Another thing or two worth mentioning on the riot in Vancouver: more than a few hockey fans I've encountered love to crack on the UFC as being brutal, ignoring that UFC competitors do not fight with bare hands, and UFC as being a bit trashy (and there is something to that, albeit not universally). But when the UFC rolled into Vancouver just this past Saturday, there wasn't reports of a single fight before, during or after the event, nevermind burned out cars and looted stores. Just saying. Another point: this whole "it wasn't fans or people of Vancouver" is a load of shit. Get your head out of your ass if you buy that naive pap.
Left over from Wednesday is this gem of a quote: "These two teams hate each other but they despise each other". Buck Martinez? Nope, Donald S. Cherry, enemy of the English language and reason, between periods of Game 7. I even rolled back the PVR to make sure I heard it right. Damn TFC and New England had to be not only at the half, but at commercial, so ended up seeing the old dino.
One thing missed in the realignment discussion of Wednesday: two 15-team leagues would necessitate there are interleague games every day of the season so a team isn't left sitting.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Bru-win (thanks, GBVH)
I could get into how embarrassing it is for your team to show up in a Game 7 - at home - and effectively turtle in a 4-0 loss to a team you derided as inferior in goal at least. I could mock how the league's likely MVP this season Daniel Sedin guaranteed a win, only to later backtrack and soften his words pre-game, and then produce nothing of note. But why bother? The Boston Bruins should be the discussion here, because they were simply the better team top to bottom. Weeks back I said I didn't know how they were doing it with no true stars up front but maybe that was it, they got contributions top to bottom. And then there's Tim Thomas. There have been fistfuls of awesome goalies on playoff runs over the last few decades, and maybe it is the freshness of it, but I can't recall a performance over four rounds as awesome as that, and I've seen Patrick Roy (for me, still the most money goalie ever come playoff time), Martin Brodeur and more.
I could literally take down the internet with all my thoughts on the rioting last night so I'll try to keep it to a minimum. I will never - ever - understand how the response to your team losing in any game is to smash your town up. And I will never - ever - blame booze for it. I've got plenty of friends who would be listed as dependents if alcohol ever filed a tax return and not a single one has smashed up their town. I will also never - ever - understand what is so fascinating about people smashing up their town that you want to stick around taking pics and video of it, though I'm hoping that will aid in the clowns caught on digital being sent to the Crow Bar Motel. But for all the Vancouver snobbery I've seen and heard - and it is as beautiful a place I've ever been, maybe second to Sydney, Australia - there is these unassailable fact: Toronto never rioted when the Blue Jays won a pair of World Series' in the 90's, and Philadelphia - PHILAFREAKINGDELPHIA - didn't riot when the Phillies won a couple years back, or when the Eagles or Flyers lost. New Yorkers didn't smash up their town when the Yankees won - perhaps that is of routine. I'd love to know how many of the knuckleheads lobbing bottles, burning cars, smashing into stores and stabbing people have at one time or another derided soccer fans as nothing but a bunch of hooligans. So congratulations, Vancouverites. Way to do your city proud. Here's hoping you make the final and lose again next year, and that the cops don't come with half the restraint they showed early on last night.
Umm, what??
The average ticket for last night's game in the resale market was $5,000. Average! Some knucklehead paid $7,800 for each of his pair of tickets. Hope it was worth it!
Oh, and nice touch starting up the whining about injuries, Canucks. Am sure the Bruins were October fresh.
Buster Olney at ESPN.com says that between now and August 17th, the Tampa Bay Rays will play the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox 20 times, and that a balanced schedule is more important to Tampa, Baltimore and Toronto than realignment. Right, but realignment would flatten that even moreso.
I've seen some good anti-Heat pics this week, but really like this one. Let's just hope it doesn't end up on the back window of someone's car next to some lame graphic of how many people and pets are in their families.
Going into last night's action, the New York Yankees had MLB's third-best record (.569 win percentage). Despite being on pace for 92 wins, that would would be the Yanks second-lowest in 11 seasons.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are over .500 for the first time this late in the season since Aug 15, 1999.
