7th heaven

The last 18 games to go to a Game 7 championship game across sports went to the home team - until last night. The Pittsburgh Penguins won 2-1 in a game that literally went to the final seconds with Marc-Andre Fleury holding down the fort with a couple last second saves, and the party is on in Pittsburgh. Quite the year there with the Steelers taking the Super Bowl just over four months ago. Evgeni Malkin was the MVP of the playoffs, and why not? Just goes to show that what a team does in the first couple months of the season doesn't matter a lick if the parts are there. Get hot and get your game together in the second half and you're as likely to win as teams that dominate start to finish. If you didn't appreciate seeing Mario Lemieux raise the Cup post-game, shame on you...UFC 99 goes today in Germany, which means that like most cards not in the U.S., it doesn't contain a whole lot of inspiring fights at the top of the card. The main event is Rich Franklin facing Wanderlei Silva in a battle of two guys whose best days have passed. Also, Cro "Flop" - as glossed by GBVH - returns to the octagon against Mostapha Al Turk. The best matchup of the night should be Marcus Davis taking on Dan Hardy, and these two cannot stand each other and should be throwing bombs throughout. Of course, it goes live at 3pm because of the time difference and is repeated at 9pm as well. Check out www.mmahacks.com to view online if you so desire, and aren't working an FTA set-up or willing to pay the big bucks to catch it at home…Toronto FC host New York Red Bull tonight in the match moved up from August 9th to accommodate the Real Madrid visit. TFC badly need a win - even a tie would sting - to get their home field mojo working again. NYRB are last place in the East, and are equally desperate for a win. Ought to be interesting. Most interesting is how pickled the BMO Field crowd will be as things tend to get messy for the rare weekend night games. I'll need someone to fill me in as I'll be among the visibly impaired…I'm sure NBA Commissioner David Stern was devastated to learn that former NBA referee and game fixer Tim Donaghy was badly hurt in a prison fight...more soccer WAG's, 50 in fact...Roy Halladay "tweaked" his groin and went out in the third inning as the Toronto Blue Jays went on to lose 7-3 to the Florida Marlins...sometimes you have to be lucky to be good. With two men on and two out in a game the New York Yankees were losing 8-7, A-Rod hit an easy pop up to Mets second baseman Luis Castillo. Only thing is Castillo dropped it, and a running A-Rod prevented a throw to first, and the two runs scored before the relay. 9-8 winners. Check it out here...to confirm, Real Madrid's stars do indeed have to play at least 45 minutes in Toronto in August. Very interesting!...see you in 114 tonight at BMO.

Best takeout of a referee since Curtis Joseph went nuts as a Toronto Maple Leaf...