Sackville Sports

New 2010 TCAF Sackvill Sabres Logo

2010-08-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Gone Tweeting!

2010-01-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been reading a few WHL blogs and it reminded me I used to enjoy writing a blog. I just might return but for now I'm enjoying reading blogs and Twitter. I'm on Twitter at derek_day.

The Football Source - Michael Lombardi

2009-03-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sure every Sports Guy (Simmons) fan is now a Michael Lombardi fan. Simmons has him on probably once a week to talk football. I like Lombardi thanks to the Simmons podcast. Here's a snapshot of the common sense approach Lombardi takes:

I heard all the talk last season about how the Lions were going to go back and be a run team, that getting rid of Martz would allow them to protect the ball, run more and manage the game in a more efficient way. Well, how did that work? The Lions lost all 16 games, but I promise you, had Martz been the offensive coordinator last year, they would have won a game or two. In Detroit, the offensive theory after firing Martz is the same theory now in San Francisco. The team wants to return to a running game, but all they return to is a bad offense. The 49ers don’t want to throw the ball more than 30 times and they want to establish the run. This is the same organization that invented the west coast offense built on the theory that you have to throw the ball to run. Establishing the run only means you are kicking field goals.

You can read the rest of the story at The National Football Post.

Wheaties

2009-03-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

The Brandon Wheat Kings are making short work of the Kootney Ice in the first round of the WHL playoffs. Up 2-0 over the Ice the Wheaties are on the road in the Rockies looking to take a 3-0 lead. After 2 periods in game 3 it's 3-2 for the Wheaties.

Shaw TV is showing Saskatoon vs Lethbridge. Thanks!

I think it's important for the Wheaties to win a round or two this year. They need the playoff experience and pressure hockey experience for next year's Memorial Cup hosting duties. I really hope Coach/GM/Owner Crimmer is watching closely to see which players are rising to the occasion and are the guys he wants around next year for the big push.

Under Pressure

2009-03-24T19:02:00.001-07:00

Dave Dameshek brought up an interesting sports topic that requires many hours of thought and lists of sports stars. That's pretty much his gig. The current thought is which sports figure (player, coach, GM) is under the most pressure right now. He tossed out names like Kobe, Crosby, Peyton Manning, Brian Cashman, etc. but then he said a name that I just loved to here...Joe Thornton. Now, I think Joe Thornton is great and I cheered for him in Boston and cheer for him when he suits up for Team Canada. As a Shark though, I think the dude is overrated. OK, it bugs me that the Bruins got a bag of steaming crap in return for Joe in one of the worst NHL trades of all time but hear me out. The Sharks have the same number of Cup wins as the Bruins since the trade. That's right, ZERO. So Joe can rack up the points in the regular season and win a round or two on the West Coast but he still has yet to crack the Cup Finals let alone win it. As for the Bruins, they canned the guy that pulled the trigger on the trade and went out and got Savard and Chara. Two big pieces of the current team that is just as much a Cup contender as the Sharks this year.

Back to the main topic though....which sports star is under the most pressure. I think if you ask me this question next year at this time the answer will be Ron Wilson. Leaf Nation is putting up with another poor season but the Honeymoon with Wilson will be over next year. For right now though I have to give the question more thought...the kind of thought Dameshek gives these types of silly things.

Brier Recap

2009-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

My 4th Brier is in the books. Calgary '09 was a good Brier considering the talented field and excellent venue. It didn't hurt that Stoughton and team Toba was always in the playoff hunt. As we wait for the final between Alberta vs Manitoba on TV back in the Wheat City I thought I would put down some thoughts and revisit my predictions.

First my predictions..

I had the top 4 teams predicted right but that wasn't very difficult to do. Stoughton may upset Martin today but I will be surprised if he does so I think I've got the top 4 in the proper order. I was way off on Quebec, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick. Russ Howard surprised me and maybe he is on to something with the rotating front end. Jordison is a much better team/player than what he showed at the Brier. This guy qualified at a Slam this year but this week he was finished quicker than a pint of Pilsner at a Rider game. Quebec is always a coin toss so I don't feel too bad about that one. Nova Scotia had a really difficult schedule for a rebound and unfortunately they got off on the wrong foot so it was next to impossible to recovery. The team I was really off on was Northern Ontario...Thanks a lot JD for that pick!!. Jackabo was out of his league.

Reflections on the trip...

Don't Jay walk in Calgary - my buddy and I were stopped by police about it!!
Skiing in the Rockies is incredible! It's well worth the ridiculous line-ups and price tags.
Canmore is still my favorite town.
If you need directions to a strip club just ask a NWT/Yukon skip.
Podcasts are the best way to kill time on the road (thanks Simmons, Dameshek, Carolla).
Pilsner is my favorite beer.
Winnipeg has the best chicken wings.
A version of the C-Train would be nice in Winnipeg but I'm not sold we have the right people for it. I still think we are a car town.
The continental breakfast standard needs to be raised across hotels.
Don't play pool in the back of a sleazy bar...you might get drop kicked by an androgynous native woman.
It's great to have close friends you can travel with. Friends in other cities to visit. Friends back home to take care of business. Family to take care of you.
Don't go to Halifax in the winter. Save your money and go to Saskatoon the following year.

I should really save this as a draft and edit it and add pictures (maybe I will later) but I will post as is and cut me some slack....It's been a long week and I'm very very tired.

Brier Predictions

2009-03-06T22:01:00.001-08:00

The Brier begins tomorrow and a close friend reminded me I was running out of time to post my predictions. Two thoughts keep resonating in my mind. First, it's something Jon Mead said about the Safeway Championship - when you get perfect ice the best two teams should end up in the final. The other thought is that the two best teams have their Olympic Trials spot ticket punched already and the consensus third best team, Stoughton, needs to take advantage of playing in a bonspiel and competing for Trials points without Burtnyk and Ferbey in the same event. So here goes nothing....

12th - PEI - simply not good enough.
11th - Yukon/NWT - some early buzz about this team being an upset team but let's get real.
10th - NB -yes, it's Russ Howard but even the cagey veteran is no match for the big boys
9th - Quebec - with games against MB, Sask, and AB before Noon on Monday I say avoid 'em.
8th - British Columbia - another tough early schedule...I anticipate same results as Quebec.
7th - Northern Ontario - my curling insider says this team has prepared well for a Brier run.
6th - Nova Scotia - Dacey can play the big shot as good as any...will keep his head above water.
5th - Saskatchewan - should be good enough to be in the mix.
4th - Newfoundland - Gushue will finish with the most 4th place Brier finishes in history when his career as a Newfie skip is over
3rd - Ontario - I'm interested to see how much tank is in the gas for these guys.
2nd - Manitoba - on a roll and playing with determination..will make the final.
1st - Alberta - home crowd advantage, best shotmaker in the world, best ice = WINNER.

