Maxwell's House

Brad Marchand - whiz kid

2011-08-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

Stanley Cup champion Brad Marchand was forced to leave a local Halifax restaurant on Saturday night after he relieved himself on a wall and floor in a public area. The diminutive Boston Bruin attended the establishment with a group of friends late Saturday evening - just hours before he presided over Halifax' 116th Natal Day parade celebrating the anniversary of Nova Scotia's entry into Confederation. According to witnesses, Marchand was loud and obnoxious throughout the evening, calling several staff members rude names and making sure everyone was aware of his status as a local celebrity and hero figure.

Shortly before closing time, an intoxicated Marchand got up and walked towards the washroom, which is located in the basement of the restaurant. He didn't make it, stopping to do his business in an area between the bar and stairwell. "He was so drunk he had no idea what he was doing," said one witness to the incident.

Marchand, a native of Halifax, whose party-filled lifestyle has been well-documented of late, had a breakout performance during this year's playoffs. His seven points in the final series against the Vancouver Canucks led all scorers. While he was an integral part of the team's Stanley Cup victory in June, one wonders if these off-ice antics will eventually catch up with the 23-year old.

A request for comment went unanswered by Marchand's representatives.

First stop on the road to the World Cup

2011-07-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

Even as Australians are waking up this morning with victory party hangovers following the Queensland Reds' historic Super XV grand final victory, Wallabies' skipper Robbie Deans is set to anounce his 40-man squad for the upcoming pre-World Cup test matches. The Australians face Samoa in less than a week and will have little time to enjoy last night's victory.

The Wallabies have a busy schedule between now and September, but will have to use the next couple of months to rehabilitate a roster currently decimated by injury. Missing for next week's test are no less than five NSW Waratahs (Wycliff Palu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Drew Mitchell and Luke Burgess) who will almost certainly be in the equation for the World Cup squad. Also unavailable due to injury at the moment are Reds' prop James Slipper and lock Nathan Sharpe of the Western Force.

However, one the Australian rugby's greatest assets is its depth at virtually every position. Despite missing several sure-fire starters, the Wallabies will still be able to send a formidable group onto the pitch against the Samoans.

Here are my picks...

1. Benn Robinson

2. Stephen Moore

3. Ben Daley

4. Dean Mumm

5. James Horwill (C)

6. Scott Higgenbotham

7. David Pocock

8. Radike Samo

9. Wil Genia

10. Quade Cooper

11. James O'Connor

12. Anthony Faingaa

13. Digby Ioane

14. Rod Davies

15. Kurtley Beale

16. Matt Giteau

17. Adam Ashley-Cooper

18. Sam Wykes

19. Saia Faingaa

20. Ben Alexander

21. Sekope Kepu

22. Ita Vaea

The most notable name missing from my list is Rocky Elsom. Knowing the premium the Australia Rugby Union places on seniority and past service, Elsom is very likely to be part of the run-on squad next week, but I just don't see that he is among the Wallabies' best options at flanker anymore. In addition to my starters, Pocock and Higgenbotham, I would rate Ben McCalman and Beau Robinson ahead of Rocky at the moment. Youngsters Colby Faingaa and Liam Gill figure to be fixtures in green and gold on the flank for years to come.

There is also a fair amount of speculation that Deans will opt to rest a number of the Reds for the first test match. These would leave a bunch more spots up for grabs and would provide an opportunity for a number of the on-the-bubble players to impress the Wallabies' brass.

It should be an interesting march to New Zealand for the Wallabies. Interest in rugby union is at an all-time high following the Reds' victory and this year's team promises to be one of the most exciting ever. The backline featuring Cooper, Beale, O'Connor and Mitchell will produce more than its fair share of highlight reel performances. The less-heralded forward pack, led by Pocock, can compete with anyone in the world and will be looking to prove it game in and game out.

Richard "The Menace" Martel

2010-09-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Is it time for the QMJHL to take serious action against Richard Martel?

Martel is the league's all-time winningest coach, but he is also one of junior hockey's biggest dirtbags. Last night, the coach had one of his players, 18-year-old fourth-liner Andrew O'Brien, jump the Halifax Moosehead's 16-year-old Czech phenom Martin Frk. O'Brien proceeded to deliver a heavy duty beating while Frk never even dropped his gloves or threw a single punch (somehow the referee gave both players majors for fighting, but that's another story).

Admittedly, junior hockey is well-known for crazy incidents and fighting. It's expected on many nights. But for a league that made a big show about cleaning up this kind of thing a couple of years ago, Martel is a repeat offender of the worst kind who needs to be punished...severely. This was not an incident where two big, tough, willing boys went toe to toe. It was one player taking advantage of a young and inexperienced (not to mention incredibly talented) kid who wanted nothing to do with it. It brings back memory of the Jonathan Roy/Bobby Nadeau embarrassment of 2008. Oh, by the way, Martel was the other coach (Patrick Roy got all the press) in that incident, who played a very significant role in allowing that situation to escalate to the point where several teenagers had the crap beat out of them and one was charged criminally.

Martel was also a key figure in the biggest brawl in QMJHL history. He was coaching the Baie Comeau Drakkar at the time, who were visiting the Mooseheads at the Metro Centre. I sat in the stands as the team's engaged in three line brawls and amassed 485 penalty minutes (a record). All but a dozen players (from both teams) were ejected from the game. Martel inflamed the situation during the first fight when he stood up on the boards, screaming and waving for his goalie to join the melee. When the young goalie refused, an incensed Martel called him over to the bench, berated him, and pulled him from the game. His replacement, Patrick Lepage, was sure to join the fray when the teams squared off for a second time a few minutes later and, for his trouble, he got his face beat in by Mooseheads netminder Jonathan Boutin.

Before you call me a Halifax homer, keep in mind that the league dished out 11 suspensions as a result of the brawl - all of them to Baie Comeau. Martel got his standard 4-game slap on the wrist suspension.

Now, we come back to last nights incident. Martel sent a player on the ice with clear instructions to attack the opposing team's best player. The attack resulted in retaliation attempts by the Mooseheads that were foiled by a proactive officiating crew. But you can be sure that Halifax will not forget about the incident and, the next time they play, will eventually exact its revenge. And, unless the league takes action against this repeat offender, all of a sudden you have another potential Roy/Nadeau or Jeff Kugel situation on your hands.

The only question is whether Gilles Courteau will put aside his francophone bias long enough to punish one of the league's great ~~white~~ french hopes...

Bush league

2010-09-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

If I was Reggie Bush I would not have returned the Heisman Trophy. Sure, it was a grand gesture of contrition from a guy who, to my knowledge, has always been classy on and off the field but, had he kept the trophy, it would have provided a perfect opportunity to expose the stuffy halls and ivory towers where the real perpetrators of college football's ruination reside. The Heisman Trust?? Who are these people? Best I can tell they are eight tuxedo clad blue bloods who emerge once a year to hand over the Heisman Award to the best football player in the NCAA. Let them make the difficult decision to take the trophy from a recipient if they feel so strongly that the award has been tarnished by the controversy at USC.

According to the website (where Bush' name has already been erased by the way), "The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity." In what way does Bush not fill the bill? On the field he was clearly the best player in the nation in 2005 - he won the award by the greatest margin in history. Eighteen touchdowns, more than 2,200 yards total offense and a runner-up in the National Championship is pretty difficult to argue with. His performance on the field is undeniable - and was not enhanced in any way by the benefits he received off the field. Bush' 2005 campaign is one of the most impressive season's in NCAA football history...period.

What about the part about integrity you say? Well, I don't see the powers that be clamouring to have the names OJ Simpson and Ricky Williams stricken from the historical record.

And who is really to blame for the scandal at USC? While Bush is vilified as the face of the controversy, very few have even heard of Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels. These degenerates preyed on a teenaged running back in the hopes of riding his coattails to wealth in the NFL. They gave Bush nearly $300,000 in cash and gifts while he was a student - a clear violation of NCAA rules. It is arguable whether an unsophisticated 18-year old was aware that he was breaking the rules and, even if he was, how many among us would have had the fortitude to turn down these gifts when we were that age? But there is no doubt that Lake and Michaels knew what they were doing. Where are they now? Nope, not in jail where they belong. These reprobates received a handsome settlement from Bush when they sued him after he cut ties with them. I suspect the payoff had more to do with keeping the story quiet than it did with the actual merits of their case.

And what about the football and athletic department staff at USC? There is no doubt they were aware that Bush was receiving money and gifts from somewhere. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science (do they offer that at Southern Cal?) to figure out that a kid from a lower middle class family is earning a little extra on the side when he drives up to practice in a brand new car. I haven't heard anyone dragging the name of Pete Carroll through the mud. Instead, Carroll snuck off campus in the middle of the night and has settled in comfortably as the coach of the Seahawks. Meanwhile, the university threw Bush under the bus by removing any sign that the star running back was ever Trojan from its athletic facilities, all the while disavowing any knowledge of the violations. Let Carroll and the USC powers that be admit what they knew about Bush, Lake and Michaels, and let them face the music for a change.

At the end of the day, Bush is probably taking the high road in an attempt to avoid further controversy and put the issue to bed. Unlike everyone else involved with this situation, he is standing up and facing the music - even while those who are most blameworthy continue to make him a scapegoat while living off the spoils of his performances. No one is suggesting that Bush should not shoulder any responsibility for what happened during his career at USC, but let's not pretend for a moment that college football is not badly broken. This is just another example of a player getting the short end of the stick while the men in suits who control them walk away scot free.

Frkin' out

2010-08-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

Unless you live in Halifax, or you are a really hardcore hockey fan, you will not know who Martin Frk is. So let me give you some background. Frk is a 16-year old hockey phenom from the Czech Republic. It was anounced today that the Halifax Mooseheads, after drafting him 3rd overall in this summers CHL import draft, had secured his rights from his local junior team Karlovy Vary. This after over two months months of speculation and having been denied by the IIHF in a decision earlier in the month.

Now that the whole saga has come to an end with today's anouncement, the timing is right to comment on the events that have transpired and opinions that have been expressed since Frk was drafted.

First, I am absolutely ecstatic at the prospect of watching this incredible talent perform at the Metro Centre for the next two or three years. By all accounts, Frk has all the talent in the world and should be a star in the QMJHL and maybe even the NHL. His numbers compare favourably to those of another Czech and Halifax alumnus, Jake Voracek of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Frk registered 55 points (28 G and 27 A) in 38 games as a 16-year old in the Czech under-20 league while Voracek had 59 points (21 G and 38 A) in 46 games. In addition to his offensive talent, it seems that Frk also brings a little sandpaper to the rink with him. Playing against men four and five years older than he was, the 6'0" 190 lbs. Frk rolled up 184 PIMs.

Second, Bobby Smith and the Mooseheads were not the bad guys here. Some of the commenters on the team's unofficial fan forum (Moosetalk) seem to think that Halifax was in the wrong for luring a player away from a valid contract in another country. Management of the Karlovy Vary team have tried to portray their Halifax counterparts as greedy and heavyhanded in the local Czech media. The rhetoric and posturing from GM Miroslav Vanek was comical at times. At last week's so-called hockey summit, much was made of hockey players crossing the ocean to play minor league and junior hockey in North America, to the detriment of the developmental systems in Europe - particularly in the former Eastern Bloc nations. This is pure crap.

Dealing specifically with the Frk scenario, the Mooseheads were dealing with a young man who desperately wanted to play hockey in Canada. Unfortunately, he and his parents had signed a contract with his local team on the advice of a local agent (with questionable motives and allegiances). Once the IIHF (also with questionable motives and allegiances) found the contract with Karlovy Vary valid, the Halifax management had two choices: buy out Frk's contract or challenge the contract legally. My sense is that Smith and the Mooseheads would have stood a better than good chance of voiding the contract in court, but a buyout probably made more sense in the long run.

The bottom line is that you had a 16-year old who wanted to wear a Mooseheads jersey. Not only did he want to come to Canada, he knew that provided him with the best chance to be drafted into the NHL. At that age, he should be able to play wherever he wants. And a contract signed under duress and the influence of dubious characters should not prevent him from doing so, or doing what is best for his career. If the IIHF (Rene Fasel) and the Czech hockey federation are so concerned about developing players in their own country, they should create a system that can compete with the CHL and the NCAA instead of duping young players to stay at home to play in an inferior league and against inferior competition.

Smith and the Mooseheads did nothing wrong here. I am sure that if they had been around (or if there had been any unbiased representation at all) at the time Frk and his parents signed the deal with Karlovy Vary they would have advised him against it. But for the unscrupulous agent and local hockey management, Frk would have been free to play hockey wherever he wanted. Now he can.

All Favred out

2010-08-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

I am sure that I am not the only sports fan out there who is sick and tired of hearing about Brett Favre. The hourly reports about whether he will, or won't, return to the NFL for another year have become a little too much for even me, someone who is obsessed with sports. The level of coverage his (non) retirement has received from ESPN and the rest of the media is nothing short of sickening.

What really bothers me, though, is the way Favre is portrayed by those who cover the NFL. First, he is not the great quarterback so many make him out to be. His stats are inflated by his longevity (which is the most impressive aspect of his career). His game is high risk and high reward. He loses as many games on his own as he wins. Favre's TD to interception ratio puts him somewhere near the middle of the pack of QBs of his era. He simply does not compare to the likes of Dan Marino, John Elway, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana and Steve Young, or even Donovan McNabb and Jim Kelly in my view.

Second, and more importantly, he is very possibly the most selfish player in NFL history. In a sport that places such a premium on teamwork, Favre's priority is always himself. While fans and commentators continually rip on Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Randy Moss, the Mississippi gun slinger always seems to get a free pass. Even as he was holding yet another team hostage as the season approached, Favre was praised by writers and reporters. Why the double standard?

Minnesota is not going to win the Super Bowl this year. Certainly they will do better than without Favre, but the Vikings would have been better off to tell him to stay home and take their lumps for a couple years and develop a QB who actually cares about the team.

Recommended Habs draft strategy

2010-06-24T08:15:00.001-07:00

TRADE. ALL. YOUR. PICKS.

That is my advice to GM Pierre Gauthier as he heads into his first NHL entry draft at the helm of the Montreal Canadiens. Trade every single last one of your picks!

The Habs have the worst history of draft picks of any NHL team. Well, I haven't done all of the research, but they must. Over the past ten seasons, they have used first round picks to select the likes of Ryan McDonagh, David Fischer and Kyle Chipchura. Even the so-called successful picks (Mike Komisarek, Chris Higgins, Andrei Kostitsyn and Carey Price) have enjoyed less than spectacular careers to date. The only top tier NHLer to be drafted by Montreal in the past ten years was Tomas Plekanec (3rd round in 2001), and it is debatable whether he is even a first line centreman.

