Alright...I've Had Enough of Summer

Texas vs. Philadelphia

So, I went with the Texas Rangers yesterday as my pick to win the American League title. I still can’t believe that I picked them over the New York Yankees, but the more I think about it, the more I like my pick. The only thing that worries me is that the young starters will feel the pressure in the post-season and wilt against teams like the Yankees/Twins/White Sox/Rays that have been there before.

In looking at the National League, it’s a much cloudier situation, but I’m going to look to a team that’s not even a division leader heading into August, the Philadelphia Phillies. They’re looking to get to a third straight World Series and have been willing to mortgage the future of the franchise in three separate moves to pick up Cliff Lee (now pitching for Texas), Roy Halladay and now Roy Oswalt.

A trio of Halladay, Oswalt and Cole Hamels represents the best 1-2-3 in the National League and possibly the majors. Their line-up 1-9 has been ravaged by a ton of injuries this season, but if they can get everyone healthy for the stretch run, I think they’ll have enough firepower to overcome the 3.5 game lead and pass the Atlanta Braves.

I like the future for the Atlanta Braves led by a stud in Jason Heyward and a great 1-2 punch of Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson, but for now, they just don’t have enough firepower in the line-up and enough consistency from their starting 5 to be able to hold off the Phillies.

The St. Louis Cardinals should be able to get out of the Central division, but the upstart Cincinnati Reds are giving them a good run this year. The problem for both teams is that they offer a great hitting line-up, but their starting pitching is very thin once you get past the first couple of starters.

For the Cards, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright will give you a great chance to win every night. Jaime Garcia has been a pleasant surprise, but I get the sense that his numbers will start to even out towards the end of the year. The last two starters have been just atrocious. For the Reds, they’ve received good stretches from all five of their starters, but there has been inconsistency as well. The only two I would trust to give me a good start right now would be Johnny Cueto or Mike Leake.

In the West, it looks like a two-horse race between the Giants and Padres. Both teams have great pitching depth, but neither teams offers enough a threat offensively to scare anyone come the post-season. The Giants have a scary 1-2 though with Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

However, much like the Texas Rangers, I think the Phillies offer the best of both worlds. They have great pitching to go along with a great hitting line-up. Hard to imagine this World Series, but by my logic, we’ll see a World Series putting the Texas Rangers up against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Who's Gonna Win: American League

With all the trade talk surrounding Major League Baseball as they get to their first trade deadline of the season tomorrow, I was trying to break down in my head who I thought put themselves in the best position to make a good run in the final months of the year and make it to the playoffs. I’ll go by league and I’ll start today with the American League.

Before we talk about contenders, let me say that I like the overall direction that Alex Anthopolous is taking the Toronto Blue Jays. For once, they have a G.M. that understands his place in the pecking order and is trying to move up the ladder in a slow/methodical fashion as opposed to trying to compete dollar for dollar with franchises that will outspend them every single year.

I loved the trade for Yunel Escobar from the Atlanta Braves because in trading Alex Gonzalez, they did a classic “buy-low, sell-high” all in one move. And from the outcome of the first few games, both teams are winning in the deal. I was a little stunned at the move to send Brett Wallace away to Houston since the prospect in return is years away and is having a sub-par year, but time will tell. Alex gets a pass for now on that deal since he’s done so much good in the short-term.

As far as contenders, most will look to the New York Yankees as the team to beat. Nothing wrong with that since they have such a rich history of winning and a great ball-club, but if I had to put my life on the line, I would go out West and look at a team that is full of turmoil off the field, but on the field, is sitting comfortably in the AL West.

The Texas Rangers have been the surprise of the season in the American League and the big reason for their success is something that they’ve failed to have as a franchise for the longest time: some decent pitching. It’s actually been better than decent as young guys as starters and relievers have all stepped up their game at the same time to make this team one of the best pitching teams in the majors.

Four of their five starters have an ERA under 3.5 and their relief pitchers have done well enough from the 7th inning to have the 4th best ERA after 7 innings. The pickup of Cliff Lee to be their ace was a huge move for a team that is supposed to be cash-strapped and unable to pull off blockbusters. But with all the talk of the pitching, the hitting is still there 1-9 and got even better with the addition of Jorge Cantu from the Florida Marlins.

The Yankees have an amazing line-up 1-9, but can they get solid pitching? The White Sox and Twins have good hitters, but not enough depth with their pitching. To me, the Rangers represent the complete package in the American League.

Friday Videos



God Bless Twitter!

The way we use technology in our everyday lives now is just incredible when you stop and think about it. Ask me a year ago if I were to have used Twitter and I would have told you, “No way!” But after so many people encouraged me to use it as a tool for information and less about learning how “generic star athlete” went to the movies, I was hooked. Most of the boys on Team1200 use it now during the show purely for information purposes.

However, with the good always has to be the bad and the bad thing about Twitter is that no one can be really filtered, except for the fact that you have only 140 characters to make a thought. As I said before, the “generic star athlete” will most of the time stick to giving life advice in the form of a famous quote or will ask inane questions about TV or movies that no one should really care about.

Let’s just take a look at a couple of tweets from athletes that I follow on Twitter:

Chad Ochocinco or @OGOchoCinco - My movies I chose to get me through camp when I'm on long breaks, anything I left out good? (Followed by a picture of his movie collection)

(I swear that I wrote the quip about TV or movies before I did the search about athlete tweets. It’s a perfect example about how most of them are predictable)

Larry Fitzgerald or @Lfitzgerald11 - Had a light workout this morning.I feel the calm before the storm getting ready to report to camp tomorrow.Hard work is ALWAYS rewarded.FFF

(Athletes always feel the need on Twitter to give advice on life. In their minds, it’s like we’re all so inept in our own lives that we need guidance in the form of 140 characters. I would love for someone to collect all advice one-liners from athletes and make a Twitter-based 10 commandments)

That’s not nearly as bad as some of the independent thought that has surfaced lately from athletes. The worst was Argos offensive lineman Rob Murphy made light of French people and Quebec with language like “smelling foreigners” and “Frenchland”. He insists that he was just joking and that his tweets were taken out of proportion. Yeah, insulting a group of people that speak a different language and live in a different province by insinuating that they have an odour problem is hilarious. Good one, Rob...hope there’s a late-night show with free buffet.

He was fined and punished by the CFL under a social media policy, but I find it funny that some people believe that these different policies are in place in order to muzzle athletes from speaking their mind. No actually, these policies are in place to protect some of these morons from themselves, and in turn, protect their organizations and the league they play for from embarrassment due to an athlete with the equivalent brain power to a juvenile.

In the end, I think athletes have just as much right as anyone else to post whatever they want, but they need to be aware of the fact that they not only represent themselves, but organizations/corporations with their thoughts. If their thoughts don’t match the thoughts of their employers, they need to be slammed.

I’m marking down the date of this blog ‘cause in one year from now, I’m assuming that I’ll be using something other than Twitter. That’s the way the world works now...

For the Racing Fans...



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Great Pick Up by the Bengals

There are so many reasons why Terrell Owens might not be worth it to add to an NFL roster. He’s 36 years old, coming off a season with the Buffalo Bills where he had sub-par numbers. He sometimes seems more focused on his reality TV career than his NFL career. And of course, his repeated blow-ups with quarterbacks like Tony Romo, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, etc. have labelled him a cancer to most NFL locker rooms. But what a lot of people fail to realize is that he’s still a damn-good football player.

I love the signing by Cincinnati because he adds even more to an offense that is set-up to be one of the most dynamic in all of football. When I look at this Bengals roster, this may be the one move that gets them over the top and makes them a major threat in the AFC this season. It’s weird to say that a 36 year-old would have that kind of impact, but he could be that good for them.

It’s also a big plus that everyone within the organization seems to be on board with Owens coming in. It’s good that the owner wants him, but the thing I’m more excited about is that both Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco wanted him. If your two best offensive players want to share the field with a certain player, it can never be a bad thing.

