The final four and more ramblings

Since I was lazy yesterday and not much has changed today, how about some ramblings about some recent going-ons? I thought you'd say that.

There are only four teams left playing for the Stanley Cup. While I'm sure that the NHL isn't too happy the West Coast and Canada not being represented in the final four, having Sid the Kid and the Pens in is great. Matching up Pittsburgh with their natural rival. the cross-state Flyers is going to be a great series. In the West, having Dallas still playing could draw the southern markets; Detroit has always been a hockey hotbed and an original six draw. It'll be interesting to say the least.

A-Rod apparently passed out in the hospital while his wife was giving birth to their first daughter. Am I supposed to care? If an average player — say Morgan Ensberg, who's filling in while A-Rod is injured — had passed out during child birth, would anybody care. Also, this incident happened in 2004. Get over it.

Kobe Bryant deserved the NBA MVP more than Chris Paul did. Whoever is calling this a "lifetime achievement MVP" is an idiot. Bryant was by far the best player on the best team in the best conference and was playing without another all-star — unlike Paul. Don't get me wrong CP3 had an amazing season and was a very worthy candidate, but was not more valuable than the Black Mamba.

Roger Clemens. I don't even know what to think any more about the Rocket.

So Ronaldo allegedly beat up some cross-dressing prostitutes after finding out they were, in fact, men. I've seen the pictures of the prostitutes. Either Ronaldo has severely awful taste in women or he's blind. They were obviously dudes. And it's nice to see he's finding time to get in the news while rehabbing his torn ACL.

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni won't be with Phoenix for long after getting team approval to shop his services around. The best possible fit would be Toronto where his former boss Bryan Colangelo is running the show. D'Antoni could turn Jose Calderon into a surefire all-star.

Nice game, Gavin Floyd! The previously written off starter pitched 8 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before one of the best batters in the game (Joe Mauer) managed to beat him. Floyd is showing more and more this season that the Phillies were wrong to send him packing and that the White Sox were smart to take him on. And just how do you allow a run on three walks and an error in a game? I don't think the were in a row either.

A big congratulations to Big Brown for winning the Kentucky Derby. But with the second-place finisher running on broken ankles, how weak was the rest of the pack? Also, for the record, I did pick Big Brown to win, even if I am just saying it days after the fact.

And, finally, how did LeBron miss that last layup? That seemed a bit ridiculous to me and if you didn't find Game 1 boring, you must have a far better tolerance for defensive tilts than me. Spur-Celtics could be even worse than Spurs-Pistons if San Antonio makes it.

Some quick April ramblings

Jake Long's going to be the first-overall pick on Saturday in the NFL draft. Moves like these (signing no. 1 picks before the draft) takes all the suspension and anticipation out seeing the commissioner walk to the podium. The least the could do is negotiate a deal and keep it quiet.

The Seahawks did the right thing by cutting Shaun Alexander. If you watched him at all last season, you could tell he wasn't the same back that ran all the way to a touchdown record and a Madden cover shot. So is this the worst case of the Madden jinx yet?

The Sharks are lucky Jeremy Roenick didn't retire last summer. His performance in game 7 last night was off the hook and a huge reason why San Jose won.

The NHL lost out on a ton of ratings by seeing Alex Ovechkin and his Capitals lose. Had Washington beaten the Flyers, Alex the Great would have been facing off of with Sid the Kid in round two. Hockey could have gained a lot more fans watching those two go at it.

Looks like C.C. Sabathia reads this blog. He finally stepped up his game and got back to his winning ways last night. Now, I'm just going to have to wait to see if he can keep up this form against non-Royals.

The Raptors are outmatched by the Magic. They can win one game but I'd doubt if they can take two. That might have been the worst play I've ever seen drawn up to end a game last night.

The Suns had better start turning up the Heat on the Spurs if they don't want to make an early exit. They have to play as hard as they did in game one opposed to how the started to fade down the stretch in game two if this series is going to live up to its billing.

And congratulations to Jay-Z and Beyonce for finally getting married. Those two have been together for what? like ten years?

