NBA finals winding down.  We could well see the end of the NBA season for quite some time if they go lockout.  Enjoy.

Road Warriors, the Vancouver Canucks are not.  Start with goalie Roberto Luongo's and his 2010-11 playoff splits, prior to tonight: HOME 9-3, 1.84, .937, 3 SO. ROAD 5-5, and the rest of his line going into last night, since gone worse: 3.31, .892, 0 SO.  The Bruins pounded the Canucks on the boards, and the score board, for a 4-0 win that was rarely in doubt.  Oh, and if you're keeping score at home, the Canucks five goals scored in four games isn't exactly awe inspiring stuff for a team that - incredibly hilariously - that one CBC talking head compared to Barcelona but was laughing too hard to recall who said it - yeah, compare one of the best teams ever with a team that's likely to be forgotten around July even if they do win.  The Bruins scored 8 goals on Cam Neely night, and 4 on Bobby Orr night last night, and when the series goes back to Boston, they're going to be looking for a Ray Bourque night - 7 or 77 will do.  Remember, you can't spell "Canucks" without "s-u-c-k".

The San Diego Padres have been shut out 10 times in 60 games.  On the other side of the coin, the New York Yankees haven't been shut out 10 times since 1991.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders now hold the rights to Ohio State cast-off Terrelle Pryor.  Yeah, a season in Regina will really keep Pryor on the straight and narrow.  How are the tattoo shops out there?

Ecuador-Greece played a soccer exhibition match at Citi Field in New York, home of the Mets.  They drew 39,656 fans, or more than any Mets game other than home opener.  Not bad for two teams that nobody would call powerhouses, or really at all interesting.

The list of athletes who have something objectionable posted on Twitter and later claim they were hacked is a long one.  Check it out, with the subject matter that cause them to come up with that story.

The 15 grossest things in WWE history.  Can't believe Chyna didn't make the cut.

Quick on today as I'm into an all day meeting.  Boo.

LeBron comes up small

Umm...seriously?

Funniest comment I read after the Boston Bruins 8-1 win from The Sports Pickle: I'm suspicious. Usually when a Boston team is playing this well they're on steroids or have illegally filmed the opponent's practices.  Game 4 goes tonight in Beantown.

Vancouver Canuck Aaron Rome has been suspended for four games for his hit on Nathan Horton, who will be out at least four games with a concussion.  How many games did Sean Avery get for talking junk about Elisha Cuthbert again?  Was more than four, no?  

The Dallas Mavs have evened the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat with am 86-83 win that landed right on the three point spread.  Damn Vegas is good.  No matter what happens next game in Dallas, the series will get decided in Miami.  Can't wait to see what that kind of pressure does to LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

Since the Toronto Blue Jays media and fans love leading the league in anything so much, regardless of sample size, here's another: Kyle Drabek leads the game in walks issued and is on pace for 130 free passes. ESPN's Keith Law told ESPN's Baseball Today Podcast he'd be more surprised to see him sent down to the minors than hit the DL with an elbow issue.  Oh-oh!

If you've been thinking it is a bit odd to see Blackberry so prominently advertising in the Stanley Cup Finals - an ad package worth into seven figures - then it shouldn't seem so odd to read from Forbes that the stories circulating are that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has told Jim Balsillie he'll get a team provided he stays in line and doesn't make any more spectacles. 

The Miami Heat parade route has been leaked already.  Map to your right.

Here are Michael Jordan's NBA Finals point totals per game: 36, 33, 29, 28, 30, 39, 39, 26, 32, 46, 33, 31, 42, 44, 55, 41, 33, 28, 29, 36, 23, 26, 22, 31, 38, 26, 22, 38, 38, 33, 37, 24, 34, 28, 45.  And someone wants to say that LeBron James is better than him?  LeBron had all of eight points last night and was largely ineffective on both sides of the floor.  Case closed, not that there ever was one. 

Buster Olney notes that the New York Mets are playing without Johan Santana, David Wright, Ike Davis, and getting little from the corpse known as Jason Bay, and they're almost at .500.  Not too shabby, Mets.

As if the city of Detroit hasn't had enough misery poured on it, word is the Pistons are looking at Isaiah Thomas as coach.

And finally today, remember this original of yours truly: you can't spell "Human Centipede" without "H-E-A-T".  If you're not sure about what the former refers too, be sure to click the link.

In last night's Toronto Blue Jay victory, at the end of the second inning, play by play man Buck Martinez told viewers at the end of the second inning that "the jays are leading 5-3".  The score was 4-1 at the time.  But, there were 5 hits for the Jays and 3 for KC. 

Chick fight at Wendy's, and this one gets real nasty.  Is that a dude pounding on one at the end?  Just goes to show, never mess with a woman's Baconator.

Bruins throttle Canucks

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals saw things get real ugly in more ways than one.  First, Boston Bruin playoff stud Nathan Horton was stretchered out after a nasty blind side hit from Vancouver Canuck Aaron Rome. If you didn't see the hit - what rock are you living under?  Here it is again.  Nasty.  Had to laugh that post-game, Don Cherry said Rome would get a game.  I've got my money on rest of the series, with 5-10 games to go next season.  Of course, when Ron MacLean said between periods that Horton was "moving his extremities" when he left the building, Cherry added he was "moving his hands and legs too" so you can see what his thoughts are worth.  And no, he wasn't being funny.  Horton's playoffs are over with a bad concussion.

