What a shocking coincidence.

I’m sure that any regular sports fan who watches highlights will have seen Chris Simon try to take Ryan Hollweg’s head off with his stick last night during the Islanders-Rangers game but the timing couldn’t have been better (or worse; depends how you look at it). Yesterday was the three-year anniversary of Todd Bertuzzi’s assault on Steve Moore. The saddest thing about this new turn of events is that the only way that the NHL becomes front-page news in the states is if someone attacks another player outrageously or if there’s a massive brawl. If my memory is correct, last year’s Stanley Cup final was the top story on ESPN.com only until the playoff basketball scores came in later that night.

The NHL is fighting a losing battle in America and seriously has to figure out a new plan to brand itself correctly. I have been a long proponent of banning fighting from the game (or at least giving game misconducts instead of major penalties) but it’s starting to look like the only way that the NHL will keep on surviving is either in Canada and fewer American markets or just turning the league into a sloppy hit-fest.

McGahee Dealt!

The Ravens found their replacement for the departed Jamal Lewis and managed to fleece the Bills in the process. Buffalo will receive Baltimore’s 3rd and 7th round draft picks this year and their 3rd round pick next year. Judging by the amount that the Bills are getting for McGahee, it becomes fairly obvious that management was largely unpleased and felt a big need to get rid of him.

This leaves a big hole in the Buffalo back field that may be hard to fill. Buffalo are said to be targeting Dominic Rhodes or Chris Brown to take over for McGahee next season, but neither are on the same level as the former University of Miami star.

Sadly for Bills fans, it looks like a few more years of rebuilding after making a few recent pushes towards the playoffs. Have some fun with the early draft pick next year.

Almost two upsets

Go Bucks!

Remember when I said that the Milwaukee Bucks could play spoiler for playoff-bound teams because they may be overlooked due to their crappy record but are now getting healthy? Well, the dominated the L.A. Lakers last night thanks to a lights-out shooting effort from the entire team. The Bucks had 6 players score in double-digits and 3 with 20+ points. The Bucks are a team to be afraid of.

Oh, and just never mind the fact that L.A. were without Kobe and Lamar Odom meaning they had to go with a starting line up of Andrew Bynum, Brian Cook, Maurice Evans, Sasha Vujacic and Smush Parker. It’s not like Black Mamba or Odom are that important to the team.

Almost the best upset ever… Almost.

It was starting to look like it could happen; then I went to bed, woke up and was disappointed that it didn’t. The Charlotte Bobcats took the Phoenix Suns to overtime but then were neatly tossed aside being outscored 17-8 in the extra frame. It would have been grand to see this upset happen but it seemed that the Suns were just toying with the Bobcats, the way that the older brother holds the toy just close enough for the younger sibling to touch then yanks it away and laughs like he’s tough. Way to Suns, you’re just big bullies.

The train continues…

With very few big name free agents still on the board I’m glad I won’t have to think up lame titles for NFL signings post any more. In fact, after perusing ESPN’s top-30 unrestricted free agent list, there are only three left that interest me (Donte Stallworth, Cato June and Nick Harper). As the draft grows near there will be trade rumblings though and jockeying for position; that’s when moves get real interesting. But, for now, here’s the recent big-name NFL signings:

Jamal Lewis – Cleveland Browns: Jamal joins the team he played against when he set the record for rushing yards in a game back in 2003. He also set the record for most rushing yards against one team for a season that year against Cleveland. This gives the Browns one less thing to worry about, but there’s still many other things on that list.

Patrick Ramsey – Denver Broncos: Incredibly, I overheard an announcer proclaim that Ramsey was the best back up quarterback available in free agency. It seems like just yesterday young Ramsey was the face of the future for the Washington Redskins; I was laughing at him then and I’m still laughing at him now.

Joe Horn – Atlanta Falcons: Reports indicate that the Falcon’s are close to signing their division rival’s highly-touted wide receiver. With Horn coming to Atlanta, he automatically jumps towards the top of the list of best WRs that have played with Michael Vick but he also joins two other lists: best WRs to get pissed off the Vick is more of a running-back than a QB and best WRs to wish that Matt Schaub was playing QB instead of Mike Vick.

Free Agent train keeps rolling

You can feel it’s starting to slow down, but you know it’s still moving. As the names keep moving, you can expect activity to dwindle; at least until the draft arrives. Here’s what came across the wire recently:

Joey Porter – Miami Dolphins: After reading about the happenings of the South Beach area during Super Bowl weekend and having been led to believe it is constantly a party, regardless of the weekend, Joey’s going to get in some trouble down there. Also, Joey and Jason Taylor on the same defense should scare a few teams; namely, their division rivals.

Brad Johnson – Dallas Cowboys: Get rid of one aging, immobile QB, sign another. This move makes sense from a few stand points. Firstly, you need a back-up quarterback that can come in and possibly lead your team if needed. Secondly, we won’t know if Tony Romo has gotten over “The Hold” so there’s no telling how he’ll perform next year. Thirdly, it’s always good to have a mentor for your younger skill-position guys. Lastly, you never want to sign a back up that is good enough to challenge your number one guy; it will rattle his confidence. It’s safe to say that Romo shouldn’t be running on too much of that right now and that Johnson is too old to challenge anyone these days.

