Opening day in the books, productivity tumbling

It is a horror that nobody should have to endure.  Wake up to your alarm clock on a Saturday morning after a great night before (read: malted hop frenzy) and think you're going to watch Argentina and Nigeria in World Cup action.  Instead, you find you're seeing the duller-than-dishwater Greece.  That's all you need to know, it don't matter who they're playing, that's a giant lunchbag letdown.  1-0 Korea though in the early stages, so that makes it a bit more palatable. Yes, Greece has a debt in this one too.

Those uniforms that the United States World Cup team will be rocking today were inspired by the U.S. team that had the biggest upset arguably in World Cup history some 60 years ago when they beat England.  Of course, the U.S will face England today kicking off at 2:30pm in what is expected to be the highest rated soccer game in American history.  The game will be played at a high altitude so it'll be interesting to see if the more worn down English players can keep pace with the U.S., who tend to be among the fittest teams in any competition.  Found out that the referees are having some special training to learn English swear words ahead of this one.  

Started a column to the right with the World Cup picks and record.  Be sure to toss your picks into the comments section.

UFC 115 goes tonight in Vancouver with a less than appealing main event of Chuck Lidell and Rich Franklin.  Maybe it is just me, but I find the Canadian UFC cards to date have been a little sub-standard relative to the cards you see in the U.S.  Cro Cop faces Pat Berry in the main undercard fight, and there will no doubt be a strong Croatian support in Vancouver for Cro Cop. Full card here.

Michael Davis was on The B.S. Report podcast this week talking World Cup and explained that there is a difference in the grass in the northern and southern hemisphere and that that has historically played into why teams from the opposite hemisphere don't win.  The southern grass tends to be longer, slower and thicker while the north tends to be shorter and faster, particularly when the fields tend to be watered pre-game leading to the ball sliding around the surface far quicker.  Interesting note: the South African fields have been designed to play more like the northern hemisphere.

The fashion crime of the World Cup day goes to France, where they were all wearing smedium shirts that looked more fit for the Tour de France than Les Bleus.

That sound you hear at World Cup stadia is the sounds of the "vuvuzela", a plastic horn that you blow and the effect you get is the sound of an IndyCar or F1 race.  GBVH offers up this site where you can blow your own.  Yours truly, in addition to using it as a funnel, once worked one in an Oktoberfest hall with a few friends that resulted in them being banned from Oktoberfest altogether.  Yep, we've got game.

A U.S. court ruled that urine samples that show Barry Bonds used steroids cannot be presented at his perjury trial where he said he didn't use steroids.  Make sense of that, if you can.

Enjoy the games.  Back tomorrow for a brief RM.

One Tiger Roars, Another Whimpers

Detroit Tiger Dontrelle Willis has been placed on the DL for anxiety. I guess when you've lost velocity, can't hit the plate, and have the pressure of a huge contract, you tend to get anxious...good of the Toronto Raptors to roll off four straight wins which will only serve to worsen their draft position. Of course, Jose Calderon is pumping up these four wins as being what this team is about and in typical Jose fashion, ignoring they're not exactly beating playoff bound teams because, well, they don't. They'll never win anything under that guy at the point, and yes, I say that after his 22 point 19 dime game - against Chicago...wonder if NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is working on his list of excuses he'll be using come playoff time when there are scores of empty seats in arenas league wide?...Tiger Woods did what Tiger Woods does in coming back from five shots back to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and set up the global media heading to Augusta for the Masters with the requisite "Second Coming" stories...Jason Taylor could be the next signing by the New England Patriots. Why is it that you can see one team sign older players - thinking Washington Redskins here - and you know it won't work out, but the Pats sign a guy and in this case, the same guy the Redskins signed a year prior, and you figure it will end well?...it is WrestleMania week, and you know your faithful blogger will do his best to work in some past and present wrestling stuff. Today, the Top 10 Old School Promos...the long-running joke about Playboy is that one reads it for the articles. That may not be entirely true, but their articles are absolutely top notch regardless of field. The latest issue has a great piece on Barry Bonds and the treatment he has received. It's a long one, but well worth the read...less than a week until the MLB season starts, man I'm jacked for that...have a great Monday, back later with your PTP.

