Category Archives: Sports

On the radio again

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On my drive home, I phoned into the FAN 590 during Bob McCown’s show. He was talking about an incident during a football game the other day where one of the players got his helmet knocked off and once the play was over, one of the opposing players walking off the field stepped on his head. The player has been suspended 5 games by the NFL for this moronic, blatant attempt to injure. I called in and told Bob about a similar play in a lacrosse game I saw a couple of years ago — Rock vs. Bandits. John Tavares hit Patrick Merrill and knocked him down (perfectly legal hit), but then after the play ended, he stepped on Merrill’s back on his way back to the bench. JT was given a 2-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but no other punishment. It was different though, JT didn’t intend to hurt Merrill, just humiliate him a little. It was certainly unsportsmanlike, but not as bad as the football play.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen JT do some dirty stuff either. He’s an amazing player — one of the best ever, no question — but in addition to this incident, I remember another nasty play in Toronto. JT had the ball when the whistle was blown, with the ref signalling a Buffalo penalty. He waited a couple of seconds and then fired a blistering shot directly at the goalie. It hit him square in the chest protector, but the shot was way after the whistle. Pissed me off, and I’m sure the Rock players weren’t too happy about it, but no penalty to JT.

This was my second time on the radio; I called in to the same show about a year and a half ago and blogged about it. I was just a young blogger then — it was only about my 6th blog enrty.

In 15 years, I’ll be 52

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Warning: Hockey article ahead. See you later, John.

So Rick DiPietro signed a 15 year $67.5 million contract with the
Islanders the other day. This means he’s getting $4.5 million per year until 2021.
There is even a clause in there that says that if he gets injured (hockey-related
injury) and has to retire, he still gets paid. If he decides to retire for any
other reason, the deal is null and void, but why would he? Great deal for
Rick, but why in hell would the Islanders do this? He’s now on contract until
he’s 40, and very few NHL goalies are still playing, let alone
competitive, at age 40. If he doesn’t pan out as a top level goalie, you’re still
paying him that whole time, since this contract makes him untradeable. No other
team would want to take that contract on — especially if the Islanders want
to trade him because he didn’t pan out.

You could argue that DiPietro might still be a competitive goalie in 10 years
when he’s 35, which may be true, so maybe the Islanders are thinking of it
as a 10-year deal “amortized” over 15 years. If he happens to play the last
5 years as well, then that’s a bonus for them. Looking at it that way, he’s
getting $6.75 million per year for 10 years (paid out over 15). The highest
paid goalie in the league, Nikolai Khabibulin, currently makes $6.75 million per
year (coincidence?). Is DiPietro the same caliber goalie as Khabibulin? No, so
this way of thinking doesn’t make much sense either.

Granted, the $4.5 million a year is not a huge amount by NHL standards,
so if the cap goes down, it shouldn’t affect them too much (it’s not like it’s
A-Rod’s “$250 million over 10 years” albatross), but I think it’s still
a big risk for the Islanders to take on an unproven goalie.

Update: A-Rod’s contract is actually $252 million over 10 years, but hey, what’s another $2 million?

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How NOT to coach

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On the drive home tonight, Bob McCown (my favourite sportscaster) was talking
about an article by Rick Reilly (my favourite sports writer) in this week’s
Sports Illustrated (which I haven’t received yet). (Here
is a link – not sure if you need to be a subscriber or not to read it) It talks
about the championship
game in a kids’ league (9- and 10-year-olds) in Utah. The home team
is down by one, batting in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the tying
run on third. Their best hitter comes to the plate, and is intentionally
walked to get to the next batter, Romney, who is the worst hitter on the
team. He strikes out to end the game. The kicker (well, one of them) is that
Romney happens to be a cancer survivor who has to take human growth hormone and
has a shunt in his brain. The coach of the winning team defended his decision,
saying that it’s “just good baseball strategy”. Well, sure it is, and I initially
agreed with him. Cancer survivor or no, if he can’t play at the level expected
in the league, then he shouldn’t be playing.