Speaking of the Yankees, with Derek Jeter on the DL, it is worth noting that the alleged "Captain Clutch" is batting .179 with runners in scoring position this season, the second worst in the majors for anyone with 75 plate appearances in such situations. His .649 OPS is ranked 138th out of 165 major leaguers qualified for the batting title. And nobody will think any warm body will not be able to replace his defence. Joel Sherman at the NY Post says Jeter's injury could be a blessing in disguise.
Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixera have combined for 42HRs for the Yankees, which is more than four teams - San Diego, Oakland, Minnesota and Houston - have in total.
Brock Anton, Canucks fan, can expect a visit from the police any minute now.
It has been 15 years since a Canadian QB started in the not-so-Canadian Football League. 15?!?
Word is the Winnipeg NHL franchise is going to announce its team name and colours as soon as Tuesday.
If you saw none of the rioting videos, a small sampling below. This one is the longest of the bunch and gives a good taste of the kind of shit going on in Van City.
Shame on you for lighting a 5-series on fire. Nice Blake Griffin impression from some loser Canuck fan.
How about this nut shot for a Vancouver Canucks fan?
Real smart, asshole.
All 53 of Lionel Messi's goals this past season in one awesome 15 minute vid. You're welcome.
I could literally take down the internet with all my thoughts on the rioting last night so I'll try to keep it to a minimum. I will never - ever - understand how the response to your team losing in any game is to smash your town up. And I will never - ever - blame booze for it. I've got plenty of friends who would be listed as dependents if alcohol ever filed a tax return and not a single one has smashed up their town. I will also never - ever - understand what is so fascinating about people smashing up their town that you want to stick around taking pics and video of it, though I'm hoping that will aid in the clowns caught on digital being sent to the Crow Bar Motel. But for all the Vancouver snobbery I've seen and heard - and it is as beautiful a place I've ever been, maybe second to Sydney, Australia - there is these unassailable fact: Toronto never rioted when the Blue Jays won a pair of World Series' in the 90's, and Philadelphia - PHILAFREAKINGDELPHIA - didn't riot when the Phillies won a couple years back, or when the Eagles or Flyers lost. New Yorkers didn't smash up their town when the Yankees won - perhaps that is of routine. I'd love to know how many of the knuckleheads lobbing bottles, burning cars, smashing into stores and stabbing people have at one time or another derided soccer fans as nothing but a bunch of hooligans. So congratulations, Vancouverites. Way to do your city proud. Here's hoping you make the final and lose again next year, and that the cops don't come with half the restraint they showed early on last night.
The average ticket for last night's game in the resale market was $5,000. Average! Some knucklehead paid $7,800 for each of his pair of tickets. Hope it was worth it!
Oh, and nice touch starting up the whining about injuries, Canucks. Am sure the Bruins were October fresh.
Buster Olney at ESPN.com says that between now and August 17th, the Tampa Bay Rays will play the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox 20 times, and that a balanced schedule is more important to Tampa, Baltimore and Toronto than realignment. Right, but realignment would flatten that even moreso.
Going into last night's action, the New York Yankees had MLB's third-best record (.569 win percentage). Despite being on pace for 92 wins, that would would be the Yanks second-lowest in 11 seasons.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are over .500 for the first time this late in the season since Aug 15, 1999.
Speaking of the Yankees, with Derek Jeter on the DL, it is worth noting that the alleged "Captain Clutch" is batting .179 with runners in scoring position this season, the second worst in the majors for anyone with 75 plate appearances in such situations. His .649 OPS is ranked 138th out of 165 major leaguers qualified for the batting title. And nobody will think any warm body will not be able to replace his defence. Joel Sherman at the NY Post says Jeter's injury could be a blessing in disguise.
Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixera have combined for 42HRs for the Yankees, which is more than four teams - San Diego, Oakland, Minnesota and Houston - have in total.
It has been 15 years since a Canadian QB started in the not-so-Canadian Football League. 15?!?
Word is the Winnipeg NHL franchise is going to announce its team name and colours as soon as Tuesday.