Of course, the other key way the game got nasty was on the scoreboard: the Bruins pasted the Canucks 8-1 after the Horton hit rallied them.  Down the stretch, predictably, things got testy as they tend to do in blowouts, and players were getting tossed left and right and Milan Lucic, among others, even waved a pair of fingers in the face of Game 1 biter and all round dirt merchant Alex Burrows. There was a whole lot of hate on last night, and the Bruins took more than a few runs at the Sedin twins.  Game 4 goes tomorrow and it should be quite interesting, a lot more interesting than the first couple games were anyway.  Up today, Rome is on the carpet with the league.  Damien Cox speculated that he might get a game, five, or twenty...or Horton might get a delay of game penalty, such being the logic of NHL discipline.  Solid.

The last year before this the active leader in wins as a pitcher had under 200 wins? How' bout 1879.

The NFL is prepared for a season as short as eight weeks?  What would they do, just play divisional opponents?  That'd be a real credible Super Bowl winner.

In Dirk Nowitzki's 1998 NBA Draft, six of the top 20 picks were white Americans. None made an All-Star Game.  Dirk and the Dallas Mavs host Miami tonight in Game 4 of their final series.

Great story on Cincinnati Red Brandon Phillips.  A 14-year old suggested to Phillips on Twitter that he should come out and watch his team play that night and with the Reds off that day, Phillips surprised the boy and his team with an appearance.  Very cool.

If you're like me, this will stun you.  The nickname for Boston Bruin Nathan Horton, as confirmed by coach Claude Julien, is...believe it or not..."Horty".

Why I sometimes hate NL baseball: LA Dodgers pitcher Ted Lilly is now on an 0-42 run at the plate.

The Gold Cup is in full swing, the North and Central American regional tourney.  Canada faces the host U.S. in Detroit at Ford Field tonight.  Uncle Sam's Army will be in a surly mood I'm sure after they were pounded 4-0 by world champion Spain on the weekend, but Canada has been known to surprise in this tourney.  8pm kickoff on SportsNet One.

The Cleveland Indians are sliding badly, having dropped five straight.  Not good timing, with the rest of the division riding streaks of a game (Chicago and KC), three games (Detroit) and five games (Minnesota).  The slide has seen the hot New York Yankees move into top spot in the AL.  Not bad when the Yankees offence - homers aside - has yet to really get going this year.

The Miami Heat took a 2-1 series lead last night with an 88-86 win over the Dallas Mavs in the Lone Star State.  The Mavs trailed most of the game and could never seem to find the extra gear to break away when they did get close.  Needless to say, Game 4 falls under "must win" as 3-1 is curtains in the NBA typically.

The Vancouver Canucks are half way to their first Stanley Cup win thanks to Saturday's 3-2 overtime win.  It has been a tight series thus far but the Canucks seem to be in total control of this one.  Perhaps things change in Boston tonight for Game 3.

After Chicago series, Scottie Pippen was declaring that LeBron James was better than one Michael Jordan.  So far this series, it appears to me at least that LeBron is more suited to comparisons with Pippen himself.  And how awesome will it be if Dwayne Wade ends up taking the series MVP?  I'm sure he won't even contain how happy he is that "LeBron came here and joined me".  Emphasis on "joined me".

Love the indignation of Jeff Van Gundy during last night's Game 3 of the NBA Final when a pop held by a fan in the front row spilled on the floor when players chased a loose ball for the delay it caused. Yeah, the 87 timeouts a game are fine though.  Come on.

Why interleague baseball continues to make no sense in terms of scheduling: the Milwaukee Brewers this year will face both the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.  Their divisional rival, St. Louis, will face neither.

Baseball's schedule maker sure was kind to the Toronto Blue Jays the last four weekends as they've faced these cream puffs: Minnesota, Houston, Chicago White Sox and Baltimore, all last place teams save for the ChiSox, who just moved out of second last to Minnesota in the AL Central.  The Jays start a set with the sinking KC Royals today.

June has been a dead zone for the Toronto Blue Jays the last few seasons, judging by this: from 2008 through 2010, the Jays have navigated the first two months of the season in a reasonable 91-73. But in June, they are a combined 31-47.

Former NHLer Donald Brashear has entered the MMA ranks for his post-hockey career, and opened with a win.

Toronto FC's director of player development Paul Mariner says the team is moving along - at a snails pace was left unsaid - and continues to look for players with the right skill set to play the system manager Aron Winter is trying to employ.  I'm all for the system, but the odd result along the way to show it will work long term wouldn't hurt.  Saturday's scoreless draw at home against lowly Sporting KC may have been one of the dullest games I've seen ever.  Speaking of KC, they've yet to play a home game this year as they await completion of their stadium, which is about done looking at this vid and in time for their June 9th home opener, and damn impressive.

