I was watching the NBA Playoffs on The Score when I found out the news that everybody has been expecting but was not really sure about: Ricky Williams has offically signed with the Argos.
On a day where Carolina won a OT thriller, where Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run and the Mavericks defence shut down the best offence in the NBA, it was signing of a running back that I'll remember the most.
Last season the Argos posted a great - 11 wins, 7 losses - record but lost to their rivals from Quebec, the Montreal Alouettes, in an epic 2nd half collapse that I witnessed first hand. It was almost sickening, really - although it's hard to feel that way when you have free tickets way up in the 500 section, with people drinking copious amounts of liquor, waving around camcorders and lit cigarettes and acting crazy, yelling at a lone Quebecber, who is all too keen to yell right back, like some 21st century Rocket Richard... Right, where was I?
Oh yes, the Ricky Williams signing.
This will be good for the Argos - they don't really need a running back as much as they do a Quarterback or a wide reciever that can catch a ball in the 4th quarter... but Ricky isn't just a running back. He's a player that instantly makes his entire defence better - from drawing extra coverage away from other players, from an explosive abilty to run with the ball and a decent - not that it'll be used much in the CFL - ability to recieve passes. He could be - okay, is - the cog that could win the Argos a Grey Cup (but the same could be said for any team, really. He could help the Hamburg Blitz win a NFL Europe championship, whatever that's called, had he signed over there).
And he's a draw. A name player. Someone who even my grandmother makes jokes about - and will pay to see. And I suspect she's not alone, either. The Argos haven't had a name like this since the days of Pinball and Flutie and the Rocket in the 90s.
******
He came; he saw; he, er, got seven yards of rushing.
So who cares? It's the Preseason, baby... if the Argo sdecided to run him like they will later in September, they risk getting him hurt - a major no-no for them and their relationship with the Miami Dolphins.
So stop caring that Ricky was barely there - let's focus on the real issue at hand; Joe "Glass Leg" Theismann's sudden love of the Argos, the team he ran away from once the Redskins made him an offer and never once looked back.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
A Game Of Inches
Golf is usually referred to as "A game of inches" - which is true, but that term could very well be applied to any sport; Football has the 4th and Inches, the strikezone in baseball is supposed to be about 18 inches wide and last night in Anaheim, it was proven that hockey is too...
Both the Mighty Ducks and the Oilers came within inches of goals - hitting posts, pads and the glass behind the net. Edmonton hit three posts by the mid-point of the third period and the Ducks winged one off the post with just under 30 seconds left to play. If either one of those had gone just one - maybe two - inches towards the net, the game would have been completely different. If the Ducks had forced overtime, perhaps they could have won the Cup... if the Oilers had gone ahead by two goals in the third period, the Ducks would have fallen flat.
But it didn't happen... Selanne, Peca, Lupil and Smyth all missed shots that would have changed the flow of the game... And we ended up with what we got: a game with excellent penalty killing (the Ducks went 1/11 on the power play) a nerveracking final five minutes and some questionable calls (no call on the hit on Giguere at the end of the first? Or when he was shoved into his net?) that really didn't ruin the game - but won't be forgotten by Ducks fans anytime soon.
The Ducks lost because of themselves. They lost three games at home this series; they couldn't produce on the powerplay and they had nobody to blame but themselves. In game four (their only win of the series) they proved that Roli can be scored on in numbers greater then four - and that the Oilers can be beaten. But they were unable to post that same momentum at all in game five, not even with six skaters in Edmonton's zone on a 6 on 3 at the end of a close game on home ice when they had the momentum in the game. They proved that hockey is a game of offence - even if you have two great goalies you can platoon, you still need to score goals, especially on the powerplay. And in the end they came close - within inches - but never close enough.
Both the Mighty Ducks and the Oilers came within inches of goals - hitting posts, pads and the glass behind the net. Edmonton hit three posts by the mid-point of the third period and the Ducks winged one off the post with just under 30 seconds left to play. If either one of those had gone just one - maybe two - inches towards the net, the game would have been completely different. If the Ducks had forced overtime, perhaps they could have won the Cup... if the Oilers had gone ahead by two goals in the third period, the Ducks would have fallen flat.