If you saw none of the rioting videos, a small sampling below. This one is the longest of the bunch and gives a good taste of the kind of shit going on in Van City.
Shame on you for lighting a 5-series on fire. Nice Blake Griffin impression from some loser Canuck fan.
How about this nut shot for a Vancouver Canucks fan?
Real smart, asshole.
All 53 of Lionel Messi's goals this past season in one awesome 15 minute vid. You're welcome.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Anything of note happening tonight in the sports world? Oh yeah, that "Stanley Cup" thing comes to a conclusion. Game 7, as you all know, goes in Vancouver tonight with word the city is shutting down booze stores at 4pm to try to keep things under control. Yeah, closed doors will really slow down rioting crowds. I've barely hidden my disdain for the Canucks whining, diving and theatrics over the course of the playoffs, so it shouldn't be a big surprise I not only think Boston will win but am actually pulling for them, which is a surprise given my Boston hate, largely focused on the Red Sox. In big games, I look to the team with experience, which Boston has more of in Mark Recchi alone than Vancouver combined. I look to which team plays smarter, which is a huge edge to Boston with the likes of Raffi Torres and Alex Burrows on the other side. I look to the team that is coming in more loose, and the thought of Roberto Luongo with a proverbial noose around his neck right now doesn't inspire confidence, regardless of how well he's performed over the playoffs at home (exclusively). And if you're looking for the team with momentum, it has to be the Bruins who have been in every single game in Vancouver. Can the Canucks win a fourth at home? Sure. But there isn't a line anywhere that I wouldn't bet on Boston tonight. I'm saying Bruins win it 4-1.
Canuck Daniel Sedin is guaranteeing a Canucks Game 7 win. Given how he's performed of late, that's just another reason to hurt your man with a Boston wager. Have the Canucks not learned yet that chirping Boston hasn't exactly panned out for them?
The Cleveland Indians were 30-15 a mere 22 days ago. Since then they've been shut out more times (6) than they've won (5). Ouch.
Yahoo! Sports columnist @DanWetzel tweets: "Source w knowledge of NFL negotiations: by Friday could be "substantial framework if not a complete plan" to bring back to owners/players." In other signs of progress, have you noticed of late the rhetoric has quieted down substantially from both sides? This thing gets done with no season lost, as I've mentioned repeatedly for over the last year.
Mark Cuban is taking the NBA trophy everywhere since they've won it. I'm sure NBA Commish David Stern will be thrilled that this one has leaked (heyooo!) out.
A little disappointed that the Toronto Blue Jays have sent Kyle Drabek down to the minors. I was really enjoying his walk-infested, guaranteed-over-the-posted-total starts.
Shaquille O'Neal has often spoke over the years about a post-NBA career in law enforcement. Not sure how allegations of a kidnapping to get a sex tape - starring him - returned will play with that. He's not charged or alleged to be involved, but who steals sex tapes of other people back?
Haven't touched on baseball's realignment plans. If you've not heard, they're finally considering balancing off the leagues at 15 squads a piece with talk of Houston or Florida making the move to the AL. There's also talk that this may lead to removing the divisions - yes, please! - and see the top five teams qualify in a far more balanced format. If you're the Toronto Blue Jays, from a business perspective, you'll miss roughly a quarter of your home schedule being dates with the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, but, am guessing you'll like having a far more open route to the playoffs and playing meaningful games - in theory - longer into the year. Feasibly, you could see 3 or 4 teams from the traditional division make it. I love it. Not sure how they address interleague in that if a balanced schedule is the goal - and it should be - but have even seen some suggestion from the Keith Law's of the world that there is a chance, small albeit, that the NL even goes to a DH, which I personally would prefer. Ken Rosenthal's take suggests moving the Boston Red Sox to the AL Central helps as well, if they stay in divisions. Not sure how a city on the coast suddenly becomes in the middle, but that's just from a guy who doesn't like the geographical bent without fully going on geography. Here's my take: 15 teams in each, no divisions with balanced schedules, no interleague if you can't balance the schedule, ditch the DH. If you are to keep interleague, I suggest a rotation of three teams faced by each, home and away, and you keep changing opponents each year. Lose this fabricated "local rivalry" nonsense that exists only for a handful of teams. Thoughts?