Lucky Game 7s

It's starting to look like the only thing that the NHL has going for it is playoff game sevens. No league can build up to head more the NHL, not the NBA and not Major League Baseball; that's right, hockey actually wins at something.

The thing that makes an NHL game seven that much better than the rest of series-style playoff sports is the physicality of the game. In Basketball, you have intense matchups — some one-on-one throughout the series — but if you were to hit a guy, inflict some physicality, you'd be called for a foul. In baseball, there's no physicality except occasional dustups that are nothing special and series are more based on managing strategy than the other sports.

This is especially the case when it comes to one of the longest-running rivalries in sports like the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. And, in a surprisingly predictable turn of events, the Canadiens put the beat down on Boston 5-0.
The rivalry will continue with the same result for decades.

Tonight, the lucky fans of hockey get two more game sevens. First Alex Ovechkin — the most electric player in the game — and his Capitals face off with the rough and tumble Flyers who are well on their way to getting back their image of low-life goons. Then, after east coast fans will probably be asleep, the Flames try to take down everyone's chic choice to win it all, San Jose.

And for the record, I'll only be watching because I've got work.

Sports debate: TV vs. Live

Having recently attended a major league baseball game, a thought came to mind: Is baseball the only sport where it might be beneficial to stay at home rather than go out to the ballpark? Out of the big North American leagues , it probably i,s which is a sad statement for a great sport.

Let's break down the sports that make up the front pages of your daily sports section — with one omission: Golf. But I'll get to that later. Also, I'm judging by my own experience having watched games from reasonable, affordable seats, not the MSG Spike Lee court-side special.

Football: There is nothing better than seeing a game of NFL football live. The experience of watching the game unfold combined with the elements of being outdoors and the "socially lubricated" fans that surround you make football the best sport there to get out to. This is probably the reason why nearly every game sells out, regardless of where you are. How do you know it's sold out? Because if it isn't, you can't even watch it on television because it will be blacked out in the area.

A game at the stadium even has most of the benefits that television would provide (replays, out-of-town updates) as well as eliminating potentially annoying commentary. And if you want commentary, bring along a radio.

Basketball: A great arena sport to watch live. Especially when the stars come out to shine. Watching Kobe Bryant play anywhere is a treat and worth more than the price of admission. Again, you lose out on annoying commentators and still have updates on televisions around the arena. But the big gain is that instead of commercials during TV timeouts, you get cheerleaders or a chance to grab another beer.

Hockey: Pretty much the same benefits as basketball, but colder. While rinks are kept at a reasonable temperature, it can get chilly for those not used to it. The NHL is fast-paced enough to be more entertaining live but is also viable to watch on TV (especially in hi-definition if you have it). The biggest benefit of watching hockey live is the lack of commentators. The NHL somehow managed to employ the worst commentators out of all sports. Watching a hockey game while listening to the commentators will, most of the time, amount to being bashed with over-the-top homerism, severely slanted points of view, people yelling points for no good reason and former players or coaches talking who are about as smart as the pucks they had played with.

Baseball: I'm a huge fan of baseball and avid supporter of the game, but even I got bored when at the game last week. This wasn't a snoozer either with a 9-7 score and several dingers. But sometimes a guy has to change the channel and sometimes a guy has to drink past the 7th inning (cut off time at most stadiums). On television, you get a better view of the field and a superior view of pitches. There is no way you can get a better angle at a pitcher’s delivery or the ball coming in than on TV. That is, unless you’re one of those goofs who bring binoculars and a glove to the game when you’re 45-years-old.

As for the fringe sports:

Autos: If you're a fan of racing — I'm not — you're going to enjoy cars going around in a circle (NASCAR) and also get to see the wrecks first-hand. But all that noise and a good view of only a portion of the track does not sound appealing to this sports fan. When I do watch races, I like to know the information I gain from TV.

Lacrosse: Nearly a combination of UFC and Hockey. Watching guys pummel each other is a great way to spend a night if you're in a city with a NLL franchise.

Golf: Has to be the worst spectator I can think of. Watching guys either tee off or putt will not draw a casual fan. That casual fan would more than likely rather be playing 18 holes than watching an event on his day off.