But the futility extends well beyond the last decade. In the 1990s, Montreal used their first pick to select (in order): Turner Stevenson, Brent Bilodeau, David Wilkie, Saku Koivu, Brad Brown, Terry Ryan, Matt Higgins, Jason Ward, Eric Chouinard and Alexander Buturlin. Only Koivu and Stevenson registered more than 81 career NHL points. In fact, you need to go back to 1984 to find what could be considered, by any measure, a successful draft. That year the Habs selected Petr Svoboda (5th overall), Shayne Corson (8th overall), Stephane Richer (29th overall) and Patrick Roy (51st overall). Interestingly, the remaining ten players the team drafted that year played a grand total of zero games in the NHL.

Over the years Montreal has drafted first overall on five occasions and are either one for five or two for five, depending on how you classify Rejean Houle. Personally, I think he was great as a player, but his years as GM more than made up for it. Guy Lafleur (1st overall in 1971) is perhaps the greatest player in Canadiens history, but Doug Wickenheiser (ahead of Denis Savard and Paul Coffey), Michelle Plasse and Garry Monahan (ahead of Peter Mahovlich) can be generously described as disappointments.

So, there is the illustrious draft history of the Montreal Canadiens. It is actually worse if you go year by year and look at the names of the players selected. Whether its bad luck or bad management, it is pretty clear that Gauthier should dump all of the team's for...anything! The odds tell us that it is worth it to trade all of the picks for any serviceable NHL player.

Either that or they trade their scouts in for a magic eight ball or a ouija board.

The beautiful game???

2010-06-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

The beautiful game?

Hardly...

What is the opposite of beautiful? The ugly game just doesn't sound right. But it really wouldn't be inaccurate.

Soccer (its not called football) is a horribly boring sport played by athletes with egos that dwarf even those of North American professionals. Alex Rodriguez has nothing on Cristiano Ronaldo, who once likened his more than $10 million/year contract with Manchester United to "slavery."

Okay soccer snobs, before your heads explode, I understand that yours is far and away the most popular sport in the world. 3.5 billion fans in over 100 countries on every continent blah blah blah blah... It doesn't change the fact that its a bunch of grown men endlessly passing a rubber ball back and forth with their feet while taking the occasional break to flop about in the grass any time an opposing player comes near to touching them. If you're lucky, 90 minutes of this will produce a goal. If not, you've got to sit through even more of it.

"You just don't get it," is the popular refrain from those who sing soccer's praises. You're right! I don't get it. I don't understand how one person, let alone billions can sit through the tedium of an entire game of soccer. It baffles me that the world's most popular sport is so overcome with cheating and corruption - games in the World Cup (supposedly the greatest sporting spectacle in the world) are being decided by the ability of player's to feign injury. It is a complete mystery to me.

So, why don't we call it the boring game. The over-hyped game. The corrupt game. Anything but the beautiful game...

Halak trade helpful for Habs

2010-06-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

They say that timing is everything in sports, but I have never heard it said about sports blogging.

Last Wednesday, literally while I was writing a blog post about what off-season moves management should make to improve the Montreal Canadiens for next year, my BlackBerry sounded off with a text message from TSN.ca informing me that Jaroslav Halak had been dealt to the St. Louis Blues for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. The irony was that the first item on my to-do list for Pierre Gauthier was to make a trade for either Halak or Carey Price. Here is exactly what I wrote...

First, they need to trade one of their starting goalies. This team will struggle to make the playoffs if either Jaroslav Halak or Carey Price are in uniform on the first day of training camp. It's not that one is better than the other, it's that having both of them on the team is a distraction and a waste of resources in a salary cap world. Personally, I don't care which one of them stays, as long as one of them goes. Whichever stays will enjoy the freedom of not having the other breathing down his neck and flourish in the role of number one, with Curtis Sanford or Cedrick Desjardins being very capable candidates for the role of backup NHL goaltender.

Incidentally, item number two was to cut Tomas Plekanec loose. I didn't quite make it to the third item before the news came in from TSN and I abandoned the post.

My initial reaction to the trade? Who are Lars Eller and Ian Schultz?

So I rushed home, turned on the Team 990 and did my online research. I vaguely remembered Eller from a past World Junior Championship and was pleasantly surprised by what I found out. I quickly arrived at the conclusion that this was a good trade for my team and said so on FaceBook. The negative response from my friends - not so much the non-Canadiens fans who love to hate the Habs no matter what, but the true red, white and blue fans - was surprising. It seemed that no one was happy with the move. There were two lines of argument from the nay-sayers: one, how could the Habs trade their playoff hero; and two, they did not get enough from St. Louis in return for Halak.

This is little more than the typical knee jerk reaction of Montreal fans who fly off the handle without really giving a situation the thought it deserves.

Firstly, all trades are risky and Habs fans will worry about no matter what. If Price fails, the criticism management receives will be endless and unmerciful. But the bottom line is that the Habs had to dump either Halak or Price. They had to choose between an up and comer with limitless potential and a goalie who came out of nowhere to perform incredibly. They chose Price. If management had traded Price, there would be just as much risk. What if Halak turns out to be a flash in the pan a la Steve Penney and Price goes somewhere else and becomes a superstar a la John LeClair?

For the record, I like both goalies and don't consider myself either a 'Halak guy' or a 'Price guy.'

NHL GMs make tough calls all the time. Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong. The worst scenario here would have been if they had done nothing. Neither goalie was going to flourish with the other breathing down his neck and it would have been a waste of financial resources to have two 'starting' goaltenders.

As far as Eller and Schultz are concerned, I am not convinced that they are the duds that many people are making them out to be. Eller is a first round draft pick who made the AHL all-rookie team last year and led his team in scoring with 57 points in 70 games (2nd among all rookies). Schultz was co-captain of the Calgary Hitmen and appears to be able to fight and score goals - which is something that every NHL scout seems to be looking for these days. There is never any guarantee with prospects, but these guys look pretty good to me.

It is doubtful that the Habs could have got anything better in return anyways. These people who think they should have held out for Jeff Carter, Patrick Sharp, or even TJ Oshie are dreaming in technicolor. No NHL team is going to give up an established superstar for a goalie with one good season under his belt. Besides, how would Montreal pay for a player like that given its current salary cap situation?

Back from Oz...

2010-06-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm back. I know it's been awhile, but a lot of things are going on and I haven't had time to write. The good news is that I have made a promise to myself to be more committed to the blog and post on a regular basis. The bad news is that I have broken promises to myself in the past. We'll just have to see...

A lot has happened since the last time I was in Maxwell's House. Personally, I spent almost a month in Australia and had an incredible time visiting friends and family in that country. Although I missed out on seeing my beloved Queensland Reds, I went to see my first ever live Super 14 rugby game at the Sydney Football Stadium between the Waratahs and Hurricanes. I also was lucky enough to experience club rugby, Aussie style, thanks to my mate (I told you I was in Australia) Steve Williams and the boys of the Mosman Rugby Club.

The world of sports has been equally exciting and eventful over the past couple of months. A new Stanley Cup champion has been crowned and an NRL champion has been stripped. Major league baseball's messiah finally arrived and one of its greatest legends retired. South Africa dominated the Super 14 rugby finals and opened the 2010 soccer World Cup. The ghosts of Magic and Bird are being revived (again!) in the NBA finals. The list goes on and on and on...

But the most important (for me) sports story of the past two months is the incredible Stanley Cup playoff run that saw the Montreal Canadiens make it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals. I may have expected the Habs to push the Washington Capitals to five or six games in the first round of the playoffs, but I was probably thinking more with my heart than my head. Anyone who says they picked Montreal to win that series is a liar...period. To beat the Caps, and the then the defending champion Penguins in the conference semi-finals, was amazing to watch and experience. Watching the game half a world away over breakfast made it even more incredible. Chicago is a great young team and they will be exciting to watch in years to come, but the Canadiens' surprise performance will be what I remember about the 2009-10 NHL season.

So there is lots to write about and fill the pages with here at Maxwell's House. I promise...

Why baseball sucks...

2010-04-16T10:21:00.001-07:00

I don't watch baseball anymore. I just can't do it...

That may not seem like an earth shattering statement to most of you but, for those who know me well, it will seem inconceivable. You see, baseball was my favourite sport (by far) for most of my life. I was the guy that would respond angrily to those who called the sport boring and claim that its players were not athletes. As a kid, I would spend hours upon hours not only organizing baseball cards, but memorizing the statistics on the backside of them. At seven years old I could tell you how many homeruns Mike Schmidt hit in 1980 or how many stolen bases or what Ron Guidry's ERA was in 1978. I played Strat-O-Matic baseball and snuck my WalkMan (those big yellow things were not easy to conceal) into class so I could listen to Grapefruit League games on the radio. I was on a first name basis with many of the ushers at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. To say I was obsessed would be a great understatement.

And now, I might watch an inning or two of the Blue Jays if I happen to flip by a game in search of something better. I can't even remember the last time I watched an entire game from beginning to end. Why did I fall out of love with baseball?

Certainly, the demise of my beloved Montreal Expos played a key role in my disillusionment. The news in 1994 that major leaguers were going out on strike was devastating. The Expos were comfortably in first place in the NL East and had the best record in all of baseball. It was the season that every fan had been dreaming of. Then, when the team folded ten years later and left Montreal for good, it was too much to take. I tried watching the Washington Nationals, but it wasn't the same. I tried to follow former Expos like Vladimir Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera and Jose Vidro as they moved around from team to team, but I just couldn't do it. But there is a lot more to it than that.

It turns out that all of the criticism about baseball that I fought against over all of those years is true. Baseball is long, drawn out and boring. Baseball players are fat, lazy egomaniacs. Well, a lot of them are fat and lazy, and most of them are egomaniacs. Worse still, baseball's supporting cast also seem to be afflicted with an overblown opinion of themselves. Starting at the top with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, a self-serving buffoon of the first order, right down to the umpires, who seem to think that people pay $50 for a ticket to the stadium to see them. In between you have owners like George Steinbrenner, Jerry Reinsdorf and Jeffrey Loria, whose egos, stupidity and chequebooks continue to threaten the viability of 'America's pastime,' and managers like Ozzie Guillen and Lou Piniella, whose antics go way beyond those of his colourful 1940s, 50s and 60s predecessors. Even the anouncers are douchebags.

But the players are the main reason baseball is ruined for me. Certainly, there are many major leaguers who are great guys, but the sport is overrun by spoiled egomaniacs. And their high opinions of themselves are completely unwarranted. Relatively speaking, they are not great athletes. There are few professional sports that demand less from a fitness or toughness point of view (and they still need steroids). Yet, baseball players walk around with their chests puffed out as if they were God's own gift to professional sport. From years past you have Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Albert Belle, Bobby Bonilla, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, John Rocker, and the list could go on and on and on. Today, those players have been replaced by the likes of AJ Pierzynski, Milton Bradley, Elijah Dukes, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. As fans, how are we supposed to take these guys seriously?

To all those people who have been telling me for years and years that baseball sucks, all I can say is I am sorry for not listening to you, and you are right. Too bad it took me more than 30 years to figure it out.

Plucky playoff prognostication

2010-04-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

The NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs start tonight and, by popular demand, here are my fearless predictions. You may have guessed from the logo above that my pick for champion is the Vancouver Canucks. Here is how its going to happen...

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Round 1

(1) CAPITALS vs. (8) CANADIENS

As much as my heart would like to pick the Habs to knock off the heavily favoured Caps, my head tells me that this one is a no-brainer. Washington simply has too much offence for Montreal's mediocre defence. The Canadiens may have some success against an average defensive corps and below average goaltending, but Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and company will run roughshod over the overmatched Canadiens. Capitals in five.

(2) DEVILS vs. (7) FLYERS

This will be the biggest upset of the first round. Philly have been knocked out in each of the past two years by the Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and were runner-up in 2008. The experienced and gritty Flyers are well-suited for playoff hockey. Meanwhile, Martin Brodeur and the Devils have struggled since the Olympic break, going 15-18, and Ilya Kovalchuk has failed to live up to expectations with only 10 goals in 27 games since being acquired from the Thrashers at the trade deadline. Oh, and by the way, the Flyers lost only once to the Devils in six regular season games. Flyers in six.

(3) SABRES vs. (6) BRUINS

After over-achieving and finishing atop the Eastern Conference last season, the Bruins were dispatched by the Hurricanes in the second round of the 2009 playoffs. While Buffalo quietly compiled an impressive 45-27-10 record in 2009-10, Boston fell back to earth to 39-30-13. The Sabres are simply too much for the now under-achieving and injury-riddled Bruins. Sabres in five.

(4) PENGUINS vs. (5) SENATORS

It is difficult to tell whether the reigning Stanley Cup champions have under-achieved in 2009-10, or if they are saving themselves for the playoffs. It is essentially the same lineup that heads into this year's playoff ranked fourth in the East. The Senators, on the other hand, turned around their season after the holidays and have looked like world beaters in their past ten games with a 7-3 record. That said, while the Senators could be a surprise, the Penguins have too much offensive firepower and playoff experience for Ottawa to handle. Penguins in five.

Round 2

(1) CAPITALS vs. (7) FLYERS

Surprisingly, the Flyers match up reasonably well against the league-leading Capitals. Neither team has much in the way of goaltending and, while Washington has a clear edge on offense, Philadelphia may have some of the NHL's best two-way forwards. It will be very interesting to see the Caps' skilled forwards against the likes of Carter and Richards, not to mention Pronger and Carle. This will be a long and entertaining series with the Flyers falling in the end. Capitals in seven.

(3) SABRES vs. (4) PENGUINS

The Penguins are simply too strong up front, and have too much experience, for the Sabres. Penguins in five.

Round 3

(1) CAPITALS vs. (4) PENGUINS

A matchup for the ages. If you thought last year's second round series between these teams was exciting... This year, Ovechkin will get his revenge on Crosby and move on to his own Stanley Cup final against the Canucks. But it will be very close with home-ice advantage being the deciding factor. Capitals in seven.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Round 1

(1) SHARKS vs. (8) AVALANCHE

The Sharks are known for choking in the playoffs and the Thornton/Marleau/Heatley line has cooled off in recent months, while the Avalanche are the NHL's biggest regular season surprise (apart from the Coyotes). Which is why San Jose will make it past the first round. Come on! Did you really think I was going to pick Colorado? Sharks in four.

(2) BLACKHAWKS vs. (7) PREDATORS

For me, the Blackhawks are the most exciting team in the NHL to watch (with Washington being 1A). Toews, Kane, Sharp, Keith and Seabrook are the next generation of NHL superstars. They are the 2010 version of the 2008 Penguins. The only problem is that they lack experience and a quality goaltender. Luckily, Nashville does too. Blackhawks in four.