Stoughton Wins Manitoba for the 7th time

2009-02-22T19:06:00.001-08:00

Jeff Stoughton won his record 7th MB Men's Provincials and will represent MB at the Brier in Calgary this year.

The Safeway Championship was a great event. The finals featured the #1 Burtnyk defending champ vs the #2 2007 champ in Stoughton. In the end Stoughton took advantage of the hammer early scoring 2 in the first end then stealing 1 in the second. Stoughton was the sharper curler and Kevin Park out curled Don Walchuk. In my opinion Team Stoughton was the best team. I'm happy to see him return to the Brier and will be at the Saddledome to cheer him on.

As for predictions:

I predicted Stoughton would win. I had 7 out of 8 qualifiers right (had Allan Lyburn rather than Bob Sigurdson). My biggest mistake was not having Carruthers in the final 4. Reid played really well and actually won the All-Star Skip award. I also had Mike McEwen making it to the finals but he feel short again this year despite a solid effort.

I hope to have similar success with my Brier predictions in a few weeks.

Safeway Championship - Day 2

2009-02-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

The first 4 qualifying match-ups are set for the Safeway Championships. Of the 8 teams playing for the first 4 spots only 2 are seeds outside of the top 8 (D.Peters, Taylor). Top 8 seeds that were bounced to the B side were Terry McNamee and Allan Lyburn. But you gotta love Lyburn's attitude....

[link]

"We're here," Brandon's Allan Lyburn proclaimed Tuesday, "to drink a lot of beer and have a good time. Because, let's face it, I don't generally play very well at this thing."

Safeway Championship Preview

2009-02-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

I don't anticipate any big surprises at the Safeway Championship in Selkirk on the week-end. I'm saying that going on the feedback from curlers that there are several good teams that can win on any given draw. So a team not seeded in the top 10 could win the Provincials and I don't think that can be declared a surprise. However, with critical CRTS points on the line I feel either Burtnyk or Stoughton will prevail. Of the two teams I think Burtnyk is in an easier bracket to advance without a scare. Others that I feel will qualify are all top 10 teams.

Q1 = Stoughton
Q2 = McEwen
Q3 = Nicholls
Q4 = Burtnyk
Q5 = A. Lyburn - but I also think Boehmer or Sigurdson could just as easily qualify.
Q6 = Taylor - I think it's a toss up between Taylor and Skinner.
Q7 = Carruthers - but don't be surprised by an upset in this bracket..maybe Galbraith or Neufeld.
Q8 = Peters - I'm betting this guy has fun and Gunner plays lights out and the Westman teams (McNamee, Robertson, W. Lyburn) fade out.

I guess I can be guilty of riding the favorites a bit. My playoff and championship predictions has both Burtnyk and Peters facing Carruthers. Would that be great drama. I think McEwen and Stoughton will face each other twice with the veteran staying in front of the rising star on both occasions. I don think Mike can avenge his semi final loss to Burtnyk a year ago and bounce the reigning champ on championship Sunday morning.

It all starts tomorrow.

Seeds and Draw for Safeway Championship

2009-02-12T17:57:00.001-08:00

The top 16 teams were announced today along with the Safeway Championship draw. As usual, Resby has the complete coverage of the seeds, draw, and team personnel.

Below is a summary of how I did predicting the seeds. Only the top 16 teams were announced and I'm not positive how they come up with the bottom 16 but I'm going to make the assumption that the #1 seed plays the #32 seed and work backwards.

8 teams picked right
#1 Burtnyk, #2 Stoughton, #3 McEwen, #9 Peters, #12 Neufeld, #13 Gailbrath, #17 W. Lyburn, #32 Hyrich.

13 teams off by 1 spot
#4 Nicholls, #5 Carruthers, #6 Bohn, #7 A. Lyburn, #11 Taylor, #20 Scales, #23 Hyde, #24 Warren, #25 Muntain, #26 Friesen, #29 Cosens, #30 Asham, #31 Magnusson.

4 teams off by 2 spots
#10 Boehmer, #16 Robertson, 18 Woodward, #27 Pauls

7 teams off by more than 2 spots
#8 McNamee, #14 Skinner, #15 Sigurdson, #19 Riach, #21 Zawada, #22 Madams, #28 Smith

21 out of 32 picks were no more than 1 spot off. I think that's pretty good!

2 quick thoughts on the draw - the Q2 group looks like a killer with McEwen, Bohn, Taylor, Madams, Skinner, and Riach. 4 really good young skips and 2 solid veterans. How about the Murray Warren vs Daley Peters matchup. That's great!!

I can't wait for the action to start. I'm going to make my predictions following a Select pool with my curling team...can't give out any spoilers.

Safeway Championship Seeds Predictions

2009-02-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

Press conference for 2009 Safeway Provincial Championship is supposed to be today to announce the seeds and the draw. Here is my prediction of what the seeds will be:

1Provincial Champion- Kerry Burtnyk- Assiniboine Memorial CC.
2CTRS Berth- Jeff Stoughton- Charleswood CC.
3MCT Berth- Mike McEwen- Assiniboine Memorial CC.
4Zone 17- Reid Carruthers- West Kildonan CC.
5Zone 16- Peter Nicholls- Dear Lodge CC.
6Zone 8-Alan Lyburn- Brandon CC.
7Zone 19- David Bohn- Assiniboine Memorial CC.
8Zone 3- Dave Boehmer- Petersfield CC.
9Zone 2- Daley Peters- Beausejour CC.
10Zone 21- Brendan Taylor- West Kildonan CC.
11Southern Berth- Terry McNamee-Brandon CC.
12Zone 1- Randy Neufeld- La Salle CC.
13Zone 4- Chris Gailbraith- Rosser CC.
14Zone 6- Kelly Robertson- Neepawa CC.
15Zone 15- Scott Madams- Pembina CC.
16Zone 18- Doug Raich- West Kildonan CC.
17Brandon Berth- William Lyburn- BrandonCC.
18Zone 10- Kelly Skinner- Hamiota CC.
19Zone 12- Brent Scales- Swan River CC.
20Zone 11- Murray Woodward- Rorketon CC.
21Zone 20- Bob Sigurdson- Granite CC.
22MCA # 1-Dave Smith- St. Vital CC.
23Zone 9- Murray Warren- Deloraine CC.
24Zone 5- Ryan Hyde- Portage CC.
25Zone 7- Steve Pauls- Manitou CC.
26Northern Berth- Richard Muntain- Carberry CC.
27MCA # 4-Darryl Friesen- St. Vital CC.
28MCA # 3-Rob Cosens- West St. Paul CC.
29Zone 14- Farrol Asham- Burntwood CC.
30MCA # 5-Shawn Magnusson- Riverton CC.
31MCA # 2-Braden Zawada- Springfield CC.
32Zone 13- Brad Hyrich- Flin Flon CC.

Time to Recap

2009-02-10T07:01:00.000-08:00

I just can't seem to blog regularly. I've come to terms with that fact and realize I may only post once a month.