Daniel Graham – Denver Broncos: Denver apparently won a bidding war with Seattle for this near-top-tier tight end. Graham’s often overlooked as one of the better TEs in the game because he played in a two-TE system last year and for that reason, his numbers suffered. He was still better than any other pass-catcher on New England last year but that’s not saying too much.

Luke Petitgout – Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Petitgout is one of those tackles that are nondescript because he does his job but doesn’t do enough to warrant attention. That actually makes him better than you think because you’re more likely to notice the bad offensive line plays because they’re the ones that end up with star QBs getting injured. The best part of this story is that now I can take an easier run at Eli Manning when playing Madden 2008 next fall.

Brian Simmons – New Orleans Saints: The guys at The Big Lead said it better than I could write, “Brilliant. Cincinnati lets go of the one defender who wasn’t arrested last season.”

Kansas City’s dream comes true.

The Penguins have declared that they’ve reached an impasse with Pittsburgh about building a new arena which means they’ll now “aggressively” explore relocation. Kansas City had already volunteered their brand new Sprint Center to the Penguins for next year and would let them play there rent-free. Pittsburgh has seriously dropped the ball with this whole situation while K.C. has played it perfectly. Pittsburgh will now be losing out on one of the top-10 marketable players in sports right now and one of the top-5 marketable hockey players ever. The worst possible scenario for a common fan is having the Pens move to Hamilton and being forced to hear about their built-in rivalry with the Leafs that’s only geographical and has no substance.

Round Ball round-up

D-Wade makes his decision

The Miami Heat’s phenom guard has decided to rehab his dislocated shoulder instead of undergoing season-ending surgery. The Heat and D-Wade are optimistic that he can be back for the play-offs and possibly propel them to another championship. The problem with that is that the Heat aren’t necessarily guaranteed a spot in the playoffs right now and may even struggle to make it in. I would hate to be the higher-ranked seed that draws them in the first round if Wade can make it back.

Ron-Ron Arrested

It’s been a while since everyone’s favourite lunatic has made the news for off-court reasons. Truly, I couldn’t tell you the last thing that Ron Artest had done before this but it’s more because Stephen Jackson and Pac Man Jones are trying to steal his title. Well, Monday morning, Ron Artest was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in his 5-acre estate. Needless to say the Sacramento Kings have excused him indefinitely and if I was running that team, I would have been looking for excuses to do and waiting until something like this fell into my lap.

More NFL Signings

As Expected, more and more names are flying off the free agent board with holes being plugged left, right and centre.

Patrick Kerney – Seattle Seahawks: A stand-out in Atlanta for many years is taking his show to the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is getting better every year and you this is one of those moves that may put them over the top.

Thomas Jones – New York Jets: Last year, the Jets went with a tandem-back approach with three guys in the mix. Trading for a guy who carried half the load for another team may not be the best approach.

Wes Welker – New England Patriots: Every time I saw Welker play, he looked fantastic; even if he was buried on the Dolphins. He’ll be a great option for Brady and will no doubt be better than the wide-eyed Reche Caldwell.

Travis Henry – Denver Broncos: After being cast-off from Buffalo, he caught on with Tennessee; now, he’ll be heading to the Mile High City to play in Mike Shanahan’s system better known as a running-back’s dream. The only problem with this signing is that the Broncos just signed a 28-year old back to 5-year deal. It may not end up well.

The NFL this weekend

It looks like some teams are wasting no time in picking up some potentially key pieces to their 2007-08 squads early in the free agency period.

Adalius Thomas – New England Patriots: Thomas is the perfect type of player to play on Belichick’s team. Widely regarded as one of the most versatile players in the league, Thomas will fit in very well.

Jeff Garcia – Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I’m not sure if this is a step forward or a step backwards for Tampa. Are they really better served by getting an older quarterback near the end of his road to steal snaps for a young, developing play-caller?

Ahman Green – Houston Texans: Green is past his peak and is prone to injuries at this point in his career. Even if he makes an impact in Houston, he won’t make them forget about Reggie Bush.

Leonard Davis – Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys had three issues to work on this off-season and this move address one of them, their offensive line. With that down, they just have to improve their secondary and field goal holding and then they’ll be set.

Drew Bennett – St. Louis Rams: Leaving Vince Young in Tennessee may not have been the smartest move for Drew to make. This signing does help the Rams fill their need for a white wide-receiver now that Kevin Curtis is gone.

Beckham goes down!

Everyone in the MLS, every member of the Los Angeles Galaxy squad and every fan of soccer in North America will be disappointed by this turn of events. During Real Madrid’s game vs. Getafe on Sunday, Beckham injured a ligament in his knee and will miss some time. While it doesn’t appear to be too serious, it’s never an easy sight to watch your quarter-billion dollar man go down while playing for a different team. Reports are conflicting regarding the amount of time that Becks will miss with some saying a month, others saying two months and others going with indefinite. At least now he won’t have very much of an opportunity to injury himself and actually miss some MLS playing time.