Ron Wilson: health ad-visor

If it isn't a first, it is at least a first in a long time: the Toronto Maple Leafs can be called forward thinking. Or at least, coach Ron Wilson can. Wilson thinks all players should be wearing properly fitted helmets and visors because they protect from injury. Given what players are paid and what injuries can do to a team's playoff hopes, it is shocking teams, if not the league, aren't pushing heavily for it...who knew the Toronto Raptors had three point guards capable of running the team not named Jose, and all cheaper than Jose?...well that didn't take long. World Baseball Classic tickets can now be bought one game at a time. Betting the "strip" method that forced you to buy tickets to all game at a given venue went over like a fart in church...in six games with the Vancouver Canucks, Mats Sundin's most impressive stat is that he's been in the penalty box when the Canucks gave up three game-losing goals...ESPN is taking a run at picking up the English Premier League broadcast rights for the U.S. for 2010-2013, stealing them from Setanta Sports. Meantime, nobody wants the NHL for any meaningful price...the always hilarious Noel Gallagher of Oasis chimed in on Arsenal's Arsene Wenger whining about his fav team Manchester City breaking the bank for star players...what a death spiral Prime Time Picks are in right now. Damn you, Tim Cahill, and your late goal!. Back with today's death sentence - err - lock - later...could the Hartford Whalers be back? Word is city of Hartford officials met with the NHL to discuss the return of a team. Good luck trying to figure out which of the half dozen teams could be on the move...it is a big day south of the border and around the world, if you're buying the hype. Here's hoping Barrack Obama can live up to the hope people have in him not as a black President, but as one of the world's leaders and the responsibility that goes with that...have a great Tuesday.

PTP: Chicago Bulls -4 -108. Send me a winner, Lord!

At least the Ontario Hockey League gets it. Hot on the heels of an amateur player dying after cracking his dome off the ice, the league has mandated that any player that takes his bucket off for a fight is tossed from that game and suspended for the next, and that should a player's helmet come off during a fight, the linesmen are to immediately intervene. In junior, where players where shields by rule, one Kitchener Ranger said that the new rules are going to wipe out almost all fights. That's not a bad thing...on the Max Kellerman Show, Stephen A. Smith talked about the Dallas Cowboys problems at length and boiled it down to a severe lack of trust among the players and the culprit is not Terrell Owens as one might suspect, but coordinator Jason Garrett and Tight End Jason Witten. Smith said that while T.O. may be juvenile in how he handles things and is overly sensitive, in this case, he is right, confirmed by several players on the team from both sides of the ball. Also taking a beating was Tony Romo, who some players say has "gone Hollywood" and is more concerned with Jessica Simpson than with the team. Smtih said the blame has to lay at the feet of Wade Phillips for allowing things to spiral to this point all the while saying things are fine. Interesting times in Big D...some time ago, your faithful blogger mentioned a severe disdain for the "Fox Robot". Come to find out it has a name - "Cleatus". Also come to find that one Conan O'Brien isn't a fan either, as you'll see in the vid here. Tremendous...Coed Magazine thinks they've got the 8 potential cover girls for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Check them out, and vote here. Sing along, "I love this Bar..."...clearly, Manchester City are not messing about. With Kaka looking like he's heading there from AC Milan, City are looking to get a top notch coach in the person of Jose Morinho, even talking of doubling his salary to 18 million (Euros). The Gallagher brothers have to be pretty thrilled with that...as mentioned a couple times now, the Philadelphia Eagles are your PTP today. Bet 'em hard...have a great Sunday.