06/24/08

Leading Off
-Answer to Friday’s trivia question: Bobby Orr wore number two when he played as a junior for the Oshawa Generals, but couldn’t wear the number for the Boston Bruins because it had already been retired by Eddie Shore.

-“If your work is not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”
-John Mazur


Free Throws
UEFA
-The semi-finals are set for Euro 2008 with Germany facing off against Turkey and Spain, after beating the defending World Cup champions 4-2 in penalty kicks, will match up against Russia.

-It’s about time for some predictions in this tournament so I have some. It’s been a great run for Turkey, but I think their run ends. The Germans have already knocked off the extremely talented Portuguese and have a legitimate striker in Lukas Podolski. The Germans have only allowed 4 goals in 4 games, while Turkey has allowed 6. It would take a great team effort, particularly from star midfielder Arda Turan, for Turkey to advance to the finals. A great performance that I don’t see happening, so I’m taking Germany with a 2-0 win over Turkey.

-I think the Russia vs. Spain game will be a closer game than everyone expects. Spain is no doubt the favourites after they routed the Russians 4-1 earlier in the tournament. Russia has since picked up their socks and won 3 straight, outscoring the opposition 6-1. The Russians have two multi-goal scorers, while the Spaniards only have one and that should figure into play in this game. I’m looking forward to a goal-filled affair in this one and expect Spain to take it 3-2.


NBA
-I don’t normally get into the NBA draft and I probably still won’t watch this one, although I’d be lying if I told you that I was not intrigued by the whole Beasley/Rose ordeal. http://www.dcprosportsreport.com/ has an interesting feature, where they have a list of all the different mock drafts across the web along with their top 5 picks. Yours truly had nothing better to do with his time than to count every single vote for either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley. As it turns out, 79 of these “experts” had Rose slotted in the 1st spot, while 33 of them had Chicago taking Beasley. It seems really tough to bet against Rose in this spot. Beasley is one beast of a man at 6-8, 239 lbs., but the guard position has become extremely valuable in the NBA and with Rose being a hometown Chicago boy, you’d have to think the odds are in his favour. The Miami Heat will have no problems making their pick, as they will definitely go after the Bulls leftovers.

-The Men’s U.S. Olympic basketball team was recently announced and the winners are: Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dewayne Wade and Deron Williams. Since Canada is without a basketball team for the Olympics, I might as well root for our neighbours to the south. I’ll consider Chris Bosh at least a semi-Canadian and root for the U.S. for the first time in my life.


NHL
-ESPN will have to look for a new NHL correspondent, as Barry Melrose has left for greener pastures and sunny skies over in Florida. Barry Became the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning today, after taking a 13-year absence from behind the reins of an NHL franchise. Melrose has since been ESPN’s top hockey analyst for the last 12 years, but said he couldn’t wait to say yes after he was approached for a job by the Lightning. It was obvious that Melrose wanted to get back into coaching and hopefully this this is just what Tampa ordered to get back into playoff contention.

-The Toronto Maple Leafs once again proved their stupidity, by trading up all the way to 5th spot to pick…Luke Schenn? Nothing personal against Schenn, he is a fantastic prospect and the best defensive defenseman available in the draft, but this pick leaves me with one question. What about Filatov?

-It sure feels great to be from Moncton, New Brunswick recently. Three players from my hometown of approximately 120 000 people, were drafted in this year. They are: Chet Pickard taken 18th overall by the Nashville Predators; Patrice Cormier, who is actually from Cap-Pelé (Tow-may-tow, tow-maa-tow), taken 54th overall by the New Jersey Devils and Kelsey Tessier taken 110th overall by the Colorado Avalanche.

-The Ottawa Senators have finally ridded themselves of the plague that is Ray Emery after they bought out the rest of his contract allowing him to become a UFA as of July 1st. This is a great move for Ottawa to finally get the “Ray Emery” taste out of their system. The Sens will now have to make a decision on what to do with current goaltending situation. They could either search the free agent market for a goaltender or promote up-and-comer Jeff Glass from Binghamton.


MLB
-I seem to be bad luck on the MLB managers. There has been three managers fired since the start of this blog. Willie Randolph of the Mets, John McLaren of the Mariners and now John Gibbons of the Blue Jays have all been given the shaft. Gibbons was replaced by former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston. Welcome back Cito!

-We may have to hold off the “Should Curt Schilling be in Cooperstown” argument because Schilling’s doctor Fred Morgan announced that Curt could be throwing off the mound in January (they play baseball in January?) and that there was no permanent damage to his rotator cuff. It’s all Schilling’s decision now, but I think a comeback is in order.


NFL
-Don Imus, host of the WABC radio show, Imus un the morning, was caught with his foot lodged in his mouth. I was shocked to hear what Imus had to say about Dallas Cowboys CB “Pacman” Jones. If you haven't already heard it, you can listen to it here (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVupPtrmYA). This isn’t the first time Don Imus has been involved in controversy. He has been fired before for this kind of thing, but was somehow let back on the air. It is ignorance like this that makes me feel sorry for African-Americans. Hey Don, before you go off insulting other people’s race, why don’t you look at your own. What color is Roger Clemens? Mark McGwire? Jose Canseco? What color was Pete Rose when he gambled on Baseball? What color was Marty McSorley when he was charged with assault? How can somebody with as little knowledge about anything as you, be qualified to share your opinion with people over the radio. I never say that I want anybody to lose their job, so I’ll just say this: I hope that ABC makes the right move.


7th Inning Stretch
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks,
I don’t care if I ever go back,
‘Cause it’s root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame,
For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out,
At the old ball game!
(Note to All-Stars Sports Blog: I’m DYING out here!)


Buzzer Beater
The Buzzer Beater award for Tuesday, June 24th goes to…Kevin Youkilis for his walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning leading Boston to a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Once again it was a tough decision, especially with Mark Teixeira’s 3-homer game. I’ve also decided to all a list of former buzzer beater award winners, just for fun.

Tiger Woods - 1
Kevin Youkilis - 1

Next edition coming Friday, June 27th. Until then, have a good NBA draft.