The Boston Bruins host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in the first meeting between the two teams since Matt Cooke crushed Marc Savard with a blind-side hit last Sunday. Love how Penguin Eric Godard is saying nothing ever happens when teams talk retribution. Guess the names Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore don't ring a bell? It should for Cooke. After all, he was the Vancouver Canucks tough guy that Moore took on to answer the call for his "dirty" hit on Marcus Naslund earlier. The problems for Moore spiraled because he actually beat Cooke in the first period and the Avs went on to hammer the Canucks before Bertuzzi pile drove him into the ice.
It looks like the MLS Players Union is about to go on strike Monday unless there is a last minute deal brokered. Fools, them and the league for taking the positive momentum they've been building and getting involved in a power play at this time. They need each other to survive and thrive, and coming four days ahead of the first game of the season is a terrible development.
So Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine last season? Shocking...that he didn't pin it on Josh Hamilton.
Barcelona comfortably sealed their Champions League quarter-final spot with a comfortable 4-0 win at home over Stuttgart. Bordeaux clinched the final spot with a last minute goal to win 2-1 over Olympiakos. The draw will go tomorrow, with no seedings whatsoever, with these teams: Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Bordeaux, CSKA Moscow, Inter Milan, Lyon and Manchester United. For those scoring at home, that's two English sides, two French, one Spanish, one German, one Russian, and one Italian.
Oh, Chelsea. That's why they can't win knock out games. They cave under pressure and are far too mentally fragile when trailing. Inter Milan wasn't leading more than five minutes before Chelsea striker Didier Drogba picked up a red card for stepping on an opponent and John Terry was getting in guys faces and it was only a 1-0 Inter Milan lead at the time, which ended up being the final. With a trip to Old Trafford remaining on the EPL schedule, bet on Chelsea not winning the EPL either. Love it. Inter Milan will move into the quarter finals with yesterday's other winner, CSKA Moscow. The final two slots will be sorted out today when Barcelona hosts Stuttgart, and Bordeaux hosts Olympiakos.
I've purposely stayed away from any March Madness talk this week as there is plenty of that everywhere at the moment. That said, here's a peak at the seven types of people in every NCAA bracket pool.
From the March 8th issue of ESPN The Magazine: "look for a big post-All-Star push from Toronto, which has both the Atlantic Division and playoff home court advantage in its sights. While they trail the Celtics by five games, the Raptors have the league's fifth easiest remaining schedule and face 12 .500-or-under teams in their last 24." Not exactly working out that way, is it?
Shame that the days I write the most, the fewest ad clicks happen. Such is life, I guess.
Tiger Woods has announced he'll be back at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia. Wonder if anyone will be lobbing one of these Tiger sex toys at him when he does?
And remember folks: green beer is like birthday cake, something you should stop doing at 14.
Joel Sherman at the NY Post looks at the talk of baseball moving to fluid divisions and lays out a spot on look at what is not going to happen (salary caps), what makes no sense (fluid divisions), what is possible (moving the Boston Red Sox to the AL Central) and what is most likely (a second Wild Card team in each league starting in 2012). Love how he lays out those asking how the Kansas City Royals (or Pittsburgh Pirates, etc.) can compete with the New York Yankees by saying they've yet to compete with teams in their own division for over a decade. Sherman adds in another piece that people foolishly overvalue payroll, adding it reflects where players are in there career more than true value. Good point. For example, the Tampa Bay Rays of today would be worth closer to $200 million than the $70 million they're inked for. Former Commissioner Faye Vincent told The Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio that talk of divisional realignment that would see low salary teams in with high salary teams was as much about punishing the Florida Marlins and their kind for not using the revenue sharing dollars they've been pocketing for players. Interesting insight. I've long been a "fewer games, add a playoff time" advocate, so this is welcome news. That said, I could see the Red Sox move happening too and it actually leading to both the Sox and Yankees ultimately ending up with reduced payrolls by not having to match each others every move.
The talk of a Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols deal seems crazy, no? As great as Howard is, and even factoring in payroll, I can't think of any reason why St. Louis would deal one of the top players in the game - ever - and a surefire Hall of Famer.