What's wrong with the NHL: Apr. 08 edition

How a league changes a rule any time during a season, let alone in the PLAYOFFS, like they are thinking about doing now is a reason for outrage. Especially when this new rule contradicts what the league has been trying to accomplish (increase scoring). And worst of all it can be argued that this rule change is only in the fast-track because it "victimized" a great, top-tier player and it was perpetrated by one of the sports biggest "villains."

Let me set the scene for you: With the Rangers on a power play against the Devils, New York's super-pest did what any coach would want a player to do in front of the net, screen the goalie — in this case, Martin Brodeur, a future hall of famer. What Avery did though, instead of the conventional stand-in-front, watch-the-play-develop style you would normally see, is face Brodeur as if he was guarding him basketball style. Avery would wave his hands and stick in Marty's face without touching him, obviously taking the Devils netminder's mind off of the puck. The play resulted in a goal that Avery tucked in while in front of the net and then was warned by officials he would get a penalty if he tried that sort of antics again.

Now, I don't see what was wrong with the play — which is soon to called under the umbrella of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. I think it was a great, innovative idea. If you have no qualms with about being hit in back with a potential shot, you should be allowed to face-guard goalies.

Netminders have gotten away with cross-checking, slashing and abusing opposing players in front of their creases for far too long. It's absolutely preposterous that —during the playoffs — a rule is being added because a villian thought up a sound idea.

And, finally, why the hell wasn't there a Devils defenceman around to clear out Avery? That may be the worst part of all of this.

This is all yet another reason why the NHL is dumb.

The other playoffs

While every sports fan waits in anticipation for the NBA playoffs to start, another sport is on the brink of starting their post-season. That's right, the red-headed step child of the sporting world, the NHL, is about to start its extended run towards the Stanley Cup.

So who're the favourites? Well you can start with last year's champs, the Ducks of Anaheim who have the fourth seed in the West but will have a tough matchup in the second round with the Red Wings — the best team in the league — if all four top seeds roll.

An upset wouldn't be out of the question as Colorado has a good chance of knocking off Minnesota and the Sharks could choke against Calgary if the Flames catch fire.

In the East, Washington went from the ninth-seed to the three seed with one win and will meet the up-and-down Flyers. It will be interesting to see who Philly sends out to try to injure Alex Ovechkin.

The struggling Senators who will be without their captain, Daniel Alfredsson and centre Mike Fisher for at least the first round and have to face Sid the Kid and Malkin in Pittsburgh. Look for an easy series for the Penguins.

The Canadiens are the first seed and deep enough to give a lot of teams fits. A concern about Montreal is that they're leaning on a rookie goaltender, Carey Price, to carry them.

As for the poor saps who weren't good enough to crack the NHL's top-16 teams, at least the draft lottery is today.

NHL Trade Deadline '08

I will give the NHL credit where it is due, which is not in many areas, but their trade deadline is probably the second most exciting in the sports world. Major League Baseball is first because there are a lot more buyers and sellers than in hockey, due to the retarded amount of parity combined with an even dumber point system and playoff structure.

Some big names even moved, but unless you actually follow this dying sport closely, you may not recognize who the top performers are.

Brian Campbell, a good puck-moving defenceman was traded to the San Jose Sharks for a prospect and a first-round pick. He's due to become a free agent after this season and demand something bigger than the $18-million, three year extension that Buffalo offered him. He is sure to crumble under the pressure of that deal, pretty much ensuring he'll get a no-trade clause and piss off a team for quite some time.

Marian Hossa, another "rental" player was dealt to the Penguins who look like a surefire cup contender. Boasting Hossa, Crosby and Malkin up front, they could score at will if they mesh. There's still that pesky problem of defence and goaltending that aren't exactly top-notch in Pittsburgh. Atlanta got some good young kids back in the deal but are halfway between the Southeast crown and the top of the lottery — which isn't very far apart.