We all know that the one-two punch of the Bengals will still be Carson Palmer to Chad Ochocinco, but Owens now lined up on the opposite end offers up a great secondary option for Palmer if Ocho is covered. At 36, Owens doesn’t have the ability to get behind the secondary too often, but he’s still a threat every time he’s on the field.

The Bengals also picked up Antonio Bryant in the off-season and he was supposed to be in the 2 spot, but from all accounts, he has struggled. However, a trio of Ocho, Owens and Bryant combined with the re-established running game of Cedric Benson will give defences fit when it comes to coming up with a game-plan for a Sunday match-up.

So, the offense looks set and the defence looks strong from front to back as they bring back the same group of guys that allowed them to have the 6th best overall defence in the NFL. You look at every major statistical category for the Bengals last season and they are in the top 10 in every single category.

This is not the same Bengals team that would try and beat opponents 50-49 every single week. They play some smash-mouth defence now to go along with an offense that’s capable of putting up big numbers every single week.

With the Ravens looking better with the addition of Anquan Boldin and the loss of Ben Roethlisberger to start the year for the Steelers, we could be seeing a changing of the guard in the AFC North. The team I suspect will be at the top when it’s all over will be the Cincinnati Bengals.

Best Ever Videos



Your Summer Can't Be Going Worse

I know I rag on the Toronto Raptors a lot, but I say it’s their fault for giving me something new to laugh/rant about on a weekly basis. The latest being the comments by Bryan Colangelo yesterday about what new forward Linus Kleiza could do for the team as a potential starter in Toronto.

First of all, if Linus Kleiza has even a sniff of being a starter on the Raptors next season, you know the team is going to be bad. We knew already that losing Chris Bosh would make them a terrible team on the floor, but they’ve lost Hedo Turkoglu as well and only really replaced that with Leandro Barbosa and a couple of draft picks.

But in furthering his point about Kleiza possibly being a starter, Colangelo went into a bit of a whirlwind in his thoughts and let out a gem of a comment to Prime Time Sports host Bob McCown... “As far as his mid-range game is concerned, it’s...uhh...a little awkward to say the least.” This forced McCown to ask the obvious follow-up of what he meant by awkward.

I also liked the fact that he tried to sell the fans on Kleiza by saying that if he was on the floor, he could very well be the best post-up threat that the Raptors have. UH-OH! That might be a positive as far as pumping the tires of Linus Kleiza, but it’s a huge negative when you highlight the lack of options that the Raptors have for their inside game with a comment like that.

It’s just not been a very good summer all around for Bryan Colangelo, which is a big letdown for the fans and the organization as well. Colangelo was supposed to be the brilliant basketball mind that would rise this team up from mediocrity and make them a contender in the Eastern Conference. He has failed at doing that in his short time with the franchise, but he could have made up for the lack of success by handling this off-season well.

Losing Bosh was inevitable and he did well to trade Turkoglu away to the Suns for Leandro Barbosa, but he really dropped the ball when he couldn’t close the deal with Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Bobcats that would have allowed them to pick up Tyson Chandler and Boris Diaw for a small price of Jose Calderon and Reggie Evans. He also dropped the ball by flinching too early and picking up Linus Kleiza when he could have waited and had Matt Barnes from Orlando for the same price.

Instead of a team that has a plan to move forward without the services of Chris Bosh, the Raptors look like a team that is spiralling out of control all because of the loss of Chris Bosh. And I’m sure the people of Ottawa who read this love the idea that another Toronto team that plays out of the ACC will be a loser for years and years and more years.

Monday Videos



A People's Champ

Sports fans are always looking to cheer for a “people’s champion”, a “man’s man” or “the common man’s hero”. This athlete usually is someone that plays with more power than finesse, has a physique that would fit the person watching the game than the one playing it and has a friendly charm to him that allows him/her to connect with the everyday-working class.

In Canada, we’ve almost become accustomed to the idea of cheering for nothing but these kinds of people because there’s way more NHL players that would fit the description above than not. But you wouldn’t think that you would be able to find someone like that in golf, right? Golf is a finesse game with a lot of guys that give off an air of arrogance rather than friendliness.

However, after reading the story of Carl Pettersson winning the Canadian Open this weekend in Toronto, I’ve found at least one guy that I’ll be willing to cheer for on a weekly basis. The story that I’m referring to can be found using this link and a great job by Ken Fidlin to gather up this kind of information: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/golf/2010/07/25/14823266.html

Pettersson found himself in a position where he didn’t even know if he was going to make the cut on Friday afternoon, so he let off a little bit of steam by sharing a drink with fellow pro Jay Williamson. Well, he actually polished off 7 beers before getting his caddie to drive him home. He certainly must have thought that he was gonna miss the cut or this is just routine for him.

He makes the cut, but has to play one of the early rounds on Saturday. I’m assuming that he had to take something for the headache or he just powered through like a champ and played with a little bit of a hangover. He started the third round with a bogey on 2 to have him even-par for the tournament. But once the hangover passed, he went on a tear starting on 5 as he rattled off 7 birdies and 2 eagles to shoot a 60! A round of 60 after having 7 beers the night before! Incredible!

He goes on to win the tournament yesterday and afterwards, he talks about his struggles a year ago with his weight. Thanks to Tiger Woods, a lot of guys have made it a point of regularly going to the gym now. Pettersson was gonna be one of those guys too and he lost 30 pounds, but in the process, he lost his swing and game.

It may not be the best long-term choice, but as far as thinking about getting fitter again, “You know I’d love to be fitter, but I’m not going to go down that road again.” Awesome!

He was nobody to me before this weekend, but after hearing the story, I’ll look for his name every week and hell, I think I’ll have a beer in his honour today. Maybe 7, after all, I am on vacation. :-)

Bike or Nintendo?

When I was a kid, my family didn’t have a lot of money. I wasn’t in a position to ask for something and be able to convince my parents to buy it for me. I had to wait until either my birthday in October or Christmas in December to get some big-time gifts. Then I would be on cloud nine for months as I would play with the presents that my parents would get me.

I remember when I was nine years old and I had to face quite possibly the biggest decision of my young life: Do I get myself a bike and learn how to ride it since some of the other kids now had them and we’re able to go places so much faster than walking or running? Or do I get myself a Nintendo and be able to invite my friends over to play video games with me?

Ultimately, the video games were too much to pass up and I had a Nintendo for my ninth birthday. All my presents as a kid after that revolved around the Nintendo. It was usually a new game, but sometimes another controller or a code book or a subscription to Nintendo Power. The sad part is that I never got the bike, have never owned a bike to this day and I still don’t know how to ride a bike.

And yet, I’ve always remembered that my dad and I would make it a point every summer of watching the Tour de France together. He loved riding his bike when he was younger, so it meant something to him and I always enjoyed watching any kind of sports with my dad.

At the time, TSN had a 30-minute daily show that highlighted each stage of the Tour de France, with the special stages of ridiculous climbs and descents extended to 1-hour shows. I always watched in awe as Miguel Indurain would dominate the bike race with such a puny, frail-looking body. Then the transition went from Indurain to eventually Lance Armstrong as the American became the dominant champion.

I would look forward to each stage to see if Armstrong could do the unthinkable yet again. Even though I don’t even know how to ride a bike, it’s so evident how much effort it takes to ride this historic race and I wished I could be like them.

But somewhere along the way, I lost my love for following the race. Surely, the repeated allegations of doping from just about everyone involved with the sport has a lot to do with it, but in thinking about Alberto Contador, I just don’t see the same kind of superstar status that Armstrong and Indurain had in their primes.

Maybe he’ll get to that point in the next few years if he continues to win or has a rival that can make things interesting, but the kid in me hates the idea that I decided to skip out on the final stage of the Tour de France today because I didn’t really care.

I need to get a couch like that...



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What Ticket Would You Rather Have?

With Alex Rodriguez looking to hit home run number 600 sometime in the next couple of days, an interesting question was brought up on the Yankees’ broadcast on Friday. The question by one of the analysts was, “What game would you rather have the ticket for: The ticket to see Alex Rodriguez’s 763rd home-run that would break the home-run record set by Barry Bonds or the ticket to see Derek Jeter get hit number 3000?”