Texas Ranger Alexi Ogando is a bit of a feel good story this year for coming from out of nowhere to a 6-0 record with a 2.20 ERA.  That is, of course, if you ignore the five years he spent in jail for human trafficking.

Speaking of the Rangers, they're scoring about two runs more a game when Josh Hamilton is in the lineup, so his health is a big deal to state the obvious.

There are currently 10 pitchers with a WHIP of 1.00 or less in baseball. In 2001 no pitcher posted a WHIP of 1.00 or less.  Runs per game are also down for the fifth straight year.  While the easy and obvious reason would be drug testing, Joel Sherman at the New York Post says "but wait, there's more!"

If Carlos Zambrano is looking for a way out of life as a Chicago Cub, his post-game tirade in which he repeatedly called the team embarrassing, a Triple-A squad, and called out closer Carlos Marmol for how he pitched to St. Louis Cardinal Ryan Theriot late, ought to do it.  Albert Pujols hit two straight walk-off shots off the Cubs the last two days.

It took all of 17 minutes for the Winnipeg should-be-Jets to sell out their 13,000 season tickets.  Never a doubt.  Shame Gary Bettman didn't know that before he opened his mouth.

A 75-year old Belgian man cracks five soccer balls off the bar - intentionally - in 18 seconds.  Damn good.  Seems real too with the trees moving naturally in the background from what I can tell.

When facing a decent opponent, it is always best to never give them a personal reason to fight harder when you're already winning handily.  Guess Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade never figured that one out.  He scored a three pointer with 7:14 left to put Miami up 88-73 in game two, and it looked like the Heat were going to coast to victory.  Except he went and posed in front if the Mavs bench.  Bad move.  Immediately after, the fired up Mavs went on a 20-2 run and ended up winning the game 95-93. Game three goes in Dallas on Sunday. 

Since the NBA Finals went to 2-3-2 format in 1985, a series has been tied 1-1 a total of 11 times. The winner of Game 3 has won all 11 Finals. Pivotal film, anyone?

Some NFL coaches are going through mock practices with the league locked out, some are looking like they're singers in a legendary rock band.  See Pete Carroll, lead singer of one of my fav acts ever, Guided By Voices?  Thanks to GBVH for the linkage.

The Buffalo Bills will be launching their new uniforms on June 24th during a four hour - that's FOUR hour - unveiling that will obviously not be including any current players.

LA Angel of Anaheim Vernon Wells has made $2,981,481.48 since he was placed on the DL. Only 8 current Toronto Blue Jays players make that much for the entire year.

It isn't Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva, but it might end up being even better.  GSP is slated to fight Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz - UFC owns Strikeforce now, of course - on October 29th at UFC 137 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.  Diaz is a beast, and won't stand by eating punches like GSP's last two opponents did.  In other UFC news, they've got a free card on SportsNet tomorrow night at 9pm for the Ultimate Finale with Ramsey Nejim fighting Tony Ferguson for a contract in a too-tough-to-call fight, though I hope the former whips him.  There's also Anthony "Showtime" Pettis fighting against the always electric Clay Guida in another fight aired.  You may remember Pettis from this highlite at the 9 second mark.

Not sure why one would look to get an autograph from Lionel Messi, and then try to punch the man.  Word is The Father prevented said attempt from even landing on The Son.

Tweets the always hilarious @PaulyPeligroso: Hitler is a huge cock-block for dudes named Adolf.

Sidney Crosby has only now been cleared for off-ice workouts after his setback in early April.  You get the feeling his condition is a whole lot worse than we've been told it is?  What a shame it would be to see his career cut short - safe to say he's already lost some years off it - to concussions.  That would make two guys who were top of the game - along with Eric Lindros - lost to concussions essentially.

The Winnipeg NHL franchise is selling season ticket packages in their "Drive to 13" (thousand) is under way for existing corporate and season holders of the Manitoba Moose, and they're over 4,100 tickets sold already with the general on-sale tomorrow at noon.  I'm going to guess they do the 13,000 somewhere 12:30pm Winnipeg time.  Follow along here.

That's it for today, back Monday.  Have a great weekend.

Foo Fighters "Walk" vid, inspired by the great movie "Falling Down"

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 East.  Sweeny 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.

Only Gary Bettman Can Screw Up A Gimme, Slam Dunk, Open Netter etc.

With the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg, you'd think the league and team would get off to a good start in the 204, but not the NHL.  First, Gary Bettman essentially goes asshole - as if he could go any other way - and tells the locals they need to have 13,000 season tickets and sell the building to make it viable, as if the local owners haven't already done that research and like that's some huge challenge in a 15,000 seat arena.  That of course begs the question, how are all the franchises in the U.S. getting by with a lot fewer than those figures buying tickets?  Hopefully somebody is forwarding Gary Bettman this piece by the National Post's Bruce Arthur that reminds him that the league needs Winnipeg more than Winnipeg needs the league.  Second, the NHL says that it won't realign for 2011-12, so Winnipeg will play in the Southeast division.  The schedule for next year isn't out, so why wait?  It isn't like the move totally sneaked up on them.  Word is they'll flip conferences next year with Detroit finally moving to the East. Third, the team name hasn't been officially announced as Jets.  Memo to True North: there is no other option, despite word you're leaning to Manitoba Moose. GBVH passes word from Forbes saying the average ticket price in Winnipeg is going to be $82, which would tie Montreal for second highest average price, trailing only Toronto.  

