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...

Best pic before Game 7...

The Cup Is In The House

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup goes tonight in Detoilet, and a monster TV rating has to be coming, north of the border in Canada anyways. I have a feeling that the Pittsburgh Penguins younger legs will be the difference over a Red Wings team that has at times looked sluggish, even with home teams 6-0 in the series. Should be fantastic stuff, but often ends up quite the opposite. With neither goalie the second coming of Patrick Roy, I'm not expecting too many clutch performances coming out of the masked men. I'm thinking that this is a 4-1 Pens win...up three with 10 seconds, I'll never understand why a team doesn't foul to put the other team on the line to shoot two and bleed clock. I understand it even less when the Orlando Magic didn't do it, the LA Lakers ended up tying the game and winning 99-91 in overtime to take a 3-1 chokehold on the NBA finals. When I think of riots when a team wins a championship, I think of Detroit, L.A. and Montreal first. Two of those could be in for nasty weekends...hearing rumors that Real Madrid's stars will play a minimum of 45 minutes in Toronto on August 7th, including Kaka and Ronaldo. Cannot imagine what those two - among others - will do to the shaky Toronto defence...the New York Yankees badly need to find an 8th inning guy not named Joba Chamberlain, who over his 23 starts has the second lowest ERA in the majors to only some guy named Johan Santana. Huston Street, perhaps? The Yankees pen busted out the blue tips again last night and torched the Yankees 3-1 lead and left it a 4-3 Boston win, leaving the Yanks 0-8 against Boston this year. Only 10 more to go for a perfect 0-18 year...Toronto Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero lost 1-0 to Texas in what has to qualify as a good loss for the young pitcher...hands down the greatest finishing move in wrestling history, and took over two minutes to complete. Please, for the good of your health, check this video out here. Hilarious...Selena Roberts book on A-Rod has sold all of 16,000 copies of the 150,000 printed. Yep: nobody cares for conjecture and flimsy argumentation...while on the subject of steroids, you don't need a blood or urinalysis to figure out that these people have been using something a little above vitamins and maybe some Creatine...have a great Friday.

Make that 0-7 for the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox after last night's 6-5 loss. That clearly won't get it done. Up tonight is CC Sabathia against Brad Penny in the series closer and the Yanks will hope their ace can get them off the schneid. Had to laugh at the Sox fans chanting "you did steroids" to A-Rod. Right, because their boys of years prior like Nomar Garciaparra and David Ortiz fell off - or fell apart, in Nomah's case - for no reason. The Sox are 28-1 when leading after six. And Chien-Ming Wang? You're done, even though you're due to start against the Washington Nationals - a team I could pitch against and win - next...just days after signing Kaka with a record transfer of £56million, Real Madrid has dropped £80million on Cristiano Ronaldo, or $145million Canadian, $130 million U.S. For those unawares, that is the price going to the seller - Manchester United - and doesn't include the player's salary. That is freaking insane, and ought to net Man U some serious replacements. So much for Sir Alex Ferguson's comment that he wouldn't sell Real a virus. Wonder what Real is thinking with two guys who need to have the ball lots to be effective playing side by side?...game four of the NBA Finals goes tonight in Orlando, and frankly, I'll be shocked if the LA Lakers don't take the series to 3-1. The Magic had nearly everything go right in game three and still barely won...did a CrossFit workout last night. Holy hell that was intense...Jim Balsillie is publicly declaring on his website Make It Seven he's one step closer to bringing the NHL to Hamilton. Best line I've heard on the subject of that site: "I'm starting a new site: Make It Six, and aiming to get rid of the Leafs." Funny stuff...why holding out isn't really an option for top MLB draft pick Stephen Strasburg: the top pick next year will almost certainly belong again to the Washington Nationals. This, Scott Boras, is called "leverage," or as some might believe: "karma"...have a great Thursday all.