(3) CANUCKS vs. (6) KINGS

The Canucks are the best hope to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993 (Go Habs Go!!). The Sedins are as potent an offensive tandem as there is in the NHL and Roberto Luongo is coming off a stellar performance at the Olympics in his home arena. However, beating the Kings will be no easy task. They are a young, feisty and talented bunch, but are not quite ready for prime time. Canucks in five.

(4) COYOTES vs. (5) RED WINGS

The young upstarts against the wily playoff veterans. If, at the beginning of the season, you had predicted a fourth place finish for the Coyotes, someone who loves you very much would likely have called for a short bus to take you away. Detroit, on the other hand, have looked like anything but the team that faced Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup final the last two years. Like the Penguins, though, one wonders if the Red Wings may have been saving themselves for when it counts. They have, by far, the deepest pool of proven playoff performers in the NHL and should end Phoenix' dream season easily. Red Wings in four.

Round 2

(1) SHARKS vs. (5) RED WINGS

Once again, Joe Thornton and the Sharks will fail to live up to playoff expectations. Despite their regular season, the Red Wings' playoff performers will be too much for San Jose to handle. Red Wings in six.

(2) BLACKHAWKS vs. (3) CANUCKS

When experience takes on youth, experience usually wins. This will be no exception. Despite being the more naturally talented team, the Blackhawks will not be able to overcome Vancouver's wily veterans and hardworking role players. Canucks in six.

Round 3

(3) CANUCKS vs. (5) RED WINGS

When I started writing these predictions, I did not have Vancouver winning the Western Conference. But, the more I write and think about it, the more I realize that this is the Canucks' year. They have the perfect mix of offence and defence up front and on the blueline, and this is Roberto Luongo's year to get that monkey off his back. Detroit will be tough, but Vancouver will have more in the tank during the latter games of the series and will emerge with the victory. Canucks in 6.

STANLEY CUP FINAL

CAPITALS vs. CANUCKS

They say a good defence always beats a good offence. If that's the case, the Canucks will win. But the NHL has not seen an offence like Washington's in quite some time. The problem for Washington is that Vancouver has a pretty decent crop of offensive talent too and, while they scored the most goals per game this season in the NHL, they were only 16th in goals against. This is going to cost them against the likes of the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows and the rest of the Canucks' forwards. Ovechkin and the Capitals will have to wait one more year before hoisting Lord Stanley's mug. Canucks in 6.

In search of the perfect scrum...

2010-04-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen the perfect scrum?

Admittedly, I am no expert when it comes to all things rugby. Relatively speaking, having three years of playing experience and only a few more as a spectator, I am a neophyte. But I am convinced that the perfect scrum does not exist and I lay down the challenge for anyone to describe the perfect scrum to me.

As a lower division second row player, I have been in many scrums...knock-ons and forward passes being one of the distinguishing features of low-level rugby. When it comes to scrummaging, frankly, I have no godly clue what I am doing. I bind onto my fellow lock, get down on one knee, stick my head between the legs of the hooker and prop in front of me, and wait for the referees call. On 'ENGAGE!' I straighten up and drive my legs forward with all my might and wait for someone to yell "BALL'S OUT!" and charge after the play (usually after a few seconds to catch my breath and regain my bearings). Sure, there has been some coaching and I have been taught to 'get low' and 'be horizontal' and to 'drive' or 'hold' depending on the number eight's call. There may even have been something that I didn't fully understand about 'crabbing' when the other team tries to turn the scrum. But, in reality, it all comes down to pushing against the guys in front of me as hard as I can.

More significant than my cluelessness is the fact that I don't think anyone else has a clue either. Like me, I think that every rugby forward in the world simply waits for the call and attempts to drive their opponent into oblivion. They try to get low and keep their back straight but, beyond that, there is little else involved.

Why else is it that so many scrums fail, even at the highest levels of rugby? Watch any international or elite level club match and it seems like every second scrum is aborted because of improper technique or infraction...or because it simply collapsed. Often times the calls seem completely arbitrary and, usually, the solution is for the players to drag themselves up off the turf and try again. Either the best and most experienced players in the world don't know how to scrummage properly, or there is no such thing as a proper scrum. The IRB laws are reasonably clear and comprehensive on the subject, yet scrum after scrum after scrum seems to get whistled down and every referee seems to have a different interpretation as to what is allowed and what is not.

So, if you are one of those rugby players who rambles on incomprehensibly about how to scrummage, I am calling you out. If you're that guy who struts around at training talking about how to do this, that or the other thing in a scrum, to put it bluntly, you're full of shit. You don't know what to do in a scrum any better than I do. No one does. I am convinced...

The goose is not Cooked...

2010-03-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

Just a few thoughts about the Penguins' Matt Cooke non-suspension after his potentially season-ending hit on the Bruins' Marc Savard:

1) It's time to call Colin Campbell out onto the carpet and review his record as NHL disciplinarian. The league has dropped the ball time and time again when it comes to policing its players. After all these years there is no rhyme or reason to the way Campbell deals with punishing players. Have dangerous and violent incidents decreased since he took over the job? If there is no NHL rule against the Cooke hit, which I think there is, its Campbell's fault. Its not like this is the first time one player has injured another with a head shot. These hits have been occurring for years. Why is there no rule against it?

2) The NHL's excuse that Cooke's hit was not illegal and that there was no basis for a suspension under the league's rule book is a joke. The rule on interference states that "A minor penalty shall be imposed on an attacking player who deliberately checks a defensive player, including the goalkeeper, who is not in possession of the puck." You could even define the hit as a 'hit from behind,' which the rule book defines as "a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect or defend himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body." Fact is that Campbell screwed up by failing to suspend Mike Richards for his hit on David Booth and seems to be unaware that two wrongs don't make a right.

3) Suspensions, no matter how severe, are not going to take dangerous hits from the NHL. Even a 20-game suspension to Cooke would have little impact on the Penguins. Do what they do in international hockey and make it a major penalty for making ANY contact with another players head...whethere there is an injury or not. If teams have to play short for five minutes you can bet that coaches and GMs will make sure headshots disappear.

4) Something needs to be done about the equipment worn by NHL players. I liken it to the difference between football and rugby. Everyone thinks rugby is the rougher sport, but football players get injured more often. It's because, as a rugby player, you consider your own safety before throwing your body at someone else because you have no equipment to protect you. Like football players, hockey players no longer have to pay any mind to their own safety when they throw a hit.

5) Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier have come off as a bit self-righteous in their response to the Cooke hit. Both questioned Cooke's integrity and respect for other players, which might be fair, but I hope they marched into their dressing room and had a few words with teammate Steve Downie, possibly the dirtiest player in the NHL. Also, don't forget that Lecavalier was suspended in 2005 for intentionally cross-checking Domonic Moore in the face.

It ain't broke...

2010-03-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

There is a movement afoot to increase the number of teams that qualify for the NCAA's championship basketball tournament, known as March Madness who haven't spent the past thirty years living in a cave. I am not sure where the idea started, but I have heard a number of highly respected members of the US college basketball community making the pitch for a tournament featuring as many upwards of 90 teams. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim (who I love) told Dan Patrick in an interview last week that:

It would actually strengthen the Tournament if you went to 96 teams. Because as we know now there are some teams that get into the Tournament by winning a conference tournament who's record is 12 and 12 or whatever. They're not one of the better teams. So if they did expand where you had a first round where say 32 teams get by and the next 64 played you would end up with 64 of the best teams.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski echoed Boeheim's sentiment and advocated the combination of the NCAA and NIT tournaments into an single event with between 72 and 96 teams. He told Patrick that:

If there was expansion, I would take the two properties that the NCAA owns -- the NCAA tournament and the NIT -- and I'd try to combine them in some fashion. Now if that meant 96 teams or 72 or whatever it would mean, I would combine the two properties so this would be the only tournament.

I know these are some of the most respected men in college basketball, but are they out of their minds?

Why is it that when a professional sports organization (don't kid yourself into thinking that the NCAA is any different than the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL) has a good thing they have to get greedy and ruin it? The only real motivation behind increasing the number of teams in March Madness is to make more money for the NCAA and its member universities. More teams and more games means more money. The problem is that it waters down the quality of the product.

If the issue is making sure that qualified teams are not left at home while lesser calibre schools make it by earning automatic bids, as Boeheim and Krzyzewski suggest, then eliminate all or some of the automatic bids. This was the argument made by ESPN Radio host Eric Kuselias on Saturdauy morning. You have to increase the number of teams to make sure that the best teams make it to the tournament.

Bullshit! First, if you are worried about a Lipscombe qualifying over Louisville or Wake Forest, then take away the Atlantic Sun's automatic bid. Limit the automatic bids to the top 10, 15 or 20 conferences. But that's not the answer either. One of the greatest things about March Madness is watching those teams you never heard of play on the first Thursday afternoon. Everyone loves to watch and see if the Rutgers, Riders and Radfords can pull of the upset of the century against the Ketuckys, Kansases and Californias. I know I do...

If the NCAA decides to increase the number of teams at its basketball tournament, it might have the desired effect of increasing revenues in the short term, but it might backfire by ruining the product on the court. Not only will the level of competition at the tournament itself be watered down, the regular season will become little more than a series of exhibition games. Why would the top schools bother making much of an effort between November and February when they are virtually guaranteed to be playing in March? With a 96-team field, you are likely to see the eighth and even ninth placed teams from some conferences earn bids. So, you're only the eighth best in your own league but you deserve a shot at the national championship?

March Madness is one of the most entertaining sporting events of the year. The NCAA basketball tournament ain't broke. Hopefully the NCAA will be smart enough not to fix it.

The problem with rugby league...

2010-03-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

How many North American sports fans out there can say they watched the World Club Challenge of rugby league this week? Not many I suspect, but rugby league is one of my favourites and I downloaded the broadcast of the game as soon as it was available on my favourite BitTorrent site and sat down to watch the intercontinental matchup between the NRL premier Melbourne Storm and the Leeds Rhinos, champions of Europe's Super League.

The game was a very good one as the Australians scored a late try to cruise to an 18-10 victory on the rain slicked pitch at Elland Road. In reality, the game was much closer, with veteran Rhino centre Keith Senior's big mouth being the difference in the game. In the 60th minute, with the teams tied at 10s, Senior grew frustrated with the Storm's tactics in the ruck, specifically their failure to release ball carrier's in a timely manner. Apparently he perceived the actions of the Melbourne tacklers as a an attempt to delay the game and allow the rest of their team to get back in defence, and he expressed his frustrations to the referee. And it cost his team a penalty which resulted in two points, the game winning points, from Cameron Smith.

This is the problem with rugby league as I see it. For those of you familiar with the game, just skip over this paragraph as I will have to explain a little bit about the rules. Rugby league is like rugby union (the rugby you are more familiar with), but with a few different rules. One of the most significant of these rules is that, in rugby league, the rucks are uncontested. That is to say that, once a player is tackled, the defensive team must release the ball carrier, allow him to stand up and roll the ball to a player behind him with his foot, and retreat ten yards. Two players may remain within the ten yards but have to be square to the ball carrier, but that is another rule for another day.

Welcome back experienced rugby league fans. The problem is that there is no clear definition regarding how long the tacklers may hold the ball carrier on the ground. It seems that every referee has a different interpretation. The result is inconsistency and what appear to be random and arbitrary penalty calls. On Sunday, the Rhinos were frustrated by the fact that the referee was allowing the Storm tacklers to hold the ball carrier down for longer than they were used to. The crowd booed mightily after virtually every Melbourne tackle and, according to the commentators, the Leeds brass complained forcefully to the officials at half-time. Melbourne, meanwhile, after being allowed to hold the ball carrier on the ground for three or four seconds throughout the game was penalized on more than one occasion when the referee buckled under the pressure of the home team. On one tackle they would be allowed to hold the man down for close to five seconds and on the next they would be penalized for holding him down for half as long. The reality is that the inconsistent application of the rule actually favoured Leeds, which makes Senior's outburst all the more dimwitted.

But back to the problem. The law regarding when a player is tackled in rugby league needs to be better defined. There is nothing more frustrating than having the momentum of a game changed, or even the outcome decided, because a referee decided to call an infraction that he has been allowing to occur up to that point. Currently, the laws of the game (from the Super League) simply state that:

11.2) A player in possession is tackled:
a) When he is held by one or more opposing players and the ball or the hand or arm holding the ball comes into contact with the ground.

b) When he is held by one or more opposing players in such a manner that he can make no further progress and cannot part with the ball.

c) When, being held by an opponent, the tackled player makes it evident that he has succumbed to the tackle and wishes to be released in order to play-the-ball.

Again, this law leads to inconsistent interpretation and application. A more appropriate definition would state that a player is deemed tackled after any of the circumstances in the current law occur, after which the referee will inform the tacklers (verbally) that the man is tackled. The tacklers will then have three seconds to release the ball carrier and allow him to play the ball. Not two seconds, and not four seconds. The referees are already yelling constant instructions to the players so they could even count off the three seconds for the players. This would lead to more consistency and fewer arbitrary penalty calls. Its quite simple, if the tacklers don't release within the three seconds, their team would be penalized. A tackled player who intentionally interferes with a tackler who is trying to release him should also be penalized.

It may sound trivial but, as someone who has only recently discovered this great game, it is an enormous thing to have clear and understandable rules. Clear and understandable rules legitimize a sport in the eyes of the new and casual observer. All codes of rugby, by their nature and with its many rules, already provides its officials with incredible influence of the result of a contest. Any opportunity to minimize this influence should be exercised. If rugby league is to flourish outside of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, this is a change that must be made.

Five greatest Vanocuver Olympic moments

2010-03-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

Sports is about memorable moments. Hockey fans still talk about Paul Henderson's goal in 1972 or or the 1982 Miracle on Ice. Mookie Wilson's dribbler that found its way through Bill Buckner's legs in the ninth inning of game 6 of the 1986 World Series is ingrained in the minds of baseball fans everywhere. Basketball fans will never forget Michael Jordan's game winning shots over Craig Ehlo in 1989 or his push off against Byron Russell in the 1998 NBA Finals. No matter what sport you watch or what team you follow, there are moments that you will remember forever.

Over the past two weeks and a bit, sports fans have been left with many memories from the 2010 Olympic games. Looking back here are five great moments I will remember forever...

BEST MOMENTS

1. The Wizard of Croz
Its obvious and cliche, but Sidney Crosby's overtime goal to defeat the USA for the gold medal on the last day of the games is the moment I will remember and the moment that everyone will talk about for many years to come. Canadians had been talking about this game literally for years (although the Russians were expected to be the opponent). Energy levels were at an all-time high. It is rare that an event with so much hype lives up to expectations, but this one did...and then some.