A quick recap since the last post.....

CURLING

Team Coutts participated in the 21st MCA. It was another good year. We finished 4-4 and one game away from the prizes. We played 2 games past our minimum guarantee as well. Most importantly, we rebounded after taking some big losses in the middle of the event. Resby has all the game summary on his site. A fun way of keeping track of our team but also a showcase of what he can do for other curling teams if they were inclined to want similar coverage.

Curlingzone has plenty of MCA thoughts and suggestions in a few running threads. I'm going to keep reading and digest it first before I put some stuff on here. I have my opinions but I'm learning some different perspectives from curlers of a different (better) calibre than mine.

Next week is the Safeway Championship in Selkirk. I'll be heading up there to take in my 5th MB Men's Championship. It's a great event. Check out the list of teams. Thursday is the press conference to announce the seedings. I hope to have my predictions online later today.

FOOTBALL

I'm okay with Pittsburgh winning the Superbowl. I've bought the Simmons and Dameshek idea that it's good for pro sports to have perennial champs and dynasty teams rather than Cinderella champs and that you have to feel some playoff pain before you can savor victory. Having said that......

HOCKEY

The Boston Bruins are leading the NHL and the playoffs are getting closer and closer.....

Dance Card is Close to Full

2009-01-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

MB Men's Curling Zones are complete. Here is a complete list. Randy Dutiame, Vic Peters, and Brad Haight are still on the outside looking in and will have to qualify for the Safeway Championships through the MCA. This could be the second year in a row that Dutiame is shut out of the "select". A pretty big fall for a guy that made the playoffs of the 2005 Brier.

Conference Championship Round

2009-01-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the NFL is totally unpredictable now. Both Giants and Titans, the #1 conference seeds, lost at home in the second round of the playoffs after a bye. Eli played horrible and the Titans just got unlucky against the Ravens. Then there is Kurt Warner and the Cards upsetting an 8-0 home team on the road. At least the Steelers won as favorites at home against an inferior team.

Round 2 brings us:

Ravens at Steelers
Eagles at Cardinals

I think the Steelers will win at home. As a bit of Bengal fan ( one of few..come on I have Palmer in a fantasy football keeper league), I'd like to see neither team win but that's not possible. The Ravens gave up 300+ yards on the road last week and got a lucky play clock violation non call and a deep ball TD that was thrown into double coverage. I can't see that happening again.

In the NFC match up I think the Cards can actually pull it off. I'm not fully convinced this team is for real but I just like the fact they lost so badly the last time they played the Eagles. Does that sound strange? I just think the Eagles played a perfect game that Thanksgiving night and the Cards saw everything from the Eagles that night. No way McNabb repeats that against a fairly well coached team on the road. The game sold out in 4 minutes. The fans in the desert will be a factor.

Enjoy the games!

NFL Playoffs - Division Round

2009-01-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

Round 2 of the NFL playoffs are here. I have some thoughts for each game plus some tidbits from the BS Report Playoff Mega Podcast. I figure the best thing to do with that podcast is to filter an hours worth of details, views, hunches, etc. and pick out the ones that make the most sense to me. I'd like to pull off a ProLine victory this week. The ProLine odds aren't out yet but here is what I'm thinking about match-up:

Eagles at Giants

1. The Eagles just barely beat the Vikings and the Giants are a much better team than the Vikes.
2. The Giants are rested. Very rested in some cases - Brandon Jacobs.
3. The Eagles nailed 4 field goals...in the dome. I don't see that happening at Giant Stadium in what could be poor weather conditions.

Final thought - I think Coughlin is the better coach and the Giants will come out rushing the ball and get a lead then pass rush and force McNabb into bad decisions. A formula Brad Childress should have used.

Chargers at Steelers

1. Sproles will face a tougher and faster linebacking core in Pittsburgh this week. 4 linebackers vs 3 too. (hat tip to podcast for that one).
2. Pittsburgh doesn't have a good enough offense to blow the game open so this could be anyone's ball game with 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.

Final thought - I'm all for the little man playing a big role. I stand only 5'7 myself and I think if I was to play football I'd like to be the 3rd down back or change of pace back. Mainly because I wouldn't be able to sustain the pounding (or have the speed) of an everyday back. I also don't have the speed or vision for a cornerback so where else does a 5'7 guy play. Don't say kicker! This is silly talk...I wouldn't be able to take a NFL hit...Back to my thought...I just don't see the shifty Sproles running well on the Pittsburgh field in the cold against a top ranked defense and mean linebackers. I see Pittsburgh doing enough on offense to compliment the defense and win the game.

Titans vs Ravens

1. Flacco wasn't great against a Miami rush and what he faces vs the Titans will be much better (hat tip to podcast). Jeff Fisher will prepare his defense to put Flacco in bad spots. I'll take the Veteran Coach/QB vs the Rookie Coach/QB

....that's basically my one and only thought. I think the game will be close on the scoreboard but the Titans will control the game. This is a team that dominated the NFL for pretty much the entire season (forget the Jets loss and some mediocre performances post Conference clinch) and shouldn't be taken lightly. (hat tip - cousin sal).

Panthers vs Cardinals

1. The Cardinals just did not play well enough on the road.
2. Boldin is laboring and that's going to hurt them.
3. I doubt Edge can repeat his performance on the road even if the Panthers are a low ranked run D.
4. The Panthers are a big play offensive team and the Cardinals will put themselves in bad spots to be beat by the big play (round about way of saying "expose themselves" but that just sounds wrong). (hat tip podcast for the "big play" game factor).

Final thought - it scares me that people are talking up the Panthers. They always seem to be a Superbowl favorite at some point in every NFL season for the past few years. Despite that, I just don't think the Cards are a good enough playoff road team.

Summary - Winners will be Giants, Steelers, Titans, Panthers...all home teams and no underdogs so that can't be right.

Now I need the rest of the week to figure out if they will cover the spread.

Maybe it should be McEWIN

2009-01-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

Mike McEwen repeated as the MCT Champ this past week-end in Morris. McEwen went 10-0 and beat veteran Terry McNamee in the final. Watch for McEwen to climb Resby's Rankings at thecurler.com. McEwen was the 4th on Resby's mid December rankings but I figure McEwen has a legit shot at being the top ranked team. Props to Brendan Taylor for another fine performance. It was also nice to see the Bohn team make some nice. What happened to Stoughton?

We Win! We Win! We Win!

2009-01-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Team Canada wins again! 5 straight Gold medals at the World Junior Championships.

Awesome!

I must say this team was exciting to watch even if they constantly turned the puck over, took way too many chances, and got very lucky a few times.

Congrats to Team Canada. Way to go Keith Aulie! The Brandon Wheat King defenseman played way more than I thought he would and he was an important player for Canada.

Blake Wheeler Update

2008-12-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

“One of the biggest things about the Bruins organization was having someone like Mr. Cam Neely in the front office,” Wheeler explained

Blake Wheeler leads all rookies in goal scoring and plus/minus. The former 1st round, 5th overall pick is just one of many Bruins having a great season and joins Milan Lucic as a rising Bruin star that Cam Neely has impacted.