I'm no fan of the whole "lime in beer" concept, but this ad featuring UFC octagon girl Arianny Celeste sure is damn good.
Turns out LeBron James has made another "The Decision". I still can't see him winning on his new team. Enjoy.
Canuck Daniel Sedin is guaranteeing a Canucks Game 7 win. Given how he's performed of late, that's just another reason to hurt your man with a Boston wager. Have the Canucks not learned yet that chirping Boston hasn't exactly panned out for them?
The Cleveland Indians were 30-15 a mere 22 days ago. Since then they've been shut out more times (6) than they've won (5). Ouch.
Yahoo! Sports columnist @DanWetzel tweets: "Source w knowledge of NFL negotiations: by Friday could be "substantial framework if not a complete plan" to bring back to owners/players." In other signs of progress, have you noticed of late the rhetoric has quieted down substantially from both sides? This thing gets done with no season lost, as I've mentioned repeatedly for over the last year.
A little disappointed that the Toronto Blue Jays have sent Kyle Drabek down to the minors. I was really enjoying his walk-infested, guaranteed-over-the-posted-total starts.
Shaquille O'Neal has often spoke over the years about a post-NBA career in law enforcement. Not sure how allegations of a kidnapping to get a sex tape - starring him - returned will play with that. He's not charged or alleged to be involved, but who steals sex tapes of other people back?
Haven't touched on baseball's realignment plans. If you've not heard, they're finally considering balancing off the leagues at 15 squads a piece with talk of Houston or Florida making the move to the AL. There's also talk that this may lead to removing the divisions - yes, please! - and see the top five teams qualify in a far more balanced format. If you're the Toronto Blue Jays, from a business perspective, you'll miss roughly a quarter of your home schedule being dates with the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, but, am guessing you'll like having a far more open route to the playoffs and playing meaningful games - in theory - longer into the year. Feasibly, you could see 3 or 4 teams from the traditional division make it. I love it. Not sure how they address interleague in that if a balanced schedule is the goal - and it should be - but have even seen some suggestion from the Keith Law's of the world that there is a chance, small albeit, that the NL even goes to a DH, which I personally would prefer. Ken Rosenthal's take suggests moving the Boston Red Sox to the AL Central helps as well, if they stay in divisions. Not sure how a city on the coast suddenly becomes in the middle, but that's just from a guy who doesn't like the geographical bent without fully going on geography. Here's my take: 15 teams in each, no divisions with balanced schedules, no interleague if you can't balance the schedule, ditch the DH. If you are to keep interleague, I suggest a rotation of three teams faced by each, home and away, and you keep changing opponents each year. Lose this fabricated "local rivalry" nonsense that exists only for a handful of teams. Thoughts?
I'm no fan of the whole "lime in beer" concept, but this ad featuring UFC octagon girl Arianny Celeste sure is damn good.
Turns out LeBron James has made another "The Decision". I still can't see him winning on his new team. Enjoy.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Not sure which I like better: "Luongoal", "LeBrongo" or "LuGongShow". Either way, Roberto Luongo is a shell of himself when he's outside the comforts of home ice. Luongo lasted all of three goals and less than a period last night as the Boston Bruins evened the Stanley Cup Finals at 3-3 with a 5-2 win. Maybe he shouldn't have been talking so much junk about the Bruins and how Tim Thomas hasn't been as forthcoming with compliments for Luongo as Luongo has of Thomas? Maybe that's because Thomas knows he's a mirage on the road? Game 7 goes tomorrow night and it says here the Bruins win it. They've been close in every game in Van City and the Canucks aren't suddenly going to grow a pair after how badly they were abused last night, the Sedin twins in particular. If the Bruins score another pair quick, Luongo might not only not finish the game, he might well be done in Canucks colours, which I'm told would be his preference in any case.