Oh yeah, the Stanley Cup Final starts tonight.  Seems nobody is giving the Boston Bruins much of a chance in this one, and maybe that is just a product of living in Canada.  But if I'm a betting man - and I am - I have a lot more faith in Tim Thomas than I do in Roberto Luongo.  It isn't the sexy pick, but I'll take Boston to win this one in six, completing Boston's sweep of all the major titles in the last decade: NFL, MLB, NBA, and MLS.  Incredible.  Bastards.

It is never wise to say a series is over after one game, but the NBA Final could well be with the Dallas Mavs throwing away a very winnable game - and they didn't cover to make it worse.  The Heat won by six last night, and you get the feeling that the Mavs winning 4 of 6 is going to be a tough call.  Word that Dirk Nowitzki has a finger injury doesn't help.  How hot are the Heat in Miami?  Not very.  Three hours before the first game in Miami last night, there were still 800 tickets left on StubHub.

Let's not get too carried away with this discussion seemingly everywhere about how flat the baseball standings are with so many teams hovering around .500 at the moment.  We're not even a third of the way through the season for most teams.  How many teams would be close to .500 in the NFL after 5 weeks?  That said, in the 2000's, 59% of the teams holding a playoff spot on June 1st went on to make the playoffs.  A Yankee fan will be pleased to note the Yanks were first on April 1st, May 1st and now June 1st, which the boys in my fantasy league will notice lines up with yours truly, although I've been on top every day in between save for two.

Clearly, Dough Ford, brother of Toronto Mayor Rob, hasn't learned a thing from the travails of Jim Balsillie when it comes to trying to attract a team.  Dough has been now musing about how Toronto is such a big market, so why would the NFL be in Jacksonville, where they are only drawing 20,000 a game from his knowledge.  Funny thing about that, Dough, is they actually draw 63,000+ which, while not tops in the league, isn't exactly Argo or Blue Jays numbers.  Speaking of the Argos, somehow Dough believes that the presence of an NFL team in Toronto wouldn't hurt the Argos.

Of Jose Bautista's 20 home runs, 9 have come against last place teams in Minnesota (7) and Houston (2). 

As mug shots go, this one of just indicted Tampa Bay Buc Aqib Talib is a real gem. If I had a mug shot like that, I wouldn't even bother with a lawyer.

If you're a fan of ESPN's dynamite 30 For 30 series, you can now order all the DVD's in one set.  Solid.   I may have mentioned this before.

Wondering what all 30 of the NHL arena's goal horns sound like, because they don't score as often as they used to?  Wonder no more.  Can't say that the Montreal and Toronto ones sound overly familiar, nor do I recall them typically using horns.

MLB has never had an openly gay player, but it has had Ernie McAnally.

Say what you will about Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now with AC Milan in Italy, but the dude is a winner. 8 titles in 8 years, with 5 different clubs in 3 countries. That's incredible.

The Seattle Sounders fans raised the bar on the Portland Timbers in their heated confrontation a few weeks back.  This is freaking awesome.  Seattle's average attendance of 36,000+ would be 9th in English Premier League, 6th in Spain's La Liga, 2nd in France's Ligue 1, and 4th in Italy's Serie A.

The NBA Final gets under way tonight in Miami with Dallas visiting.  Not sure who I like in the series, but know I love the Mavs at +4.5 tonight.  They've had a ridiculous record against the spread the entire playoffs, especially on the road.

Manchester United long-timer Paul Scholes has retired, and the accolades don't get better than Zinedine Zidane calling him the best midfielder of his generation.  Who replaces him at United?  If the stories are true, could be Wesley Sneijder or Luka Modric, among other possibilities.  Either would be considerable improvements.

Smooth as sandpaper that Buck Martinez.  In talking about Breast Cancer Awareness during last night's Blue Jay beatdown of the Cleveland Indians, he seemed to omit the middle word.  Add that to other recent transgressions including butchering the pronunciation of some guy named Jose Bautista's last name.

Had a good laugh last week over the ever-bitter Scottie Pippen suggesting that LeBron James might be better than Michael Jordan.  Said the BlackSuperhero on Twitter: Damn, I guess Jordan, Kobe and Sonic are the only ones that care about rings these days.

What is a spot in the English Premier League worth to a team in the division below?  About $150 million Canadian, and Welsh side Swansea City are the winners after downing Reading yesterday in a wild 4-2 game that sees Swansea promoted to the EPL.

Pop Up Video is back in the fall?  Hell yes!


Still playing a bit of catch-up after the two weeks down, so forgive some of the more dated subjects.  Ray Lewis says that crime will increase if there is no NFL season. Is that a threat, Ray?  I'd be staying out of any place Ray is, especially if there is a limo nearby.  Watch from a minute in.

When bearing down on an empty net in soccer, it is important to remember that balls bounce, particularly on shoddy fields.  This is an awesome, awesome miss from close range.