Brad Richards, who earned a big deal from Tampa Bay after winning the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP on their Cup run, was sent packing along with mediocre goalie Johan Holmqvist to Dallas for Mike Smith, a second-line centre at best (Jeff Halpern) and shootout specialist Jussi Jokinen. This looks and smells like a salary dump with the Lightning out of the running. It makes sense after inking Dan Boyle to his big extension.

The Wild traded for crazy Chris Simon. Why? Who knows...

The Montreal Canadiens — fifth in the East, three points out of first — dealt away their starting goaltender for a second round pick. That was their only move. I would completely understand this had they swung another deal for a new goalie, but now they're left with rookie Carey Price to carry the majority of the workload. This sounds almost as dumb as something Toronto would do.

Speaking of the Maple Leafs, they dealt away three of their mediocre players for four mediocre picks. That's a great way to rebuild guys. They're just good enough to sneak into ninth place still, ruining their shot at a good pick. Also, considering how awful the Leafs are at drafting, were these moves really that smart?

Now with the stretch run at hand, I can safely go back to hardly caring until the playoffs start or some goon does something stupid a la Todd Bertuzzi.

What is wrong with the NHL. Feb. '08 edition

There's a reason that most sports, leagues and teams consistently stray from including no-trade and no-movement clauses in a player's contract. It's because it is dumb. Why would a team willing put itself in a situation where their hands are completely and utterly tied. When should the employee have complete control of a situation over their employer? It makes no sense.

What is a no-trade clause? It's as simple as it sounds. These guys cannot be traded unless they actually want to be moved. So if a player has become more valuable to their team if traded away for, say, some prospects or draft picks because the team's season is all but over.

A whopping 121 players in the NHL have no-trade clauses in their contracts. Compare that to ONE active no-trade clause in the NBA, according to ESPN. That one player is a guy who was willing to waive that clause during the summer as well as being an all-star that the team would be stupid to get rid of, no matter what their situation. It's Kobe Bryant in case you were wondering.

So 121 players in the NHL are at the equivalent of Kobe Bryant? Yeah right. I wouldn't say anyone in the entire league is comparable to what Bryant is doing and has done on the hardwood. There are players like the Maple Leafs' Pavel Kubina or the Bruins' P.J. Axelsson who cannot be dealt without their permission. This guys are mediocre at best and demonstrate how weak the guys running teams are to cave to scrubs demands.

In the NFL, no-trade clauses are a non-factor. There's hardly any trades and many have to demand one to get out of town. With most contracts not even guaranteed, I would severely doubt there will ever be a no-trade clause in the world's best run league.

Major League Baseball, on the other hand, has a stipulation that is interesting regarding a no-trade clause: If a player has played ten seasons and at least five in a row with one team, he gains 5-and-10 status. His loyalty to a team gives him the right to refuse a trade. There are players with straight-up no-trade clauses, but not a wide-spread amount like in the dumbest of all associations, the NHL.

No-trade and no-movement clauses should be allowed only to a certain calibre of players. Why anyone would give this right to menial talents is astounding and another example of what is wrong with the NHL.

A frightening moment

While I'm sure that not many people tuned into watch the Florida Panthers play against the Buffalo Sabres yesterday but there was a moment that would've created quite the stir to those who saw it.

Panthers captain Olli Jokinen went into the corner in an attempt to hit Sabres forward Clarke MacArthur but something went awry; Jokinen missed his target, was upended and his skate came up and sliced teammate Richard Zednik in the right side of his neck. Blood started pouring out while Zednik clutched his neck and raced to the Panthers' bench where a trainer helped him off the ice. He was taking to a local hospital where surgery was needed to close the wound.

The bigger question here isn't about players' safety and brutal injuries, it's about whether or not they should have finished the game. I find it ridiculous that after watching a fellow player, friend and teammate (for the Panthers) suffer a possible life-threatening injury they had to continue playing a hockey game. Could their minds and thoughts possibly be anywhere except with Zednik at the time? Even worse, the players, coaches and fans had to endure a 15-minute break while the ice had to be scraped clean of all the blood that had stained it. How could anyone continue playing a game after that?

It's not like a game postponement is out of the ordinary after something like this. When Detroit's Jiri Fischer collapsed on the bench after his heart failed and was revived, the game was discontinued until a later day. Why couldn't this have happened after Zednik's blood stained the ice? It really makes no sense.