2. Rochette's Resolve
I don't watch figure skating. Ever. But I stayed up past midnight on a weekday to watch Joannie Rochette deliver one of the most courageous performances in Olympic history. Anyone would have excused the Canadian skater for deciding to return home after her mother died suddenly only a couple of days before her competition was to begin. Instead, she stayed, she competed, she won a bronze medal, and she carried the Canadian flag at the closing ceremony. Incredible.

3. Bilodeau Breaks the Ice
Going into the Vancouver games, all of the talk was about who would be the first Canadian to win a gold medal on home soil. A television commercial asking that very question started airing more than a year before the games even started. Would it be Jennifer Heil in the moguls? Maybe Charles Hamelin in short track speed skating? How about Canada's greatest Olympian of all, Clara Hughes? In the end it was Alexandre Bilodeau, the ever-smiling and always gracious freestyle skier who defeated all comers on the wet slopes on Cypress Mountain on the evening of Day 3. The only thing better than the gold medal was the hug Bilodeau gave his brother when the two finally met after the competition.

4. Majdical Performance
When Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic slid off-course and into a ditch during a practice run, I honestly thought she might be dead. I was amazed when I heard that she intended to compete later that same day despite broken ribs and a punctured lung. When she won a bronze medal in the individual sprint after qualifier, quarterfinal, seminal and final races, I was flabbergasted. She was in so much pain that she needed help getting up on the podium to accept her medal.

5. Mighty Montgomery
I am not much of a luge fan. Sure, its exciting to watch people fly down a track made of ice on their bellies at speeds in excess of 160 km/h but, really, there is not a whole lot to it. However, everyone will remember the 2010 skeleton competition for one reason: Jon Montgomery. Of all the medalists in Vancouver, none was more genuinely elated to win than the Canadian skeleton-er. His medal ceremony, interviews and, of course, march through the streets of Whistler where he promptly downed half a pitcher of beer handed to him by a fan will never be forgotten.

No women's hockey at the Olympics

2010-02-26T08:31:00.001-08:00

In the wake of last night's gold medal victory by Team Canada over the United States, IOC president Jacques Rogge questioned the future of women's hockey in the Olympics proclaiming that:

There is a discrepancy there, everyone agrees with that. This is maybe the investment period in women's ice hockey. I would personally give them more time to grow but there must be a period of improvement. We cannot continue without improvement.

While he will never be accused of having good timing or be asked to teach a course in diplomacy, Rogge is correct. As it stands today, women's hockey should not be an Olympic sport. Regardless of the incredible exhibition put on by the Canadians and Americans last night (and every time they play), there simply are not enough nations in the world who can field competitive teams. The US defeated Sweden 9-1 in one semi-final, while Canada cruised to a 5-0 drubbing of Finland in the other. Even the third and fourth best teams in the world are well out of their league. That's not even to mention the 18-0, 13-0, 13-1, 12-1 and 10-1 preliminary round games.

Name me another Olympic sport where one or two countries are a virtual guarantee to win gold very single year. Online sports books were giving Canada 8/15 (you bet $15 to win $23) odds and the United States was at 11/8 (you bet $8 to win $19). Meanwhile, the odds of a Finnish or Swedish gold medal were 14/1 (you bet $1 to win $15) and 16/1 (you bet $1 to win $17) respectively. In other words, you would have been crazy to bet on anyone except for Canada and the USA and, if you did bet on them, you would not have made any money.

The other problem is that there does not appear to be any parity in the future of women's hockey. This year's results are remarkably similar to those in 1996, when the sport was allowed into the Olympics in Nagano. In that tournament, the United States won the gold over Canada 3-1. The teams may have even been closer to one another back then as Finland battled to matching 4-2 losses against the top two teams while Sweden and China only lost to the Canadians 5-3 and 2-0 respectively.

Not only is there a lack of competition in international women's hockey, the gap between the top two teams and the rest of the world seems to be growing. Unless drastic measures are taken to develop the sport in other hockey playing nations, women should not be allowed to compete at the Olympic games. There is no excuse for a country like Russia, with its great hockey history and expertise, to be trounced 12-0 by the United States as they were last week in Vancouver. Its a great sport and fans are promised an incredible gold medal showdown every time, but you need more than two competitive nations. Maybe cutting it out of the Olympics will provide the rest of the world with the incentive to pull up their socks. If not...

Weekend review

2010-02-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

What a great time the last couple of weeks have been for sports fans -- the Olympic Games in Vancouver, a great Super Bowl victory by the New Orleans Saints, Six Nations rugby and the regular excitement from the NHL and NBA. It makes for plenty of television viewing and, because I had my wisdom teeth yanked on Friday, I spent extra time in front of the boob tube this weekend. A few thoughts...

Friday's opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics were incredible. For week's I wondered how VANOC was going to compete with Beijing, and even Torino, but they put on a show that was every bit as entertaining as I have ever seen. It was a great celebration of Canadian history and culture and had plenty of 'oh my God' moments. KD Lang's version of Hallelujah was amazing, and Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado and Nikki Yanofsky were all fantastic. I still haven't figured out exactly how they made whales swim across the floor of BC Place.

Prior to Friday's ceremony, all the buzz was about who would be the last to carry the Olympic torch and light the cauldron. In the end, the honour was shared by Catriona LeMay Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene and Wayne Gretzky, with the Great One carrying the flame out of the stadium and lighting the outdoor cauldron near the city's waterfront. All were obvious choices and its difficult to quibble with any of them. I might have considered including Larry Walker who is also from British Columbia and, like Nash and Gretzky, is the greatest Canadian to have played his sport. One could question Nash' inclusion based on his refusal to represent Canada internationally since 2004. It was surprising to me that Gaetan Boucher, Mario Lemieux, Kerrin Lee-Gartner and Myriam Bedard were not involved in the ceremony at all.

My prediction for Olympic men's hockey is that Canada will defeat Sweden in the gold medal final. Russia will flounder because of a lack of defense and chemistry and will not win a medal. Another surprise is that Roberto Luongo will take over from Martin Brodeur and will be Canada's starting goaltender for the final game. He will also be and will be named tournament MVP.

Why does Scotland stink at rugby so bad? There does not appear to be any rational reason why the Scots shouldn't be able to compete with their neighbours in England, Wales and Ireland. Case in point, during Saturday's Six Nations match versus Wales, the Celts held a commanding 24-9 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining only to give up 22 unanswered points and lose 31-24. Its hard to say what is more shocking: Scotland's collapse or the fact that they were ahead in this game at all.

The NBA all-star game is a joke. The pre-game festivities are far more entertaining than the no-defence scrimmage between the Association's best players. As with the NFL, a regional competition between players from North and South (a la State of Origin) would be far more interesting to watch

Speaking of all-star games, the National Rugby League held its inaugural game between the league's best players and the best players of indigenous origin. It is an interesting concept to imagine especially for someone from North America. Can you imagine a MLB sponsored game between white and Latino players? Or how about an NBA all-star team of all black players? Not only did it happen in Australia, but it was a moving celebration of the country's Aboriginal people. And by the way, the Indigenous team beat the NRL all-stars 16-12 in front of a packed house of 27,000 at Skilled Park in Robina.

Who dat?!?

2010-02-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

Who dat?

Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?!?

That's right. I am a Saints fan now. After months of gut wrenching deliberation I have officially decided to abandon the hapless Buffalo Bills and pick a new team. Its not the losing that has convinced me to give up on my team after 20 years of being a diehard fan, its the management's apparent disinterest in doing anything to improve the team. The final straw was the the hiring of Hee Haw extras Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey as general manager and head coach and, after watching New Orleans' inspiring performance over the past few weeks and last night's impressive victory, the choice seems clear.

I know a lot of you out there will say I am jumping on the bandwagon and, in a way, I am. But its not just yesterday's Super Bowl victory that made me choose the Saints. Its the players. Its the franchise. Its the fans. Its the city. All of which are the best in the NFL. It sure will be nice to cheer for a young exciting team that is motivated to win for a change. I can't wait for next year...

No politicians allowed!

2010-02-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

I hate politics. Being closely involved with politics made my life miserable and I have made a very conscious effort to distance myself from anything political. In fact, one of the central premises of this blog was to write about something other than politics after more than two years of maintaining a fairly popular political blog, also called Maxwell's House. I kept the name partly to erase the memory of the old blog from my mind and the mindless drivel I wrote from the minds of others.

So, it is with great reluctance that I will comment, ever so briefly, on the news out of Ottawa that the morally bankrupt and politically opportunistic federal New Democratic Party is calling for a probe into violence in sports. Apparently, Patrice Cormier's highly publicized elbow on Mikael Tam is the catalyst for the 20-minute news conference hosted by Glenn Thibeault and Thomas Mulcair demanding a Royal Commission on the issue.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, politicians have no business getting involved in the operation and administration of professional sports leagues. It is nothing more than a poorly veiled attempt to curry favour with voters on an issue that just happens to be in the public eye at the moment. Every time there is a high-profile incident that receives a lot of media attention, these blowhards climb out from under their legislature desks, spout off for a few reporters, get their name and picture on the news, and then disappear.

It happened when Jonathan Roy skated the length of the ice during a brawl to beat up a disinterested Bobby Nadeau a couple of years ago. It happened when Todd Bertuzzi jumped an unsuspecting Steve Moore from behind in 2004 and broke his neck. It happened in 2000 when Marty McSorley clubbed Donald Brashear in the side of the head with his hockey stick. And every single time the politicians disappeared along with the media attention.

So, to all you politicians out there, stick to your pork and party politics and keep your nose out of our sports. You ruin everything else that you touch so keep your hands off.

How to fix the Pro Bowl.

2010-01-31T16:51:00.000-08:00

The Pro Bowl is on right now and, like just about everyone else, I don't care. Even with the NFL moving the game to the week before the Super Bowl, I am sitting here watching a rerun of Nitro Circus on MTV. Seriously, why would I watch a game of touch football, even if it stars the best players in the world? Why would anyone? This year, the players don't even care enough about the game to show up. In Canada, the game has been bumped off TSN to TSN2 the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the national women's curling championship.

The annual debate about what to do about the NFL's all-star game is usually more entertaining than the game itself. For as long as I can remember, sportswriters and commentators lament about how boring this game is and try to come up with ways to make it exciting for fans to watch...and every year they come up with absolutely nothing. Moving it up to before the Super Bowl only makes it worse because the players from the league's two best teams are busy preparing for the championship game. In today's age, the risk of injury makes it next to impossible to get multi-million dollar athletes to put their careers and the success of their own teams on the line in an exhibition game.

But this problem is not unique to the NFL. All-star games in the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball suck too. Those leagues have seemingly given up on trying to make their mid-season classics exciting and have focused on the events leading up to the game. Basketball has the slam dunk and three-point contest; hockey has its skill competition; and baseball has the homerun derby. All of these are far more exciting than the games themselves and expose the players to virtually zero risk of injury.

There aren't very many things that the NFL has to learn from other professional sports leagues but, when it comes to its all-star game, Roger Goodell could learn a thing or two from his colleagues in other leagues. Turn the Pro-Bowl into a weekend where the players participate in non-contact skills competitions. I would watch that.

Another option would be to take a page out of the National Rugby League's playbook. Every year, in mid-season, Australia's best rugby league players compete in a three-game series between all-stars whose careers started in Queensland and in New South Wales. It is an incredible honour to be named to your home team and the players' pride is very evident as soon as they take the field. Many would say that they would rather win a State of Origin title than a league championship. And it is by far the most entertaining (and roughest) rugby league of the year. The only difference is that most NRL players are not multi-millionaires (and they are much tougher and proud).

Can you imagine an annual game between NFL players from the southern and northern states? Draw a vertical line across a map of the United States and get players from either side to play a game, let's say, a month after the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. Larry Fitzgerald vs. Andre Johnson. Dwight Freeney vs. DeMarcus Ware. There is enough pride in region that you might convince the players to actually take the game seriously. I would definitely watch a full-on, no holds barred game involving the NFL's best players. And I think a lot of others would too.

Expos, greatest ever?

2010-01-30T10:42:00.000-08:00

Last week's anouncement that Andre Dawson would be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo against his will led radio commentator Dan Patrick to declare that an all-time team of Nos Amours would compare favourably against the best any other franchise has to offer. Of course, I couldn't agree more, but coming from the American sports media, that is generally pre-occupied with ridiculing anything Canadian, it was quite a shock.

The Expos may not be the most storied team in baseball history, but I would take my lineup of the team's greatest players (in their prime) against the all-stars of any other franchise. Major League Baseball Baseball only existed in Montreal for 35 years, but fans witnessed some incredible talent during that brief period. In fact, The Expos' best could compete with, and win against, the best from team's with much longer histories.

Here is my all-time Expos 25-man roster. Unless you are a Yankees or Red Sox fan, I bet you can't come up with a better squad.

Starting rotation

Pedro Martinez RHP

Randy Johnson LHP

Dennis Martinez RHP

Steve Rogers RHP

Bill Lee LHP

Ross Grimsley LHP

Honourable mentions go to Charlie Lea, Bill Gullickson and Mark Langston, whose 179 career wins probably should earn him a spot in the rotation but spent so little time in Montreal that it is difficult to consider him an Expo.

Bullpen

Jeff Reardon RHP

John Wetteland RHP

Mike Marshall RHP

Mel Rojas RHP

Woodie Fryman LHP

Chad Cordero had 127 saves in four seasons before being injured in 2008, but he was only an Expo for one season before moving to Washington with the rest of the team. Similarly, Lee Smith only came to Montreal for one year at the very end of his career and doesn't make my team despite being one of baseball's greatest closers.

Catchers

Gary Carter C

Darrin Fletcher C

Carter is far and away the best backstop in Expos' history and one of the 10 (maybe five) greatest catchers ever to play baseball. After that there is a hug drop-off in talent level and let's just say that Fletcher wouldn't even get to play very many day games after a night game for my team. Others you might consider mentioning are Brian Schneider, Mike Fitzgerald and John Boccabella.

Infield

Andres Galarraga 1B

Al Oliver 1B

Jose Vidro 2B

Tim Wallach 3B

Larry Parrish 3B

Hubie Brooks SS

Tony Perez 1B

Pete Rose might be the best baseball player ever, but he only played one season in Montreal so I left him off my team. Perez was an Expo for three years and would be a solid anchor for any infield. I will never forget Delino DeShields' major league debut when he batted 4 for 6 against the St. Louis Cardinals, but he still doesn't make my team. Orlando Cabrera and Chris Speier would be welcome on most team's at shortstop but are stuck in the minors behind Brooks on the all-time Expos.