Barca rules

I tend not to get too carried away with the "best of all time" talk that gets too easily thrown around, and Barcelona has been the subject of that talk for the last year or two with their dominant ways, but after Saturday's dominance of a pretty damn good Manchester United squad who played the right players and system to contain them and still lost 3-1, tough not to imagine there are too many better.   One bit of hyperbole I will subscribe to is that Lionel Messi is the most talented and electric athlete in the world.  Absolute freak.

At some point this week, the NBA and NHL finals will both get under way, contested by teams we can't remember by the time it rolls around.  For compelling though, I believe the NBA final blows the NHL away.

Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks is taking confidence to new levels.  He's vowing that if his squad loses the NBA Final, that he'll have the tattoo of that ugly trophy the NBA awards to its champion removed from his arm.  Ouch.  He best be winning then!

Top 50 best trash talk moments in sports, with video.

Hockey Canada is going to a place where the NHL hasn't had the sack to go: they're banning all head hits.  Period.  That said, the rules don't apply to the independently operated junior loops.

One of my fav website to follow is the page at Baseball Prospectus - updated daily - that forecasts teams' final records and their odds of making the playoffs.

Chicago White Sox starter John Danks is no fan of Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista, who he told to quit acting like a clown in slamming his bat down after a pop up with the Jays leading 9-1.  Will be interesting to see the react to that one.  If it were A-Rod, I'm sure Jays Nation Hamlet would be singing a different tune.

Be very afraid, NBAer, the league is said to be chasing a $45 million hard cap, a huge change from where they are today. 

Have a great Monday!

Take your time getting that Final started, NHL

First there was Chris Bosh selling a phantom blow and then last night, Lebron James acted like he got snipered when he wasn't even touched and then winked to his bench after drawing the foul. Stay classy, Lebron. The Heatles downed the Chicago Bulls last night thanks to an 18-3 run to close the game to complete a 4-1 series win. They'll get the Dallas Mavericks next in the NBA Final.

Hard not to figure out who is running the show in the NHL when the Stanley Cup Finals schedule gets announced by NBC and not the league. For the efforts of winning the President's Trophy and Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks will have all their games - home included - starting at 5pm local time. That's a joke.   Also a joke: they're starting Wednesday, after the Eastern Conference sorts out its winner tonight in Boston.

After losing Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays starter Jo-Jo Reyes has 28 consecutive winless starts dating back to June 13, 2008. Over that time period, 67 pitchers have won 28 or more games. The most wins since Reyes' last win: CC Sabathia has 58, Roy Halladay has 56, Jon Lester has 52, Justin Verlander is at 49, and surprising - to me anyways - Bronson Arroyo has 46.

What do Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwan, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have in common?  Answer: one of them has been in the NBA Final since 1979.  And salary caps ensure parity.  Uh-huh.

Ian O'Conner, author of the new book on Derek Jeter, says the day the New York Yankees ask Derek Jeter to move from Short Stop is the day he retires. Don't be shy now, Brian Cashman.

The Boston Red Sox have 28 runs their last two games.  The San Diego Padres have 12 runs in their last 9 games.

NFL Commish Roger Goodell is still beating the drum of an 18-game NFL season, saying it is something season ticket holders want.  When season ticket holders are paying full ride for four pre-season games, of course they're going to want an 18-game, 2 pre-season package instead.  That's hardly sound surveying.

The Champions League final goes tomorrow and while the head says Barcelona, it isn't clear in my mind like it was weeks back.  I think Manchester United just might win this one, with a 2-1 scoreline in Edwin Van Der Sar's, and possibly Paul Scholes, swan song, though Scholes won't be starting if this article showing United's starting lineup is true.

The Wal-Mart Bounce.  There are no words.

The Mavs carry the hopes of sports fans everywhere

Check out the ink on Monta Ellis of the Golden State Warriors.  Wow.

Nice work by the knuckleheads at the Canadian Soccer Association - and what could we expect of them but stupidity? - in putting the safety of fans and players at risk by trying to force-fit the Canadian Championship at BMO Field last night in the middle of a torrential biblical downpour with lightning flashing last night. Guess they didn't notice the stands are, you know, metal.  The game was called with Vancouver leading 1-0, but wasn't an official game as it didn't reach the 75th minute, so will be replayed in full on July 2nd at BMO Field.

I made a crack on Twitter about it being hard for Buck Martinez to not trip over his words as it must be hard to speak with Jays dick in your mouth and I immediately get followed by somebody who has a site called "Buck Blunders".  Exactly how it sounds.  Remember when he was a great colour guy?  Was that real, or was that just Dan Shulman carrying him?

The Dallas Mavericks finished off the Oklahoma City Thunder - and you'll be hearing plenty from the Thunder the next few years - to take the West and await a date with most-likely Miami, where they'll carry the hopes of Heat Haters everywhere.

The Tampa Bay Lightning scored an impressive win over Boston last night to take their Eastern Conference championship to a 7th game tomorrow night.  Awesome run by Steve Yzerman's crew, and quite the turnaround no matter what they do tomorrow.  Martin St. Louis is a pint sized beast.