I heard the question and thought quickly to myself that I would want to see Jeter’s 3000th hit because Alex Rodriguez has proven to be a cheater through his confessed use of steroids between 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers, but then I started to think about it more and more. I don’t know why I debated this in my mind either ‘cause I actually try to ignore most baseball analysts on MLB broadcasts due to their blatant homer comments or overall lack of analysis as analysts.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had to see Alex Rodriguez get number 763 instead. I know Yankee fans would all choose to see Jeter instead because of the kind of respect he’s earned by what he’s done for the club for so many years and that Rodriguez will never have the same kind of love from Yankees fans because he’ll always be in the shadow of Jeter.

But Rodriguez would be attempting to do something that no one has ever done before by hitting 763. Meanwhile, Jeter would become the 28th person to get 3000 hits. It’s still a great accomplishment, but it’s not as special when 28 others have already done it before. Just imagine that you would get to see something that no one has ever seen before by A-Rod hitting 763.

Plus, the long-ball is still something that gives you such a wide-range of emotions in just a few seconds. From the crack of the bat, you hear the power in which the ball has just been hit. Then you see the beginning of the flight path and you start to anticipate that this isn’t any ordinary hit. As the ball gets closer and closer to being over the fence, it’s like time stands still as everyone in the stadium stops what they’re doing to watch this ball come to its final resting place. Once it does, the stadium either all groans or cheers in unison and then you finally relive the home run in your mind about 5-10 times as the next batter steps up for his at-bat.

I get that people may be jaded about the home-run because of the steroid era ruining the game of baseball. I know that my heart was ripped out after finding out that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were both accused to have been juicing during that magical run, but in doing the tour of baseball parks last year, my love for the home-run was re-kindled as I got to see the "big fly" countless number of times.

And I bet you anything that if A-Rod got close to Barry Bonds’ all-time home run record, your love for it would be re-kindled as well.

Give Them a Little Credit

I wouldn’t usually have a take on anything having to do with the CFL, but after reading some of the negative comments and articles written after the Argos beat the Lions, I felt like I had to come to their defence when no one else really wants to. Again, we’re talking about negative comments being made even after a victory. It’s an air of negativity for a team that had such terrible expectations and are shattering them by winning week after week.

I get the sense that the people of Toronto have become so used to the idea of the Argonauts losing that they’re still in the habit of looking for faults instead of looking at positives. I also think that by still dumping on them despite a 3-1 record, they’ve created a nice defence mechanism in the event of the prolonged losing streak that people in Toronto feel is inevitable.

Most people like the idea of playing it safe and being able to tell someone, “I told you so”. So, the safe play is to stick with the experts’ predictions of Toronto being a bottom-feeder and wait for the downfall to occur.

Those people may still be right and the Argonauts might go back to being closer to the team that is near the bottom of the standings, but in the meantime, can someone give them an ounce of credit for having a 3-1 record? Instead, all I keep reading is that the opposition has handed them ball games, the Argos are winning despite Cleo Lemon and the luck is going to run out soon.

Just did a quick search online of different articles about the game last night so I could show you the various ways in which the negativity still flows around the Argos:

The Canadian Press: “ (Byron) Parker’s 41-yard interception return for a touchdown rallied the surprising Argos to a historic but sloppy 24-20 victory...”

National Post: “Toronto took unnecessary penalties, turned the ball over four times and trailed for almost the entire game, but for the second straight week found a way to win.”

Never mind that the Lions had more penalties than the Argos and turned the ball over three times...

The defence came up with two interceptions in the fourth quarter. One of them was returned for a touchdown and the other sealed the deal in the final minute of the game. Also, Cory Boyd ran for over 100 yards in his third straight game. Are we not allowed to give credit to the running back or offensive line for giving a very solid effort? And Cleo Lemon was efficient in his numbers. Nothing spectacular, but of course the world is expected of him because he was in the NFL only a couple of years ago.

I understand that it’s a lot easier for everyone to pile on a losing team instead of sing the praises of a winning one, but when a team is being successful, I’ve always believed that you have to give credit where it’s due. It’s just too bad for the Argos that a lot of people don’t share my philosophy.

Timing is Everything

In the lead up to the Canadian Open this weekend in Toronto, there were distinct things that the tournament organizers could boast about and distinct things that really need to be changed in order for it to become a premier event on the PGA Tour.

After the first couple of days, it’s clear that no matter what they do well, if they can’t change the date on the calendar or bring in the kind of money that attracts better players, the tournament will be looked upon much closer with the likes of the Fry’s.com Open as opposed to the British Open.

First off, I’ll give them credit for getting as good of a field as they did as the organizers did everything possible to get British Open players to add the Canadian Open right after. Having a private charter from St. Andrews to St. George’s in Toronto certainly helps and I’m sure they’ve done a bunch of other things that haven’t been talked about publicly or haven’t got a lot of attention.

The problem is that the players they’re getting from the British Open have struggled in the first two days, which leads me to believe that they’re either mentally or physically fatigued. Tim Clark is the leader after Friday’s 2nd round and he played at the British Open, but he missed the cut and hadn’t played a competitive round since last Friday.

On my count, of the top 30 players after Round 2 of the Canadian Open, only 7 of those players played last week at the British Open. Out of those 7 players, only 4 made the cut this week and last week. So, it’s great that the organizers of the Canadian Open were able to get those guys to come across the pond to play a week later, but it’s doing the organizers no good when the big names can’t get in a position to be in contention.

Having a top name on the leader-board would go a long way into giving the tournament some legitimacy on tour. Yes, I know that the tournament has been contested for a century or so and has a lot of history, but players that are setting their schedule for the upcoming PGA season aren’t picking their tournaments based on history. They want to be in tournaments that give them a good payday and some legitimacy if they win.

The payday isn’t even very good compared to most tournaments on the tour, but that problem can be solved if they can build up the prestige and importance of the tournament. Build it up and sponsors will be more likely to be knocking on the door looking for a way to affiliate with the tournament, which will lead to a bigger payday.

But with the way things are going, it’s just going to stay at the plateau that it’s at now because it’s looked upon as a tournament that is important to Canadians, but a blip on the radar of the rest of the world.

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Rick is Still Alive

The power of the internet can be downright scary sometimes as information trickles through different avenues, whether it’s Twitter or Facebook, instant messaging programs or programs like Skype or UStream. When you combine that with some guy that’s looking for his 15 minutes of fame on the radio, you’ve got yourself a story that can get blown out of proportion in a real hurry.

I wonder if Rick Dipietro is still fielding calls from friends, family and others making sure that he’s alive after a caller to a radio show on ESPN 1050 in New York blurted on the air that Dipietro had been in a serious car crash and suffered a broken shoulder and pelvis. The rumour then caused a frenzy online which turned the crash into serious injury, then in some reports, to death.

For the record, the Islanders and anyone else close to Dipietro have confirmed that the goaltender has not been in a car crash, has not suffered numerous injuries nor has died from complications from the alleged accident. But heading onto Twitter, there were a couple of people who couldn’t believe that someone like the caller was allowed on the air in the first place.

Having worked as both a producer and a host, I can tell you that it’s very easy for someone like that to get on the air and blurt something like that. It’s actually lucky on the part of people in the radio business that it doesn’t happen more often than it does, but most people who call in aren't really looking to sabotage the show or cause any trouble either.

From the producer’s point of view, he usually has to run the show and field calls at the same time. So, screening the calls isn’t nearly as thorough as people would think, but there is some screening that does happen. If you don’t really have a point to contribute to the show, then you get weeded out. But if you do have something interesting to say, you’ll easily get on if there’s time and space. The problem for the screener is that he may hear what your point is, but has to trust that the person on the other end doesn’t have a hidden point or agenda.

From the host’s point of view, it’s real simple. If the caller’s name and subject comes up on the screen, then he has no choice but to assume that it’s a good call and will make the show better. Everyone works under the assumption that the call is going to go on the air because it will make the show better, so if the host takes the call and the caller decides to go on a completely different rant, it’s up to the host to have a quick trigger finger to avoid any problems.