The fact that NHL vice president Colin Campbell was at the game and witnessed this whole scene happen doesn't inspire confidence in the league either. How could a high up guy like that not ice the game to hold up some league integrity?

Ultimately, if the Panthers fail to reach the playoffs by one or two points, which they could have achieved by winning last night's game (The Sabres won 5-3 and scored after the incident), they can look back at last night in Buffalo as to why they're golfing early.

What is wrong with the NHL. Jan '08 edition

With the NHL's all-star weekend passing by, I had to write a few notes that came up explaining why hockey is dying in North America, more specifically, the states:

The slam dunk competition in hockey form. Are you serious? How dumb is it that they're holding a competition where scoring doesn't matter, people — like Dominique Wilkins — who have little-to-no knowledge about hockey, are judging and goaltenders treat the event with enough seriousness that they're rushing players and poke-checking them before they can try their moves? Yet another idiotic idea by the NHL.

How sad is it that the NHL held their all-star game in Atlanta and the majority of hotel rooms booked in the city were not for hockey fans, media or players, but for a poultry convention in town the same weekend. That's pretty much all you have to say about why the NHL is slowly fading into obscurity, especially in the southern states. Get the Thrashers out of Atlanta already.

Next season, for the second straight year, the NHL will open their season with games in Europe. This time around, Stockholm and Prague will host a pair of games each. The only problem is that the league shouldn't be worrying about marketing the brand overseas like this, they should be working on getting more people in the United States on their bandwagon. Canada's always going to have a population of hockey nuts but with the majority of the teams located state-side where popularity is dwindling, it's no wonder why the league is in rough shape. North America should be the NHL's target audience, not Europe.

Finally, while it is understandable that in pretty much any sport's all-star game, defence isn't the aspect to be showcased, it should still be brought up that these guys should at least be trying on the back end. Now, I know that hitting is "outlawed" in the all-star game to prevent injuries and I'm not saying that the teams should deploy a Devils-style trap but come on guys, you're the best players in the league and you can't show a tiny bit of hustle to get back? But this isn't so much of the NHL's problem as it is all sports' all-star games, with the exception of baseball that is.

Out with old, in with the older.

So the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the cornerstone franchises of the weak NHL and seen as a running joke by those around the league, have finally fired their atrocious GM John Ferguson and have hired their former GM Cliff Fletcher. Firstly, after all of the horrible personnel moves and shaky decisions that Ferguson made while on the job, why wasn’t he fired sooner? Giving Jason Blake the kind of money he did ($20 million over five years) was idiotic since he was coming off a career year almost midway through his 30s. Trading away high draft picks in consecutive seasons for “starting” goalies was almost as dumb as signing both to contract extensions before they had proven themselves. Then there was the fact that he threw money at a group of players who, for guys that are called defenceman, don’t play defence quite well at all.

By hiring Fletcher again though, the Leafs are doing what they’ve always done wrong; they’re looking into the past. What they should do is look towards the future, hire someone with no ties to the organization and let him blow the whole team up. There isn’t a winner on the current Leafs roster and something has to be done about that. Blowing the team up and rebuilding from the ground up is necessary for any team who wants to succeed in a league with salary cap. As much as Leaf fans won’t like to hear it, this team is going to have to be bad for a little while longer before they escape the doldrums.

Happy Anniversary

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Running The Point — formerly known as Dan's Ramblings. It's been a great experience to write (almost) everyday here and voice my opinions no matter how smart, dumb, funny or irrational they have been. The start up of this site even helped get me a job at an award-winning daily newspaper's sports section. At least I like to think that about this pet-project.

Since the beginning of this humble site there has been literal tons of subjects to write about. From scandals to amazing performances and even scandals within amazing performances (looking your way Patriots), a lot has piqued my interest daily.

If I had to narrow down my favourite stories since this site's inception, they'd probably be broken down something like this:

3. The Beckham-to-LA saga.
I know that it didn't play out like the MLS probably wanted since he didn't make the biggest impact that he probably could've, but reading stories everyday about the English midfielder and icon was always fun. It may not be have been as big or newsy as some of the other happenings this past year (see honourable mentions below) but this is my list.