The Canucks will be minus Mason Raymond if early reports of him having suffered a fractured vertebrae in that strange hit just 20 seconds into the game.
Bodog has its 2012 NBA championship odds up. Some notables: Miami Heat (5/2), LA Lakers (11/2), Chicago Bulls (6/1), Oklahoma City Thunder (8/1), Dallas Mavs (10/1) Boston Celts (12/1), San Antonio Spurs (20/1). Bodog gives the Toronto Raptors an NBA-worst 150-1 odds to win the 2012 title. Seems reasonable.
How big is first goal in this year's Stanley Cup? The team scoring first has won every game in the Stanley Cup final, as has the home team.
That's all for today, I've kicked the wounded dog named LeBron enough.
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Joy of Def-Heat - LeBron delivers on "not 1" portion of famed quote
One thing clear during the entire NBA Finals was that the Heat core lack humility, and even after losing last night - decisively - they weren't showing any, though in a step forward, LeBron James did stick around to shake at least Jason Kidd's hand post-game. Over the weekend, we learned that LeBron James and Dwayne Wade were caught on camera mock coughing and sniffling, making light of Dirk Nowitzki's fever/flu going into game 5. Not sure how that works for them, considering they lost that game. In the end, the Mavs sent the Heat to defeat with a 105-95 win last night that any non-Heat fans were ecstatic over, judging by what I saw on Twitter, Facebook and via email.
I was thinking about the "most hated player" thing over the weekend and I've cemented LeBron James in my mind as that, particularly after last night (more on that below in the videos). There have been guys with huge profiles that make huge jack before, and have moved teams famously. One happens to play for my fav baseball team in New York and goes by the name of Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod has had a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth as much as Fred Flintstone in his prime, as does LeBron. But a few things A-Rod never did was hammer his previous team/city and in fact, hometown the way LeBron did. Nor did he make bold promises of seven plus championships before ever taking the floor (or field) with his new team. And when A-Rod had some playoff failures, he owned them. Not LeBron, he repeatedly points the finger at teammates both current and former and betrays his obvious talent and ability. A-Rod didn't talk down a media member the way LeBron did in telling him to watch the game-tape after Game 5 again and he "might come up with a better question tomorrow" for why LeBron disappeared. Which brings us to the next point, and one where you can't discuss A-Rod at all. I'm not sure there is a worse thing that you can be called in sport than a quitter, and we've seen twice now that LeBron has been referred to as a quitter. Last year against Boston he completely shut down and mailed in game five. This year, he did the same repeatedly in the Finals, averaging all of three points in the fourth quarter for the series. And even after Dallas Mav DeShawn Stevenson very publicly said it wasn't the Mavs defence that marginalized LeBron in Game 5 - a game LeBron was quoted as saying was do or die and the biggest of his life - and after noted hard man Chris Bosh (severe sarcasm there, folks) said they needed more of him, and Dwayne Wade said they needed more assertiveness from LeBron, he didn't exactly crank it up last night, did he? This guys fear of failure is damn impressive, but it doesn't lift him, it overwhelms him. LeBron James: quitter. Until proven otherwise, a big game nothing. A passenger. I love it.
The line of the post-game pressers last night went to a strangely-silent-til-after-the-game Mark Cuban: "who gives a fuck about Lebron James?" Well put, MC. Enjoy that title. And in a little blast from the past, check out this article from last November in which Cuban warned LeBron that no team have ever signed a couple free agents and automatically went on to win.
LeBron James took to Twitter to say that God said it wasn't his time to win. Yeah, the NBA Finals is right up there on God's "to do" list, LeBron. Grow the hell up.
The very hilarious and over the top HaHaWhitePpl post-game on Twitter: The only thing King James is the King of, is never winning a fucKING championship.
Cleveland Plain Dealer headline: "Decision: Mavs!"
Love the news that the Mavs brought the trophy, ugly though it may be, to the same club where LeBron's mom was arrested earlier this year.
Nevermind "Real Sports", MLSE really should have named their sports bar The Draught Lottery. Admittedly, stolen by some random person on Twitter.