But it didn't happen... Selanne, Peca, Lupil and Smyth all missed shots that would have changed the flow of the game... And we ended up with what we got: a game with excellent penalty killing (the Ducks went 1/11 on the power play) a nerveracking final five minutes and some questionable calls (no call on the hit on Giguere at the end of the first? Or when he was shoved into his net?) that really didn't ruin the game - but won't be forgotten by Ducks fans anytime soon.
The Ducks lost because of themselves. They lost three games at home this series; they couldn't produce on the powerplay and they had nobody to blame but themselves. In game four (their only win of the series) they proved that Roli can be scored on in numbers greater then four - and that the Oilers can be beaten. But they were unable to post that same momentum at all in game five, not even with six skaters in Edmonton's zone on a 6 on 3 at the end of a close game on home ice when they had the momentum in the game. They proved that hockey is a game of offence - even if you have two great goalies you can platoon, you still need to score goals, especially on the powerplay. And in the end they came close - within inches - but never close enough.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Why should I bother?
I was arguing with a friend of mine about the Ducks/Oilers series (he claims that the referees are biased towards the Oilers, I say that maybe the Ducks should stop emulating the Flyers of 1975) when he dropped a bombshell: "But you haven't even been watching the series, have you?"
It came out of the blue, hit me between the eyes and was - worst of all - completely, 100% true. I haven't been that keen on the playoffs this season, even though I had been looking forward to it.
So this morning I asked myself why I haven't been interested - and I was able to come up with four big reasons that a NHL fan like myself just hasn't been watching the playoffs this year...
1) The presentation
First off, OLN is not doing an especially good job - I keep hearing my friend (the same one from above) complaining about how they mis-pronounce players names left, right and center -,they're simply not big enough to get anybody interested and from my (somewhat limited) exposure, I still think that maybe OLN is learning as they go along (they already dropped their old bug for the bar, for example).
And it's not just them, either: NBC, CBC and TSN's broadcasts are not much better. Bob Cole and Harry Neale are fast approaching time to consider joining Mickey Redmond and Dick Irvin in semi-retirement, whereas Pierre McGuire needs to restrain himself at times - he commonly keeps talking through breaks in play and often doesn't stop when play resumes. Yes, he knows what he's talking about, but one of these days, he's going to talk over a significant play. John Davision, Don Wittman and Chris Cuthbert are maybe the only people who are doing a good job in hockey broadcasting these days.
2) Wait, who's playing?
For Edmonton, this is the first time since 1990 that they've been in position to make it to the Cup Finals; for Anaheim it's 2003; for Carolina it's 2002; for Buffalo it's 1999. Three of these teams have never won a Cup and the one that has (Edmonton) hasn't done so in 16 years.
And they all play in small-market areas - and only Edmonton could be argued to have any kind of fanbase outside of their market.
It really seems like the Rams/Titans Superbowl a few years back: Yes, it may be a good - but who cares? When you don't have teams that people all across the continent have opinions about (Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, etc) nobody's going to care. That's why TV ratings are dropping (for the first time ever, the viewership has dropped to less then 1 million in Canada) and that's why interest is waning.
3) The Competition
Right now, speaking in terms of classic games, there has been little of note in the NHL playoffs - at most, there are maybe four or five games that will ever re-air on ESPN Classic.
But in the NBA Playoffs, we are just getting off of what has been called the "Best first two rounds of playoff basketball ever" by ESPN's Skip Bayless; for even the person who had almost no interest in basketball (such as myself), it's been completely fantastic, and I have found myself completely hooked on the NBA. In terms of quality, it's not even close: the NBA playoffs have shown to be just as, and in most cases more, exciting and fun to watch then the NHL playoffs.