Outfield

Andre Dawson CF

Vladimir Guerrero RF

Tim Raines LF

Larry Walker RF

Ken Singleton LF

This is where the Expos really distinguish themselves. Picking just five outfielders was a really difficult task. 1997 NL MVP Larry Walker would probably be restricted to bench and pinch hitter duty on this team. And consider that Rusty Staub and his 292 career homeruns could not crack the lineup, even as a backup. What about the cornerstones of the Expos team that would have won a World Series if not for a players' strike in 1994: Moises Alou, who averaged 28 HR and 107 RBI during an 18-year career; and Marquis Grissom, who led the National League in stolen bases in 1991 and 1992. Bob Bailey, Warren Cromartie, Ellis Valentine and Rondell White would make a lot of other franchise's all-star teams.

What is your favourite team? Put together your all-time 24-man roster and let's see how they compare...

Help, my team is a laughing stock!

2010-01-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

Help! I need your advice sports fans. What do you do when your favourite team becomes a laughing stock? So, all you supporters of the LA Clippers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Maple Leafs, this post is for you.

You see, my beloved Buffalo Bills officially became the biggest joke in the NFL last week. That is quite a feat when you consider the competition - like the Raiders, Lions, Rams and Buccaneers. Losing four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s and finishing with a record better than .500 only once since 2000 is one thing, but last week's hiring of Chan Gailey (and the subsequent press conference of 70-year old hillbilly GM Buddy Nix) was just too much.

Chan Gailey?!? Do the Bills really expect their fans to believe that there was no one better out there than a Dallas Cowboys' throwaway who has not been a head coach in the NFL for more than 10 years. What about Bill Cowher, John Gruden, Marty Schottenheimer and Mike Shanahan? Even the perennially miserable Cleveland Browns were able to hire Mike Holmgren, a high profile coach with a proven track record. Why not give Cincinnati defensive co-ordinator Mike Zimmer a shot? The Seattle Seahawks made a big splash when they brought Pete Carroll in from the college ranks. We get Chan Gailey, who was the offensive co-ordinator of the NFL's worst offensive team for the past three years and was even relieved of his play calling duties last season.

The Bills have been on a downward spiral since Wade Phillips made the illogical decision to replace Doug Flutie at quarterback in 2000 - despite an 11-5 record in 1999 with Flutie at the helm. Since then a series of questionable decisions have resulted in a record of 66-94 and ten straight seasons without making the playoffs. And then someone put a microphone in front of this slack jawed bumpkin...

What is a fan to do? Maybe I'll cut my losses and cheer for a new team. The Colts and Saints are pretty good. I could stop watching the NFL altogether and focus my attention on the CFL. My Alouettes are Grey Cup champions and look to be contenders for many years to come. Or should I bite my lip and watch every Sunday as the Bills get beat up week after week in the hope that they will make the playoffs before I need diapers? Tell me Leafs fans, what should I do?

Cormier comments

2010-01-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Let me begin by saying that I am a big fan of Patrice Cormier. Not only is his brother, Kevin, one of the most popular players in the history of my hometown Halifax Mooseheads, but he is a fantastic player who I think has what it takes to have a successful NHL career. He looks to me like one of those guys who actually plays better at the professional level than in junior (a la Patrice Bergeron).

All that said, I am at a loss to find any excuse whatsoever for the hit in Mikael Tam. To me, elbowing an unsuspecting player while skating at full-speed is about as dirty and unforgivable an act a hockey player can commit. It is on par with clubbing another player over the head with a stick and there is no possible justification. What Cormier did is far more deplorable and dangerous than Michael Liambis' hit a few months ago that resulted in a lifetime suspension from the OHL. The Liambis' suspension, in my view, was extraordinarily harsh, but it sets a precedent that may make life more difficult for Cormier, if not Gilles Courteau.

Using Liambis as a barometer, Cormier should be kicked out of the QMJHL forever...period. However, if one recognizes that David Branch went over the top when he made his ruling, a less harsh punishment could be applied. I don't think that disciplinary decisions should take the skill and value of a player (offender or victim) into account, but there is no doubt that Liambis' suspension would have been shorter had he not been a fourth line role player.

Rouyn-Noranda has 20 games left on its regular season schedule. Under the circumstances, it would be appropriate for Cormier to miss all of those games and the first round of the playoffs. I don't believe that this kid's junior career should be ended by this incident (he's only 20 years old) but, on the other hand, a serious message needs to be sent to him (and everyone else in hockey) that this is about as bad as it gets.

Kool-Aid post script

2010-01-15T07:56:00.001-08:00

Just some more food for thought, and another reason for his banishment from baseball, about Mark McGwire and his steroid use...

If McGwire is the new hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals and he believes that he did nothing wrong by taking drugs and that steroids are for recovering from injuries but don't enhance performance, what will stop him from recommending the juice to one of his players (let's say Albert Pujols) if he gets hurt at some point next season?

Ban Kool-Aid McGwire

2010-01-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to watching the video of Bob Costas' interview with Mark McGwire regarding his use of human growth hormone use during his record setting major league baseball career with the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. Here is the first 10 minutes or so that you can watch for yourself...

I would be hard-pressed to think of a better exemplification of the word self-serving. The sole purpose of this interview was as a pre-emptive strike against the inevitable questions that Big Mac will face as the new hitting coach of the Cardinals when Spring Training opens next month. It wouldn't surprise me if this public admission was a condition of his hiring. As it was, the interview was more of a justification than an act of contrition. He didn't take drugs to enhance his performance or to increase his strength and he only took minimal doses and only 'tried' human growth hormone 'once or twice.'

In addition to being self-serving, Kool-Aid's (red juice, get it?) comments are pure unadulterated bullshit. If he only took steroids to ward off injuries, why did he keep playing until he was 38 years old. One minute he says that the drugs made his body feel good and the next he says that he was "tired of being beat up" and that his knee was "trashed." If he didn't think it was cheating and that his statistics were not inflated by steroid use, why didn't McGwire retire in his mid-thirties when his body started to break down?

If there is anyone out there who is fooled by McGwire's weak attempt to rehabilitate his reputation, let's be clear about a few things. McGwire took steroids for virtually his entire career. His rookie season was 1986 and he admits to first taking drugs in 1989. Assuming he is telling the truth (which is a questionable proposition given his history), that's three seasons of playing clean. For those who buy into the 'a pill or injection won't help you hit a baseball' argument, look at the anabolic one's homerun totals for the period between 1990 and 1993 (39, 22, 42 and 9 respectively), when he claims to have quit the muscle milk. These totals were the lowest of his career, by far, and pale in comparison to the 61 homers per year he averaged in the remaining years of his career in which he played 130 games or more.

And McGwire took a lot of steroids between 1993 and 2001, not the occasional low does he admitted to in the Costas' interview. Have a look at his 1987 baseball card...

And here is a card for 1998, the year he broke Roger Maris' single season homerun record...

Watching the interview, anyone who watched McGwire's torrid homerun pace of the late 1990's ought to be amazed at how much he has shrunk over the past 10 years - he is now the size of a normal human being.

Before doing his interview earlier this week, the Pasadena Pill-Popper (he says he preferred taking his steroids orally) was a cheater. Now he is a cheater and a liar. He had his chance to come clean at the congressional hearings in 2005 and he played dumb. He had another chance this week and chose pride and self-interest over humility and contrition. Even worse, he still refuses to admit he did anything wrong. For that, he is more contemptible than Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and any other major leaguer whose career achievements are questioned because of suspected steroid use.

McGwire's name should be placed on Major League Baseball's list of banned players right next to Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. He should never be allowed into the Hall of Fame. His statistics should be stricken from the record books. He shouldn't even be allowed to coach the St. Louis Cardinals.

Baseball's Hall of Shame

2010-01-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's anouncement of this year's class of inductees demonstrated just how broken the selection process for the Baseball Hall of Fame is. Put aside the ongoing injustices that have kept out the likes of Bert Blyleven (287 wins and 3701 strikeouts), Dale Murphy (398 homeruns and 350 doubles) and Dave Parker (.312 average, 34 hoeruns and 125 RBI in 1985). Ignore the controversy around the exclusions of Pete Rose, Mark McGwire and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

The big news yesterday was the election of Andre Dawson and the rejection of Roberto Alomar. With Dawson the question is: what took so long? The Hawk was one of baseball's most dominant players in the 1980s and 90s. An eight-time all-star, he had a lifetime batting average of .279 and hit 438 homeruns. He was the NL MVP in 1987 when he led the league with 49 homers and 137 RBI. Defensively, he had one of the most intimidating outfield arms in baseball and was rewarded with eight Gold Gloves. He probably would have won a few more had he not been plagued with knee problems during the latter part of his career. I would love for someone to explain to me how Dawson was made to wait nine years by the Baseball Writers Association of America to finally be inducted.

But the bigger shock in yesterday's anouncement was the non-inclusion of Alomar in the 2010 Hall of Fame class. Only 74% of the eligible voters felt that the former Blue Jay deserved to be in the Hall. Let's be serious here...we're talking about arguably the best second baseman in baseball history. There is little dispute that he is the greatest ever defensively at his position and his offensive numbers compare with any two-bagger you can name, with the exception of Rogers Hornsby. There are 19 second basemen in the Hall of Fame and Alomar was a better player than all of them but one. Yes, better than Joe Morgan. Better than Ryne Sandberg. Even better than Jackie Robinson, although Robinson obviously deserves recognition for everything he did off the field as well.

So, why was Alomar rebuked by the crotchedy, cantankerous white male baseball writer establishment? Because he spit in the face of an umpire during a game more than 13 years ago? Because he wasn't the nicest guy in the clubhouse? Because he liked to speak his mind? It's a joke. If these old farts can't put aside their personal feelings when judging who belongs in the Hall of Fame, then some other way of recognizing the heroes and icons of baseball should be found.

Rock and Hawk to Hall of Fame?

2010-01-06T03:56:00.000-08:00

The new inductions into the baseball hall of fame are scheduled for later today.

How great would it be for us long suffering Expo fans to see the names of Andre Dawson and Tim Raines on the list? For me, few athletes are more responsible for as many great sports memories and I would love to see them both inducted. Their records match up too.

I would also select former Blue Jays' second baseman Roberto Alomar and the Red's perennial all-star shortstop Barry Larkin, who are eligible for the first time, and Jack Morris of the Tigers, who retired in 1994 with 254 wins.

Jimmie Johnson is an athlete...

2010-01-05T16:47:00.001-08:00

When NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson was named the Associated Press' athlete of the year in December, the never ending debate about what constitutes a sport was opened once again. Despite his four consecutive Sprint Cups, there were many people who not only considered Johnson undeserving of the title, but refused to even recognize him as an athlete. "A race car driver is not an athlete," proclaimed the critics. "How can Johnson be athlete of the year over real athletes?"

So, what makes a real sport? Or a real athlete?

To me, its simple. If an activity requires athletic ability or a physical skill, and it is widely participated in on a competitive level, its a sport. For example, curling is a sport because it involves a physical skill. Chess, on the other hand, is not a sport because it requires neither physical skill or athletic ability. Poker players are not athletes, but race car drivers certainly are.

Olympic hockey team review

2010-01-05T13:44:00.001-08:00

Team Canada anounced its hockey team for the 2010 Olympic games at a sold out news conference in Saskatoon last week. I blogged live at the time and took the opportunity to post my original reactions to the selections made by Steve Yzerman and his team. Now that I have had some time to think about it a little more, I thought I would write down my more considered thoughts about the men who will represent Canada next month in Vancouver.

Choosing an all-star Canadian hockey team is kind of like trying to make a top ten list of French wines or of Italian sports cars. There will always be deserving choices left of the list, but it will be difficult to criticize those that actually are chosen. That is the case with Team Canada.

Sure, it would be easy to say that one guy is more deserving than another. But, in reality, there are probably about 50 players who could have legitimately been selected to this team. Canadian management had to pick 23 and, as high an opinion I may have of my own hockey knowledge, I'll give the edge to Yzerman, Ken Holland, Mike Babcock, Ken Hitchcock, Lindy Ruff and Jacques Lemaire in that department. These guys know what they are doing and their choices are as good as any, and better than most. I can say that I would have picked Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards ahead of Eric Staal and Mike Richards, but I can't criticize Team Canada for the players they took.

The debate that has raged since last week's anouncement has been quite interesting to follow. The French media in Quebec is outraged that St. Louis and his Tampa Bay teammate, Vincent Lecavalier, were left off the squad. In Calgary, they are shocked that none of the Flames defencemen were named to the team. But who among the 23 named last week would you replace to make room for Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf or Robyn Regehr?

The fact is that you could probably put together a completely different team of 23 that, with the exception of in goal, would compete for a medal in Vancouver. Put Marty Turco, Cam Ward and Carey Price in goal; Bouwmeester, Phaneuf, Mike Green, Stephane Robidas, Tyler Myers, Brent Seabrook and Brian Campbell on the blueline; and St. Louis, Lecavalier, Penner, Richards, Steven Stamkos, Mike Cammalleri, Travis Zajac, Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss, Alexandre Burrows, Jeff Carter, Rich Peverley and James Neal up front and you would have a team with the ability to beat anyone.

So, with so many deserving guys who would do just about anything to wear the maple leaf at the Olympics, it exasperates me to see Pronger chosen for Team Canada. Has everyone forgotten about Torino? Canada finished in seventh position (behind Switzerland and Slovakia) and the Flyers' big defenceman was easily the team's worst player. It would be absurd to blame any one player for the poor performance in 2006 but Pronger, as a supposed leader, has to take more than his fair share of the blame for his pitiful play and even worse attitude. For a big, tough, solid defenceman, in Torino he wasn't. It's one thing to play below your ability and expectations, it is quite another to be selfish and quit on your teammates when things go badly. As a so-called leader, it would have been Pronger's job to turn the team around following preliminary round losses to Switzerland and Finland, instead he gave up and was one of the team's worst a quarterfinal loss. Remember the bad penalty he took in the last minute of that one-goal game against Russia? Overall, in six games, he managed just three points and had 16 penalty minutes.

Okay, that's all I have to say about Chris Pronger...

Canada will not easily win a gold medal, but it will certainly be favoured to win. This team will have to play to its full potential in order to defeat Russia and Sweden and, if Torino is a lesson, a lacklustre performance will see the Canadians beaten badly. That said, Yzerman and his cohorts have put together the most impressive grouping of hockey talent since 2002 that should win it all.

Canadian Olympic hockey team announcement

2009-12-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

Here is my live blog of Team Canada's Olympic team announcement...

1:04 pm (atlantic time) Andre Bennett introduces the Team Canada officials, those responsible for picking the team.

1:05 pm Ken Corbett takes the stage to start the proceedings.

1:07 pm Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson takes the stage.