As reckless as Alexander Ovechkin's "hit" on Brian Campbell was Sunday, not sure where he gets two games but Pittsburgh Penguin Matt Cooke got nothing for his dirtier-than-hell shot on Boston Bruin Marc Savard, one of many on his rap sheet if you happened to catch Don Cherry and Coach's Corner on Saturday. Is there anyone that thinks the latter wasn't intent to injure moreso than the former? For his part, Campbell drove the league and union head first into the boards, saying they've ruined a great opportunity in the U.S. in the wake of the Olympics by not outlawing this stuff in the game and asking why any parent would want their kid to play or watch NHL hockey. Well said, B.C.
Champions League action resumes today and the biggest game of the tourney to date is surely Italy's Serie A leader Inter Milan in London to face English Premier League leader Chelsea. A 1-0 win will see Chelsea advance, but tough to assume Inter gets held scoreless. I'm feeling Chelsea in extra time.
If you haven't heard already, David Beckham's dreams of playing a fourth World Cup for England this summer are done after he snapped his achilles tendon on the weekend playing for AC Milan. Not hard to believe a player in his mid-30's would suffer a freak injury like that - nobody was near him when it burst - when he's had virtually no time off for three years, going from one season to the next with only a few weeks in between. Beckham was never as great as the hype made him out to be, but he's always seemed like a good enough guy to me, so sad to see a guy end his international career, and maybe more, in that fashion.
If there was any doubt that OHB will be back quarterbacking the Minnesota Vikings next year, it should be eliminated when you hear that he was involved in recruiting LaDanian TomlinsonVikes. to jump on board with the In the end, L.T. decided that playing with one "me" quarterback in the form of Ryan Leaf is enough for a career and went with the New York Jets, or something like that.
I'm starting to wonder if Gilbert Arenas having four guns in the Washington Wizards locker room was such a big deal after all. I mean, he only had 500 at home so it wasn't like he was overdoing it at the workplace.
Former Canadian international soccer player Jason DeVos, now a CBC broadcaster covering TFC games, rarely has much nice to say about anybody so take comments from him with a heavy grain of salt, but when he hammers TFC for how they handled a class act like Carl Robinson, he's dead on. Had the opportunity to meet Robo at BMO Field a couple years back as he was leaving the locker room and me and some fellas were going in to play and he couldn't have been a nicer guy. Can't say the same for Jim Brennan. I know one thing: no way TFC loses a must-win game 5-0 like they did in New York last year with Robo on the field.
If you haven't seen Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras talking smack to each other at a charity event over the weekend - and it was by no means friendly banter - check it out here. Vince McMahon has to be thinking cage match. Sadly, Agassi has apologized for his part.
So you play an 82-game NHL season, and come out with 16 playoff contenders. How about doing 14, and then having the remaining teams play a single elimination tourney to sort out the 8th playoff team in each conference? Stupid? About as stupid as signing Rick DiPietro to a decade plus contract which is to say, very stupid. That idea was put forth by New York Islanders owner Charles Wang.
Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo tells the Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons that if fans want to lay blame for this year's performance by the team, he ought to be blamed. Did he think we were gonna blame the Dance Pak for signing Hedo Turkoglu, or not looking at more experienced coaching options? There's nothing wrong with the Raptors a dozen or so heart transplants wouldn't fix. And getting rid Jose Calderon. And Hedon't. Dave Feshuk at the Toronto Star says that when asked whether another failed/failing Raptors season should be a reflection on him, Chris Bosh answered "No...what else do you want me to do?" Wrong answer, CB4.
Red Nation Online says that Toronto FC GM Mo Johnston should be telling us all that if the fans want to lay blame for this year's roster so far, he ought to be blamed. That, and Mo should be fired.
What kind of world do we live in when the Toronto Maple Leafs seem the best hope at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment?
Check out Ben Sheets line for the Texas Rangers yesterday against Cincinnati: 0 IP, 8 hits, 10 runs (9 ER), 1 walk, 1 HR and the tag line "Sheets faced 10 hitters in 1st." Yikes!