4) Post-Lockout Blues
Last spring, we all found out that there is indeed life without the NHL playoffs... Yes, maybe TSN and ESPN Classic rebroadcasting old games helped, but it just seems to me that the playoffs just don't have the same "pull" that they used to - and I may just have reached the point last spring where I realized that the NHL doesn't care about me, the typical fan (after all, Toronto was the first team to remove the "Thank you fans" slogan from it's ice surface), so why should I care about it? Thanks to the Jays starting to compete with The Big Two, the NBA having a fantastic postseason, the CFL just getting ready to start (and with the Argos pursuing Ricky Williams) and the World Cup starting soon I have to make room for the NHL now - and if I can't, I'm not sure that I'll miss it.
5) Phoenix Suns / Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons / Miami Heat
It's been one of, if not the, best NBA playoffs ever - and we haven't even gotten to The Finals yet, or even finished the conference championships. Why should I stop watching now?
It came out of the blue, hit me between the eyes and was - worst of all - completely, 100% true. I haven't been that keen on the playoffs this season, even though I had been looking forward to it.
So this morning I asked myself why I haven't been interested - and I was able to come up with four big reasons that a NHL fan like myself just hasn't been watching the playoffs this year...
1) The presentation
First off, OLN is not doing an especially good job - I keep hearing my friend (the same one from above) complaining about how they mis-pronounce players names left, right and center -,they're simply not big enough to get anybody interested and from my (somewhat limited) exposure, I still think that maybe OLN is learning as they go along (they already dropped their old bug for the bar, for example).
And it's not just them, either: NBC, CBC and TSN's broadcasts are not much better. Bob Cole and Harry Neale are fast approaching time to consider joining Mickey Redmond and Dick Irvin in semi-retirement, whereas Pierre McGuire needs to restrain himself at times - he commonly keeps talking through breaks in play and often doesn't stop when play resumes. Yes, he knows what he's talking about, but one of these days, he's going to talk over a significant play. John Davision, Don Wittman and Chris Cuthbert are maybe the only people who are doing a good job in hockey broadcasting these days.
2) Wait, who's playing?
For Edmonton, this is the first time since 1990 that they've been in position to make it to the Cup Finals; for Anaheim it's 2003; for Carolina it's 2002; for Buffalo it's 1999. Three of these teams have never won a Cup and the one that has (Edmonton) hasn't done so in 16 years.
And they all play in small-market areas - and only Edmonton could be argued to have any kind of fanbase outside of their market.
It really seems like the Rams/Titans Superbowl a few years back: Yes, it may be a good - but who cares? When you don't have teams that people all across the continent have opinions about (Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, etc) nobody's going to care. That's why TV ratings are dropping (for the first time ever, the viewership has dropped to less then 1 million in Canada) and that's why interest is waning.
3) The Competition
Right now, speaking in terms of classic games, there has been little of note in the NHL playoffs - at most, there are maybe four or five games that will ever re-air on ESPN Classic.
But in the NBA Playoffs, we are just getting off of what has been called the "Best first two rounds of playoff basketball ever" by ESPN's Skip Bayless; for even the person who had almost no interest in basketball (such as myself), it's been completely fantastic, and I have found myself completely hooked on the NBA. In terms of quality, it's not even close: the NBA playoffs have shown to be just as, and in most cases more, exciting and fun to watch then the NHL playoffs.
4) Post-Lockout Blues
Last spring, we all found out that there is indeed life without the NHL playoffs... Yes, maybe TSN and ESPN Classic rebroadcasting old games helped, but it just seems to me that the playoffs just don't have the same "pull" that they used to - and I may just have reached the point last spring where I realized that the NHL doesn't care about me, the typical fan (after all, Toronto was the first team to remove the "Thank you fans" slogan from it's ice surface), so why should I care about it? Thanks to the Jays starting to compete with The Big Two, the NBA having a fantastic postseason, the CFL just getting ready to start (and with the Argos pursuing Ricky Williams) and the World Cup starting soon I have to make room for the NHL now - and if I can't, I'm not sure that I'll miss it.