That’s when I heard the second
kicker — in this league, everyone gets to bat, there’s a four-run
limit per inning, and there’s no stealing until the ball crosses the plate. Given
those rules, it’s obvious (or should be) that this isn’t a rep league —
the primary focus of this league is fun. There is no “level
expected in the league”. Because it’s not a
rep league, things like intentional walks shouldn’t happen, and pitching to the
slugger was the right thing to do. Walking him to get to the kid who could barely
swing the bat made it all about winning. Obviously the winning coach never
heard the old saying “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the
game”.

Exodus from Edmonton

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OK, I don’t get this. The Edmonton Oilers were a game away from winning the Stanley Cup, and suddenly everyone’s jumping ship. OK, maybe Chris Pronger had “personal reasons” for wanting out, but there seem to be a lot of players who are leaving Edmonton. Obviously Pronger was traded to Anaheim, but a bunch of free agents have also left: Ty Conklin, Georges Laraque, Sergei Samsonov, and Jaroslav Spacek have all signed with other teams. Mike Peca is supposedly in talks with the Leafs (though that seems to have stalled), and Radek Dvorak has stated that he has no interest in returning. I’d have figured that after having been that close to winning it all, you’d want to stay with the same team, and try to get just that little bit better next year. Maybe after Pronger asked to be traded, a bunch of the free agents figured there was no chance of that, and so they all jumped ship.

Kind of sucks for Edmonton fans, though they probably still have a better
chance of winning it all next year than the Leafs. The Leafs should sign Peca and
Anson Carter quickly, then sign Eric Lindros to a cheap contract (if he’ll take
one; if he wants more money than last year, let him go), and dump Jason
Allison. They already did the right things in buying out Ed Belfour and Tie Domi
(I like the guy and all, but he’s getting too old, and is too expensive for what
he brings to the table), and they resigned Nik Antropov to a fairly cheap
contract, which is good (well, the cheap part is good). Not a big fan of
Antropov’s — we’ve been waiting years for that guy to turn into the star
player he was touted as, but so far in his career, as Bob McCown would say, he’s
just a guy.

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The Big E

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I was browsing around on Wikipedia this evening before my baseball game, when I came across the entry on Eric Lindros. I’ve never been a big fan of the Big E, mainly because of the way he started his career. He was drafted by the lowly Quebec Nordiques in 1991, and had indicated, even before the draft, that he wouldn’t play for them. It was that arrogance that pissed me off — he’d never played a single NHL game, and already he’s decided that he’s too good to play for Quebec. He demanded to be traded, and he was — to the Philadelphia Flyers. The trade was unbelievable though: Lindros went to Philly, and here’s what went back to Quebec: Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, a 1st round draft pick in ’93 (Jocelyn Thibault), a 1st round draft pick in ’94 (traded to Toronto in the Mats Sundin deal), and $15 million in cash. Three years later, the Nordiques moved to Colorado, traded Thibault to Montreal for a goalie by the name of Patrick Roy, and won the Stanley Cup (they won it all again in 2001, and have also won 8 division titles). Lindros went on to lead the Flyers to the Cup finals once in 1997, but they didn’t win it.

I found it quite ironic that Lindros refused to play for Quebec because they sucked so bad, and yet trading him away allowed Quebec to become a very strong team for many years. Lindros plays for the Leafs now (or at least he did last year, but hasn’t yet been resigned for next season), so I’m supposed to like him now, but first impressions stick with me for a long time. Having said that, I wouldn’t mind if the Leafs did resign him, as long as it isn’t for much money – $1.5 million tops.