Jim Lampley says "bang" 22 times in about 30 seconds during the Manny Pacquiao fight this past weekend.
A full weekend of English Premier League action starts off today. Leaders Chelsea will look to regain their form when they host West Ham just days ahead of a crucial Champions League game with Inter Milan, minus keeper Peter Cech. Manchester United host the squad that has given them huge problems the last couple years, Fulham, tomorrow. The Cottagers pounded United 3-0 back in November. Sunderland look to win for the first time since November 21st.
The Phoenix Coyotes, if you're wondering, are averaging 11,296 fans a game, and are projected to lose another $20 million U.S. Yeah, that's way better than selling to Jim Balsillie and moving the team to greener pastures.
A New Jersey seamhead says he's got the 2010 MLB season figured out. Good news fellow New York Yankee fans, 103 wins and 10 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East it is. Toronto Blue Jays? 70 wins and 33 back. Ouch. Or not.
In one of the funnier things I've read recently, there is talk of Oakland Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell, half hearted and now being taken seriously given the subject, having "lethargy addiction".
Don't often preview NHL match-ups in these parts, but tonight in Montreal there is a big one as the Boston Bruins, visiting the Montreal Canadiens, are both fighting for their playoff lives at the bottom end of the Eastern Conference qualifiers. Should be a great game tonight.
Check out this incredible analysis of water consumption in the city of Edmonton during the gold medal hockey game last Sunday, complete with detail on what was happening when in the game, as well as how things looked the day before. Amazing. Wonder what Super Bowl looks like? Guess there's a lot more time to hit the can with all the ad spots but you'd have to think half time is a huge spike. More impressive would be a booze consumption chart, if that were possible.
When Chris Chelios, called up by the Atlanta Thrashers earlier this week, was traded to Chicago for Denis Savard in 1990, current Thrasher Evander Kane had not been conceived. He was born a year later.
Further to yesterday's baseball realignment story, Deadspin has passed on its thoughts in an article called "How To Ruin Baseball in One Easy Step". Deadspin furthers the discussion by asking what teams with designated hitters, generally highly paid specialists, would do if they chose to move to the NL for a season.
The knives are out in Spain for Real Madrid, as the manager and players are taking a tonne of flack for another round of 16 flameout this week. Couldn't happen to a more deserving club. One caption beside a picture of Cristiano Ronaldo read "Cristiano, humiliated. He promised every title and has already lost two".
There is actual talk, says ProFootballTalk, that another embarrassing incident from Ben Roethlesberger could spell the end of his days in Pittsburgh. Say one thing about the Rooney's, they don't mess around.
Hard to believe I went through two days of Champions League play the last two days with nary a mention. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 7th goal in six games but it wasn't enough to send Real Madrid into the quarters as Olympic Lyon drew 1-1 in Madrid. Real captain Gutiblames a lack of teamwork on their flaming out - didn't we say there would be problems with that many fresh faces and egos demanding the ball? Very classy of Ronaldo to saunter off to the dressing room without shaking hands post-game. Best talent in the world, but grow up and take it like a man, CR9. Manchester United advanced with a 4-0 win over AC Milanpowered by two Wayne Rooney goals, knocking out former star David Beckham. Not a good week for former #7's of Manchester United, obviously, with Ronaldo and Beckham both getting to watch their former side advance. Arsenal and Bayern Munich also punched their tickets into the quarter-finals by finishing off their match-ups this week. The other four entrants will be sorted out next week.
Says the great Jason Whitlock via Twitter: "we ripped Pacman 4 lovin 'scrip clubs,' but malewhores r better off making it rain in 'scrip clubs' than trying 2 game college students, no?" Other than the part about people getting shot, he makes a solid point. Whitlock also says that David Copperfield couldn't extricate himself from the mess Ben Roethlesberger is in right now.