2. The undefeated, cheating Patriots.
I knew going into the season that New England was going to be good. But this good? Undefeated good? No way. But more interesting to me than their undefeated season was Spygate and what followed it. If the Patriots — especially Belichick and Brady — not acted like complete assholes by running up the score of games in F U fashion, they might not be as hated as they are now. I still, to this moment, have no idea why such a good team would be reduced to cheating like that.

1. The rise (and brief fall) of Tony Romo.
Sure, it's a biased choice since I'm a huge Cowboys fan but how many people laughed in the pre-season of 2006 when Romo was outplaying Drew Bledsoe and the Cowboys' season looked doomed? Romo has came all the way from being an undrafted free agent signee out of East Illinois to a two-time pro bowler leading arguably the best team in the NFC. If not for his botched snap gaffe in Seattle last playoffs, who knows what could've happened.

Honourable mentions: Michael Vick's dogfighting scandal, Barry Bonds vs. everyone, the NHL's slide into obscurity, baseball vs. steroids, LeBron continually stepping it up and ruling the NBA.

As for the upcoming year, this site will continue to grow and expand in several ways. A redesign is coming soon to make RTP more appealing to the eyes than this bland blogspot template. Getting some more out of the extremely lazy intern would also be nice and yes, he still does want to write apparently. Also, some more all-around improvements will come over time; perhaps even my writing will get better. There is still a lot to come here and sports never stop so neither will my writing.

And, of course, I'd be remiss to not give a big thank you to all of RTP's readers and fans for their support.

News from the nobody cares league

The Ottawa Senators kicked the crap out of their ridiculously bad rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. Did anyone outside of Canada know this or watch this? Probably not. Anyways, with the 5-1 win, the Senators have now beaten Detroit's previous record of 12-1-1 to start a season. So how much play did the Sens having the best start to an NHL season ever on a sports news site like ESPN.com? It was the sixth story in the sidebar right after it happened and didn't even grab the headline of the NHL page itself.

SI.com had no mention of it at all and they routinely play up NHL stories more than its counterpart in Bristol, Connecticut. The Sporting News' site had the story linked to from their front page, but said it was just a franchise-mark.

As for a Canadian sports news website, SLAM! Sports had the story on its front page as soon as the game ended, but didn't even mention the mark that was set.

So if Canadian sports writers don't know these sorts of things and American news sources won't play up semi-significant stories, is it safe to say that nobody cares about the NHL? I think so.

No Body Cares.

Hockey’s back.

Whether you like it or not.

Well, if you want to get into technicalities, it started on the weekend but how can you take a league seriously when you have your regular season schedule begin before your pre-season schedule end. Besides, the games were in London, England. I mean, who even watched them? Noon is far too early for hockey.

So, there are a few incredibly skewed projections I’ve figured out and these are always fun to bring up because there’s no chance they’ll happen:

Toronto, Carolina and Dallas are all on pace to lose every game this season.

Paul Stasny is on pace to score 246 goals without any assists. Talk about selfish! His line-mate Andrew Brunette is on pace for 246 assists. Who would win the Hart Trophy if that happened?

Not including the Ducks-Kings games in England, 50% of this season’s games will end in overtime while 25% will end in a shootout. Every game will end up with a one-goal difference.

A few players are on pace to finish the season with 164 points. Of them, the players with the most realistic chance of even coming close are Henrik Zetterberg, Saku Koivu while Nik Antropov has already matched Leafs fan’s expectations for the season.

Finally, Trevor Daley, a defenseman on Dallas, is on pace to be the worst defenseman in the history of the NHL. He is heading for a plus/minus rating of -246, which pretty much means that the opposing team is unstoppable when he’s on the ice. Even better, he’s on pace for 82 points, which would mean that his opponents will score 328 goals while he stands on the ice watching.

It’s about 99.99% certain that none of these things will happen, but I can always hope the Leafs go winless and the Avalanche go undefeated, can’t I?