Trust me, there are people that call all the time and have “tips” or want to spread a rumour that they heard while at dinner or at the bar, and the information could be factual, but we can’t let those kind of people on the air. If you need clarification as to why, just try contacting Rick Dipietro and the Islanders after tonight.

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That Number Still Blows My Mind

We were broadcasting at the Jason Spezza Celebrity Golf Tournament yesterday and talking about Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year, 102 million dollar deal, and it finally hit me just how ridiculous of a number 17 years is. Apparently, the NHL came to the same conclusion just a couple of hours later as they voided the contract last night and forced the Devils to re-structure it.

Either 17 years were too many to load into one contract or the idea that he could still be playing at the age of 45 was deemed to be unrealistic and that became the cut-off. I would have to think it was the second option and not so much the first. Let’s remember that Rick Dipietro was only 24 when he signed his 15-year deal with the Islanders and Alex Ovechkin was only 22 when he signed his 13-year deal with the Capitals. Both could have conceivably signed 17-year deals and been OK with the fans and the league.

So, 45 was the magical number. Never mind that Henrik Zetterberg’s 12-year deal takes him to the age of 40. I guess we’ve seen a couple of players still be somewhat productive at that age. Same thing for Johan Franzen as his 11-year deal takes to the age of 40 as well. Just imagine Zetterberg and Franzen at age 40 forming 2/3rds of a line that would have some sort of nickname with the word “geriatric” in it.

I guess 42 years old is still believable to the NHL as well since the contracts of both Marian Hossa and Roberto Luongo will take them to that age. We’ve seen a couple of 40-somethings be competent NHL goaltenders before, I guess. And Hossa might go back to Detroit at the age of 42 to form the final third of the geriatric line with Franzen and Zetterberg.

But according to the NHL, hold the phone on a 45-year old being a good enough NHL player to realistically take a roster spot. That’s too much! (Recent Price is Right reference...) Listen, I’m in agreement with the NHL that the contract is circumventing the salary cap and everyone else knows it is too. However, the NHL doesn’t have solid ground to stand on when trying to fight this because they were too pre-occupied with other things involving the CBA that they forgot to put in some sort of cap on overall or back-end length to a contract.

The only ground the NHL has is a cloudy, shaky and vague clause that is so grey that is basically gives them “carte blanche” to do what they want when it comes to player contracts. The location of this particular clause is different to the clauses used to hand out suspensions or keep a team away from Jim Balsillie, but it seems like everytime the NHL is backed into a corner, it emerges holding a grey tablet with a jack-of-all-trades clause and gets what it wants.

Will it work? Probably not and Ilya Kovalchuk will get his 17-year pay day. Then I’ll be left to wonder when I’ll feel the same way about someone signing a 18/19/20 year contract once we get to that point.

Tuesday Videos



The Proverbial Tightrope

When it comes to business, there’s always that fine line that you have to tightrope in your own mind between doing what is morally right and what is right for the organization. I think there’s plenty in the business world that do the honourable thing and always think of morals and ethics when it comes to any big decision made, but I think there’s way more people that think of themselves and their company first with a “win-at-all-costs” mentality.

Lou Lamiorello and the New Jersey Devils organization went in the second direction in order to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a 17-year, 102 million dollar contract yesterday. The contract would lock up Kovalchuk to play with New Jersey until he’s 44-45 years old and would pay him over 90% of the 102 million over the first 10 years.

Clearly, the Devils don’t expect him to play until he’s in his mid-40’s and the contract is so front-loaded that Kovalchuk could walk away into retirement after 10 years and only sacrifice a tiny fraction of the deal by doing so.

And here we are back to what we talked about right from the start. Is it morally right for the Devils to sign Kovalchuk to this kind of deal? I don’t think so. Everyone knows they are clearly taking advantage of a loop-hole in the CBA that doesn’t cap the amount of years in a player’s contract. By doing so, they are making the cap hit smaller per season and going against the spirit of the rules in place for the salary cap system.

So, they’ve decided to deal with the moral consequences (which are probably none) and do what’s right for the organization. I feel silly even writing about the Devils failing to adhere to the “spirit” of the rules because in the real world, business is cut-throat and everyone is trying to gain an advantage. I just could never equate the business world with “spirit” or “fair play”. It just doesn’t work that way.

So, what does Gary Bettman and the rest of the NHL brass do in a situation like this? Do they even have the power to do anything about contracts that are morally wrong, but completely legal and right when it comes to the writing within the CBA? I don’t think they can really do anything, but there has to be a line somewhere, don’t you think?

Why can’t a team sign someone to a 20-year deal next year? Or even 25-30 year deals? What’s the cut-off age in which Bettman would finally step in and say, “You can’t realistically pay an X-year old to play hockey at an NHL level.” The problem with that statement is that he’s in no position to stop that. If an owner wants to pay a 70-year old to play hockey, he’s within his right to do so.

Fitting that a Devil would force us to look closely into the question that we all struggle with, “Do what’s fair or do what wins?”

Great day, Devils fan!

It’s a great day for the New Jersey Devils and their fanbase with the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk. I thought for sure he would sign in Los Angeles and would make that team even more exciting to watch. However, it was clear to me from the get-go that there was some hesitance on the part of the Kings to make such a big commitment when they have such a great, young core that is building towards greatness (and will also be building newly-made mansions when they get their first big contracts).

Although it might seem silly to suggest that the Kings will be better off without Kovalchuk, I’ll bite the bullet. I’ve been given some weird looks and have been given a lot of flack for even suggesting it, but we’ve seen numerous examples where free agency seems like the quick-fix answer and it actually turns into more of a problem than a solution.

For one, not signing Kovalchuk allows L.A. to make a couple of lesser impact moves for this season without tying themselves up long-term. That way, they can be assured of signing as many of the big-names they have without any worries. Secondly, we’re talking about a team that made a huge jump last season in their regular season point total. I love looking at that more than just looking at what stage they ended their season.

The person who looks at stage will say the Kings in the last three seasons have gone: Missed playoffs, missed playoffs, out 1st round. Not too promising, but if you look inside the numbers like I do, you’ll see a team that finished with: 71 points, 79 points, 101 points. The 22-point jump has you a little more excited about the Kings without Kovalchuk, doesn’t it?

Some people will say that Kovalchuk did nothing for the Devils last season because he didn’t do anything to elevate them offensively, and thus elevate them to being a serious contender for the Eastern Conference title.

That argument is just not valid to me because he gave them exactly what they paid for in the trade. Looking at it strictly from his point production, Kovalchuk did just as much with the Devils as he did with the Thrashers. He had 58 points in 49 games for the Thrashers and 27 points in 27 games for the Devils in the regular season. He also produced 6 points in 5 games for New Jersey in their opening-round loss to the Flyers. His 6 points led the team in playoff scoring.

The loss in the opening round of the playoffs should not rest on his shoulders and really, with a team that was the number two seed in the Eastern Conference a year ago, the responsibility of being a Stanley Cup contender should not rest solely on Ilya Kovalchuk.

If I’m a Devils fan, I don’t concern myself with what Ilya will bring to the table. My question mark would be solely for Marty Brodeur...but you have a whole summer to stew over that. Celebrate for at least one day. :-)

Hip-Hop and Basketball...All in One Place



What Would You Do for 60 Million Dollars?

It’s a question that you could talk about with a group of buddies at the bar and have it last probably until someone has to buy the next round. How far would you go for 60 million dollars? It’s the kind of question that allows you to find out the makeup of a person and how much they truly care about the pursuit of money.

There are polls all over the internet that ask people what they would do for a million dollars, so 60 times less the incentive than the original question. Some of the results may shock you, but only because people weren’t willing to do a certain task for the money. Kind of sad when you think about it, but money rules the world.

In an online poll of over 1000 people, 58% would be willing to move to another country. That seems like an alright trade-off. I would hate having to leave my family and friends that I’ve made over my time in Ottawa and Montreal, but living just across the border could make it much more doable.