GBVH, brother of RM, son of Flicka, noted that in the Chicago-Miami game on Tuesday night, with four minutes left to play, the Vancouver-San Jose NHL game was intermission.  In the time it took to complete the four minutes of hoops and a five minute OT, the hockey game's third period had already begun and finished.  The forced drama of NBA timeouts is beyond ridiculous, and if I were to rank the worst things in sports, that would have to rank near the top of my list.

St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols has been top 3 in MVP voting in 8 of his first 10 seasons, with three wins, but only once has he been among even the National League's top-10 salaried players when he came in 9th in 2006.  He's not exactly having a contract year for the ages this year, is he?

Poor Andrea (that's pronounced: AN-dree-uh) Bargnani.  GM Brian Colangelo cracked him weeks back for his lack of effort on defence and in rebounding - shortcomings so obvious Stevie Wonder can see them -and Andrea's panties are in a bunch and he wouldn't mind moving to another team, preferably in a warmer climate.  Don't let the door hit you, plank.

Isn't it a bit odd that NHL players won't touch the Conference trophy but have zero problem putting on the Conference championship hats and t-shirts? Uh...ok.

Baseball is a cruel, vicious game.  Toronto Blue Jay starter Jo Jo Reyes is winless in 28 trips to the bump, but the Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Wilson Valdez picked up the "W" for the Phil's last night in a 19 inning win over the Cincinnati Reds.

It is worth noting that the San Francisco Giant fan beat into a coma by LA Dodgers fans on opening day won't have to worry about his kid's tuition for college: Barry Bonds will be taking care of it.  Good on you, BB.

Now former Chelsea manager - and how insane are they ditching that guy because they had the nerve to finish second in the EPL and bow out in the semis in the Champions League? - Carlo Ancelotti says he'd take Wayne Rooney over Lionel Messi.  I love Rooney, but that's another planet entirely as I'm not sure I've ever seen Messi have a bad game - quiet ones, sure - or do anything that hurt his team like virtually every other player - Rooney included - can and does.

Foo Fighters main man Dave Grohl does limericks at a show last week: There once was a hooker from Dallas, who used a dynamite stick as a phallus, they found her vagina in North Carolina, her asshole at Buckingham Palace.

Ivan Hrvatska is a big, big fan of the Vancouver Canucks, and has a remix of his 2008 classic saluting the team's playoff win.


Half-time at the Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls game.  Wonder what this cameraman was thinking of?

We're back!

After a couple weeks down after the birth of my awesome little boy - the second - we're back in business.  Man a lot happens in the course of a couple weeks! 

After Monday night's gag job, up 15 late in the fourth quarter and letting the Dallas Mavericks steal it, it is going to be real tough for the Oklahoma City Thunder to shake the name  "Chokelahoma City Blunder" loose.  Looking increasingly like the hopes of the world will be pinned on the Mavs to not let the Miami Heat win the title, with the Heat holding a big 3-1 lead over the Chicago Bulls in the East.


It took overtime and five mostly tough, tight games, but the Vancouver Canucks are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1994 and carrying the misguided hopes of a nation, from all I'm reading. The Sharks went out 3-2 in overtime last night and the Canucks will await the winner of the Boston-Tampa Bay series, which sits at 3-2 for the Beantowners right now.

With the sad death of Randy "Macho Man" Savage last week, over 25% of the WWE "superstars" that appeared at Wrestlemania 7 - because we hate Roman numerals on events - have now died, 14 of 51.  That was 20 year's ago, if you're wondering.  Crazy.  Savage was, for my money, one of the five best to ever grace the ring.  My other favs in no particular order: Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock.  I was torn between Bret Hart, Edge and The Rock for the fifth, but gave The Rock the nod on stronger stick work.  Add your five in the comments if you will.


That was an awesome Jose Canseco impression Jose Bautista pulled.  Relax people, I'm not going there, I'm referring to his play in the outfield last night that let not-exactly-fleet-footed Jorge Posada stretch a bottom of the 9th single into a double, allowing the Yanks to complete a rally from down 4-1 into a 5-4 win over Toronto.  Not sure how the Yanks are in first in the AL East, they've been mostly awful for three plus weeks.

Toronto FC host Vancouver Whitecaps tonight to decide the Nutrilite Canadian Championship after last week's 1-1 draw in Hongcouver.  I won't get into what that means for tonight - if you already care, you already know.

Only thing I'll say on Posada's episode last week is this: when Alex Rodriguez was dropped from clean-up to eighth in the playoffs a few years back - a far bigger drop than moving from 7th to 9th like Posada was asked to - he didn't ask for a day off or remove himself from the lineup.  And some still call Posada a team guy?  Please.  Stuns me that nobody mentioned this.

The San Francisco Giants have 13 wins at home this year, and seven of those have come on walk-offs.

It is Champions League week, the last big game on any club soccer calendar for this season, with Manchester United, EPL champions, facing Barcelona, La Liga champions, in London, England this Saturday.  Can't wait.  Legend Pele thinks that United's rising star Chicharito has a chance to be as good as Lionel Messi.  That's...something.

Kristian Jack at The Score reviews the EPL season that's now in the books, looking at each team and what their top players were, and who reasonable transfer targets might be.