So much for a carry-over effect from the Olympics for the NHL on NBC. Ratings for this past Sunday's Detroit Red Wings/Chicago Black Hawks tilt - a matchup of two Original Six squads - drew ratings about as low as the games broadcast before the Olympic games. Tony Kornheiser at PTI says, semi-tongue in cheek - that maybe the ratings are abysmal for regular NHL games and much higher for the Olympic version because there isn't fighting. That, and games take about 40 minutes less, are more entertaining etc.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's committee for on-field matters is investigating a system that would see different divisional alignments year to year, not allowing teams to play in a division more than two timezones away. One example: the Cleveland Indians, in payroll slashing and rebuilding mode, might look to actually play in the AL East to capitalize on 18 visits - instead of eight - from the well-drawing New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The divisions would align on competitive and budgetary reasons. Seems pretty convoluted, no? I think, as I've mentioned before, the easiest route is to open the playoffs to more Wild Cards and shave off a dozen or so regular season games. Sure, some will argue it negatively impacts the record book, but MLB clearly spent about a decade not concerned about the integrity of the record book, right?
Not sure which of these 10 awesome game show fails is my fav, but it is a toss-up between the wheel spin at The Price is Right and the bonus round answers on Family Feud. Great stuff.
Howard Stern held a beauty pageant among some of the ladies who Tiger Woods tapped in recent years and winner Jamie Jungers, among the rest, had all kinds of interesting information to reveal.
Check out these fans trying to hook Chelsea captain John Terry into signing an autograph "To Wayne...sorry...John Terry". "Wayne" of course would refer to former teammate, Wayne Bridge, a story we've covered here at length. Awesome.
Former Cleveland Browns QB Derek Anderson, just released by the Browns, is hoping to get a measure of revenge on a franchise and a fanbase that he calls "ruthless" and "don't deserve a winner" after they cheered when he went down with a tore knee ligament in 2008. Guess Anderson forgot that he didn't exactly live up to his contract after a huge 2007 that got him paid.
If the estimates that there are 20-40 blows to the head in an average NHL game, not including fights, the league and players can forget about eliminating it totally - simply too much incidental contact. But you can increase suspensions for the Matt Cooke's of the world who deliver blind siders, intended or not, and eliminating fighting might decrease the odd head shot, but that's too obvious for some of the Mensa rejects at all levels of hockey. It sounds like there is a new rule in the works for next season that will punish any hits from behind or the side - an improvement - while still allowing for head on head shots (think Scott Stevens plastering Eric Lindros in 2000).
Look for the Chicago Cubs to come out strong out of the gate this year, as they've only got 6 of 38 games to start against teams that were .500 or better last year.
Italy's top soccer league, Serie A, will now be punishing blasphemy with immediate suspensions, and they'll be using video evidence as source material. Good to see one of the leagues most renowned for diving focusing on what really matters in the game.
In further evidence that winning cures all ills, New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are back to being buddies again, driving to games together, warming up together and so on. Pretty sour that regular reader and occasional contributor TS beat me to the punch on saying they're not truly friends until they have a sleepover.
Is there anyone anywhere that can look at Pen Rapelisberger and think he looks like an elite athlete? He looks like a bouncer at best. Check out Big Ben's off season track record: 2006, he wins the Super Bowl in February and follows that up five months later by nearly dying after cracking through the windshield of a car in a motorcycle accident where he wasn't wearing a helmet. That said, I'm going to guess he couldn't find a bucket to fill that giant mellon (and it is rare that any Croatian blooded guy can accuse someone of having a giant mellon). In 2009, Ben again wins the Super Bowl in February and in July is named in a civil lawsuit for allegedly raping a hotel worker in Reno, Nevada. 2010: Alleged sexual assault.
If you're the owner of a team trailing the Phoenix Coyotes by a couple of points, a team that you're helping see through the year financially thanks to the wisdom of Gary Bettman, wonder how you feel about them adding $2 million in payroll last week at the trade deadline, moves that could see you out of playoff contention?
In case you missed it, and it being an NFL drug suspension and not an MLB one, you likely did, Miami Dolphin's free agent - and that ought to help his free agency cause, no? - Jason Ferguson was suspended for eight games for violating the league's performance enhancing drugs policy.