52% would star in a porno movie. I guess this is the next step to the question asked in “Indecent Proposal”. Funny thing is that Rosalie and I talked about that movie and whether or not we would be willing to give each other up. Rosalie said that I wouldn’t have a choice in the matter and would take the money for the both of us. Thanks...at least she said that I better be ready to perform if a girl ever offered me that same deal. For the record, I could never take the embarrassment of having my face (or other areas) on the cover of a porno.

40% would give up television for life. I just could never do that. My 200 dollar cable bill can attest to the fact that I not only need access to television for sporting events, but I need about 600 channels in order to have the choice to watch anything I want.

I was surprised that 38% of people would be willing to put a pet to sleep. Any pet owner I’ve ever known would do anything to make sure that their pet would be able to stay alive. I just think to Rosalie again. She’s got the cutest little bunny named Peanut and there is absolutely no way she would ever do harm to the little guy. Neither would I. He really needs to be doing some sort of bunny modelling.

34% of people would be willing to change religions. That seems so wrong to me because I’ve always figured that if you were going to invest time and effort into following a religion, you wouldn’t be able to be paid off. Can you imagine trying to tell the people of your second religion about why you changed from your first choice? Probably wouldn’t become too popular with your new brethren.

Then, you get the choices that really separate people from being normal to just plain money-hungry. 9% would have one of their limbs removed, 8% would be willing to never see their family again and 4% would be willing to have a sex change. I would just rather try and earn a million dollars the old-fashioned way through years of hard labour.

At this point, you might be asking what the point of this is. Well, I would assume that 100% of you would be willing to put yourself at risk in a boxing ring for a fight if you were promised a purse of 60 million dollars. Now, just imagine that you had the skills to be a world champion and would be able to handle yourself for as much as 12 rounds. Even more inticing, isn’t it?

Well, it looks as though Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are the only two guys on the planet that are willing to walk away from such a massive pay-day, not once, but twice. Pacquiao walked away from the deal a few months ago because he was unwilling to draw blood too close to the fight for drug-testing. He mentioned that he didn’t like needles and that he might be fatigued from the test.

Now, Mayweather has taken his turn to walk away from a deal, but unlike Pacquiao, Mayweather has remained silent and has not explained why he turned his back on a deadline that was put in place by promoter Bob Arum.

Many believe that Mayweather refused to sign the deal because his ego won’t allow for someone to tell him when he has to sign a deal by and how negotiations are going to go. If that’s the case, the guy certainly has more ego than brains. Or he’s the best in the world when playing the proverbial game of “Chicken.”

Others believe that he’s simply afraid of what Pacquiao could do him in the ring. But it’s hard to imagine that someone who has never tasted defeat before would be afraid of any opponent. He might be afraid of putting his undefeated streak or his legacy at risk, but I can’t imagine that he’s afraid of bodily harm over a 12 round fight.

Others even point out the idea that Mayweather simply wants to stall the negotiations so that the fight happens in 2011 instead and he can delay having to pay the taxes on such an enormous pay-day. Does it really matter when you pay the taxes on a 60 million dollar payday? Maybe I’m wrong about that and there is some validity to waiting, but I just don’t see it.

Whatever the excuses are, they won’t be enough to tone down the absolute anger that boxing fans have to be feeling about two guys who are robbing the fans from the fight of the decade. Until they get in the right with each other, the only way we’ll decide the best is with a table, a group of guys and a round of drinks.

The Best and Worst of the British Open



ESPY's Highlights



The Young Guys are Coming

We talked a lot about the first round of the British Open yesterday as you would expect. Of course, the leaderboard after Round 1 looked a mix of great players, complete unknowns, players who have fallen off the map and some solid guys. However, there are two in particular that stick out to me and may be linked together for years to come if projections are correct. Those two are: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

All the talk coming into this week’s tournament was how Tiger would do at his favourite golf course and how he could cast aside the demons that are plaguing his life on the course and off the course as well. But another problem that Tiger Woods will have to eventually face in the next few years is a wave of unbelievably talented golfers that are ready to pluck him off the Number 1 spot, and that group is being led by none other than Rory McIlroy.

In the past, so much has been talked about Tiger’s dominant performances, particularly at major championships. Winning by a handful of strokes or more was considered to be normal for Tiger as the rest of the field trembled at the idea of the mighty Tiger making them look foolish and unworthy to even be in the same field as him.

He won his first major at the Masters in 1997 by a staggering 12 shots. He won a couple of majors in 2000 by ridiculous margins: a 15 shot win at Pebble Beach for a U.S. Open title and an 8 shot victory at the British Open at St. Andrews, where they’re playing this week.

The poor player that was paired up with him on the Sunday of a major would most likely be ridiculed because he’d be one of many that couldn’t handle the pressure of playing alongside Tiger Woods. Tiger had an aura and an unbelievable presence about him only a couple of years ago that would allow him to have a couple of extra shots on the field, purely on reputation alone.

But in the wake of his extra-marital affairs, all of a sudden, that aura went away as his vulnerabilities were more and more exposed. Tiger went from being a feared opponent to a running joke. You would think it would be impossible for him to get back the swagger that put so much fear into all of his opponents.

However, most of us would agree that if he were to put together a major win or two, plus a couple of PGA Tour victories to end out the calendar year, then he might be able to get back the kind of respect and fear that he had before all of his troubles began.

The problem to me with the theory is that it doesn’t account for everyone on Tour. Yes, it might put the fear back into his biggest rivals like Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and all the other notables that have been around the tour for a decade or so, but I don’t think it necessarily puts any more fear into those that are in their early 20’s and hungry to take Tiger off his high pedestal.

Those in their early 20’s would not have subjected to the emotional aspect of Tiger’s dominance on the course. They most likely would have marvelled at what they saw as they watched with their parents on TV, only to try and emulate what they saw the very next day. They weren’t in a position to be intimidated by Tiger Woods because they were too young to be out there to experience it in person.

Think of it this way: When Tiger Woods won his first major at the Masters by an unbelievable 12 shots, Rory McIlroy was 8 years old. When Tiger Woods won his third major at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by a staggering 15 shots, Rory McIlroy was 11 years old. Ryo Ishikawa was 8. Matteo Manassero was 5. All of those players were so young that playing as a professional golfer was just a dream.

It’s hard to see Tiger Woods as an older player since he’s still only in his mid-30’s, but in the minds of these 20-somethings (or even less) like McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa, Dustin Johnson, Camilo Vilegas, Anthony Kim and even 15 year-old Matteo Manassero, he’s the old man that they looking to knock off so that they can be the new number one player in the world.

They have to be looking at guys like Woods, Mickelson and the rest of the “old-folks” and saying to themselves, “Their time in the sun is over, it’s time for a new generation to have the spotlight.” It’s one of the cut-throat examples of everyday life and evolution. Out with the old and in with the new and the new is looking to put the old guys a lot closer to retirement.

Becoming the “old-guy” on Tour might allow for Tiger Woods to gain a lot of the fans back that he lost in the wake of the multiple affairs and impending divorce from Elin Nordegren. The majority of viewers to golf are in Tiger’s age-range or higher, so they might understand the overwhelming fight that he might have on his hands starting in a year or two.

But rest assured, the young guys are coming. A good number of them are physical specimens that learned from Tiger’s work-habits. They are hungry, motivated, fearless and supremely talented. All of these young guys feel like they are the best and looking to prove it week in and week out.

With Tiger and Rory on top so far, this may be the first true head-to-head battle between young and old that we’ve seen in a long time in golf. Rest assured, it won’t be the last. Tiger has to know that even though he may get back to his dominant-self as the number one player in the world, the young guys are coming.

Which Would-Be Ninja is Worse?



I Wish I Loved My Job This Much



Thoughts on George Steinbrenner

Whether you love them or hate them, the one thing you can never take away from Yankees fans is the fact that they can be the most confident fans in all of professional sports. Of course, winning as many titles as they have will allow for that, but George Steinbrenner and his “win-at-all-costs” attitude allowed them to be confident in knowing that even after a losing season, the team would do everything in its power to be on top the very next season.