Down with Hockey

Just when you think that the sport that goes out of it's way to sabotage itself is starting to turn the corner and get on the right track, something happens to send it back into the negatives.

Firstly, I like the new slimmer designs for the league's jerseys. Eliminating the clutching and grabbing will go a long way towards not just the possibility of more scoring, but more skill being involved in the game. Hopefully this will help even further weed out the big dumbass on each team who can't really play the game properly, but can fight with his counterpart on the other team. Wade Belak, your days are numbered.

Now, how much of a neanderthal do you have to be to be to go headhunting in an exhibition game? Steve Downie's hit on Dean McAmmond was completely uncalled for and a black eye for the game. What kind of person leaves their feet to hit someone directly in the head? This offense is indefensible in a meaningful game and that much worse when it's a pre-season exhibition. Downie showed clear intent to injure McAmmond. The event was sickening.

How long the league suspends the Flyer's hopeful will be a true indication of how they're going to go on treating their players. Every other league has really started toughening up suspensions and monitoring their player's conduct, on and off the field of play. This is a good chance for the NHL to show they know what they're doing and that they deserve to be better than the red-headed step-child of sports that sits in the corner being kicked and spit on.

What's even worse is the fact that, when Downie played for the Canadian team in the "Super Series" against Russia. Fans would openly cheer when Downie laid out Russian opponents with similar head-hunting style hits. How hypocritical and borderline racist is that? The entire sport of hockey needs to stop glamourizing the huge hits and emphasize, even more, that it's a skill game. Their old style isn't cutting it anymore and somebody at the NHL's head office isn't getting the memos.

Canada vs. Russia... again

For anyone who realized that this so called "Super Series" is starting next week, congratulations, you're one of few. This little match up that pits the former bitter hockey rivals is a cheap sham of a marketing ploy and it's not working because hardly anyone is paying attention. But the fact that nobody cares might be closer related to the fact that they're proposing playing hockey in August.

The cache of big names isn't here either. Back in the day when these hockey super powers duelled, the best players the countries could get were on the ice. Bobby Clarke even went as far as to slash a Soviet star and his break ankle. The bad blood made the series intensely involving.

Now, it's a bunch of juniors skating around. If anyone tried to pull a Bobby Clarke, he'd be ostracized by the media and entire hockey community. Imagine a player intentionally ruining another kid's career for a silly "Super Series."

This whole thing is pointless. Two countries are trying to recreate something that was a glorious memory for a lot of people. This crap is more like to put tarnish on what the legends did back in the 70s.

What's this? The NHL wants in on the action

Looking for some scandal action of their own, the NHL made some ripples in the pond yesterday when it came to light that two of the Staal brothers –Jordan of the Penguins and Eric of the Hurricanes- had been arrested over the weekend following a bachelor party gone awry. Eric Staal's bachelor party in fact.

How is this even remotely close to being front page news like I'm sure it will be somewhere? Some hockey players went out and got drunk at a bachelor party? I would be more upset if they didn't. These guys are supposed to be tough. Spending a night in the drunk-tank only solidifies their image as a) Canadians and b) hockey players.

Congrats boys, your moved up a few pegs on my list.

Goodbye J.R.

It may be a day late on here, but my favourite player while growing up, Jeremy Roenick, called it quits on Wednesday. He even did it in comical fashion; text messaging a Philadelphia newspaper with the message "I'm retiring, is that still news?" Well, at least I got a good laugh out of it.

Starting his career in Chicago before moving on to play in Phoenix Philadelphia and Los Angeles, he amassed handsome career totals of 495 goals and 675 assists for 1170 points despite suffering more than the occasional concussion. The only American-born players with more goals than Roenick, a two-time Olympian, are Mike Modano (507) and Joey Mullen (502). Which isn't saying too much considering the U.S.'s hockey talent pool, but it still sounds impressive.

Roenick played last season with the Phoenix Coyotes under Wayne Gretzky, who surprisingly, didn't have any bad blood with J.R. over the whole "making 99's head bleed" scene from the cult classic movie Swingers. He wasn't the same J.R. of old and only came up with points over 70 games. It should also be duely noted that the J.R. in NHL 94, was rated as one of the best sports video game characters ever. He was truly legendary.