Tough off-season for the Arizona Cardinals so far. They've dealt Anquan Boldin, have seen Kurt Warner retire, and have lost Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle to free agency.
Here's a great piece on Sidney Crosby's gold medal winning goal last Sunday, covering off how things went down in the final seconds. It all happened so quick that the fourth picture only has one guy aware that the game is over in the entire building by the looks of it, #87 himself.
See the video of Matt Barnes of the Orlando Magic faking throwing the ball at Kobe Bryant's face on Sunday? Barnes and Kobe were going at it all game. Would make an interesting finals, no?
With ESPN not allowing for use of their pics - the source of most used in this corner - gonna mix it up on occasion and throw in the odd lady, in this case, yesterday's SunShine Girl. Good move, or bad?
The latest Chris Bosh story has him moving to the New York Knicks in a sign and trade this summer, where he'd join LeBron James. The Raps would get David Lee, for starters. Do with this what you will.
Here are 20 Epic Logo Fails. Not sure what the folks who designed the logo for Arlington Pediatric Center, Clinica Dental, China Restaurant and really, the rest, were thinking.
Are you like me, and look at Toronto Blue Jay Travis Snider and think "Brock Lesnar"? Eerily similar faces.
When did TSN's SportsCentre start including hits among its stats for hockey? Just noticed that.
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney hurt his knee playing for Englandin a friendly last week, and his Man U manager Sir Alex Ferguson, in a big departure as far as coaches go, blamed...the player.
Remember the blown calls in last year's baseball playoffs? It took a while, but MLB finally got around to addressing the matter with the umpires in question, and three paid with their jobs.
Tony Kornheiser returns to Pardon The Interruption today after a two week suspension for trashing Hannah Storm's outfit. That ought to be interesting.
Pittsburgh Penguins dirt merchant Matt Cooke crushed Marc Savard with a blind-side head shot for his third such hit this year. This guy shouldn't be in the NHL. Period.
Not content to be left out of overtime discussions, the CFL is looking at mandating that teams go for two points in overtime after scoring a TD. Headline from Deadspin: CFL Slowly Morphing Into XFL. I didn't realize the XFL ever awarded points for failure, like the CFL lamely does with the "rouge".
Sidney Crosbydeclined a chance to handle the Top 10 on The Late Show with David Letterman. He does know the NHL isn't exactly swimming in big name exposure like that, right?
FIFA, soccer's ruling body, is leaving the "paradinha" - Portuguese for "little stop" - up to its officials to call as permissible or not at this year's World Cup. I've been playing for decades and never once did I think the penalty kick rule allowed a stop of any kind, it was always required that there be forward motion. This is bush league stuff, completely unfair to goalies, and FIFA would be wise to clarify the rule immediately. Check it out below:
Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, pictured at right, was yanked in last night's 6-3 loss to the Chicago Black Hawks after giving up five less than impressive goals. But hey, he's a champion now at the major level, so really, the rest of Canada doesn't much care.
If it were April 1st it couldn't be more lame, except it isn't a joke apparently. Mike Tyson is said to be set to make a comeback and as if that wasn't ridiculous enough, after a tune-up fight, he'll fight - wait for it! - Evander Holyfield. No, seriously. At least heavyweight boxing isn't a joke. Hey, what's Larry Holmes up to?
And speaking of what is old being new again, along comes Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlesberger and his latest sexual assault accusation. This time the 20-year old accuser sounds like she's got her story well in order. And me being a fan of a great crack, here's a name for Big Ben passed my way from TS: Ben Rapelesberger. Strong. I like it.
NFL free agency is under way and the Chicago Bears made a big splash in inking Julius Peppers and Chester Taylor. Anquian Boldin is now a Baltimore Raven too in a solid pickup for a wideout challenged squad.
The Phoenix Coyotes are 6th in the NHL this season, a surprise to everybody. Not a surprise? That they continue to draw small crowds. They had just over 10,000 for a game a few days ago. Yeah, save that market Bettman! ESPN SoccerNet ranks the Top 50 players who will be at this year's World Cup. Man is that top 10 ever good.