1:09 pm Mike Chambers of the Canadian Olympic Committee takes the stage to make a few comments.

1:10 pm Steve Yzerman takes the stage to make introductory comments.

1:11 pm Yzerman calls Doug Armstrong to the stage to introduce Team Canada's goaltenders...

Martin Brodeur (NJ), Marc- Andre Fleury (PIT) and Roberto Luongo (VAN)

No surprises here. These are the three best Canadian goalies available and no one expected anyone else to be between the pipes for Canada. Brodeur is the incumbent and is likely to be the number one heading into Vancouver. Luongo will be his backup and Fleury is on the team to get experience so he can carry the torch for Team Canada in years to come.

Canada enjoys a wealth in goal that other nations can only dream of. Any of these three can carry Canada to a gold medal. Should Brodeur or Luongo be unable to perform in Vancouver for any reason I expect to see Marty Turco take their place. If Fleury gets hurt I expect him to be replaced by Cam Ward or Carey Price.

1:22 pm Yzerman introduces Kevin Lowe to announce Team Canada's defencemen...

Dan Boyle (SJ), Drew Doughty (LA), Duncan Keith (CHI), Scott Niedermayer (ANA), Chris Pronger (PHI), Brent Seabrook (CHI) and Shea Weber (NAS)

With the exception of Pronger, these are all very good choices and each deserves a spot on this team. Pronger was Canada's worst player by far in Torino and that alone should be enough for him to be left of this team. Mike Green and Jay Bouwmeester would have been better choices. You need heart to play for Team Canada and Pronger has none. To make matters worse, he was named the team's assistant captain. Even players like Stephane Robidas and Tyler Myers are more deserving of a spot on this team.

That said, there is a lot of heart in this group. I am very excited about the prospect of watching Keith, Seabrook, Doughty and Weber make their debut with Canada's elite. In the absence of Green, these youngsters will be relied upon heavily to provide offense from the back end for this team.

Overall, this is an impressive defensive corps and the opposition in Vancouver will have no fun going up against these guys.

1:32 pm Yzerman introduces Ken Holland to anounce the team's forwards...

Patrice Bergeron (BOS), Sidney Crosby (PIT), Ryan Getzlaf (ANA), Dany Heatly (SJ), Jarome Iginla (CAL), Patrick Marleau (SJ), Brenden Morrow (DAL), Rick Nash (COL), Corey Perry (ANA), Mike Richards (PHI), Eric Staal (CAR), Joe Thornton (SJ) and Jonathan Toews (CHI)

A few surprises here.

Richards and Staal do not deserve to be on this team, especially Staal. Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, even Mike Cammalleri and Dustin Penner are more deserving. I love Bergeron and thinks he will turn out to be one of Canada's best in Vancouver.

I don't share the same enthusiasm for Morrow that Team Canada officials seem to. He is clearly on this team as a role player and to provide a little bit of grit. For me a guy like Alex Burrows would be better in that spot. He is bigger, younger, and better than Morrow in virtually every aspect of his game. The only thing he lacks is experience, but Canada certainly does not lack for leadership.

That said, this is a great group of forwards. It will be the second best offensive squad at the Olympics behind the Russians, but will be far and away the best at both ends of the ice.

Team Russia

2009-12-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

The players who will take the ice in Vancouver for Russia were anounced today...

Goalies

Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix Coyotes)

Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose Sharks)

Semyon Varlamov (Washington Capitals)

Defence

Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton Oilers)

Dmitri Kalinin (Salavat Ufa)

Konstantin Korneyev (CSKA Moscow)

Andrei Markov (Montreal Canadiens)

Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan)

Fedor Tyutin (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa Senators)

Forwards

Maxim Afinogenov (Atlanta Thrashers)

Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings)

Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)

Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta Thrashers)

Viktor Kozlov (Salavat Ufa)

Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan)

Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)

Alexander Radulov (Salavat Ufa)

Alexander Semin (Washington Capitals)

Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan)

Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat Ufa)

This is perhaps one of the greatest collections of offensive talent ever put together. Only Team Canada will even come close to matching the Russian firepower come February. Opposing teams will face a daunting task defending the likes of Ovechkin, Malkin and Kovalchuk. The secondary scoring is almost as impressive. Very few coaches have ever enjoyed an abundance of riches up front. The defensive corps is almost as impressive...offensively.

Defensively, the Russians are weak. Gonchar is a quality NHL d-man, but Markov is the team's only top flight defensive defenceman. Grebeshkov is a -12 with the Oilers and Tyutin is a -9 with the Blue Jackets. Vyacheslav Bykov and his coaching staff will have to rely on the old saying that "the best defence is a good offense." If the forwards can maintain possession and keep the puck away from the opposition, the Russians stand a good chance of competing for a gold medal. If not, it will be a very long two weeks for Bryzgalov, Nabokov and Varlamov.

Speaking of goaltenders, the Russians will rely on a trio of solid, but unproven, NHLers. Bryzgalov has arguably been the best in the league with 21 wins and five shutouts in 33 starts, but has never enjoyed such success in the past and has little international experience. Varlamov has been almost as impressive this year with a 12-1 record for the Capitals, but is a 21-year old rookie. Nabokov is the most experienced of the bunch, but is by no means a top tier international goaltender. He will likely be the team's starter and has the ability to be a show stopper, but will likely miss a Sharks' defensive corps that features shutdown defencemen like Doug Murray, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Dan Boyle.

Philly flub

2009-12-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

The Jays and Phillies finally pulled the trigger on Major League Baseball's most anticipated trade of the off-season. Roy Halladay, perhaps the greatest Blue Jay of all-time and baseball's most coveted free agent, was almost certainly going to leave the team that drafted him 17th overall in 1995 and it had long rumoured that Philadelphia would be his eventual destination. In return, Toronto received minor league prospects Kyle Drabek, Travis d'Arnaud and Michael Taylor. Taylor was then exchanged with infielder Brett Wallace of the Athletics. The Mariners also got into the act trading a trio of up and comers to the Phillies' in return for Cliff Lee, the man who beat out Halladay for the 2008 AL Cy Young award.

Whenever there is a transaction of this magnitude, everyone wants to know who got the best of the deal. Usually its an impossible and pointless task, especially when young prospects are involved. How can anyone possibly know what kind of career a twenty-year old who has never played a game in the bigs will have? That is why I won't even bother trying to figure out who won the Halladay sweepstakes.

But let me say this... It is pretty clear that the Phillies are the biggest losers in this deal. We won't know what kind of impact Drabek, d'Arnaud and Wallace will have on Toronto's fortunes for years to come, but Philadelphia has done nothing to improve their squad or improving on October's World Series loss to the Yankees.

Essentially, the Phillies exchanged Halladay for Lee. So, what will Halladay give them that Lee couldn't? I say nothing. Maybe Halladay is a slightly better pitcher than Lee, but how is that going to translate into wins and losses. Their career stats are virtually identical. Lee has averaged 35 starts and 16 wins per 162 games in his career while Halladay averages 34 and 17. So, maybe Philadelphia wins one or two more games with the Doc heading their rotation than they did last year with Lee. And, incidentally, Lee is two years younger than Halladay, who has been more injury prone over the years.

What about the playoffs? Leading the Phillies to within a game of back to back World Series wins, he posted a 4-0 record with a 1.56 ERA in 5 playoff starts. It's hard to imagine anyone, even Halladay, doing any better than that.

The only way this trade makes sense for Philadelphia is if they would have kept both Halladay and Lee. As it stands, they traded one great pitcher for another and did little, if nothing to improve their team. In other words, they are in no better position to win the World Series today than they were a week ago.

Woods affair not major

2009-12-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

Every morning, after my alarm clock jars me awake and I peel my eyes open, I turn on the Team 990's morning radio show on the internet. It's not that I am particularly a fan of Denis Casavant, Elliott Price or Shaun Starr but, as a former Montrealer and a Canadiens fan, its the best way to stay on top of my team. Often I will also listen to PJ Stock or Mitch Melnick in the afternoon.

The fact is that the show is fairly average. Price, especially, has a very generous view of his own sports knowledge and opinions. Most mornings, between reports about the Canadiens, the hosts simply banter back and forth about whatever issue is on the front page of the sports section that particular day. In fairness, they do have very good guests whose segments break up the often asinine, and always ridiculous, debates between the hosts.

So it was no surprise that this morning's topic of choice was Tiger Woods. Never mind that the story of his infidelity is old news by now, Denis, Elliott and Shaun spent at least an hour (I had to leave for work) speculating about Woods' transgressions and the future of his marriage and career. They even wasted an entire segment with a usually informative guest talking about Tiger. One, I don't recall which, commented how sad it was that the "mainstream media" now relies on the "tabloids" for source material only moments after quoting TMZ.com.

But what really made me laugh was when Price (I am fairly sure it was Price) asked his co-hosts whether the Tiger Woods story is the "story of the year, the story of the decade, the story of the half-decade?" Seriously? As so-called legitimate commentators, journalists and broadcasters, would you really have your listeners believe that Tiger Woods cheating on his wife is the most ~~important~~ ~~interesting~~ ~~relevant~~ anything story of the year, let alone the decade or half-century.

Surely, the hosts of a widely listened to radio show have heard of the Boston Red Sox, who won their first world series in 86 years in 2004. You'd think they might be aware of the Mitchell Report and last year's revelation that 104 major league baseball players tested positive for steroids in 2003. How about seven consecutive Tour de France victories by Lance Armstrong, not to mention his return from cancer? Eight gold medals at the Olympics in Beijing last summer maybe? Zinedine Zidane, Danica Patrick, Usain Bolt, Pat Tillman, Tim Donaghy, Dale Earnhardt, Barry Bonds...

Woods' extra-marital affairs aren't even the biggest Tiger story of the decade. That honour goes to his 2001 Masters victory which made him the only golfer in the modern era to hold all four major PGA titles at the same time. And when it comes to sensational affairs, Woods can't compete with Martin Brodeur (who cheated on his wife with her sister and then married her), the aforementioned Armstrong (who dumped his wife in favour of Sheryl Crow shortly after his cancer went into remission) or Magic Johnson (who is rumoured to have been quite friendly with the ladies through the 1980s and was diagnosed with HIV in 1991).

It may be sensational and titillating to talk about the best golfer in the world's sex life, but let's not kid ourselves about this story's place in history. Tiger is still the best golfer in the world and, even if he retires tomorrow, he will be remembered as one of the greatest ever. The fact that he cheated on his wife does not change that and has little, if any, historical significance.

Steelers to visit White House

2009-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

In an unprecedented move, Barack Obama has invited the 6-7 Pittsburgh Steelers to the White House this weekend. An audience with the Commander in Chief is usually reserved for the Super Bowl Champions, but the President is said to be responding to the comments of Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who last year refused to meet Obama and stated "if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl."

"President Obama took Mr. Harrison's comments to heart and, after five consecutive losses, the Steelers are about as far from being Super Bowl champions as possible today. After losing to Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland, we felt this was the perfect time to have Mr. Harrison and his teammates visit the White House," a spokesperson told Maxwell's House.

Blame the ref

2009-12-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

Last night the Montreal Canadiens had their game-tying goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins waved off by referee Chris Lee. Lee lost sight of the puck and claimed that he blew the whistle before it was shovelled into the net by Scott Gomez.

Watch the video and see what you think. It appears that the puck is in the net before the whistle blows, but that may have something to do with the audio on the video. I remember seeing the replay several times last night and accepting that the whistle sounded before the puck was in the net. But, how in the name of Alfie Turcotte could Lee have lost sight of the puck and blown his whistle in the first place. I mean, it wasn't even close. We have all seen plays where the puck is loose but obscured from view, but that's not the case here. The puck was loose at the side of the net and then passed across the crease to Gomez.

Here is what one fan wrote at Habs Inside Out...

I have been a Canadiens' fan since the '71 'Ruins series. Over the span of the 38 plus years that I've watched their games I think the Habs and their fans have had very few meaningful reasons to whine about officiating. Or, more accurately, poor officiating that costs them points in the standings.

But the 2009/2010 NHL season has clearly been an anomaly. And with the tightness of post-lockout playoff races the Canadiens can't afford to be "robbed" by unprofessional on-ice officiating.

Realistically, top quality NHL officiating is more a skill than a science. Therefore, those of us critical of the officiating crew are dealing in opinions, not facts. And suffering Habs' fans can not be "saved" or comforted by sound decisions made by the Toronto "War Room," because their top notch work can't shield us from weak on-ice officiating that is based on poor positioning and questionable judgement.

And that is the problem.

How does a the avid hockey fan...or the astute beat writer that "has our back," assess the performance of on-ice officials?

First, the fans turn to writers like Mike Boone. I enjoy Boone's writings because while he is a raving "homer" on his game day blogs, he always "comes down to earth" in his followup About Last Night pieces. His ALN efforts can be relied on to be fair, incisive, and, by far the most important, balanced. Boone "calls a spade a spade" after the match concludes.

But Boone crossed the line last night. His sin? Boone asked us to accept the oft repeated drivel that "things even out over 82 games." Well, there better be a LOT of "leveling" in the next 50 games!

I would appreciate it if someone in Habs Land could write an opinion piece-based on facts-about this year's NHL officiating. Simply put, why are the Canadiens-when compared to 29 other teams-drawing so many penalties? More importantly, why are les Habitant earning so FEW penalties?

I adore Andrei Markov. His absence explains a fraction of this story. But things are way out of hand.

Every NHL TV commentator in Canada and the U.S. extols the "virtues" of Montreal's "speedy" forwards. If we enjoy a speed edge, why are we drawing so few restraining fouls?

Back to last night.

Chris Lee is a professional referee. Worse for us, he is a NHL referee. The "Gomez goal" call that he "blew" (pun intended) last night may have been (slightly) forgiveable in the 3 man officiating system. His poor positioning was a costly joke last night. Worse, also due to poor positioning, a linesman last night missed a simple icing call where 21,273 fans knew that Mike Cammelleri won a foot race to the puck.

Whereas it would be counter productive for players or coaches to "whine" about the bad positioning of officiating crews-and the resulting in-game consequences-I would appreciate it if you could unleash the resources of The Montreal Gazette on studying the situation.

And over the last 50 regular season games let's hope that the officials don't "even up" the situation in a Habs' game where we lead or trail by 3 goals! The "ghosts' can then watch over the playoffs...

And here is what I wrote in follow up...

I, too, get tired of the "they're only human" and "it will all even out over time" arguments. As you rightly point out, NHL referees are professionals, and professionals face consequences when they make mistakes or do their jobs badly. A doctor may face a lawsuit and a reprimand from the College of Physicians if he or she leaves a sponge inside a patient after a surgery. A lawyer will face similar repercussions for failing to do his or her job properly.