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Great lacrosse article in Tacoma paper

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Here is a great article in the Tacoma News Tribune about the possibility of the NLL expanding to the Seattle/Tacoma area. The reporter admits that he knows zilch about lacrosse, but has obviously done research on the game and the league, and realistically evaluates whether this could be a good thing for the city. In previous years, when the NLL is considering expanding to a city, I’ve seen articles in that city’s newspapers written by people who also know nothing about lacrosse, but who are less open to the possibility. Some sports writers seem to think “How can a sport be any good when I don’t know anything about it?” Many times, I’ve seen similar articles that seem to be a long version of “Lacrosse? What’s that?”. Nice to see a reporter doing some real reporting for a change, and not just dismissing an idea out of hand because it’s something they’re unfamiliar with. Kudos to Mr. John McGrath.

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Leafs after Pronger?

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Whenever I hear of a big-name baseball player requesting a trade, or a rumour that some star player is being shopped around, I always immediately wonder if the Blue Jays can get him. I think about what position he plays and if the Jays could use some improvement there, can he be used as a DH and would that improve the team, that kind of thing. Sometimes I dismiss it pretty quickly; when the Rangers were shopping Alex Rodriguez and his $120 million dollar salary, I knew very quickly that he wouldn’t end up in Toronto, since the Jays simply couldn’t afford him, though I did think it would have been great it that were possible. Other times, it wouldn’t really improve the team anyway – a couple of years ago, if some big-name first baseman was being shopped, it probably wouldn’t have made much sense for the Jays to look at it, since we already had Carlos Delgado at first, and giving up a ton for a part-time first baseman and DH would have been too much. But in any case, the thought always came up.

So it would seem logical that I’d do the same thing with the Maple Leafs, but for some reason, I don’t. When it was announced the other day that Chris Pronger wanted to be traded from the Oilers for “personal reasons”, it didn’t even occur to me that the Leafs might be interested. I did not think “Wow, wouldn’t it be great if he ended up with the Leafs?”, even as a passing fantasy. I thought it interesting — I can’t imagine why he’d want to be traded off of a team that he led to within one game of the Cup, but maybe there are people on the team (or in coaching or management positions) that he just cannot work with, or something like that. Anyway, it was rumoured this morning that the Leafs are offering Tomas Kaberle and Matt Stajan to Edmonton for Pronger, and that Edmonton wants Alex Steen instead of Stajan. The possibility of Pronger in a Leaf uniform came as a total shock to me, and I don’t really know why. Is it because the Leafs GMs have a history of going after aging veterans past their prime, rather than trying to get a superstar player in his prime? When was the last time the best player in the league played for the Leafs? An awful long time ago, I assure you. Now, given the fact that the best player in the league has been named Gretzky, Lemieux, or Jagr for the vast majority of the last 25 years, that doesn’t mean much, but still.

But more central to the Pronger thing, when was the last time the Leafs acquired someone who was, at the time he was acquired, one of the best in the league? You could argue for Mats Sundin in 1994. Other than that… well let just say it was before the Ballard years, and Ballard gained control of the team in 1971, according to Wikipedia.

In other Leafs news, they traded for Andrew Raycroft the other day. I have to say, I’ll be more confident with him in net than with the 40+ oft-injured Ed Belfour. With Raycroft as the starting goalie and J.S. Aubin as his backup, the Leafs should buy Belfour out (as I’ve said before), and either trade (good luck) or release Mikael Tellqvist.

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You can never have too much pitching

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We went to the Blue Jays game on Saturday – part of a group deal with the Waterdown Minor Baseball Association, where Ryan plays. It was Nicholas’ first ever baseball game, Ryan’s third, and Gail’s first in about 6 years. I’ve gone to a couple of games with my dad since the kids were born – before that, Gail and I would go to at least 7 or 8 games a year, sometimes more, and usually including the home opener. Ah, how times change.