Question: do you think the NFL players would rather see a more stringent labor deal, or seeing WADA handle drug testing, like the NFL is saying it might move towards for handling testing?  I'm guessing most would prefer the former.

This one makes my blood boil.  The Cincinnati Reds are likely moving to a dynamic ticket pricing system, the same type thing you see used by airlines that sees prices fluctuating on demand.  If that is a trend setter, and I would bet it is if it works, I shudder to think what that will do to ticket prices whenever an on sale date is hit.

Ninja Turtle Soup, from the good folks at Epic Meal Time, featuring the most amazing shredder/grater I've ever laid my eyes upon.


Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake are back with another awesome SNL Digital Short, reminding you of The Golden Rule: it's not gay in a three-way.

Blogger down!

Can't log into the site - looks like a network wide problem - so another day delay for the return of RM.

Sponsor me on my Great Strides Walk Page. I am taking steps to cure cystic fibrosis.

Hey folks,
I'll be back at it Monday but in the meantime, hoping you can spare some of your hard earned dollars for a bunch of my friends that are raising money for a great cause next weekend - Cystic Fibrosis - that affects many people, including two kids of one of my best friends. No amount is too small. Please give before the walk on Sunday, May 29th. Thanks.

Click the link to go to the sponsor page.
Sponsor Deno's Dream Team in the Great Strides Walk Page. I am taking steps to cure cystic fibrosis.

Morning all.  Welcomed a little boy into the family yesterday so will be scarce for the next few days at least.  Check back later in the week or start of next.

In the meantime, here is Maxim's Hot 100 for the year.  Where's Kate Upton?  Miranda freaking Kerr?  Brittney Palmer?  And Cameron Diaz fourth?  Katy Perry second? Seriously?  Discuss in the comments if you will.

There's a fight tonight?

The Boston Bruins exacted some payback for last year's 3-0 collapse to Philadelphia by getting to the same position and then closing the Flyers out last night with a 5-1 win.  Can't recall so many series being so one-sided in the NHL's second round.  The Detroit Red Wings lived to fight another day after their 4-3 win over San Jose last night, a game in which they almost coughed up a 3-0 lead.  Vancouver heads home tonight to try to close out the Nashville Predators.

Somehow, LeBron James thinks that the Miami Heat's recent run of form has people hopping on their bandwagon.  A rather quick and unscientific survey of some hoops fans last night tells me he couldn't be more wrong, they're as hated as ever, if not more.  Of course, it was almost a year ago that LeBron thought taking to ESPN for "The Decision" was a smart play, too.

Nice knowing you, LA Lakers of 2011.  And Ron Artest drives a Hyundai?  A solid reason to hate the man because I freaking hate Hyundai's - worst drivers on the road.  And speaking of the NBA playoffs, Bill Simmons looks at this year's playoffs using quotes from The Wire, one of the best shows of all time if the hype is believed, though I've only seen the first four episodes (which were awesome).

Hard to believe, but arguably the biggest name in boxing today - Manny Pacquiao - is fighting "Sugar" Shane Mosely and it barely registers with the general public, or at least it seems that way to me.  There's almost zero chance the PacMan loses this one, so maybe that is it?  Having been in Vegas for his last fight though, I'd bet heavy the whole city is watching.

In the English Premier League, all eyes are on tomorrow's visit to Old Trafford in Manchester tomorrow at 11am where Chelsea visit United.  A United win all but clinches the championship, but even a draw has United firmly in the drivers seat with two very winnable games left.  A loss, and things could well go down to goal differential.  I'm saying United win, despite Chelsea skipper John Terry saying Chelsea are confident of victory. Conspiracy theorists from the Chelsea side will have their tin foil hats on with the choice of Howard Webb, sometimes called a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Manchester United, as the match official.

UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste hit the beach in Miami this week.  Cameras were happy.

Toronto FC host Houston Dynamo tonight.  Optimism does not abound.  Kickoff is 7pm on GolTV.

There's a documentary of Auggie Garrido, the manager of Texas (University of) in which he shows new and incredible ways to light into a team.  So worth your five minutes and change.

Inning By Inning: A Portrait of a Coach by sportsxbrooks

If Cleveland Indian Shin-Soo Choo is saying that he wasn't drunk, the police video sure suggests otherwise.

A late Friday beats no Friday edition

With most of the NHL's series at the brink of conclusion, or concluded already, please tell me they're not going to hold off until next weekend or something to get the conference finals on the go, are they?  Nothing worse than a momentum killing four or five days off, other than hockey in June when it just might actually be warm and sunny in Canada by then.

I've long been in favor of adding more wild-card teams for baseball's playoffs to keep more teams in the mix, and alleviate the "Yankees and Sox Problem" that is in the AL East, and you could argue the NL East as well, and it looks like it will actually happen for next year. Here's a look at what the format might look like, along with potential impact.  Joel Sherman at the New York Post says the wild card teams should play best of three, and not a single game knockout.  Agreed, especially when you hear the next team after the Wild Card in the AL, for example, has trailed between five and eight games in each of the last five seasons.  Not all players are in love with the expanded playoffs idea, most notably Mark Texeira, and most nuclearly, Tim Lincecum who dropped this great quote: "Nobody wants to have to worry, 'Oh [expletive], now I've got another [expletive] team in the [expletive] mix. Now we have to worry about what that takes and what they're going to do.' What if the [second] wild-card team is not deserving of getting in?"  That said, I would have preferred they go back to a single table set-up and balance the schedule to truly make things fair, but that looks like a pipe dream.