Take Me To The Edge of Seven

The Stanley Cup Final is going to a seventh game after the Pittsburgh Penguins continued the home ice dominance in this series that has seen all six games won by the home side. Game 7 goes Friday night in Detroit. Guarantee? There is going to be a serious riot regardless of the outcome in The D. But seriously, I'm sticking with the Pens...the Orlando Magic shot a record 75% from the field in the first half last night but even that only gave them a five point half-time lead over the LA Lakers. The Magic did, however, win the game to leave the series at 2-1 Lakers with game four on Thursday...two of the final four point guards in the NBA were one time Toronto Raptors: Rafer Alston of Orlando and Chauncey Billups of Denver...Toronto FC are finally making some moves, ditching the overpaid stiff that was goalie Greg Sutton, and trading for Canadian striker Ali Gerba and defender Nick Garcia, whom Google and Wikipedia might struggle to know anything about. Good to see GM Mo Johnston isn't entirely asleep at the controls...AJ Burnett was nearly bulletproof last year against AL East opponents, and entered last night 5-0 in his career against the Boston Red Sox. This year? Not so much. He's issuing more free passes than his former teams on a Tuesday night and was out early in a 7-0 New York Yankee loss to the Red Sox. Show up anytime, A.J., and maybe you can fix that two start record against Boston of 7.2 innings, 13 hits, 11 earned runs and a 12.91 ERA, and leave the pies in the face routine for when you're contributing. The thought that Chien-Ming Wang is going tonight isn't exactly inspiring...RM is doing it, and taking Bukkake's suggestion that this become a Brett Favre free zone. There will be no more Favre "unretirement" talk, but I will occasionally make mention of anything bad that happens to him - delightfully. Now where's that voodoo doll?...Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Litsch is going to be out 12-18 months as he's now scheduled for Tommy John surgery. He might need his own area code after being laid up that long with his nutritionally overachieving ways...Dany Heatley has asked for a trade from the Ottawa Senators...and yes, that was a Wham! reference in the title today. No clue why...have a great Wednesday.

Do or die

Brett Favre has apparently been told the Minnesota Vikes need an answer this week. Knowing Favre, he'll treat that request with all the respect he's given everyone else which is to say, none...the new Yankee Stadium is now on pace to set the home run record in a season, aided greatly by the Yankees four bombs last night in a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. One thing I don't understand about the new stadium: given 9/11, doesn't it seem a bit strange they play air raid sirens when the Bronx Bombers go yard?...everything that is wrong with HiDef can be summed up in two words: Vicki Guerrero...Brazilian all-world midfielder Kaka has jumped ship from AC Milan to Real Madrid, for a record fee of $92 million (U.S.). Is Cristiano Ronaldo up next for Real?...speaking of Real, ticket prices for their friendly in Toronto on August 7th were announced and they're a real un-friendly, recession-be-damned range of $140-$215. The first figure is for the south end bunker seats where the hardcores sit. Those same seats go for a season ticket price of $230. Just sayin'...the Orlando Magic are a perfect 0-6 in their history in the NBA Finals. Not much to believe in if you're the Magic...on Morency, Gabe Morency and Cam Stewart talked of how they hit a Toronto Blue Jays game on a Junior Jays day in the last week. In the gift bags to kids, there was no Jays merch but posters to a new Eddie Murphy movie, movie promoting pencils and erasers and so on. Interpret that as you will, but Morency concluded that if Rogers weren't the owners looking to promote its stores and services, that team would be on the "move" list with the way it is otherwise supported...it will be the last game at the Igloo in Pittsburgh tonight regardless of the result in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. Detroit could hoist the Cup for the second straight year in Steeltown. Between 21 active Red Wings, they've got 40 Stanley Cup rings...word from ESPN Baseball Today's resident curmudgeon Peter Pascarelli is that Manny Ramirez is in the best shape of his life and was anihilating balls at a recent workout. ManRam returns July 3rd...one of sports best rivalries - Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees - resumes hostilities tonight in Beantown, the first of three...the MLB Draft starts today, and if you haven't heard of soon to be top pick Stephen Strasburg, you will soon. He's been called once-in-a-lifetime talent. Shame he's going to the Washington Nationals who can't seem to get anything right. Maybe Strasburg's 100mph heat turns them around?...have a great Tuesday.

Federer takes 14th Grand Slam title

Roger Federer finally won the French Open - his first - and has now tied Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam wins. Great stuff for an all-time great. Next stop is the grass at Wimbledon where he'll be shooting for #15 as the top seed...Toronto Blue Jay Roy Halladay is the first major leaguer to reach 10 wins, and went the distance to get it done, a 4-0 shutout of the Kansas City Royals. Getting to 10 is a lot easier when you've not pitched against the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees once, however...Toronto FC is plummeting down the Eastern Conference table, tied for third in points but 5th when tie-breaks are worked in, and having played more games. Not good. The Toronto Sun's Gareth Wheeler lays the blame, rightly, at the feet of GM Mo Johnston...the L.A. Lakers needed overtime to grab a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. The series now goes to Orlando for the next three. I'll never understand how the NBA goes 2-2-1-1-1 in every round until the finals. A split in L.A. would've seriously hurt the Lakers in that format, no?...Jerry Jones is entertaining the idea of bringing back Adam "Pacman" Jones to the Dallas Cowboys. If you're going to do it Jerry, do it now. That guy needs work, not to be brough in in August and then expected to be up to speed...here are the 10 biggest jaw dropping moments in pro wrestling history. Can't believe that Roddy Piper cracking Jimmy Snuka with a coconut didn't make the list...Cristiano Ronaldo interviews Cristiano Ronaldo. Seriously...game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals goes tonight. I think...have a great Monday.