Team Canada over Borat's Home Country & the Germans

2008-12-30T15:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so there wasn't much excitement in the Canada win over Kazakhstan. 15-0 was brutal. It sparked the debate over whether or not the tournament should go to 8 teams instead of the traditional 10. The IIHF is leaning to keeping the 10 teams despite the pressure to reduce to 8. They feel the current format allows for developing hockey programs in other countries. I'm in favor of that but would prefer to see the relegation happen every 2 years instead of every year. For example, Switzerland has qualified for next year's WJC. Let them in for 2 years then on the second year if they don't finish 8th or higher than relegate them back to pool B status. This lets pool B teams plan for 2 years in pool A. If a team wins pool B with mainly 19 year olds they don't stand much of a chance the following year in pool A. Give them two cracks at it.

As for the Germany game, nothing new - Germany played with Canada far too long, Canada looked frustrated and took far too many penalties. In the end we got our points and will move on. It's the classic Canada vs Germany game. Oh, right, and most of the German players play for CHL teams or have dual citizenship or something. It's just at game where we are happy to have over and can focus on the Americans and the medal round.

Fantasy Football Review - Part II

2008-12-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

Pretty much every mock draft I did leading up to the FF season of 2008 had a WR taken very high. Randy Moss and Braylon Edwards in particular were WRs that went in 1st rounds on a consistent basis. The expert advice was you had to have a top WR to win and the draft advice of RB-RB no longer applied to FF. I disagreed and boy was I wrong. WRs did put put up big numbers again in and a lot of cases probably won some championships for guys (hello Steve Smith).

WR
Hits
Anquan Boldin - preseason rift with Coach did not impact this guy. Tailed off at the end of the season but still a stud WR.
Wes Welker - despite losing Tom Brady, Welker was a solid play each week.
Calvin Johnson - despite having QBs like Kitna, Culpepper, Hanson, Orlovsky, and being on a 0-16 team this guy put up big numbers.
Santonio Holmes - I made sure to stay clear and I was rewarded. Nothing special here with such a bad O-line. There was just not enough time to work the deep routes.
Tory Holt - Put a fork in him. Avery is the guy you want on the Rams. Holt at WR1 is a thing of the past.
Roddy White - great WR and my bet was he was going to put up numbers with whoever played QB. It was a bonus that Ryan played so well and kept the QB job.
Eddie Royal - I drafted this guy in PBL. Very late in a deep league so I can't brag too much but he was a decent WR.

Misses
Braylon Edwards - he will rebound I'm sure and will become a steal for someone next year.
Larry Fitzgerald - I always convince myself there is no room for two WR1 on one team and I like Boldin better but Fitzgerald keeps on putting up good numbers.
Steve Smith - I was a little shy about Delhomme's arm and really bought into the "power running game with Johnaton Stewart".
TJ Houshmanzadeh - the Palmer injury hurt but he's a good WR and should have did much better.
Ocho Cinco - see TJ Housh. Plus, I really thought 85's off the field antics were playful and kinda fun but now I see it's more than that.
Burress - man, what a huge bust. First, I thought the Giants were going to have to rely on him down the stretch (and in FF playoff time). But the Giants ran the ball so well they didn't need Plax. Then Plax shot himself in the ass!
Jennings - I read an article in the offseason were Jennings basically said he was in the right place at the right time for his yards and TDs last year. That made me avoid him and it solidified my thoughts on the WR position. Damn you Jennings!

TE
My thoughts going into the season on the TE spot was that if you got Gates or Witten you would be happy even if they underperformed. Both guys would either be a solid TE or produce WR1/2 type numbers at TE and you would be really happy. Here's what I thought of the rest...

Hits
Gonzalez - lots of guys were down on him but I thought he would be decent. Thigpen's emergence helped otherwise maybe I would have been wrong.
Clark - you can't go wrong with a TE that runs solid routes for Petyon Manning.
Winslow - a bit crazy but talent is worth it.
Daniels - I love this guy and will target him in 2009. He proved his 2007 numbers were no fluke. His upside is even greater if Schuab can stay healthy.
Olsen - another guy I think will continue to get better.

Misses
Shockey - my man crush on Shockey is over.
Scheffler - there were some nagging injuries but I thought this guy would play through that stuff and grind out way better numbers.
Crumpler - it would have been interesting to see a full season with Vince Young at QB tossing to Crumpler. That never happen and the Titans just ran the ball down everyone's throat.

Kickers - I go into the season every year looking to grab Rob Bironas. 21 points one week. I just love the guy.

Defense - I was mainly dead wrong on defense when drafting and doing the auction. I have to improve on this area.

Hits
Giants - waiver claim...
Jets - not a great defense but good spot defense and I called on the Jets a few times.

Misses
Chargers - what happened?
Colts - too many injuries, offense wasn't as dominate as I thought
Steelers - never gave them a thought...ooops
Ravens - never gave them much of a thought...oops
Bucs - never gave them much of a thought...oops

There you have it. Fantasy Football is over. Hello NFL playoffs.

Fantasy Football Recap - Part I

2008-12-30T12:17:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever did a Fantasy Football review post. Maybe it was because neither of my FF teams made the money rounds. I'm still searching for the right formula and luck to win a FF title. I did, however, win an Eliminator pool that saw me pocket $265. That's nothing compared to the priceless bragging rights of a FF title.

I'm not going to over analyze where I went wrong. I know the mistakes I made and I won't let it happen again. Instead I want to do a list of hits and misses by position of my pre-season rankings. I have no print of my rankings to prove I was high or low on a guy in pre-season. It's just my word and since I'm the only one reading this I think that's all I need.

QB

Hits
BREES - threw for over 4000 yards...spent too much on AP and couldn't afford DB. Bad choice.
CUTLER - my keeper in PBL and the foundation of my franchise. Pro-Bowl season and numbers will improve next year if Bronco RBs can stay healthy and the D improves.
SCHUAB - I couldn't predict a Houston hurricane and a terrible start or a knee injury but the throws and numbers he put in late season games was what I thought he was going to do.

Misses
FLACCO - rookie RB playing way over his head (and he is 6'7!)
RYAN - Matty Ice they called him..who knew the Falcons would win 11 games.
HILL - shouldn't be on any FF list but in a 2 QB league he is relevant and I dissed him.

** I don't feel bad on missing on 2 QBs and the 3rd stringer of a non playoff team.

RB
Hits
SLATON - missed drafting him in PBL but grabbed him on waivers in TCAF. A gem and a top 10 RB for next season.
FORTE - great all around RB. I had him and traded him for Plax....Whoops!
PETERSON- he didn't have mega numbers but he was the NFL leading rusher and he was healthy.