Check out this creepy laugh...

Follow the Leader

Tiger Woods didn't advance in his first tourney in nearly a year. The world will move on...NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell clearly understands the public relations game better than most. With the economic struggles, and a potential labour battle in the offing, he's taken a 20% pay cut. Tough for a union to declare all is well when the man at the top is taking a voluntary chop...hard as it may be to believe, but three CFL teams - Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Hamilton - are looking to build new stadia along with a potential fourth in Ottawa...Baseball Prospectus has A-Rod playing through the 2019 season and falling short of Barry Bonds home run record of 763 with 730. That said, he's currently on pace to break the record some time in 2013, fitting given his jersey number. ESPN's Peter Keating says he's going to make it...the internet never ceases to amaze me. Take this, for example: a fine place to go when you need another word for "vagina"...AskMen is back with the Top 10 MMA submission moves...former NBA super agent David Falk - Michael Jordan's agent for a time - told Drive This, and was quoted in the New York Times, saying that unless the NBA players union is prepared to give up some serious concessions when the new labour deal goes into place when the current deal expires in 2011, the NBA could be looking at a two or three year period of no games. He says NBA Commissioner David Stern will push for a hard salary cap, shorter contracts, a higher age limit on incoming players, elimination of the mid-level cap exception and an overall reduction in the players' percentage of revenue. Not only that, Falk predicts he'll achieve it. And, Falk said, Stern will probably get what he wants. Of course, if the economy turns around by then - which it should and then some - that could have a way of calming the hardline that Stern will be pushing. Or, this period could just serve to remind them how many holes there are in their current deal...the internet never ceases to amaze me. Somebody took the time to put every swear word in the history of The Sopranos in chronological order in one video. This is mesmerizing...malapropism's are awesome. After A-Rod dropped the "I made my bed, I'm going to have to sit in it," here's a list of others that have come from the sports world...and after getting into a vehicle with the very same cousin he used performance enhancing drugs with, A-Rod has been told by the New York Yankees that said cousin is not welcome around the team. Look, he can hang around anyone he wants, but when he brings a guy whose association with him has brought a cloud over the player and therefore team, that's just not smart...It is amazing he needed to be told that...the Georges St. Pierre/BJ Penn spat over the vaseline allegedly on GSP's back at their fight last month has yet to subside. GSP's camp finally responded publicly and it is a gem, as they said the complaints are "nothing more than Mr. Penn's desperate attempt to protect his reputation and commercial value after being totally dominated by a superior athlete"...12:01am today was the start of NFL free agency. Sounds like run stuff Albert Haynesworth may be going to the place where talent goes to die. Namely, the Washington Redskins. After dumping Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn - no country music jokes, please - the Tampa Bay Bucs are over $50 million under the cap...as for the PTP, bet the New York Knicks tonight -2.5 -110 as they host the Philadelphia 76ers...have a great day, back later with your PTP.

Scudeto Smackdown!