After Vancouver won Game 5, the Canucks attempted to sell the broadcast rights to their Stanley Cup parade. NHL said no. Karma has yet to respond, but it will get a chance tonight as these two go at it in Boston for Game 6 with the Canucks having a chance to close it off, despite only scoring six goals in five games to date. It says here this series is going seven, and the Bruins will win it.
In 45 seconds, LeBron James clearly illustrates he's the biggest motherfucker in sports.
Adolf Hitler weighs in on LeBron's flame out and the Mavs victory.
Vancouver Whitecap Eric Hassli scores maybe the best goal I've seen in my life. Incredible. So good the fans in Seattle even applauded him for it.
I was thinking about the "most hated player" thing over the weekend and I've cemented LeBron James in my mind as that, particularly after last night (more on that below in the videos). There have been guys with huge profiles that make huge jack before, and have moved teams famously. One happens to play for my fav baseball team in New York and goes by the name of Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod has had a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth as much as Fred Flintstone in his prime, as does LeBron. But a few things A-Rod never did was hammer his previous team/city and in fact, hometown the way LeBron did. Nor did he make bold promises of seven plus championships before ever taking the floor (or field) with his new team. And when A-Rod had some playoff failures, he owned them. Not LeBron, he repeatedly points the finger at teammates both current and former and betrays his obvious talent and ability. A-Rod didn't talk down a media member the way LeBron did in telling him to watch the game-tape after Game 5 again and he "might come up with a better question tomorrow" for why LeBron disappeared. Which brings us to the next point, and one where you can't discuss A-Rod at all. I'm not sure there is a worse thing that you can be called in sport than a quitter, and we've seen twice now that LeBron has been referred to as a quitter. Last year against Boston he completely shut down and mailed in game five. This year, he did the same repeatedly in the Finals, averaging all of three points in the fourth quarter for the series. And even after Dallas Mav DeShawn Stevenson very publicly said it wasn't the Mavs defence that marginalized LeBron in Game 5 - a game LeBron was quoted as saying was do or die and the biggest of his life - and after noted hard man Chris Bosh (severe sarcasm there, folks) said they needed more of him, and Dwayne Wade said they needed more assertiveness from LeBron, he didn't exactly crank it up last night, did he? This guys fear of failure is damn impressive, but it doesn't lift him, it overwhelms him. LeBron James: quitter. Until proven otherwise, a big game nothing. A passenger. I love it.
The line of the post-game pressers last night went to a strangely-silent-til-after-the-game Mark Cuban: "who gives a fuck about Lebron James?" Well put, MC. Enjoy that title. And in a little blast from the past, check out this article from last November in which Cuban warned LeBron that no team have ever signed a couple free agents and automatically went on to win.
LeBron James took to Twitter to say that God said it wasn't his time to win. Yeah, the NBA Finals is right up there on God's "to do" list, LeBron. Grow the hell up.
The very hilarious and over the top HaHaWhitePpl post-game on Twitter: The only thing King James is the King of, is never winning a fucKING championship.
Cleveland Plain Dealer headline: "Decision: Mavs!"
Love the news that the Mavs brought the trophy, ugly though it may be, to the same club where LeBron's mom was arrested earlier this year.
Nevermind "Real Sports", MLSE really should have named their sports bar The Draught Lottery. Admittedly, stolen by some random person on Twitter.
After Vancouver won Game 5, the Canucks attempted to sell the broadcast rights to their Stanley Cup parade. NHL said no. Karma has yet to respond, but it will get a chance tonight as these two go at it in Boston for Game 6 with the Canucks having a chance to close it off, despite only scoring six goals in five games to date. It says here this series is going seven, and the Bruins will win it.
In 45 seconds, LeBron James clearly illustrates he's the biggest motherfucker in sports.
Adolf Hitler weighs in on LeBron's flame out and the Mavs victory.
Vancouver Whitecap Eric Hassli scores maybe the best goal I've seen in my life. Incredible. So good the fans in Seattle even applauded him for it.
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