Misses
WILLIMAS, DEANGELO - I bought the "Carolina is going to go power running with first rounder Johnathon Stewart".
STEWART - read above.
GORE - he was decent but then played poorly at the end and that's when it matters most.
TURNER - "who knew the Falcons would win 11 games".
LYNCH - I had high hopes for my keeper and #1 RB but he didn't hit paydirt enough.
JOHNSON, LARRY - I thought this guy still had potential but I didn't think his off the field stuff would impact him as much. Obviously I was wrong. Suspensions and moody dispositions is not what you want in your RB2.

Since the WR list is really long and my 15 minute coffee break is over I will "to be continued" this post.

....To Be Continued.

Vikings Clinch NFC North

2008-12-28T14:09:00.000-08:00

Critics will peg the Vikings (or maybe the Cardinals) as the worst playoff bound team but I don't care. The Vikings reached the playoffs with a 10-6 record and win over the defending Superbowl Giants (yes, Eli sat the second half but the Giants were still good). Anything can happen in the playoffs....Skol Vikings!

Team Canda opens with Big Win

2008-12-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

Team Canada blasted Team Czech Republic on Boxing Day to the tune of 8-1. It was my first experience watching a game on PVR. I was at my in-laws for Christmas and with Turkey dinner scheduled for about the time of puck drop I PVR'd the game and we watched later that night while playing a rousing game of Taboo. The play/pause/fast forward/rewind features were great and made it possible to juggle family time with WJC time. I'm totally in love with PVR now.

Back to the game. TSN did a great job as usual in covering the game and summarizing it. I couldn't agree more with the three outcomes that came out of the first round game:

1. Veteran players stepped up and lead the way. ANY junior hockey team is only as good as their veteran players.

2. Big guns were firing. John Taveres was simply awesome and that's good to see. So many times a highly touted player starts out in a slump and with the tournament of this magnitude it's difficult to break a slump (remember Rico Fata in Brandon/Wpg). Taveres will be the tournament MVP and Top Forward.

3. Balanced scoring. Another flaw in some teams has been the reliance of 1 scoring line. I prefer to see a balanced approach and it looks like Pat Quinn has that going for this team.

So 1-0 as anticipated. Next up - Team Kazak. This is a game to work on the PP and just hope you get over without any injuries.

Another Moose Game

2008-12-23T17:42:00.000-08:00

Another trip to the MTS Centre to watch the Moose vs Quad City. I have no idea where the Quad Cities are but it doesn't matter. The tickets were courtesy of Maple Leaf Consumer Foods and they were a set of primo seats in the John Labatt Lounge section. Row 4! I went with my 2 year old boy on the eve of his 3rd birthday.

My son had an excellent time. The first play of the game was a dump-in just in front of our seats and the Moose defenseman was wallpapered into the glass. Awesome! A sweet goal and a fight just in front of us too. Again, awesome!

As for the game itself, there's no mistaking the Quad Cities team as the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames. They were all grit with one dude that was slick and could find the back of the net. The team even had a Sutter on it. The more veteran Moose team had more skill but after winning the first game of a two game week-end series the night before, I think the Moose were already on Xmas break. Final score - 2 to 1 for the QC Flames.

I'll be back for another Moose game for sure. A great pre-game show, good hockey, and a great venue. It's no Brandon Wheat King game but I'll take it...especially comp. tickets.

Quick Hits form the Sack

2008-11-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

I'm in a win and your in match this week (starting tonight with the Steelers and Bengals). After contemplating starting Kyle Orton I have decided to go with Big Ben. Seriously, could I really put my Fantasy Football destiny in the hands of Kyle Freakin' Orton?

CBC had Masters of Curling on last week-end. I gotta say, watching curling is so relaxing but I just can't watch Glen Howard anymore. Same goes for Gushue, and Kevin Koe. I find myself thinking, "bring back Ferby"! I thought it would never come to that.

Does Kevin Lowe have the last laugh? Burke ditches the Ducks and leaves them in a mess. Vancouver is still a mess with the Sedins at the helm. How good really is Burke? I guess the Maple Leafs will find out soon.

I'm lazy with no links and I will continue to be here but go to you tube and check out Milan Lucic destroy Mike Komisarek. For fun after that, punch in college football referee. There are lots of funny sports bloopers involving college football refs.

Finally, I'm pretty sure Adrian Peterson will run for 200 yards this week-end. The Jags are prime for it. Basically out of the playoff picture. The big guys will find it tough to tackle a mean AP.

Moose Hockey...I just might go back!

2008-11-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

My parents treated my family and I to a Moose game a few weeks back. It was a great time. I have always been skeptical of AHL hockey. I truly believe that Winnipeg should have a WHL team and that following junior hockey players is more interesting than most of the talent in the AHL. In fact, I have only walked out of one hockey game (at any level) and it was a Moose game about 8 years ago at the Winnipeg Arena. This time around the game was very good. Fast, hard hitting, good plays, etc. I knew I would have a good time with my family regardless of the product on the ice but in the end it was win win. Good time in the seats and great hockey to watch.

Curling Ring Art

2008-11-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

The Curler posted this photo and a few others from the Morris Curling Club. I think it's a really cool idea and hope that more clubs adopt it and it's received well by curlers of all ability and ages.

Wheat Kings to Host M Cup

2008-10-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Great news....my beloved Wheat Kings were awarded the 1010 Memorial Cup!

The timing was perfect for the Wheaties.

Saskatooon/Regina host the 2010 World Junior Championships
Vancouver the West Coast will be busy hosting the Olympics
Recent previous WHL Memorial Cup hosts have been from the WHL's Western Conference.
Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Prince Albert all have small arenas.
The Wheaties have a solid roster that should represent the WHL well.

As soon as I'm done this I will be submitting my holidays for May, 2010!

4 Downs after 5 Games

2008-10-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

A few comments on the NFL after 5 games

1st Down - Funston wrote about the Fantasy Football season not having a clear cut superstar like previous years where Brady, Tomlinson, Manning, etc. took control of Fantasy Football. There's no real MVP of the NFL right now either. If the season was to end today, who would get the MVP award? My guess is Eli Manning. He hasn't lost a game and is the QB of the defending Superbowl champs. Brett Favre got attention last year for guiding the Packers into the playoffs but there will be 10 tens that amount more this year if the Jets make it in. The MVP of the NFL could very well be a New York QB.

2nd Down - Marvin Lewis will be fired very soon. It sounds like the Bengals are shutting down Palmer for precaution. When you are 0-5 and are doing things like that it means you are looking ahead...to next season. I can't imagine Lewis wanted Chris Henry back or to bring in Cedric Benson. Both are bad boys and don't help the perception that Lewis can't run a tight ship with discipline.

3rd Down - Rookie RBs. Amazing talents in Stewart, Forte, Slaton, Felix Jones, McFAdden. It's unreal. It has really made me want to start watching some college football....but it that would likely cost me my marriage.