The enormous amount of press is not surprising as everyone seems to have a personal memory of George Steinbrenner and is willing to share. Of course, some may believe that it’s a little bit too much attention for one man, especially those who despised the Yankees and despised the free-spending ways in which Steinbrenner depended on to make the Yankees so great. But it’s a very simple explanation as to why the passing of Mr. Steinbrenner impacts the lives of many other fans, besides Yankee fans.

The reason is simple: As much as non-Yankee fans either tried to ignore the Yankees or hated the Yankees for their super-teams altogether, there was always a little part of those people that envied the franchise.

They envied the idea of having so many championships, they envied the fact that the franchise had so much money to spend to bolster their team every year, but most importantly, the aspect they envied the most was the owner that was willing to sacrifice just about everything he had for the better of the team, and in turn, for the better of Yankee fans.

Non-Yankee fans don’t know what that’s like because the owner of the team they cheer for will usually do enough to make the team competitive, but will make sure that he gets profits out of the franchise above all else. I get the business side of it, but I get the feelings of the common fan as well. There’s an obvious disconnect between fan and owner because the fan will sacrifice money out of his pocket to support the team, but the owner won’t necessarily sacrifice money out of his in order to support the fan.

Yankee fan never felt that disconnect with George Steinbrenner. Don’t get me wrong, Steinbrenner was out to make a buck of his team as much as anyone else was, but you never got the sense from him that he was in the baseball business just to make a dollar. You always felt that out of the 30 owners in baseball, he was the one guy that was looking to win first and make a dollar second.

Yankee fan never felt betrayed by George Steinbrenner. Yankee fan never felt like their owner could have done a little bit more or invested a little bit more into the team. Simply put, he was the owner that everyone wanted for their team, but only Yankee fans were lucky enough to have him.

RIP Mr. Steinbrenner

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!



How to Pay Your Full NHL Roster

Steve, Lee and I got to talking about the value of Niklas Hjalmarsson relative to being given a 4-year, 14 million dollar deal by the Chicago Blackhawks. I personally think that for a guy that’s on your second pairing behind Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, it’s a little too high. But I got to thinking, what would be the best way to break down how much should be spent on each forward line, defence pairing and goaltending tandem.

So, I’ve decided to crunch some numbers and give you what I consider to be the best way that a GM could split up his money and succeed in bringing a championship home. Now, to begin, I’ve got it so that my ideal team is spending right to the cap limit, since you don’t usually see a team spending at the floor being successful. Let’s start...

Goaltenders

I’ve said it many times before, but I’ve always found the goaltending position to be over-rated. Yes, I understand that the goalie is the only player on for all 60 minutes and is the only player that has one single responsibility of keeping the puck out of the net, but I would much rather pay to have a great defence in front of my goaltender to limit the chances as opposed to pay too much for a goalie, make my D-corps too thin and have my goalie exposed to quality scoring chances night after night.

That being said, I would spend about 5 million dollars on my goalie tandem. I would pay 4 million or so for a starter and 1 million on a backup, preferably a veteran guy that can fill in if need be due to injury or other circumstances. That way, you should have a distinct starter and backup and not break the bank in the process.

Add in a third-stringer that making the bare minimum and you’re alright.

Defence

For roster sake, we’re paying for 8 defensemen since injuries are inevitable and rest is going to be necessary as well. Here’s where I would spend a good amount of money. I’ve already spent 5 million of my 59 available, which leaves with 54. I would go ahead and spend about 22 million dollars on defence.

In the finals a year ago, we saw that both the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers were using 4-man defence units and were just praying that their 5 and 6 guys weren’t going to make that massive mistake that might cost them the game.

So, I would break it down this way for defence pairings:

Pairing 1: 11 million
Pairing 2: 6 million
Pairing 3: 3 million
Pairing 4: 2 million

It may seem as though I’m going against myself by saying that I want to spend a lot on defence to make sure that my goaltender is well protected and has every chance to succeed, and yet paying my Top 4 defensemen too little, but this where the role of a great GM comes into play. They’ve got to be able to find great players at medium-sized paycheques.

In the salary cap world, it’s all about getting the most bang for your buck and not about having the bucks themselves. Everyone has the same amount of money, so a GM that was used to spending without consequence is going to be penalized way more now because his mistakes are going to be that much clearer.

Besides, paying an average of 5.5 million dollars for each man on the first pairing is not pocket change. That’s a pretty good paycheque for most NHL d-men today. As of today, only 15 defensemen are signed to deals that pay them more than that in this calendar year.

The third and fourth pairings will see very little ice time and are interchangeable to me, so they shouldn’t be getting a lot. I would actually rely a lot on younger guys in these spots to not only fill out the roster cheaply, but to allow them to mature quicker by getting them in NHL games, but not breaking their backs with excessive minutes.

Forwards:

So, we’ve spent 5 million on our goaltenders and 22 million on our defence. That leaves us with 32 million dollars to spend on our forwards. We’ve given contracts to 3 goaltenders, 8 defensemen, so we should give 14 contracts to forwards in order to get us to 25 players on the roster. 32 million for 14 contracts doesn’t seem like a lot, but hear me out.

So, I would break down my forward lines by giving them this much money:

Line 1: 14 million
Line 2: 9 million
Line 3: 5 million
Line 4: 3 million
Two Extras: 1 million

I believe that it’s possible to win championships without superstar players. If you spread the wealth well enough and you spend the money wisely, you should be able to put out a very capable team that will succeed on a nightly basis. Now, the problem being that I’m not factoring the idea of having a superstar with the franchise so that I give a secondary reason for people to buy tickets and other concessions. However, we say it all the time, winning brings butts to the seats.

14 million for Line 1 is pretty reasonable to me. You won’t be able to afford any of the top 25 players in salary at that position, but you could put together a great line with that amount of money. 9 million for the second line should net you some decent scorers as well.

With Lines 3 and 4, you need to have the makeup of defensive players, energy players and most importantly, young players. My third line would be a great counter-punching line of guys who think defence first, but are smart enough to create on the counter-attack so they’re still a threat to score.

My fourth line would be made up of young, hungry and tough guys that can get the crowd going and can possibly change the momentum of a game, if needed. They will have something to prove since they’re young and again, they will be cheap.

The last two guys will again make the minimum.

If only I had a job as a real NHL GM...now back to NHL ’10 as I try and get the Toronto Maple Leafs back into the playoffs... :-)

Wrestling Fans from the 90's Will Appreciate



I Thought You Said You Were Broke

I remember one time I was out with the guys having a good time on a Friday night in Ottawa. It was a birthday party for one of my great friends and things were dying down in the market, so we figured that since the birthday boy had never been to a strip club before, we might as well take him so that he could get a good birthday present.

We get to the club and we sit down to have a drink as we try to figure out how Birthday Boy is going to have the most fun possible. He ends up going off to the private area and we wait at the table to see the reaction on his face once he comes back. (By the way, it was priceless...)

In the meantime, a friend at the table turns to me and asks, “Hey Phil, do you mind if I borrow some money until tomorrow? I’m just tapped out and have to wait for my check to clear from work in the morning.” I don’t have a problem with that. The guy is really good with his money and I won’t have to chase him down for it, so I lend him a couple hundred to tide him over for the night.

Next thing I know, he turns to the whole table and yells, “Next round is on me and I’m buying someone a lap dance! Who’s in?” I found that kind of odd, but didn’t really think too much of it. I thought, “Don’t really care about things when it comes to money and if he’s having a good time, then so be it.” But the more I thought of it and the more people pointed out that they would be angry in that spot, I became a little uneasy about it as well.

Why do I tell this story you ask? Well, I couldn’t help but be reminded of it when I heard about the Cliff Lee situation last night.

The talk on Friday was that Cliff Lee would miss his scheduled start against the New York Yankees that night because he was about to be traded by the Seattle Mariners to the aforementioned Yankees. Well, turns out he did indeed miss his start due to trade, but he wasn’t wearing the Yankee pinstripes. Instead, he was in civilian clothes as he made his way to Arlington, Texas to be with his new team as the Texas Rangers hosted the Baltimore Orioles.