If, as it sounds, the performance enhancing drugs issue ends up bringing "The Rings" - Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada - to stand next to A-Rod at the opening press conference that might rival media day at the Super Bowl, that can only be a good thing for him and the Yankees. Sidebar: I got in at 5-1 on the Yankees to win the World Series this year. Incredibly short odds in a brutal division with Boston and Tampa Bay, but better than the 3-1 you used to get in the hey-day...if you're in the top 50 in men's tennis, you're required to specify one hour per day that you are available - and where you'll be - for drug testing. That's ridiculous. If I were under such a regime, I'd offer up 4am-5am daily...AC Milan and Inter Milan will lock horns in a match that could all but clinch the Italian Serie A championship for Inter. Expect fireworks, literal in the stands, figurative on the field. Go AC!...the Olympics are a year away, and the fine folks at SI.com are getting ready for the hockey tourney by looking at the potential U.S. and Canadian national teams. No doubt more to follow...by tomorrow, all Spring Training camps will be open in MLB. Here's a solid overview from Jayson Stark on who made moves, who didn't, and other things to look for this season...I'm sure you've all seen the "Mighty Putty" infomercial by now. Here's an alternate version...The Onion Sports Network delivers this obituary for A-Rod. Funny stuff...baseball's 40-40 club: Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano. One of these is not like the others, so far at least...in the Pop Culture Grid in the February 16th issue of Sports Illustrated, former Toronto Raptor and now Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva answered "Toronto" to "______ is completely underrated." Make of this what you will...looked so good at 2-0 after the first frame for the Pittsburgh Pens PTP, but somehow, the Toronto Maple Leafs pounded them - again - and it was a 6-2 Leafs win. Today, playing the Anaheim Ducks at home at -1.5 +139 against the terrible Atlanta Thrashers. If you're looking for other options, liking the under in the NBA All-Star game at 263, and Manchester United over Derby in FA Cup play, despite the -1 -1.5 -106 split line. Man U doesn't concede goals to anybody of late, though of course, I do fear the Kuszcak-in-goal (or Foster) factor in non-EPL games. Tough..have a great Sunday. May the winners be ours!

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

New York Jet running back Thomas Jones could be my new favorite player for blowing up Brett Favre as a self-centred, ineffective, team-killing sideshow who should have been benched for his terrible play the way anybody else would've. Good for Jones for giving Favre the treatment he has so richly earned...a nice and easy open to the year for Prime Time Picks as USC smoked Penn State 38-24 in the Rose Bowl. Up today, we're playing Russia at -2 (-103) at the World Junior Hockey Championships as they face the Czech Republic in quarter-final action. Get down with Pinnacle...Barroid Bonds had some work done on a hip to keep the flame of his professional career flickering for 2009. An alleged steroid user with joing issues? Weird...8,000 tickets remain unsold for the Minnesota Vikings home playoff game against Philadelphia this weekend. Clearly, the state of the economy is a big factor. When an NFL team is struggling to move playoff ducats, have to wonder what baseball teams are seeing in terms of season ticket sales for the 2009 year...just testing a little something today, please click here...San Diego Chargers LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates missed practice ahead of their playoff game this week. Just to confirm, it is 2009 and not 2008, though the stories remains the same. How does it make sense that the Bolts get home field at 8-8 instead of the Indianapolis Colts who were 12-5?...going back to Canada's thrilling 7-4 win over the U.S. in the World Junior Hockey Championships on New Year's Eve for a second, I'm amazed at how many are up in arms over the stick popping out of the American bench as the Canadians skated by celebrating a goal in the first period. Think about it: if the roles were reversed, what would your reaction be? Celebrating in front of the other teams bench like that is bush, and pretending it won't get some kind of reaction is naive...Eli Manning took a not-at-all veiled swipe at Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo. When asked what his plans were with the time off this week before they host their playoff game next week, Eli replied: "my plans to Cabo fell through, so I'm going to stay here. That's a joke, by the way". Have to say, clever, and strong...my fav bars: HiFi in New York City, and Refaeli...Charles Barkley ran the stop sign the night he got a DUI because he was racing to get around the corner to get some action from the girl who had given him the "best [blowjob] he had ever had in his life." Check out the police report here. Nice stuff, Chuck, other than the idiotic move of driving after drinking enough to fail a field sobriety test...a fantastic piece on the great day for the NHL at Wrigley Field, though the idea that Canada isn't an option seems odd. You'd think it'd be a natural. That said, a game in the new Yankee Stadium, or better - in Central Park - would be as good as it gets...have a great Friday.