4th Down - Vikings Road Trip. My friends and I are going to Minneapolis to see the Vikings play the Texans. It's going to be a great trip.....too bad the Loonie dropped like a TD pass to Bernard Berrian.

Sports Guy and Gal Week 5 Highlights

2008-10-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

Favorite part of the Sports Guy's Week 5 Picks:

HERM EDWARDS (-3) over the Unintentional Comedy ScaleDid you see the Hermster in the locker room after K.C.'s upset of Denver? If you missed it and want to get a feeling for what happened, scream the next two sentences at the top of your lungs and see how everyone else at work reacts ...
"Let's build on that! LET'S BUILD ON THAT!!!!!!"

THE IHOP ON SUNSET & MANSFIELD (+9) over the IHOPs everywhere else in Los AngelesRight now, I'm writing this column and eating corn pancakes at -- you guessed it! -- the IHOP on Sunset and Mansfield. Two strippers are sitting 10 feet away from me, discussing their next month of gigs and occasionally sneaking me those "If you have enough money on you right now, we might add you to the list of gigs" looks. A group of five hungover guys in their 20s are sitting behind me and recapping last night on the town, which included a bedroom story so over the top that I don't think I could have even printed it on my old Web site. Two tables over, an old lady complained that she ate too much and started coughing/retching, then her nurse provided her a plastic bag and the old lady threw up in it for three solid minutes. If that's not enough, "Even the Nights Are Better" by Air Supply is playing on the jukebox. Top that, every other IHOP in L.A.! Let's build on that! LET'S BUILD ON THAT!!!!!!"

The Sports Gal's Rant for the gals that read this blog:

Our boy hit the Destructo phase six weeks ago. He used to be the easiest, happiest kid! He could play with the same toy for an hour. He could sleep in restaurants or be smuggled into movies. No more. Now he gets his kicks from sticking his face in a dog bowl, or opening a drawer, pulling out all the clothes, then opening and shutting it until he slams his finger. You don't want to travel with Destructo. We flew cross-country two weeks ago and I am still drinking two glasses of wine every night to recover. OK, three. All right, it's a whole bottle. It was just me and him on the way back. Think about holding a 25-pound fish that's wiggling to get back into the ocean for six hours as the fish emits bloodcurdling screams and you're stressing that everyone hates you.

Salary Cap Fantasy Hockey

2008-10-06T20:05:00.001-07:00

Check out the team I completed for my Dad's fantasy hockey league.

Forwards: 1 point each for goal and assist
Henrik Zetterberg $2,900,000.00
Sam Gagner $875,000.00
Peter Mueller $850,000.00
Evgeni Malkin$984,200.00
Alexander Ovechkin $9,000,000.00
Paul Statsny $710,000.00
Anze Kopitar$765,000.00
Johnaton Toews$850,000.00
Nicklas Backstrom $850,000.00
Patrick Kane$875,000.00
Sydney Crosby$9,000,000.00
Stephen Stamkos$875,000.00

Defense: 1 point each for goal and assist
Andrej Meszaros $2,500,000.00
Niclas Lidstrom $7,450,000.00
Kristopher Letang $685,000.00
Ian White$850,000.00
Alexander Elder$550,000.00
John Oduya$600,000.00

Goalies: 2 points for a win, 5 points for a shutout
Chris Osgood $1,700,000.00
Peter Budaj $800,000.00
Kerry Price $850,000.00

Total 2008/2009 Salary
$44519200....just under the $45 million cap limit

I opted for the high price tags of Ovechkin, Crosby, and Lidstrom which meant I had to find some players that made very little. It's difficult to find low priced goalies and defenceman but I think I did a decent job.

Can you believe Chris Osgood makes less than $2 million?

Fantasy Hockey

2008-10-02T16:31:00.001-07:00

The NHL is getting younger or I am getting older.

I just completed a fantasy hockey. Check out a few slapshots from the draft to see what I mean:

Round 2 - Statsny, Perry, Phaneuf, Toews
Round 3 - Stamkos (Rookie), Backstrom, Mike Green, Kane

vs

Round 11 - Demitra, Schneider, Nylander
Round 12 - Havlat, Modano, Bertuzzi

The oldtimers didn't all get pushed aside but the trend was to go young.

Curling Big Board

2008-09-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

Resby Coutts has his top 16 Men's Curling teams listed. No surprise to see Kerry Burtnyk as the number one team but there are a few surprises in his list of 16. Check it out here. I take part in a curling draft when the Manitoba Championship comes around as well as take part in the MCA calcutta at the Deer Lodge Curling club so I will put the rankings to good use.

2008 NFL Week 3 Picks - Another Simmons Classic

2008-09-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

The Sports Guy Bill Simmons pounded out a great Week 3 picks article. I usually end up reading the picks the following week for some reason but even if the games are already over it is still worth a read. In case you don't want to read the entire article here's some highlights (I wouldn't make a good editor because as you can see I've included a lot of the article).

On fantasy football backlash in the early stages:

When I worked for the Boston Herald in 1995, I pitched a weekly fantasy column to my editors that August; I might as well have been pitching a column about drinking and driving or trying to sleep with underaged girls. They couldn't have said no fast enough.

On fantasy football soaring to new heights in popularity today:

While the Summer Olympics were doing such gangbuster ratings for NBC in August, the most-searched term on ESPN.com for those two weeks wasn't "Olympics" or "Phelps" or even "Sacramone." You know what it was? That's right … "fantasy football." A few weeks later, the Eagles-Cowboys game became the most-watched cable event of all time. You might think this was a coincidence. You would be wrong.

On what makes fantasy football so great:

Miss out on fantasy, and you miss out on the draft, biting e-mails, jokes, barbs, funny team names, inane arguments, idiotic trade offers and everything else. In some cases (like with me and my East Coast friends, who have something like 58 kids among us), the draft is the only day of the year when you're in touch with friends who were once essential parts of your day-to-day life. Look, I support anything that keeps friends in touch, keeps them arguing and keeps them busting each other's balls for five months a year. That's why I love fantasy over everything else.

On Vikings fans:

Booing Tarvaris Jackson during that Colts debacle wasn't nearly effective enough this past weekend; the Vikings' fans should have been singing "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails or chanting, "You're ripping out our souls! You're ripping out our souls!"

Observation I've made before but would never have been able to put it in such a way:

If you made an All-Star team for "Athletes with Latino Names Who Look Like Their Name Should Actually Be Something Like Jimmy Scott or Rick Stevens," would you call it the Jeff Garcia All-Stars or the Anthony Gonzalez All-Stars?

On Peyton Manning:

after unleashing a Hall of Fame Manning Face in the first half, no less -- and the thing that stood out was how, after a certain point, when Minny kept blowing chances to blow that game wide open, it became patently clear that Manning was going to make the Vikings pay, no matter how grim things looked. Now that, my friends, is a great player. I now will wash my eyes out with paprika.

