Who needs a captain, anyways?

• The AL Central race is about to get a lot more interesting as Jake Peavy looks set to return this weekend to the Chicago White Sox starting rotation. The Sox are also waiting on Alex Rios to show up.
• not sure what makes me happier, that it is being reiterated with steam building that the Minnesota Vikes players are not firmly behind Old Has Been and that plenty are behind Tarvaris Jackson, or that they used the word "schism" to describe it. Love that word.
  
• Dany Heatley says that not only does he love playing hockey in Canada, but that he "think[s] there were some Canadian teams on the list" that he passed to the Ottawa Senators when he handed in his trade request. He "thinks"? Okay, Ottawa isn't on the list, Edmonton is clearly not, so he's struggling to remember if he had some of the remaining four teams? Nice try, Heater.
• The LA Dodgers are reeling and Manny Ramirez is getting booed. When does Joe Torre start to take some? "Soon" would be the proper thing to happen, but somehow, Teflon Joe always escapes blame. The Dodgers lead in the NL West is now down to 3 games over the Colorado Rockies.
• In what may be a crippling blow to hockey fans perceived importance of a captain, which NHL Hall of Famer declared the "C" merely "a symbolic thing"? If you guessed Henri "Rocket" Richard, you win. Thinking he knows a bit more about that kind of thing than the average puckhead who has, for example, said Mats Sundin wasn't worthy of the "C" in Toronto despite every player calling him the best leader they'd ever had.
  
• Good of Hockey Canada to charge $80 to attend three scrimmages of the Olympic team, and no, it is not going to charity. Pathetic. And no, there will be no talk of that camp as though it is all important now, but some things - like the preceding - are actually worth mentioning/trashing.
• If you're looking to support Michael Vick and have him treated normally, wouldn't the normal course of action be to, you know, treat him normally and not hold a march to shed more light on the situations of year's past? Maybe that is just me.
  
• so much for the idea of MLS purchasing the USL. The MLS says it isn't interested.

Have a great Thursday.