Normally the story would get some press, but wouldn’t create controversy. The problem this time around is that the Rangers are in the middle of a bankruptcy situation and are being run by the league since there is no ownership in place.

I can’t imagine George Steinbrenner being too happy with the idea that he lost out in getting Cliff Lee to a team that he’s helping to finance right now through his luxury tax penalties.

Is this fair? Should a team with no money be allowed to go out and get a player to help them? I know if I’m an opposing owner, I’m not happy with the idea of a team with no owner or money going out and improving, while at the same time, possibly keeping me from getting to the post-season as well. Unlike my lending of money to someone, I know that I’m not going to be at risk of losing extra money on top of that because of the financial gain that the person received from getting a loan.

When asked to prop up another franchise that’s in need of assistance, I’m assuming there are no problems with the other owners as long as a couple of demands are met:

1) The money is recouped at some point or there is a reward given out for the good deed, or...
2) The franchise in trouble stays afloat and doesn’t hinder the other franchises that have remained solvent and void of financial troubles.

We see this come up time and time again in various leagues when ownership has problems. The Phoenix Coyotes not only flourished this season, but added to their team despite still not having an owner and having major uncertainty surrounding their future.

Is it fair that the Coyotes were allowed to improve their roster at the trade deadline and during the start of free agency this season?

I think the problem is that there doesn’t seem to be a set of rules in place when a franchise is in trouble and in the hands of the league. For instance, a simple rule could have a troubled franchise limited to spending only to the floor of the cap until ownership is found or if you think that’s too harsh, a team can only spend up to the average cap hit of all teams combined in the league. If it’s baseball, I would only allow that team to spend up to the median average salary of all teams combined. You have to take into account teams that spend large like the Yanks and the teams that have garage-sale like budgets such as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics.

I could go on and on with different examples of rules, but that’s not the point. The point is to show that there’s confusion from the fans and the other teams not affected by a team troubled with financial instability.

The onus has to be on the commissioners of the various leagues to make it crystal clear what these franchises can and can’t do if in possession of the league. Nobody likes participating in anything where the rules are made up as time goes along. If I wanted to see that, I would still watch professional wrestling.

I just hope that the Phoenix Coyotes and the Texas Rangers become fiscally solvent again and get in a position to win championships. Then the owners will have their own money, and offer their fans a round of drinks for supporting them through the tough times.

Will the Heat Be Successful?

I understand the excitement going through Miami and NBA Basketball in general. Now that LeBron, D-Wade and Chris Bosh have all signed their 6-year deals, we can truly break down if this team vaults over everyone in the Eastern Conference and gets everyone not only one championship, but multiple championships as well.

The way I look at it, there are three reasons why this might not go as well as everyone expects. Hard to imagine that three of the Top 10 players in the NBA would sign with one team and yet, there would be three reasons to think it may not work, but let me explain:

1) Lack of Depth

Everyone has pointed to this already, but the point can’t be made enough. The Heat have gone out and spent close to all their all cap money on three players. They have one more signed, so they have four players on their roster right now and need to sign 9-11 more players. Unless they go crazy by spending way more than the soft-cap suggests and paying a hefty tax, these players will have to make the minimum. I can see a couple of players taking a major discount to win a championship and have the ability to say they were a part of the Miami Heat, but not all of them will.

2) Stiffer Competition in the Eastern Conference

Everyone who thinks it can work in Miami points to the success that the Boston Celtics had when they put together the Big 3 of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Good theory until you dig a little deeper and see that the Eastern Conference was so weak. Only 3 teams in the East during the 2007-2008 season had 50 wins or more. Hell, only 6 teams in that conference had a .500 record or better. The 8 seed in that conference that year made the playoffs with a record of 37-45!

Fast-forward to the 2010-2011 season and we see a much stronger Eastern Conference. The Celtics still have the big 3 in place...they’re an older and slower version, but still have enough talent to repeat their finals result from this past year. The Chicago Bulls are quietly making themselves into a contender with some great off-season acquisitions. The Orlando Magic will be strong again led by Dwight Howard.

If the Heat make it through despite having the weakest bench, they will have truly earned it. They will have to beat a couple of good teams just to get out of their conference and then a strong team out of the West.

3) Egos

This is the one aspect I’m worried about mentioning because everything you hear or read suggests that the 3 are great friends and wouldn’t allow ego and spotlight time to get in the way of their friendship or even winning.

But all 3 have become accustomed to being the big guy in their respective cities. Will they be able to handle the idea of sharing the spotlight with each other? Only time will tell.

I don’t want to damper the excitement that anyone would be feeling, but I also don’t want to go around and anoint a team with a crown that they haven’t earned yet either.

It's Just Business

Good to see that Bryan Colangelo and Chris Grant, GM’s for the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers respectively, got past the idea of being shunned by their former superstars and did what was right for the future of the franchise. It must be painful to give Chris Bosh and LeBron James an extra year and extra money after the damage they’ve done by leaving, but getting a couple of first-round picks back in a sign-and-trade is better than getting nothing at all and letting them walk away for free.

I found it funny this whole time that people actually believed that the Raps and Cavs would allow them to walk away for free in order to spite them. And that’s why the normal person cannot do the job that they talk about all the time. When dealing with business and the dollars and cents aspect of sports, you have to be cerebral, sometimes soul-less and you must certainly avoid being emotional in your decision-making.

Now, people will quickly point to the letter written by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and say he’s showing a ton of emotion by writing such a scathing letter towards LeBron James. I agree that he’s showing emotion and letting his true feelings come out by lambasting James over and over again for his lack of loyalty, his egotistical ways and other things. However, there’s a method to the madness that ties in with the business of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Gilbert understands that LeBron James leaving the Cavaliers would be the worst thing to hit his franchise. The value of his franchise took a hit in the hundreds of millions with that one announcement on Thursday night. People will not be excited to see a LeBron-less Cavs team. Quicken Loans Arena, or the Q as it was dubbed, will not be filled every single game anymore. In short, with Lebron leaving, things look bleak and fans don’t have a reason to support the team anymore. Unless...

You take advantage of the emotions of Cavaliers fans. They’re riled up and they’re looking for the head of LeBron James. They also feel helpless because they realize that they can hate LeBron as much as they want, but it won’t change the fact that the team is weaker with him leaving. They need a new hero to look up to. They need a new person to help lead the cause, but they don’t have a player that can take on this role, so Gilbert has taken it upon himself to be that guy.

By showing his emotions, Gilbert has given Cavaliers fans a voice to show their displeasure, but has also kept the fanbase on his side. For every sentence in the letter which crushes LeBron James, there’s a sentence that doesn’t specifically ask, but asks the fans to keep buying tickets.

There’s no doubt that the two games against the Heat will be sell-outs, but by writing that letter, Gilbert gave his franchise a much better chance of having a couple more.

Will the Heat be a championship team? I’ll explore that...if you haven’t read it already...

Long Live The Sound of 8-Bit Nintendo



I wonder how many Clevelanders did this in the last 24 hours?



People Falling



I would hate to be a fan of the Raptors...

I’ve held off writing for the last couple of days because I was waiting for LeBron James...err, I’m sorry, King James (wouldn’t want to piss off the King), Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh all to make their decisions. But in the time that I’ve been left waiting as numerous rumours reported as fact have come and gone, I’ve found myself thinking about what is going to be the overall damage caused to both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors when the decisions are read and the two franchises are left to pick up the pieces.

For the Cavaliers, they had no choice but to hope that they could convince the King to stay due to a good roster, a new head coach, and most importantly, the comforts of home and the loyalty that the home fans would lavish upon him if he were to return. It was a necessary gamble and one that looks destined to lose, but in the end, it was the right move.

So, with Cleveland having all their chips in the middle and waiting to see if they will scoop the big pot around 9 p.m. tonight, at least Cavs fans can be comforted in knowing that the organization did everything possible to keep James around. I also believe that if James does indeed sign somewhere else, Cavs fans will turn all their anger towards James and none will be directed towards the organization when the inevitable dip in results follows the loss of James.