Not surprisingly, the New York Yankees players are willing to go on the record about how glad they are that Roy Halladay is no longer in the division. Pretty impressive quotes here, in which the Yankees also crack Mariano Rivera for showing Halladay how to throw the cutter.
It must be spring, or at least spring training, if baseball people are making predictions. Texas Rangers exec Nolan Ryanpredicts his squad will win the AL West with 92 wins. That division is going to be real tough this year with only the Oakland A's not in the division winner mix I'd guess.
Gary Bettman told ESPN New York Radio's Michael Kay that the NHL has "never been more entertaining and faster". No, seriously, he said that. Thanks for putting me in a spot where I have to play the "when I was growing up..." card, GB. At its most entertaining, the best of teams don't hold a candle to the Edmonton Oilers of the 80's for entertainment.
The last four seasons, the Toronto Blue Jays were 30 games over .500 when Roy Halladay starting. In games he didn't start over that time frame, they were 72 games under. This is going to be a Toronto-Maple-Leafs-ugly season for the Jays.
Recall Prince Fielder and the Milwaukee Brewers celebration after a 9th inning walk off shot from Fielder late last year, in which the San Francisco Giants were sour the Brew Crew played bowling pins and all fell down when Fielder reached the plate? Seems the Giants recall, as Barry Zito's first pitch to Fielder yesterday landed right between his shoulder blades. Fielder said it wasn't a big deal. Might have been the benefit of the soft throwing Zito.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. has the Hyperbole Machine cranked up to 11, as he told ESPN Radio: "I'm the best to ever put on a pair of boxing gloves. Better than Ali.". Uh-huh.
So in a year or so, Allen Iverson has burned through 4 NBA teams, is now on leave because of an illness to a daughter - or so we are told - and now comes news his wife is filing for divorce. Do you get the feeling this guys life will end badly?
I would love to know how much money TSN,SportsNet et al poured in to covering the NHL trade deadline yesterday with probably 24 hours of combined coverage - easy - and almost no deals of significance taking place. I'd have lost the plot if Champions League play was pre-empted for that non-event.
ESPN's Erin Andrews, just named to the next season of Dancing With The Stars, is covered with 100 pictures here, and more than a few feature her ass, which isn't saying her front side is terrible (not even close), but is more a testament to an ass that should have a cape on it, because it's a super ass, as depicted at right.
Be sure to catch Cleveland Cavs highlites of their easy win in New Jersey last night. LeBron et al were pulling schoolyard meets All-Star Game type plays in the first quarter. The Sports Guy (aka Bill Simmons) offers up a lengthy view on how to fix the NBA. Love his idea about charging less for season's tickets for every season your team misses the playoffs. Incentive to fans to stay on board, incentive to the team to turn it around. It'd never happen, but a great idea.
I thought Wikipedia was pretty handy. Handier? Ten Word Wiki. Exactly how it sounds.
Peter Crouch with two and Sean Wright-Phillips provided the goals for England in a 3-1 win over Egyptin an international friendly yesterday. Hate to break it to the English, but if those two are prominent come World Cup time, England is in a lot of trouble.
I nearly screamed in horror at the site of a commercial last night for the Brier, starting in a few days. How can you go from the height of the Olympics to them going to your national championship? Does curling ever end?
Have a great Thursday...1 hour The Office tonight!
I get the fans in Pittsburgh cheering Buffalo Sabres and Team USA goalie Ryan Miller during pre-game introductions last night. But there was also a healthy chunk who figured it was a good idea to boo their own captain, Sidney Crosby, who while he won gold for Canada, also happened to win a Stanley Cup for them last year. Lame.
Word is the NFL Pro Bowl will be back in Hawaii the week between the conference championships and Super Bowl for 2011. I'd say that must surely mean they drop the lame idea of flying in the Super Bowl contestants who would've otherwise been in the Pro Bowl like they did this year, but there is very little that is rationale when it comes to the Pro Bore.