5) Phoenix Suns / Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons / Miami Heat
It's been one of, if not the, best NBA playoffs ever - and we haven't even gotten to The Finals yet, or even finished the conference championships. Why should I stop watching now?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The Tables have (finally) turned
Usually when I heard complaints about the Jays in the recent past, it was that they didn't have enough hitting. Sure, they had Halladay, Towers, Chacin or whomever - but after Carlos Delgado left the team, they had no real batting power other then Vernon Wells... and it doesn't matter what yr pitcher does on the mound if you're not giving him any run support.
But this year has been different - it's like how I vaguely remember the Jays of the early 1990s being: they has great starters (Jack Morris, Dave Stieb), a memorable closer (Duane Ward ) and great sluggers (Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Joe Carter, John Olerud). Thanks to the mix of good hitting, good pitching and the ability to protect a lead, the Jays were the AL East team to beat for a few years and the World Series champions in 1992-93.
Since then we've seen the Jays pay arm-and-leg for big names like Roger Clemens (who jumped ship once he realized that he was still a good pitcher) and Jose Canseco; had our talented players head out fast (David "Boomer" Wells, Roberto Alomar, Carlos Delgado, Olerud) or put use subpar players in positions where they didn't fit (Batista as the closer for example)... and since that 1993 World Series win, the Jays have never even won the AL Wild Card, let alone the AL East. Yes, using a pseudo-Billy Beane method to try and build up the Jays worked in it's own ways (we've never finished last in our division; we ended up with some good talent [Doc, Orlando Hudson, Vernon Wells, Corey Koskie] - but when you play against the two biggest spenders in the big leagues, it wasn't enough.
So this was the year that the Jays decided to go all-out and spent some money on big name free agents to gave us a similar lineup to those glory years: A theoretically great pitching rotation (Doc, AJ Burnett, Chacin, Lilly and - suddenly - Jassen); BJ Ryan anchoring the bullpen; Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay adding to Wells slugging. And thus far it seems to be working, despite injuries to some major players. The Jays are above .500 and are just a few games back of the Red Sox for the AL East lead.
I guess that you could say that this season has been a turning point for the Jays. Now that there's actually some hitting in the lineup, I'm not as worried that one of our stars (mostly Doc, really) will burn himself out to get a win. Indeed, no longer does it seem necessary for the Jays to throw a shutout in order to get a win - but I wouldn't mind it if they did, anyway.
But this year has been different - it's like how I vaguely remember the Jays of the early 1990s being: they has great starters (Jack Morris, Dave Stieb), a memorable closer (Duane Ward ) and great sluggers (Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Joe Carter, John Olerud). Thanks to the mix of good hitting, good pitching and the ability to protect a lead, the Jays were the AL East team to beat for a few years and the World Series champions in 1992-93.
Since then we've seen the Jays pay arm-and-leg for big names like Roger Clemens (who jumped ship once he realized that he was still a good pitcher) and Jose Canseco; had our talented players head out fast (David "Boomer" Wells, Roberto Alomar, Carlos Delgado, Olerud) or put use subpar players in positions where they didn't fit (Batista as the closer for example)... and since that 1993 World Series win, the Jays have never even won the AL Wild Card, let alone the AL East. Yes, using a pseudo-Billy Beane method to try and build up the Jays worked in it's own ways (we've never finished last in our division; we ended up with some good talent [Doc, Orlando Hudson, Vernon Wells, Corey Koskie] - but when you play against the two biggest spenders in the big leagues, it wasn't enough.
So this was the year that the Jays decided to go all-out and spent some money on big name free agents to gave us a similar lineup to those glory years: A theoretically great pitching rotation (Doc, AJ Burnett, Chacin, Lilly and - suddenly - Jassen); BJ Ryan anchoring the bullpen; Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay adding to Wells slugging. And thus far it seems to be working, despite injuries to some major players. The Jays are above .500 and are just a few games back of the Red Sox for the AL East lead.
I guess that you could say that this season has been a turning point for the Jays. Now that there's actually some hitting in the lineup, I'm not as worried that one of our stars (mostly Doc, really) will burn himself out to get a win. Indeed, no longer does it seem necessary for the Jays to throw a shutout in order to get a win - but I wouldn't mind it if they did, anyway.
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