In Toronto though, I’m not so sure the fanbase will be quite as adamant about voicing displeasure singularly towards Chris Bosh. I say that because I’ve never gotten a sense from the Raptors that they did everything they possibly could to keep him. While the Cavaliers met James, fired a head coach and rallied fans to come together in the hopes of showcasing the hometown aspect to LeBron, what did the Raptors do to try and keep Chris Bosh in Toronto?

I can’t think of one significant thing that the Raptors did to make it even a thought for Bosh to stick around. Yes, I understand the argument that Bosh already had his mind made up and that all efforts would have probably been fruitless...I get that. But the way that the front office of the Raptors handled the Bosh situation as opposed to how the Cavaliers handled the LeBron saga is comparing apples to oranges.

The Cavaliers as an organization did not show any hint of ego whatsoever throughout the process and understood that James had all the power in this scenario. In other words, they didn’t fight a battle they couldn’t win. But with the Raptors, it’s clear to me that Bryan Colangelo didn’t like the idea that his former star player had all the power, meanwhile leaving the Raptors out to dry. Colangelo wasn’t going to stand for it and he was going to go down swinging. Good for the ego of the individual and the club, absolutely. Good for the overall health of the club on and off the court, absolutely not...

If Cleveland fans are going to boo LeBron and no one else, I think Toronto fans are going to boo Chris Bosh loudly, but also save some wind in their pipes for Bryan Colangelo. The guy that was supposed to be the saviour for the Toronto Raptors has done nothing in his tenure with the team to suggest that he’s going to turn around this sad-sack of a franchise anytime soon.

At least Cleveland fans can be comforted in knowing that with LeBron James playing in another city, they still have other pieces to the puzzle that allowed them to be a 60-win team a year ago. They won’t be the dynamic team that allowed them to be the best regular season team in the league, but they won’t be pushovers either.

But what is going to happen in Raptorland when Chris Bosh finally suits up for the Miami Heat next season? Who is going to lead this rag-tag bunch of misfits? Say what you will about Chris Bosh not being a winner and not worthy about being put in the same class as LeBron James or Dwayne Wade, but what did you expect him to do with the kind of “talent” that surrounded him in Toronto?

It’s hard to imagine Bosh out of a Toronto lineup, but just look at the drop-off by just having his name taken off the list. Does anyone think Andrea Bargnani has what it takes to become the leader of the Toronto Raptors? Would anyone take this team seriously if their captain became Jarrett Jack? Suddenly Hedo Turkoglu looks like an important piece of the puzzle with Chris Bosh not there.

It all comes back to the terrible decision-making of Bryan Colangelo. Anytime you hear him speak about basketball decisions or player personnel or what it takes to be successful in the NBA, the more you realize that the guy offers lots of style points without too many results. If I’m a Raptor fan, I’m looking to vent more about what this guy hasn’t done for the club as opposed to Chris Bosh looking to apply his trade somewhere else.

Colangelo could have dealt Chris Bosh ahead of time and at least got something back for him. Colangelo could have at least put his ego aside and looked at sign-and-trade scenarios with Bosh in order for the Raptors to get something back in return. Hell, Colangelo could have decided to save the money he wasted by giving Hedo Turkoglu a massive contract to sign with the Raptors.

Both the Cavaliers and the Raptors are going to suffer after what happens tonight on ESPN and the next couple of days as the Miami Heat get stronger, but I like the Cavaliers chances of bouncing back a lot more than the Raptors. And the seemingly time-honoured tradition of cheering for losing teams in Toronto will continue with each passing day...

Videos!



What do you think, Knicks fan?

It’s probably not what you had in mind when you thought about the first mega-signing of the summer. Amare Stoudamire was not supposed to be first step in the great re-build of the Knickerbockers, but that’s exactly how it’s played out in New York after Stoudamire signed a 5-year, 100 million dollar deal to leave Phoenix and head to the Big Apple.

Quite frankly, I think everyone is shocked that Stoudamire was the first big-name free agent to commit to a new team this summer. The talk was that everything would revolve around Lebron James. King James had to decide where he was going first before the other peasants could make a decision to benefit themselves. But give credit to the Knicks and Stoudamire for being proactive instead of reactive.

But that’s the only thing I’ll give the Knicks credit for. Simply put, they forced the fans to suffer through two years of terrible basketball with the promise that they were going to re-invent the team and make the championship contender again starting in 2010-2011. Well, that doesn’t seem to have taken place at all. Instead, they’ve chosen to put their eggs in the basket of a guy that was considered second-tier in an unbelievable list of free agents.

Clearly the Knicks found out in the last few days that Lebron James wasn’t going to go there, Dwayne Wade never considered going there and that Chris Bosh has probably resigned to the fact that he’s better off being a complimentary player to either James or Wade and thus, won’t go to the Knicks either. It’s got to be a big slap to the face of any Knick fan that had this week circled in their calendar as the start of something great.

Look, Amare Stoudamire is a great player and would have been the most coveted free-agent in most years, but timing is everything and it has to be considered a disappointment that the Knicks had to settle for Stoudamire.

The biggest problem that Stoudamire has compared to the Big 3 free agents is the risk of permanent injury somewhere within the 5 years that Stoudamire suits up for the Knicks. A huge red flag has to fly when it’s been determined that his contract cannot be insured because of the risk factor involved with the condition of his knees or his right eye.

Also, Stoudamire has been exposed in the past as being a one-dimensional player. He brings a ton of ability to put up points on a consistent basis, but he’s truly lacking the physicality to get rebounds and an ability to use his own threat as a weapon to get others involved in the offense. I know that if I was an owner, I would want to use my 100 million on someone that could offer more than just one-dimension.

Ultimately, the saving grace for the Knicks in this signing could be Stoudamire’s ability to bring in others to play with the organization. However, if the Knicks are counting that, we might be able to count on a power struggle between coach, player and even GM. And the Knicks could find themselves right where they started when they decided a couple of years ago to go for the big splash in the first place.

Now I'm just getting annoyed...

I know I shouldn’t get mad about this because I’m a part of the group of people that feeds the hype of any sports situation, good or bad. But I’ve just about had enough of the reports, opinions and rumours about where Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh are going to land in free agency and what team is going to get them, whether it be New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, etc.

For the last 2-3 weeks, we’ve heard just about every single scenario being thrown out. We’ve heard Lebron going to any of the five teams mentioned, or Lebron and D-Wade, or Lebron and Bosh, or Bosh and D-Wade. Let’s not forget that there are several other big-name free agents in the NBA that need a home this summer, but for the sake of making things easier, I just decided to stick with the big three.

As a media member, I’m starting to feel a little sense of embarrassment and shame about how out of control the “reporting” has become when it comes to free agents. Hell, the reporting over the last couple of days involving Ilya Kovalchuk has been a little frustrating as well. The shift has happened already where the onus is to get the information out first, then worry about whether it’s right or wrong afterwards. For some, they hide behind a veil of “a new age of journalism” or “new-school journalism.” Call me old-fashioned, I guess...

I understand that everyone who is out there covering sports for a living is looking for that one big scoop in order to get the big prize at the end. Being able to say that you were the one to break where Lebron James has signed can be the ticket to securing your position for life. It could be a life-altering scoop and I get that. But how much of the media’s credibility is taking a hit for every single false alarm that is being put out there?

In just thinking aloud through the blog, maybe I’m making too much of this and anyone who is not involved with the media just doesn’t care about this kind of stuff. But I’ve always thought that people should be held accountable for not only their actions, but for their words as well. Yet, in this age of technology, untrue rumours and unspecified reports can be put across a screen for people to see and can evaporate just as easily because of a “delete” button or people have just moved on to reading something else.

That’s not right. People should not be forced into having to differentiate between what is fact and what is rumour. Our job as media is to inform people of what is fact and to express our feelings through opinion, but somewhere along the line, the two have melded together. Now, it’s just OK for media to express opinions/theories as fact, and if proven wrong, backtrack and point to the article as “pure speculation”.

God, I hope Lebron signs today.