Back!

We're back, after a busy work trip to my fav city in Canada - Montreal.  Sorry Toronto, regrets Vancouver, swing and a miss Halifax, sucks to be you Ottawa, nice try Edmonton, not-even-the-best-in-Alberta Calgary...Montreal wins hands down.  Wasn't all work by any means, not when your hotel is a couple blocks from Crescent Street.  Also, worked my way into some last minute Montreal Canadiens tickets Wednesday, a very entertaining 5-3 win over the New York Islanders.  I've always said that hockey is far better live than on TV (other than those painful TV-timeouts) but PK Subban is even more entertaining than that.  That is gonna be one hell of a player, and soon.  Had a laugh hearing the fans cheer Carey Price hard after he was booed equally hard last time I was there in February, and he wasn't even playing that night.  How soon they forget!  Great times.

Anytime the Texas Rangers want to show up would be fine.  A 9-0 beat down last night is no way to generate interest outside of San Francisco. Matt Cain has now thrown 21 2/3 shutout innings for the Giants, who are up 2-0 and had Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" going last night post game.  You know, because they're "half way there".

Bud Selig should pounce on this one: the MLB players union says it would consider adding extra playoff teams.

Here's one way to handle your ejection from a sporting event: 1. Leave the field of play.  2. Return with car.  3. Try to run down the referee.

The NBA enlisted comic - they ones who draw, not make people funny - Stan Lee to draw covers for each NBA team.

Here are the 10 Greatest World Series photos of all time.  The way this series is going, don't imagine there will be any pictures taken of the final games.  Fox must be lamenting the abscence of the New York Yankees, given that ratings dropped 25% from Game 1 last year to this year.

I love frivolous lawsuits.  A man is suing McDonald's for making him fat.  Oh, he won.

Word is Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has been told he's got a transfer fund of £100 million.  Nice work, Wayne Rooney.  Wayne got himself a raise, and a way to improve the talent around him.  A start: get

A little late getting to this one, but a great history of rap with the always hilarious Justin Timberlake and the occasionally funny Jimmy Fallon.

NBA deadline - so uneventful...

Tracy McGrady will need at least another year before he sees the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in his career - he's 0-12 - now that he's going under the knife for micro fracture surgery on his knee...Wade Phillips is still the Dallas Cowboys coach. Therefore, I'm sour...the Quebec commission that threatened to prevent UFC97 from going off in April is now relenting, and the show will go on in Montreal...UFC95 goes tomorrow from London, England and is available free on SportsNet (3pm Eastern live and 9pm tape delay). In your main event, Diego Sanchez - and how is his nickname not "Dirty"? - faces Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. Sanchez fights are always super entertaining, and this should be no different...MLB commissioner Bud Selig made more last year than the CEO's of Apple, Pepsi and Nike. Not bad for a former used car salesman...saw an ad on Fox with Summer Glau and Eliza Dushku for their shows tonight, Terminator and Dollhouse. Who's hotter? I'm leaning towards Glau, mostly because Summer's my season. That, and Dushku is a Red Sox fan...there's something to be said for MLBTraderumours.com's approach to never mentioning drug use stories, ever...not surprisingly, LA Galaxy fans are not too pleased the David Beckham is so openly trying to move to AC Milan. If they said they were surprised, that would be the real shocker...from the Department of Weird, old wrestling legend Verne Gagne - now 82 and in a living assisted community with Alzheimers - killed his 97-year old roomate. No, he didn't hit him with "the sleeper"...for those wondering why Toronto Raptors Josee Caleron was spared a skewering in this space yesterday after his performance a couple nights ago in one of the worst games you can see out of an alleged starting, $8 million plus point guard, it is a rare occasion where I thought it would just be piling on...Toronto Blue Jays stud pitcher Leroy Halladay says he wants to win, and he wants to stay in Toronto. Somebody might want to point out to Halladay that he can't have both anytime soon in Toronto, and time is wasting on his career...Tiger Woods is returning to the PGA Tour next week. With the media onslaught coming, you'll think it is Barrack Obama and Jesus H. Christ teeing off before next weekend is through...back later with your PTP. Damn you, Leafs! That's 0-3 on the year betting against them slugs...have a great Friday.

If you're a mascot, is a dunk worth it if it costs you an ACL?

Time to bat clean-up

If Alex Rodriguez is at all smart, or has even paid a bit of attention, he'd best come clean now and say that he used in 2003, that he's sorry, and it has never happened since and never will again - even if he never used at the time. The way things went for Roger Clemens in his denial in the face of (some) evidence is nothing he wants any part of. I'll repeat what I said years back: baseball should have declared amnesty to everyone who came forward with the promise of no punishment, with the understanding you'd be treated far more rashly if you were later implicated. The whole "secret" tests of 2003 was a sham, and Bud "$18 million man" Selig should lose his job for presiding over such a mess...shame about that Atlanta Hawks pick when Mike Bibby ends up getting scratched at the last minute, but finally back to .500 on PTP for the year, and off to a strong start for February. Today, playing Manchester United at -0.5 -155, kickoff at 11am as the leaders travel to London to face West Ham, coverage on The Score (in HD!) at 11am...Chelsea dropped points at home again yesterday in a scoreless draw with Hull, and look nowhere near the side that was dominating in August through October. Liverpool won 3-2 at Pompey to jump well ahead of Chelsea...the Toronto Raptors scored all of 70 points in their latest loss at not-so-mighty Memphis. That they're not blowing away the field in the latest poll question is shocking...can't say I saw the Toronto Maple Leafs performance coming last night, a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs just don't seem right at the moment...if you can figure out why the LA Lakers deal Vladimir Radmanovic to the Charlotte Bobcats for Adam Morrison - other than they fear what he'll do around snow the coming all-star break - I'd love to hear it. I know the Lakers are looking to get bigger, but Morrison?...it took Alexander Ovechkin a mere 296 games to score his 200th goal of his career. That is damn impressive, fifth fastest all-time...for my money, Ste-rod is a far more clever nickname than A-Roid...today's picture comes courtesy of one of Raptorschat's finest posters, well done Scully... Have a great Sunday. Go Man U!