Michael Jordan looks set to be the next owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and took the opportunity immediately to play - and lose - a game of HORSE. Somebody might want to let MJ know that being owner doesn't mean getting your competitive itch scratched on the court.
How is it the Toronto Blue Jays have a full page ad for their home opener in the Toronto Star but have nothing to identify the player at bat? If you're trying to build familiarity among fans for a largely unfamiliar team, that is not the way to do it.
99 days until the World Cup kicks off. Pass it on.
U.S. authorities have already talked to New York Met Carlos Beltran about his involvement with Canadian doctor Anthony Galea who was pushing some not approved pharmaceuticals and conducting some blood enriching work.
Great story of how Jerry Jones called a restaurant in Indianapolis during the NFL combine last Friday to reserve a great bottle of wine for his staff on Saturday night. Problem was that New OrleansSaints coach Sean Payton and his crew were in on Friday night and asked for the same bottle of wine, the lone such varietal. Be sure to read the rest. Good stuff. SI.com'sPeter King noted that Jones would appreciate such a move.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmanresponded to questions about whether the NHL should shut down franchises who aren't getting good attendance by asking "did people think we should fold the Chicago Black Hawks when the United Center was half empty?" A couple things on that. One, even when half empty, the United Center holds north of 10,000, but that's besides the point. Nobody suggested ditching the Hawks because they were a storied franchise who had run into trouble with bad ownership and management, and who had been greatly supported before. That's far easier to turn around than Atlanta, for example, who have been a virtual disaster since entering the league, and are better known outside of Atlanta than in it. And they're not the only franchise people are suggesting that should be moved that you could say that about.
Seth Meyers on Saturday Night Live this past weekend: "Gatorade dropped Tiger Woods as their spokesperson after realizing his thirst would never be quenched."
The Utah Jazz are the only team in the NBA without a fourth quarter come from behind win.
Seems hard to believe that more people watched the 2002 Gold Medal hockey game at 17.1 million (average) in Canada than Sunday's 16.6, what with the game on home soil and the incredible overkil...errr...buildup. The game also pulled a big number in the U.S., with 27.6 million tuning in. That isn't Super Bowl territory, but did top the Grammy's and Rose Bowl, and about 25 regular season NHL games combined.
Seems the Toronto Raptors, the version that is roadkill and can't play a lick of defense, are back. The Raps have now lost four straight after getting hammered 116-92 in Houston. They were minus Chris Bosh for the night and for parts, Hedo Turkoglu (knee) and Jose Calderon (boo boo on his elbow). Shame that trade deadline came and went so quietly.
Tough times if you're a Russian sporting official, what with President Dmitry Medvedev demanding you resign or be fired. The Russians only won 15 medals in Vancouver.
Alex Rodriguez has been contacted by U.S. investigators looking at Canadian doctor Anthony Galea. Galea has been linked to Tiger Woods and New York Met Jose Reyes in the past. Would love to see Woods on there giving his robotic answers.
Toss up: Jay Leno came back last night. The Toronto Maple Leafs play the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Which is less interesting?
The controversy! If you open today's Toronto Star to page A9 and check out the big picture with Prime Minister Stephen Harper sitting among Team Canada hockey players, is that not - gasp! - a beer in Shea Weber's hand? The horror!
From the "Department of If It Ain't Broke, Break It", the idea is percolating of adding teams to the NCAA March Madness tournament. Why would you mess with a perfect 64 teamer that grabs peoples attentions like few other events? 96 teams is a bad, bad idea.
LeBron James has made his desire to move to #6 official. Does that make owning his #23 in Cleveland Cavs colours a good idea, or a bad one? One thing for sure: I wouldn't want to be buying a Cavs jersey with #6 and "James" on the back just yet.
Heading into overtime of yesterday's gold medal hockey game, you'd have had your sanity questioned if you were picking Sidney Crosby to be the Canadian hero as for vast stretches of the game (approaching "all"), he was invisible again. But there he was less than half way through the wild 4-on-4 overtime, working a give and go with Jarome Iginla, who always seems to have big moments in these final games, to beat the U.S. goalie Ryan Miller, who again played fantastic. Miller was named tournament MVP, while Canuck forward Johnathan Toews was named forward of the tournament. Not bad for a guy who barely made the team as the 13th pick. The gold win was the 14th for the host Canadians, the most ever by a host nation in Winter Olympics history. Pretty impressive.