Meanwhile, the Islanders, who had already been rocked by departures, brought in some players to shore up their roster. After signing Bill Guerin to a two-year deal of which terms were not released. Guerin started last season with the Blues before being dealt to San Jose for their Cup run where he didn't show up on the score sheet very often.

Later in the day, the Isles also grabbed Mike Comrie off the wire. He had 20 goals and 25 assists in 65 games with Ottawa last season.

While these additions may help out a bit, I'm not expecting Long Island to go very far this year after the turnover their roster's going through.

Blood in the water

The NHL’s free agent feeding frenzy opened up on the first with tons of names, including some big ones, flying across the board. Several small market teams were forced to absorb big personnel hits, especially Buffalo and Long Island. Who said the salary cap makes every team equal?

Daniel Briere is going to be lacing them up for the Flyers who had a season disappointing enough to put them in the lottery and force them to fork out a massive front-loaded deal to the diminutive dynamo. Lucky for them his cap number is the average of the eight-year contract he signed, not the $10 M that he’s getting for his first season.

The other player that struck a $10 M deal was Scott Gomez who crossed the state-line north from Jersey to New York. Gomez will be joined in MSG by another one of the top-flight free agents from this year’s crop, Chris Drury.

With the exits of Briere and their captain Drury, it’s looking like the Sabres will be hard-pressed to equal their run from last season that saw them fall just short of reaching the finals.

Philadelphia also made a trade to bring in the Oiler’s captain Jason Smith and Joffrey Lupul, who had a disappointed year in Edmonton after coming over in the Pronger trade last off-season. Going the other way were Joni Pitkanen and ??

Speaking of former Oiler captains, Ryan Smyth, who was dealt to the Islanders at the trade deadline, signed on with the Colorado Avalanche after a reported “convincing” phone call from Joe Sakic. Seeing those two on a line with some of the youth they have developing in Denver should make for a return to the playoffs. The Avs were also able to ink defenseman Scott Hannan

On the blue line, two big names filled some holes. In Anaheim, after learning that Scott Neidermayer is leaning towards retirement, GM Brian Burke went out and got Mathieu Schneider from Detroit, who then went and signed Brian Rafalski to a five-year deal.

The defending champion Ducks also brought in a player that suits their rough style perfectly by netting Todd Bertuzzi. If he can find his form from prior to the Steve Moore incident, he will pay off in spades.

The Toronto Maple Leafs addressed their need for a winger to pair with aging Mats Sundin in the form of Jason Blake. But is signing a guy who is 33 to a five-year deal really a smart move? Considering he just hit his career high last season, I wouldn’t expect more than 60 points from him and that’s on the generous side.

With this amount of signing in the first few days, there aren’t very many names left that will gather too much interest other than some role-players. I’m glad to say that after Peter Forsberg and Sheldon Souray come off the board, there won’t be too much NHL posts ‘round these parts.

The end of two seasons... kind of

With the NBA finals coming to a merciful end and the NHL awards show uneventfully concluding, two seasons have effectively come to an end. Well, unless, of course, you want to include the NBA draft into this season but then we'd just be arguing over semantics. So with those two (I won't say major because hockey is sliding that much) league's play, it's time to get used to baseball posts. So, I submit to you, the reader:

Which did you really find most surprising, or interesting from last night's events? Well, Sidney Crosby cleaned up at the NHL awards, but, come on now, that was completely predictable. How about the Spurs winning the NBA championship against a beleaguered-looking Cavaliers team? Well, I did think LeBron could've stolen at least one game at home; but he'll be back, don't you worry.

So, the reason I had to stay late at work, the lowly Kansas City Royals managed to put 17 runs up on the board against St. Louis in their cross-state rivalry. If you saw that coming, you must be clairvoyant. It was almost as if they wanted to get all of their scoring out of the way for one season last night. And if you can tell me the last Canadian, or even player, to come up with two triples in one game, you deserve some sort of prize Disclaimer: I don't give out prizes.