New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez hasn't won a Gold Glove since 2003, but he's made only 7 errors since start of 2010 (148 games). None this season, which, of course, means he's got one coming tonight.

Two teams in the running to move to Toronto: Jacksonville Jags, and the New Orleans Saints, which would be criminal.

After wasting year's and millions on the pursuit of Barry Bonds to convict him for steroid usage and lying about it, the U.S. government has actually decided to redeem itself by righting a more offensive wrong: why there is no playoffs in NCAA football.

If you know me at all, you know I'm a fan of the t-shirt, particularly funny ones.  Here are thirty that might be objectionable to some.

Back tomorrow, and I'll save the Maxim Hot 100 discussion for Monday when more are typically on.

This is one way to remind your Montreal Canadiens loving boss that your Boston Bruins bounced them from the playoffs.  The culprit is Kelly Park, son of former Bruin Brad Park.  More on the prank here.

RM returns mid-afternoon.

Busy brooms

Manchester United put on a mostly reserve lineup and were still good enough to hammer Schalke 4-1 in the home leg of the Champions League semi-final, setting up a final rematch against 2009 opponent and champion Barcelona.  Barca's Xavi says United are the favs to win.  Not sure I agree with him.

If you like series that run deep, and the NHL had several in the opening round, the second round is setting up as the polar opposite.  The Tampa Bay Lightning continued their roll last night and finished off the Washington Capitals 5-3 last night for a 4-0 series sweep.  The San Jose Sharks have the Detroit Red Wings on the brink after a 4-3 overtime win to push that lead to 3-0, while the Philadelphia Flyers have the Boston Bruins right where they want them after losing 5-1 to give the Bruins a 3-0 series lead.  At least the Vancouver/Nashville set has seen both teams win.

In the NBA, the likelihood of coming back while trailing series' even 2-0 isn't great, as only 14 teams have come back from 0-2 while 224 haven't. Of those fourteen, only three have come back from 0-2 going on the road, so doesn't exactly bode well for the LA Lakers who dropped both games at home to the Dallas Mavericks.

It's May 5th and the Pittsburgh Pirates now have 64% of their 2010 road win total already in the bag.  Mark them down with Kansas City as a team that has a load of young talent coming due.

San Francisco Giant Tim Lincecum is 26-years old, and last night's 12 K performance was already the 29th 10+ strikeout game of his career, which already gives him more than Vida Blue, Juan Marichal, Jack "should be in the Hall of Fame" Morris, Fernando Valenzuela and Ron Guidry.

Well, at least we know Toronto FC is better than FC Edmonton.  TFC completed their semi-final win in the Canadian Championships with a 1-0 home win to make it 4-0 on aggregate.  They'll now face the Vancouver Whitecaps in the final later this month.

Not all no-hitters are created equal, but some end up being pretty damn similar.  In his no-hitter Tuesday, Minnesota Twin Francisco Liriano beat Chicago White Sock Edwin Jackson, who threw a no-hitter last season. Both won 1-0 starts, and walked more hitters than they struck out. The strike percentage was also similar, 53.7% and 53%, the called strike totals were the same (24), and Jackson went to 13 three-ball counts, Liriano 11.  Now to see if Liriano gets traded the same season as he tossed the no-hitter the same way Jackson did when Arizona moved him.

Now that the NFL draft is out of the way, here are the latest Super Bowl odds from Bodog: Green Bay, New England 7/1, Pittsburgh 11/1, San Diego 12/1, Baltimore 14/1, NY Jets 14/1, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Dallas 16/1.  I'd feel pretty comfortable in the value on the Jets, New Orleans, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Dallas.  I also wouldn't bet Indy at 50-1.

Geoff Baker at the Seattle Times says that Mariners starter Felix Hernandez won't be moved this year, but that next year, all bets are off.  As great as he is, I'm not sure why the Mariners don't search out their own Herschel Walker equivalent and take somebody's best young talent and move them west.  Not like they're close now.

The MLB draft in June is a giant one for the Tampa Bay Rays. With 12 of the first 89 picks, and they've drafted as well as anybody lately, they've got a chance to set themselves up for a real nice run.

SpikeTV's Holy Grail of Hot has Mila Kunis up against Minka Kelly.  Me, I'm a Mila guy.  Get your vote in on that, and more.

I get that leagues aspire to be like the NFL - minus the lockout part - but the NHL is following along with the other downside of the No Fun League in cracking down on the Green Men in Vancouver, who have provided a nice element of fresh aside from the tired "Go (insert team name) Go!" chants that fill every other NHL arena.  CBC's Glenn Healy is getting all sour over them, too, and made the mistake of saying if they did that in Toronto they'd be escorted from the building.  Kinda the point, isn't it Glenn?  And at least be smart enough to know that the west doesn't care a lick about what Toronto does or thinks.  Here they are at work.