How about NHL players? Can you imagine if it had been one of Montreal's defencemen who had been so blatantly out of position and allowed Pittsburgh to score the tying, or winning, goal? A demotion perhaps? Certainly a heavy does of negative media attention and tongue lashings on the radio call-in shows. Think about the treatment Ryan O'Byrne received last season after scoring on his own goal with five minutes left in a 3-2 game against the Islanders. The domino effect of the abuse and ridicule he received led to more inconsistent play, many nights in the press box and, eventually, a trip to Hamilton.

But Chris Lee gets a pat on the butt and a "go get 'em next time" from the NHL. Everyone (except the aggrieved Canadiens fans) seems willing to sweep the mistake under the rug and chalk it up to bad luck or "the way things go sometimes." And so Lee is probably on a plane to Columbus or Atlanta or Raleigh this morning so he can referee another game tonight. Maybe he has the day off and is relaxing in his hotel room. But you can be sure that he is not worrying about the call he blew last night that likely cost the Habs at least one point in the standings.

MLB owners cry Wolf!

2009-12-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

You know how when there is a labour stoppage in one of the professional sports leagues the owners always justify their position by crying poor. They appeal to the fans' emotions by pointing to skyrocketing salaries and claim that they just can't afford it anymore. And, inevitably, after a new deal is reached there is this strange sense that the owners have learned their lesson and that they will control themselves "for the good of the game." It happened with the NFL in 1987, Major League Baseball in 1981 and 1994-95, and the NHL in 2004-05. In every case ownership portrayed the players as greedy and overpaid, and then promised to protect their respective sports by playing their part in keeping player salaries under control.

It was with this in mind that I received this week's news that the Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed pitcher Randy Wolf to a three-year contract for $29.75 million. Yes, Randy Wolf. The same Randy Wolf who has won more than 12 games in a season only once in his career and boasts a lifetime ERA of 4.11. Sabermetricians (is that a word?) will be interested to know that Wolf's career WHIP is a very average 1.315. He gets $10 million per year. Meanwhile, fragile right hander Rich Harden, who has pitched more than 150 innings one time in nine seasons in the majors, received $19 million over two years from the Texas Rangers. Seriously?

Are these the same owners that took away my Montreal Expos and their championship season in 1994 because players were being paid too much? The same owners who demaned a salary cap "for the good of the game?"

Here are a few other contracts to keep in mind the next time the owner of a professional sports team suggests that the players are greedy and tells you that he or she just can't afford to pay what the players are asking...

1. The New York Knicks signed Jerome James to a contract for $30 million over five years in 2005. Never heard of him? Me neither. James had averaged approximately 4.5 points and 3 rebounds before signing the new deal and only played 45 games after, averaging less than two points and rebounds per game.

2. The Texas Rangers inked Alex Rodriguez to a 10 year $252 million contract in 2000. Since then A-Rod has probably been the best player in baseball, but how can any major league owner claim poverty when one of their own willingly agreed to pay any player $25 million per year.

3. The Cincinnati Bengals cut Akili Smith in 2002 after drafting him first overall in 1999 and signing him to a seven year deal worth $56 million. Smith started a grand total on 17 NFL games and couldn't even make the cut in the CFL. He was, however, able to earn a spot with 'God's House,' a flag football team in San Diego.

4. The New York Rangers lured free agent defenceman Wade Redden away from the Ottawa Senators in 2008 with a six-year $39 million contract. In his first 106 games on Broadway, the lumbering number 6 has two fewer goals than the number on the back of his jersey and is a -5. This deal is made even worse by the fact that it was made after the imposition of a salary cap insisted on by the owners.

5. The LA Galaxy of the MLS signed David Beckham to a $250 million deal over five years. This deal was stupid because (a) Beckham was never that good in the first place; (b) he was 32-years old; (c) he was far more interested in doing underwear commercials than playing soccer; and (d) the MLS is a second rate and financially precarious organization at best.

Maxwell's House's Team Canada

2009-12-09T09:40:00.001-08:00

Hockey Canada anounced yesterday that it will unveil its roster of players for next February's Olympic games in Vancouver. Steve Yzerman and the rest of his team have a problem that coaches and managers in every sport and at every level dream of...an embarrassment of riches. But an embarrassment of riches does not guarantee victory. It's not simply a matter of picking the 25 or so best players to represent Canada. Canadians learned that lesson when their NHL heroes lost 2-0 to Russia in the quarterfinals in Torino for a devastating seventh place finish. How could a team so heavy on talent perform so badly?

The answer is chemistry. Canadian management needs to put the best team on the ice, not the 25 best players. That might mean taking a player with a little less skill than another, but who fill an important role with the team. For example, Shane Doan's experience and leadership might trump Martin St. Louis' offensive skill and goal scoring ability.

With all that said, here are the players I would choose if I had any say in the makeup of Team Canada, which I don't.

GOALIES

1. Martin Brodeur (NJ)
2. Roberto Luongo (VAN)
3. Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT)

The first two picks are no-brainers. At age 37, Brodeur is still the most solid goalie in the NHL. His history and experience with Team Canada make him the easy choice for the starting spot in nets. Despite a slow start to this season, Luongo is the heir apparent to Brodeur and the obvious choice to back him up. Bobby Lou has established himself as Canada's second best goalie over the past five or six years and no one has stepped up to knock him off that perch.

Picking Canada's third goalie was a much more difficult proposition. Behind Brodeur and Luongo, there is a glut of talent on the next tier. Marc-Andre Fleury, Steve Mason, Carey Price, Pascal LeClaire and Cam Ward are all young and very talented. You might also place Marty Turco on this second tier but, for me, the backup's backup needs to be an up and comer who represents the future of the team. In the end I chose Fleury because of Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup victory and his performance so far this year places him ahead of the rest. That said, Price will make things hard for Team Canad'as decision makers if he continues to play the way he has for the past month between now and February.

DEFENCE

1. Scott Niedermayer (ANA) A
2. Jay Bouwmeester (CGY)
3. Mike Green (WAS)
4. Dan Boyle (SJ)
5. Duncan Keith (CHI)
6. Drew Doughty (LA)
7. Stephane Robidas (DAL)
8. Tyler Myers (BUF)

Only the last two of these picks could be legitimately characterized as surprises. Some will argue that you can't put a 19-year old like Myers into the pressure cooker of the Olympic games. I say, why not? As a rookie, he has been the best defenceman on a Sabres team that currently sits in a playoff spot. He has offensive skill (15 points in 24 games) and is very responsible in his own end (+5 on a team that is only +9). Frankly, he belongs on Team Canada. Robidas is a more interesting choice. A very solid 10-year NHL veteran, he is enjoying a career year with the Stars and has been one of the league's best d-men so far this season. Despite his size, he is about as hard nosed as they come and is the kind of 'heart and soul' player that Canadians tend to love. I'd much rather see Robidas pouring his heart out on the ice than some entitled veteran who feels he deserves a spot on the team because of his past accomplishments.

My list of defencemen may be more notable for the names that aren't on it than those that are. What about Chris Pronger? Where is Dion Phaneuf? How about Brent Seabrook, Shea Weber, Robin Regehr and Brian Campbell? The reality is that most of those players would be excellent choices for Team Canada and are simply victims of a numbers game. But not Pronger.

Pronger was the worst Canadian player on the ice in 2006 and showed that he lacks the necessary skills to perform in international hockey. He is too slow and, in Turin, he was lazy. Even though these games will be played on an NHL ice surface, Pronger is not suited for the international game with its increased skill and faster pace, not to mention the whistle happy European referees. If it were up to me I would leave Pronger at home to watch the games on TV.

CENTRE

1. Sidney Crosby (PIT)
2. Joe Thornton (SJ)
3. Jonathan Toews (CHI)
4. Travis Zajac (NJ)
5. Ryan Getzlaf (ANA)

Zajac is the only name on this list that might be considered a surprise but, really, he may be one of the most deserving players there. Along with Toews he provides a defensive presence down the middle that can be a force on the penalty kill as well. Offensively, this unit has firepower for days and should have little trouble putting the puck in the net.

Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Vincent Lecavalier have played their way out of a spot on my team with their sub-par performances so far in 2009. Other centremen deserving consideration were Brad Richards and Paul Stastny but, in the end, they just weren't able to crack the lineup. What can you say about a team that has Getzlaf as its fifth centreman?

LEFT WING

1. Rick Nash (CLB) A
2. Dany Heatley (SJ)
3. Michael Cammalleri (MTL)
4. James Neal (DAL)
5. Alexandre Burrows (VAN)

Again, my Team Canada has a great combination of offence and defence on the left wing. I absolutely love Burrows, who adds some grit without giving up much offensively. Cammalleri and Neal earned spots ahead of more well-known choices like of Patrick Sharp and Simon Gagne. Ryan Smyth likely deserves a spot but I couldn't pick him ahead of any of the five on my list. Milan Lucic could probably play a similar role to Burrows but hasn't played much so far this year and his health remains in question.

RIGHT WING

1. Jarome Iginla (CGY) C
2. Patrick Marleau (SJ)
3. Corey Perry (ANA)
4. Martin St. Louis (TB)
5. Dustin Penner (EDM)

Notably absent from my picks is Team Canada mainstay Shane Doan. Doan has as much international experience as anyone and is many people's choice as Canada's captain. While there is no questioning his body of work and the leadership he would bring to the team, I don't see what intangibles he would bring to the table that Iginla wouldn't - and Iginla has much more to offer from a tangible point of view.

Perry is arguably the hottest offensive force in the NHL right now and San Jose's Thornton/Heatley/Marleau line gives my Team Canada a ready-to-go first line. Some will argue for Martin St. Louis, but I chose Penner (who has finally returned to the form everyone expected) and Kane because they give Canada more versatility at both ends of the ice.

Who are your picks?

Woods plot thickens

2009-12-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

The Tiger Woods story plot thickens, and then thickens some more...

Carcillogic

2009-12-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

"When I grew up watching hockey, men we're men and hockey was hockey. When you got the jump on a guy that's what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to get the first one in."

That's how the Philadelphia Flyers' Daniel Carcillo responded to his four-game suspension for sucker punching the Capitals' Matt Bradley during an 8-2 loss on Saturday. As someone who has always argued in favour of fighting in hockey and who strongly believes that there will always be an important place in hockey for fighting, I would like to politely ask Carcillo to keep his comments to himself. My mother always told me that it was better to keep my mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt -- too bad the Philadelphia left winger did not receive the same wise advise.

Carcillo was born in 1985 and I was watching hockey for nearly 10 years by that time and, I can assure him and everyone else, that it has never been acceptable (or manly for that matter) in the NHL to punch another player in the face when he isn't prepared for it. Ever.

Triano has to go...

2009-12-07T15:59:00.000-08:00

What's wrong with the Toronto Raptors?

After cleaning house in the off-season and stealing coveted free agent Hedo Turkoglu things were looking up in the Big Smoke. The Dinos got off to a great start with a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers and winning five of their first ten games. Since then they have gone 4-8.

But the Raps have had no trouble scoring points. Chris Bosh ranks ninth in the league with 24.4 points per game and Andrea Bargnani (16.7 ppg) has emerged as the legitimate offensive threat the team expected him to be when it drafted the seven footer first overall in 2006 (ahead of Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay). Turkoglu (13.9 ppg) has been a little disappointing, but rookie DeMar DeRozan has exceeded expectations.

The problem is that Jay Triano's troops can't seem to stop anyone from scoring against them. Giving up nearly 110 points per game, facing the Raptors defence is about as imposing a task as a debated with Evander Holyfield. Toronto is also last in the NBA in steals and 20th in steals against. And the D is getting worse, not better. Last week they gave up an all-star game-like 146 points to the Atlanta Hawks and they have given up 120 or more points six times all season.

This team was expected to contend for a playoff spot this year. At this rate they will be lucky not to finish in the Eastern Conference basement next to the abysmal New Jersey Nets, who give up 12 points less per game than the Raps. Defence in the NBA is about effort, which is why Toronto's performance is inexcusable. There is no way in the world that a team with players of the calibre the Raptors enjoy should be so disgraceful in their own end of the court. After all, this is not a team of overmatched and talent-poor hacks like the Nets, Timberwolves and Warriors.

Whose fault is it?

Simply put, the blame for the Raptors performance so far lies squarely with the coaching staff. Sure, its the players who have underperformed, but if the coach can't motivate professional athletes to do their jobs at both ends of the floor he needs to go. While its great to have a Canadian behind the bench, I wasn't convinced that Triano was an NBA coach when the team hired him and I haven't seen anything to change my mind yet. I am not normally one to call for a coach's head mid-season, but I expect (and hope) to see him replaced sooner rather than later.

My (Stanley) cup is full

2009-12-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

Last night's ceremony was one of the most enjoyable and touching walks down memory lane I have had the chance to experience. I don't mind saying that I openly laughed and cried as I sat watching the show alone in my living room (the lesser hockey fans showed up later for puck drop). I was flabbergasted when the oldtimers took the ice for a five-minute warmup skate - Dryden putting on his goalie pads for the first time since he retired, Carbo returning with a jersey instead of a tie, fences being further mended with Roy - it was incredible.

And it wasn't just the superstar Hall-of-Famers either. For a kid who grew up in the 80s, players like McPhee, Skrudland, Naslund, Lemieux, Smith, Desjardins, Odelein and Nilan have a special place in our hearts, even if they will never be in the Hall of Fame or have their jerseys hanging from the Bell Centre rafters.

Then how about Bouchard and Lach? Amazing.

People, especially here in NS, just don't understand what this team has meant to some of us over the years. Some may think it sad, but the Habs were one of the most important things in my life as a kid and last night gave me a chance to relive all of those great memories. This morning my (Stanley) cup is completely full.

PS Where was Chris Chelios last night?

PPS And, thanks to the Habs 5-1 pasting of the Bruins, an Irish hooker will be wearing a Canadiens shirt all around Halifax tonight...

Thirty years of Montreal memories

2009-12-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Today, on the 100th anniversary of the greatest sports franchise in the world, its hard for me to believe that I have been a fan of the Montreal Canadiens for approximately one third of the team's history. Ever since the year that my grandfather showed up from Nova Scotia at our house in Ottawa with a tabletop hockey game. He was a lifelong Habs fan and it didn't take long for him to turn me into one too. It was the winter of 1976-77 and the Canadiens were in the midst of what is likely the greatest NHL season ever. Featuring Lafleur, Shutt, Lemaire, Robinson, Dryden, Savard, Lapointe, Cournoyer, Gainey and a cast of other superstars, Montreal went 60-8-12 that year (finishing 20 points clear of any other team) and lost only two playoff games en route to the franchise's 20th Stanley Cup victory.