Tough times being Sidney Crosby: World Junior gold medalist, Stanley Cup Champion and now Olympic gold medalist, all by the age of 22. He wasn't impressive overall at this Olympics, but no argument that he's not a winner.
And out of all that, we're now back to the drudgery of the never ending NHL season. Somehow, Detroit is going to play Colorado tonight. Posed a question to several people this past weekend as to if they still believe the NHL product is better than the international game, talent aside. Still waiting for someone to tell me the scrums and fights are more entertaining than what we saw the past two weeks, though yesterday's game wasn't quite up to the level of some of the other games we saw as often is the case with a prize on the line in any sport.
Sounds like the NFL is ready to change the overtime rules. Here's how it'll work: if the team that receives the ball goes down the field and scores a TD, it is game over. However, if they kick a field goal, then the other team will get a shot with the ball to tie or beat that. If they just tie it, then it reverts to the old sudden death rules. A great, great improvement methinks though I still think both teams should get a possession regardless of if the first scores a TD to open OT. The idea will be put to a vote shortly.
What's the biggest threat to the New York Yankees? Aging contracts, says Joel Sherman at the NY Post. Sherman points to the contracts of Alex Rodriguez, A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixera, who will collect $90 million in 2013. That's before they re-sign Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, with Jeter surely in the mix for 2013. Risky stuff as guys hit their early/mid/late 30's and more.
Guess Tiger Woods apology a couple weeks back isn't exactly going over well. After all, Gatorade dumped him as an endorser over the weekend. I don't get it - what could be a more perfect fit for Gatorade's traditional cardboard cutout ads of its endorsers? Who is stiffer than Woods?
Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo has a 16-2-3 record playing for Canada in the World Championships and Olympics. He'll have to be at this best if he's to outshine the ridiculously in-the-zone Ryan Miller in the American goal.
Prediction? A Salt Lake matching 5-2 win for Canada.
Not sure if Own The Podium meant winning the most golds, but ended up being a hell of a run for Canada in Vancouver with 13 golds going into the final day. The red and white have collected 14 medals in four days.
Chelsea soiled the sheets yesterday at Manchester City, dropping a 4-2 decision that featured Wayne Bridge blowing past John Terry in the pre-game handshakes.
I haven't a clue how anyone finds Brent Butt remotely funny.
Now Bukakke, that guy is funny. His rant on Friday about the Canadian women's hockey team's coach Melody Davidson on the Friday entry was so good I couldn't even post yesterday. At least that's my story.
The Buffalo Bills will not be offering a contract to free agent Terrell Owens. As always, the Baltimore Ravens are the leading candidates to chase Original 81.
Safe to say the Boston Celtics won't be winning the NBA championship this year, not when they're losing to the lowly New Jersey Nets.
Hard to believe Wednesday is NHL trade deadline day, a day when Canadian sports networks forget there are far more interesting things in the sporting world and force feed us all a pile of rumors that mostly go unfounded, because we all really need to see eight hours of Bob McKenzie et al banging away on their BlackBerry's.
English Premier League stats: Burnley has all of one road point this season. Manchester United has benefitted from 10 own goals this year. United will play Aston Villa today in the Carling Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London.
The Boston Bruins host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in the first meeting between the two teams since Matt Cooke crushed Marc Savard with a blind-side hit last Sunday. Love how Penguin Eric Godard is saying nothing ever happens when teams talk retribution. Guess the names Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore don't ring a bell? It should for Cooke. After all, he was the Vancouver Canucks tough guy that Moore took on to answer the call for his "dirty" hit on Marcus Naslund earlier. The problems for Moore spiraled because he actually beat Cooke in the first period and the Avs went on to hammer the Canucks before Bertuzzi pile drove him into the ice.