Anyway, Nicholas had no interest in the game whatsoever. He was interested in his grilled cheese sandwich, ketchup flavoured chips (“they spice my tongue!”), popcorn, and the books we brought, but mainly he was interested in the flip-down chairs. Ryan watched a bit of the game here and there, but was fascinated by the Jumbotron. Later in the game, he also found the books we brought and was so enthralled by one of them that when Troy Glaus hit a home run, Ryan didn’t even look up. Gail watched the game but didn’t really pay attention to it; she was focussed on making sure the boys kept themselves occupied. I actually watched the game, which the Jays lost 5-3. Ted Lilly, who I’ve never been a big fan of, pitched a great game. He only allowed three hits in 8 2/3 innings, and struck out 12. Two of those three hits, however, were home runs – the first with 2 walks aboard, and the second right after a Shea Hillenbrand error, so it was 5-0 after 4 innings. Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus both homered to make it close, but the Jays offence just couldn’t get anything going. I think Vernon Wells and Alex Rios each grounded to third base three or four times.

The Jays are doing pretty well this year – I read today that they are leading the league in batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, and are one of only two teams since 1969 to have a team batting average over .300 more than 60 games into the season. They’re only a couple of games out of first in the East, but they’ve had an amazing nine opportunities this year to sweep a series, and have yet to do so. They could really use one of those 10 or 12 game winning streaks to boost their confidence.

You wouldn’t have thought this going into the season, but I guess pitching is their weakness this year. Their starting pitching has been decent, but not great. Lilly has been fine, but not the all-star he was a couple of years ago. Chacin and Towers are all performing below where they were last year; Towers has been just dreadful for all but one start, and the mighty expensive A.J. Burnett has pitched all of a game and a half. On the upside, Roy Halladay has been his usual amazing self, and rookie Casey Janssen has been a welcome addition – an ERA of just over 3.00 and 5 wins in 9 starts. The bullpen has been… well, let’s just say that calling them “spotty” is being kind. B.J. Ryan, who was also expensive, has been worth every penny so far (15 saves in 16 opportunities, an ERA of 0.61, and a WHIP of 0.67), but looking down the rest of the pitching stats, Justin Speier is the only reliever with an ERA under 5.00. That’s nasty.

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Kypreos is still a goon

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While working out this morning, I was watching Sportsnet news. They had a hockey crew on there talking about the Cup finals, when former NHL goon and current Sportsnet hockey analyst Nick Kypreos started ranting about how the Edmonton players should warn the Hurricanes that their goalie is next and maybe after their goalie, someone like Erik Cole. (Cole is already out for the season, so perhaps he said or meant Eric Staal.) This kind of brain-dead comment just shows that while Kypreos may have changed from a player to a TV hockey analyst, he’s still a goon at heart. The injury to Roloson was completely accidental; nobody ran their goalie, so Edmonton shouldn’t be looking for revenge.

I’m not a fan of fighting in hockey (or lacrosse), but I will admit that there are some cases where it’s… well, necessary is too strong; perhaps understandable, to some extent. If someone really runs your goalie, or hits your star player with a cheap shot, then I can see sending Tie Domi or your team’s equivalent out to have a conversation with him. Note that “cheap shot” here is important — if someone hits your star player with a clean hit, no revenge is warranted, even if that hit ends his season. I also think that whatever revenge may be warranted should only apply to the current game – once that game is over, the opportunity has passed. This whole “so-and-so hit our star player last game, so the next time our teams play, we’re going after him” is moronic and childish. For a prime example of how this is a bad idea, just reread the previous sentence as “Steve Moore hit Markus Naslund last game, so we’re going after him”. Todd Bertuzzi kept the promise that his team made, and ended Moore’s career by breaking his neck. (Note for the record that Moore’s hit on Naslund was clean.) For all Bertuzzi’s apologizing and crying during press conferences and stuff, he meant it, and would do it again in a heartbeat, though perhaps not from behind next time. I was disappointed in Gary Bettman for lifting his suspension during the lockout, and embarrassed to have him on the ice for Team Canada at the Olympics. I think his suspension for such a blatant cheap shot should be as long as Moore’s injury keeps him out – if Moore’s career is over, then so should Bertuzzi’s. He’s a great player, but nobody should be allowed to get away with that kind of crap.