Stealing the idea from the Team 990 afternoon host Mitch Melnyk, here are my three most memorable Montreal Canadiens moments of the past 33 years or so...

Stanley Cup 1986
The Canadiens have won a few Stanely Cups in my lifetime, but the first one I really remember was the victory in 1986. I was in grade 8 at Beaconsfield High School, just outside of Montreal, and watched every second of every game that spring. Almost 13-years old, I was very fortunate to see a couple of games during those playoffs including game 7 of the Adams division final against the Hartford Whalers which featured the defining moment of the season. It is difficult into words the emotions I felt as rookie Claude Lemieux came out from behind the net in overtime and lifted a backhand over the shoulder of Mike Liut to give the Habs a 2-1 victory and a ticket to the conference finals against the Rangers. Standing behind the "reds" that night I laughed and cried at the same time, and hollered and screamed at the top of my lungs until I had no voice.

Montreal went on to defeat the Rangers, and then the Flames in the final to win Stanley Cup number 23. We skipped school and took the 211 bus downtown to join the literally hundreds of thousands of people who lined Ste. Catherine Street. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were able to get close to our heroes as they passed by in fire trucks and convertibles. Riots made the news, but I will never forget the pure jubilation of the crowd as complete strangers (from every walk of life) exchanged hugs and high fives. Hanging from a traffic light at the corner of Crescent Street that afternoon is very possibly the happiest I have ever been.

Guy Lafleur returns to the Forum
On 5 February 1989 Guy Lafleur stepped onto the ice of the Montreal Forum...as a New York Ranger. Parked in my usual spot behind the "reds," I shouted myself hoarse with chants of "Guy! Guy! Guy!" during the warmup and participated in the 10-minute standing ovation when he was introduced at the start of the game. It was a bittersweet evening. I was ecstatic to see my hero play again after four years away from hockey, but it hurt to see him in the blue, red and white instead of the red, white and blue. Rising to the occassion like all superstars do, he scored two goals that night in a 7-5 Canadiens win. Habs win and Guy is the best player on the ice for either team...perfection!

Bad Friday
Any Canadiens fan who grew up in the 1980s will tell you that the real rivalry was not with Boston or Toronto, but with the Quebec Nordiques. There were no more hated characters in the city than Michel Bergeron and Dale Hunter. There was a genuine hate between the two teams that just doesn't exist in hockey anymore. As a fan, and I was only a kid, you knew something exciting was going to happen every time the two teams played. I would be antsy all day at school knowing that the game would be coming on later that night. I hated the Nordiques as much as the Canadiens players did, maybe more, and I couldn't wait to see my team beat them on the scoreboard and in every other way. And I wasn't alone...

The rivalry came to a head on Good Friday in 1984. Sitting in my living room in suburban Montreal, I watched the Habs faced the Nords in the Adams Division final that year and the rivalry was as heated as ever. It was game 6 and Montreal was ahead 3-2 in the series and had a chance to knock off their hated cross-provincial opponents. The fight started at the end of the second period when Hunter jumped on Guy Carbonneau after the siren. Both teams poured onto the ice and the brawl was on as every single player on both teams (even the backup goalies) went toe-to-toe. At one point there were 15 separate fights going on at the same time. During the mayhem the Canadiens Jean Hamel was blindsided with a sucker punch by Quebec's Louis Sleigher.

After what seemed like about ten minutes the referees finally convinced the teams to leave the ice. But, after a 15-minute rest, the teams went back at it as soon as they came back on the ice for the third period. My favouritre player of all-time, Mike McPhee, made a bee line for Sleigher to seek retribution for his hit on Hamel and the brawl was back on. Again, the players from both teams (even the ones who had been ejected for their transgressions of the second period) slugged it out on the ice. Even Guy Lafleur got in on the action. My stomach churned with the combination of fear and exhilaration that you get enjoyment out of something you know you shouldn't.

Unfortunately, Montreal went on to lose that game, as well as game 7, and were eliminated from the playoffs. But it is the Good Friday brawl that I will always remeber when it comes to that series and playoff season.

It is the great memories and emotions of being a Canadiens fan that I will remember as I watch tonight's game and pre-game ceremony. Seeing the likes of Beliveau, Lafleur, Robinson, Dryden, Roy, Chelios and Gainey together again will bring back a childhood dominated by my love for the Montreal Canadiens. Its a walk down memory lane that I am very much looking forward to.

Cheetah Woods

2009-12-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, let me lead off by saying that I am a huge Tiger Woods fan. And this week's news that he has has engaged in an extra-marital affair that led to last week's car crash outside his Florida home does not change that. My admiration of the world's number one golfer is based on just that...his prowess on the golf course. I will still watch him on television and cheer for him to continue re-writing the PGA record book. He is likely the most dominant athlete of my generation and that hasn't changed.

But, that said, I don't buy the argument that Tiger's personal is off-limits and that the media scrutiny he has faced over the past week is unfair. It's now fairly evident that he cheated on his wife Elin and that he and his management have done everything possible to keep the story under wraps. Frankly, he is getting everything he deserves. I am tired of hearing people say that he shouldn't be treated differently just because he is one of the world's most famous athletes. The media does not owe him, or anyone else, any favours

Of course Woods should be treated differently! And he surely isn't stupid enough to think that this wouldn't happen if he was caught having an affair. He is one of the most recognizable people on the planet and a story like this is about as sensational as it gets. Tiger's personal life has been on public display since he appeared on the Mike Douglas Show with his father as a two-year old. In other words, the special circumstances of his life make for special consequences when he makes a mistake. Thats just the way life is.

And its not just celebrities that face special consequences depending on circumstances. As a lawyer I know that if I break the law I face the additional consequence of answering the the bar society. The impact on my career would be different than it would be for many other people. The consequences of our actions are directly related to our situation.

So it is with Tiger Woods. Very few of us would receive any media attention if we cheated on our significant other. Except for the significant other, and maybe a few family members, no one would really care. But famous people have to know that their situation is different...and they have to act accordingly.

When he was cheating on his wife, Tiger knew there would be a media frenzy if it ever became public. That was the risk he took and, for one of the rare times in his life, he lost. Now he must face the consequences - the media scrutiny, the tarnishing of his public persona, and the damage to his financial empire. He has happily enjoyed the benefits of his fame for the past 33 years and he can't turn away from it now.

The Green Machine

2009-12-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

Danny Green is now my new favourite boxer. Not Mitch "Blood" Green (although he was pretty entertaining back in the day), but the Green Machine from Perth, Australia - who you likely have never heard of. I first saw the Aussie pugilist fight in 2003 when he disappointed a packed house at the Bell Centre with a sixth round TKO over Montreal sweetheart Eric Lucas. His name came up again a few years later in relation to an ongoing feud with former rugby leaguer and current IBO middleweight champ Anthony Mundine, who defeated Green in 2006 and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I then watched on as Green outpointed American Stipe Drews for the WBA light heavyweight title a few years later and knockout Julio Caesar Dominguez for the vacant IBO cruiserweight title in August.

Last night, in the biggest challenge of his career to date, Green came through with a first round knockout of the legendary Roy Jones Jr. in front a packed crowd of his countrymen in Sydney.

Now 36, Green has a record of 28-3 and is the third ranked light heavyweight in the world behind Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson. He has to be in the mix among the top pound for pound fighters in the world. A rematch with Mundine might be interesting too.

Habs match up well with Sabres

2009-12-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

I think that Buffalo is a team that the Habs can model themselves after and look at as an example that you can succeed in the NHL with small and speedy forwards. In fact, subject to injuries, I think the two teams; rosters are very comparable.

In net, clearly Miller is the best of the bunch right now, but Price certainly has the ability and potential to put up similar numbers. Depth-wise, I would take Halak and Sanford over Lalime and whoever can be considered Buffalo's number three (probably Enroth).

Up front, the Sabres are led by a group of smallish forwards. Only one of the forwards currently on the roster is taller than 6'2" and seven players weigh in at under 200 lbs. Buffalo's first line of Derek Roy (5'9", 188 lbs.), Jochen Hecht (6'1", 199 lbs.) and Jason Pominville (6'0", 186 lbs) is similar in stature to Thomas Plekanec (5'11", 197 lbs.), Mike Cammalleri (5'9", 185 lbs) and Scott Gomez (5'11, 200 lbs), and one might argue that spped and skill favours the Habs. However, Buffalo has a clear edge when it comes to depth at forward and secondary scoring. The likes of Stafford, Connolly, Vanek and Gaustad are better than what the Canadiens have to offer at the moment. That said, there is no reason why the likes of D'Agostinin, Pacioretty and the Kostitsyns can't play on the same level with those guys. Injuries, of course, are also an issue with Gionta out and several other forwards not quite at 100%

Buffalo and Montreal also have similar defensive corps made up of largely unknown workman types. A healthy Andrei Markov would be far and away the best talent for either team. Tyler Myers is young and looks to be on his way to stardom, but names like Rivet, Montador, Lydman, Tallinder and Paetsch hardly strike fear into the hearts of decent NHLers. Certainly, on paper, they are no mnore formidable than Hamrlik, Spacek, Gorges and O'Byrne. They have been healthier and are just playing better than Montreal right now.

So, on paper, these two teams match up pretty well. In the standings they don't. Buffalo is favoured to win tonight because, while the teams are similar, they are playing better than Montreal. I won't put the blame squarely on coaching, but it has a lot to do with the coaches. Lindy Ruff is twice the coach Jacques Martin is. The Sabres have a better system in place and play a much more dsciplned game than the Habs. That said, to all those out there who think that you can't win in the NHL with small speedy forwards and non-descript defencemen, let me know what you think after tonight's game...

Soccer needs to harden up!

2009-12-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

It has been said that "rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen and soccer is a gentlemen's game played by hooligans." That famous quote should be modified to reflect that, while soccer may remain a gentlemen's game and rugby players are still hooligans, soccer is now played by bellyaching pantywaists. I might add that rugby players are very likely the toughest athletes on the planet.

Never was this more evident than this weekend. Early on Saturday afternoon I headed down to the local sports bar with a buddy for a couple beers and some greasy food. It just so happened that Chelsea was playing Arsenal in English Premier League action on the dozens of big screen TVs. The place was packed with various scrawny types dressed in their red or blue jerseys. Soccer, to me, is about as exciting as a post-game Derek Jeter interview, but I didn't have much choice but to watch.

What I witnessed was appalling? I had heard that dives and fake injuries were a serious concern in the soccer world, but never could have I imagined the extent of the problem. While the Blues dominated the Gunners on the scoreboard, players from both squads flopped about on the pitch liek fish out of water. At one point, Arsenal's Bacary Sagna collapsed onto the ground after barely being touched by a Chelsea opponent. He stayed on the ground writhing in pain for a good minuted and, when he finally got to his feet, actually limped on the wrong leg! He, of course, stayed in the game.

Contrast that with the rugby test match between Wales and Australia, played the night before but aired on Setanta later the same afternoon. The Wallabies easily defeated the Dragons 33-12 in a typically hard nosed battle. But what I will remember about the match is the performance of Aussie flanker David Pocock. Not only was Pocock one of the best players on the pitch, after dislocating late in the first half, he stood stone faced as a team trainer struggled to put the appendage back into its socket [at 0:59 mark of video below]. And he stayed in the game!

There is no doubt that Pocock is a hard man. But his display of toughness is the rule, not the exception, in rugby. While soccer players flop and flounder on the grass, rugby players get beaten and pounded in every game and have to be dragged from the pitch. I'll take rugby...

The sky is NOT falling Habs fans

2009-12-02T05:08:00.000-08:00

The sky is falling (again!) in Montreal following another loss by the Canadiens to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It seems to happen every time the team loses a game that the fans and media think they ought to have won. Phone lines to radio call-in shows are ablaze with irate fans calling for the head of whichever player they feel is responsible for their disappointment. Headlines proclaim "Habs a no-show against Leafs" or "Amorphe, le Canadien blanchi par les Leafs" (Lifeless, Canadiens shutout by the Leafs). The front page (of the whole paper, not the sports section) of Le Journal de Montreal screams "UNE SOIREE A OUBLIER" (A NIGHT TO FORGET). Get a grip folks.

The fact is that the Canadiens came out flying. They were all over the Leafs for the the first ten minutes or so before Colto Orr scored a flukey goal on a rebound. Shots on goal were 7-1 and it took heroics from Jonas Gustavsson to keep Montreal off the board. The Orr goal took the wind out of the team's sails for a bit and another quick goal by Jeff Finger had them down 2-0.

For the rest of the game the Habs scrambled around trying to do too much in order to get back in the game. Let's face it, this is not the most offensively talented unit in the NHL, and if they are going to come back from a two-goal deficit they are going to have to stick to the system and be patient. Last night they didn't and weren't.

But this wasn't the horrensdous defeat that everyone in Montreal seems to be making it out to be. Sure, everyone hates to lose to the Leafs but, other than the final score and a few suspect plays from the defence, this was not a season defining loss. Its just another loss like any of the other 30 or more this mediocre team will suffer between now and April...

AO's suspension OK

2009-12-01T15:49:00.001-08:00

NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell meted out a two-game suspension today to the Washington Capital's superstar Alex Ovechkin for his knee on knee hit against Carolina's Tim Gleason last night.

The consensus among sports commentators is that the suspension is not long enough. Especially in Montreal, the media is claiming a double standard following last week's five-game penalty given to Canadiens' enforcer Georges Laraque. Laraque himself has openly cried foul.

Let me be one of the first to say that I have no problem with the length of the suspension. I have seen the hit several times and I don't believe Ovechkin had any attempt to injure Gleason. Watch closely and you will see that he turns his foot sideways before finishing the hit and strikes his opponent with the inside of his knee. Compare this to Laraque's hit on Detroit's Niklas Kronwall, where he drives the front of his knee through the opposing player. Clearly, Ovechkin has shown a recklessness and lack of respect in his game since coming to the NHL, but anyone who has ever played hockey knows that no player would ever intentionally expose the inside of his knee in contact. As it stands, the Cap's captain took the worst of the hit and is likely to miss more than the two games imposed by Campbell.

Maxwell returns

2009-12-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

Maxwell's House is back!

No more politics and no more WordPress. It's all sports all the time from here on in. I promise lots of good content from every corner of the sporting world this time around. I'll give yout my thoughts and opinions about hockey, baseball, football, basketball, rugby, cricket, tennis, and every other sport you can imagine...and maybe a few you can't.

But this isn't a one way conversation, it's an open discussion. Whether you agree or disagree with me, everyone is welcome to post comments. Tell me what you really think! Don't worry, I can take it. Short of threats and over the top language, there will be no censorship here. You better be prepared to back up your position though...

Stop by and, if you like what you see, tell your friends.