Finally, one of the best rants I have ever read:

Three more notes about my Sunday in the airport (we were there for a wedding and grounded by weather delays): First, a belated middle finger to everyone working at the diner who refused to change the channel from NASCAR to the Colts game even though nobody was watching the TV. I'm sorry, I worked in a restaurant once upon a time -- you can't tell me you "don't know where the remote is" when we both know you are just more interested in texting your friends. By the way, that was me who went into the bathroom and peed all over the toilet seat. Sorry about that. Second, just when I thought the day couldn't get worse, my daughter pulled the fire alarm and nearly caused a riot. I continue to hate every one of my friends who told me, "You have to have kids -- they're the best!" Burn in hell, all of you. And third, I finally found a TV that was showing CNN. One lady was watching it. Telepathically, I convinced her to go to the bathroom within 35 seconds. I know that's hard to believe, but it couldn't have been a coincidence that I stared at her thinking, "Bathroom, bathroom, you have to go, bathroom," and then she just got up and went. Then I turned it to the Colts game. This made up for everything else you read in this paragraph. I briefly turned into Uri Geller. It happened, and you can't tell me it didn't.

Curling just around the Corner Guard

2008-09-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last week was registration week for most curling clubs in the city of Winnipeg. Once again, I will be playing on Wednesday nights at the Deer Lodge Curling Club. Last year I lost a lot of playing time due to work but this I year I am in a position to play a lot more and I couldn't be happier.

My wife and I have signed up for Mixed Curling at the Fort Rouge Curling Club on Fridays. We curl with a group of friends and it's quite fun. With two kids now it is a little more difficult but we are prepared to enter into the realm of hired babysitters.

On the curling spectator front we are planning on going to the Brier in Calgary which would make 4 straight Briers.

Keep an eye out for the curler.com's MB Men's preview post. I know Resby has been itching to get back into full curling mode. His posts last year on the top 32 were very good and pretty bang on.

Feels like coming out of retirement...just like Favre!

2008-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Another lengthy delay in posting....whoops! I thought about putting an end to the blog but I just couldn't do it.

So I'm going to do a rundown on everything that's happened since August 25th...NOT. Man, the NOT joke was pretty annoying but still kinda funny. I loved the comedy coach teaching Borat the NOT joke routine.

Here's a real mixed equipment bag of sports related stuff that's been getting stinky waiting to be aired out...

Milt Stegall Drive - since I only live about a Favre to Cotchery TD bomb away from Milt Stegall Drive (I really should have had a Glenn to Stegall TD bomb reference there but since I haven't seen one yet this year I just couldn't do it) I want to start with the Bombers.

It makes me sick that the team has a head coach (hired for his offensive experience) and an offensive coordinator but allows the QB to call the plays. A QB that was benched at the start of the season. This doesn't make sense to me.
The Argos are 4-6 and canned their head coach to bring in CFL legend Don Mathews to guide the team the rest of the way. The TiCats canned their head coach too. The Bombers continue to roll with Doug Berry...who doesn't even operate the offense.
How does Tom Canada tell the GM he won't report to Hamilton then seek his own medical advice and is now on the 9 game injury list?? Who's running the show here? I'm one in favor of unloading Canada. He is a fan favorite and by all accounts a really nice guy who likes Winnipeg but he is too slow. If he gets help from his defense and the play is at him then he makes a splashy play but far too often he can't recover or make plays on his own.

The Forks - I participated in the Manitoba Dragon Boat Festival in support of the Canadian Cancer Society last week-end. It was an intense physical effort that drained my body and took a day and a half to recover. This was my second year. It's a fun and safe event and I value participating in fundraising events at the Forks (especially on the river!).

One Portage Ave East - Goldeyes Baseball at CanWest Global Park. The Goldeyes lost to the Gary Railcats in playoff action over the week-end and that brought an end to the 2008 season. I took my family and joined my parents and friends at the game. It seems every year my family starts the summer off with a Goldeyes game and brings it to a close with playoff ball. This trip marked the first ball game for my son Drayson.

Sackville Street - I have spent most of my computer time on fantasy football. I've had my fill of week 1 preview, games, highlights, analysis, etc. so I'm not inclined to say too much but here are my four downs:

Brady out for the year. Defense was the key to success this year anyway..just means even more so now.
Favre/Rodgers - nothing interesting about this story but it goes on and on and on and on..
Raiders - a team shouldn't be this bad.
Bengals - a team shouldn't be this bad.

I better sign off this post and just ease my way back into it. Lots of exciting things coming up..

Comets Win! Fantasy Football takes over!

2008-08-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Brandon Comets for winning the Special Olympics baseball tournament here in Winnipeg over the week-end. The Comets are a well oiled machine that totally controlled their opponents with little problem. It's a clear indication of their talent but also of the coaching that my brother brings to the team. I guess I'm bragging a bit but it's a fact. W or "Poncho" as his athletes call him is a great coach!

A bunch of excuses can be listed for a lack of blogging but I won't dwell on it. Most of my Internet time goes to a photoblog for work or a private photoblog for the boys of Sackville. I'm also caught up in Fantasy Football agian.

Team Couch Auction Draft took place last week and I ended up with the following roster:

QB - Ben Rothlesburgerburger (incorrect spelling on purpose - inside joke)
RB - Adrian Peterson
RB - Frank Gore
WR - Chad Johnson
WR - Calvin Johnson
WR - Jabar Gaffney
TE - Alge Crumpler
K - Rob Bironas
DEF - Jacksonville

BENCH
RB - Jonathon Stewart
RB - Matt Forte
WR - James Jones
WR - Steve Smith (GIANTS)
WR - Robert Meachem
RB - Felix Jones
QB - MAtt Schuab

I already dropped Steve SMith for RB Kevin Jones. I have a great 1-2 punch at RB provided they both can stay healthy. I have a good chance of turning out a RB gem off the bench provided my starters produce early and don't force me to trade or release a RB.

Wednesday is a marathon draft in another league. I hope to fair a bit better in that one.

Season Ends in Softball

2008-08-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

Team Couch ended up with a 4-2 record in tournament play. The bats went cold on Sunday in B Side play costing Couch a run at the B Side final despite some solid defensive play and controlled pitching.

Overall, the club ended up at .500 in combined regular and tournament play. A major improvement from the 2007 season.

The attention now turns to Fantasy Football!

1-0 in Tournament Play

2008-08-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

On a very hot and humid night at Blumberg, Team Couch opened the MARBLE tournament with a gut check 1 run win. Couch started the game by going through 10 batters but the Hitless Horseman and the terrible umpire fought Couch inning for inning. In a bit of confusion the game was called an inning early due to time. Couch held on for the win by 1 run!

Cooter picked up his first win of the tournament and Black Jack earned the save. Kapower had the final put out of the night as the Horseman were rallying.

After the game Couch celebrated at the Coutts Ranch in Charleswood with smokies, beer, shooters, and lobster...yes, lobster - Bolstein and Betsy had just come home from a maritime vacation!