I’m thinking Nick Kypreos would disagree with that.

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Killing time

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I have some time to kill before I play baseball at 9:30 (!) tonight. Since I live so far from work (~70 km one way), there’s no point in my going home and then coming back — best case, that’s an hour and a half of driving — so I’m hanging out at work. What better way to spend that time than blogging?

We’ll start with 24, which Gail and I have been addicted to for the last 5 seasons. The season finale was this past Monday, and it did a pretty good job of wrapping up what was actually a rather boring season, by 24’s standards. Oh sure, several main characters died (Michelle, Tony, Edgar), so that was exciting, but the whole gas cannister plot went on too long, and I didn’t like the way the writers handled the traitorous President — I think it would have been better if he was a strong man acting indecisive and weak, rather than actually having him be indecisive and weak and manipulated by some bald guy (who they never explained, now that I think of it). The only thing that we know about him is that his name is Graham. (I’m just assuming that it’s spelled that way, not Graeme. Call me pessimistic.) Maybe they’re keeping him as next year’s villain, though one thing on this show that you can never do is figure out who the real bad guy is — as soon as you think you do, they bring out another guy who’s giving the first guy orders. They also kind of abandoned the whole “real-time” thing at the end, where Jack is is knocked unconscious and abducted (in LA) by the Chinese, and five minutes later wakes up in the middle of the Pacific on (quite literally) a slow boat to China.

Let’s move on to baseball now. Barry Bonds hit home run number 714 in his career the other night, tying Babe Ruth for 2nd on the all-time list. Big freakin’ deal. Well, I suppose it is, but I just can’t get too excited about it, firstly because it’s not a record anymore (Hank Aaron surpassed it over 30 years ago), and secondly because we all know that a good number of those home runs (at least all the ones hit in the last 5 years) were done while Bonds was juiced up on steroids. The evidence is painfully clear. Bonds played 14 seasons with the Pirates and Giants, and averaged 32 homers a year in that time — he hit over 45 home runs only once. He also averaged 33 steals per season. Then 2000 rolls around — the year Bonds turned 36, and for the next 5 seasons, he averages 52 homers (over 45 every year, maxing out at a major league record 73) and only 9 steals per season. His batting average over those 5 years was .339, while his career average before that was only .288. Then MLB announces that they will begin steroid testing in 2005, and lo and behold, Bonds sits out almost the entire season with an injury. But he’s not on steroids. Rrrrrrriiiiiiight.

On an unrelated baseball note, the Jays finally demoted Josh Towers to AAA Syracuse yesterday after yet another dismal outing. He didn’t lose the game because the Jays came back to tie it (and then lost it later), but he didn’t even last 2 innings. It’s about damn time. I have nothing against Towers — he pitched really well last year — but he’s 1-and-freakin’-8. For a second-year player, that’s at least 2 losses too many. It’s not like he was going 7 innings and losing 3-2 games either — he was getting shelled almost every time out. His one win was very impressive though – he went 8 innings in that one, so maybe John Gibbons figured he’d found his groove or something. Obviously he hadn’t, so they’ve sent him down to try and pick things up there. In 2001, Roy Halladay was sent down all the way to single-A ball to “re-build his delivery” — essentially learning how to pitch again. By the end of that year he was back in the majors, and look how that turned out — a Cy Young award in 2003, and he might have won another one last year if he hadn’t broken his leg in July and missed the rest of the season. I don’t know if single-A ball is the answer for Towers (heard someone on the radio this morning refer to him as “Fawlty” Towers), but staying in the majors isn’t working for him at this point, and it’s certainly not helping the Jays out either.

Well, I think that’s all I have to say for now, and I still have an hour before my
game. Well, since I’m at work, maybe I should, oh I don’t know, do some work.

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