Couch runs a marathon 3 games in one day tomorrow with the temperature expected to reach the 30s.

Bid for .5000 OVER..but Tournament Hope Alive

2008-08-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Team Couch fell short of the .500 mark losing to the Out of Commission LC Team last night. The game started out a slugfest but Team Couch couldn't match the runs for a full 7 innings. The best Team Couch can do this season is 1 game below .500 with a win next week in the final week of the regular season.

Spirits are still high and so are expectations as the tournament looms around the corner. A batting practice has been scheduled for Team Couch to get some swings in and a little infield/outfield practice to sharpen up for the MARBLE Classic.

Back on the saddle

2008-08-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Okay. So I've been busy!

New addition to Sackville Street - Drayson Charles Day - Born July 29th.

Exciting times and I couldn't be happier with my two boys this week. Drayson is developing on schedule and that has allowed us to be home earlier than planned and little stress or worry. Nolan has had a good week despite not having two days in a row that were similar...and that's huge for a toddler.

Now..prior to my new born I was doing fantasy football mock drafts, reading preview guides (was doing it while giving my wife a foot rub while in labor...not sure if that makes me a total jack ass or that I have a loving wife). I've been following the Blue Bombers despite their pitiful record. I've been reading about Brett Favre and Manny Ramirez - probably the two most annoying sports stars today. With regards to blogging I want to try to get back on the saddle now...or at least near the horse. Since I I just finished watching the Bomber game (while watching both boys - hey oh!) I want to do this CFL style...

1st Down - Favre - Yuck! If the Packers don't want him they should let him go. It's plain and simple. What the hell is going on?

2nd Down - Manny out Jason Bay in. Sounds like a good deal for the Red Sox. Bay is an all-star, young, committed, etc.

3rd Down (Punt) - Bombers have no hope if they can't improve their line play. The offensive line looks like a bunch of 30 year old beer drinking slugs. The defensive line lacks pop. Tom Canada should be in his prime and punishing teams yet there is nothing coming off the line. I don't care who plays at QB or how many times Roberts plays, if the lines don't improve this is going to get really ugly.

NO YARDS - Team Couch has fallen to two games below .500 with two games to play in the regular season. The goal for .500 is within reach but the team needs to bare down and finish games better.

3 MINUTE RULE - seriously?? I love NFL football and fantasy football!!! I can't wait and I'm not sure how much longer I can watch mediocre football with no fantasy football connection.

.500!!

2008-07-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

C-Foot pulled off a Josh Hamilton and belted out 4 home runs to lead Team Couch to a franchise best 6th win of the year. The win brought Couch back to .500 and has started a franchise best 3 game win streak. Black Jack and Cooter combined to hold I'd Hit That to only 3 runs. Both players helped their cause while at the plate especially an inside the park home run by Cooter that went off the diamond number marker in straight away centre field. The final score was 25 to 3.

Spirits are high and expectations are even higher as Couch faces Red River College and the Kentucky's next week.

1 GAME BACK (different team this time)

2008-07-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Team Couch didn't recline as they pounded out 25 runs including many 7th inning runs to beat the expansion Racs n Sacs in MARBLE action Tuesday night. The win was the 5th of the year for TC and brought them back to within 1 game of .500.

1 GAME BACK

2008-07-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Twins are 8-2 in the last 10 and have won 5 in a row putting them to 1 game back of the ChiSox.....and to think they are able to do this after losing Santana to a big money team....was there really any surprise?

SASK in 2010

2008-07-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

The booming province of Saskatchewan was awarded the 2010 World Junior Championship. Winnipeg/Brandon was one of the finalists. Brandon just doesn't have the arena and Winnipeg isn't even a CHL city so I can't complain. I've been to a World Junior Championship game in Regina as well as a Memorial Cup and both were fantastic times. I'm sure our neighbors to the West will put on another great tournament.

GET ON BOARD THE RODGERS TRAIN...OR ELSE

2008-07-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

“I don’t feel I need to sell myself to the fans,” he said in the article. “They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut.” - Packers QB, Aaron Rodgers.

If Rodgers plans on managing the field like he's managing the media it could be a long frustrating season for the Packres....because Favre isn't coming back....yeah right.

NHL CONTRACTS ARE FAR FROM LOWE AGAIN

2008-07-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

All hell broke loose in the NHL.

Check the TSN free agent tracker for all the whopping contracts that were handed out.

The new NHL looks a lot like the old NHL where the Rangers sign the biggest names to inflated long term salaries.

So Bettman has another mess to clean up and small market teams are a dangered species again. Who's to blame? According to Brian Burke it's Kevin Lowe who caused this chaos.

Couch Win in Dramatic Fashion

2008-07-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

A moment for the Team Couch archives happened tonight at Blumberg. Bottom of the last inning with 1 on and 2 outs in a tie ball game BlackJack smashed an inside the park home run. It was a great hit followed up by an awkward mosh pit home plate celebration lead by team skipper Cooter.

The game became tense after Couch gave up runs in the top of the 7th that brought the game to a tie and set the stage for BlackJack's heroics. The game also featured clutch hitting and what is likely a season high run total of 19. Bolstie earned the complete game win.

Next week Team Couch will try to get to within 1 game of .500 as the dog days of July heat up.

Under the Cushions/Game Notes:

Couch outfielder Hammer may face a team suspension/fine as he chose a date over ball. Early speculation is that the team will go easy on him given his struggles in the lady department.

The mosquitoes were in full force. Taz better unload some malathion at Blumberg.

Neely & Kessel attract prospect to Boston

2008-07-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

From bruins.nhl.com:

“One of the biggest things about the Bruins organization was having someone like Mr. Cam Neely in the front office,” Wheeler explained via conference call on Tuesday afternoon. “The way he played the game is something (on which) I would like to model my game.

Wheeler is also excited to be able to join forces with an old linemate and friend.“Phil Kessel is an unbelievable talent,” Wheeler said. “Watching him play, you can all see how highly skilled he is, how fast he is and how good he is with the puck.“But (more than that), we are pretty good buddies (and) it is definitely cool to have someone who you are pretty good friends with in a city where you are going to be the new guy.”

Happy Canada/UFA Day!

2008-07-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

7:37PM New York Rangers sign UFA defenceman Wade Redden to a six-year contract worth $39 million. KA-CHING. The signing I've been waiting for all day. Redden cashed in big time. Not only is he making big coin but it's a long term deal too. Not bad for a guy that had an off season last. He obviously improves the Rangers who earlier in the day re-signed Roszival.

Since that's the guy I was watching and ball is less than an hour away this post is done.

7:18PM New Jersey Devils sign UFA forward Bobby Holik to a one-year contract worth $2.5 million. Holike rejoins the Devils like Rolston did earlier in the day. Who's next? Sykora? Arnot?

6:42PM Toronto Maple Leafs sign UFA forward Niklas Hagman to a four-year contract worth $12 million. Hagman cashed in a bit after his 27 goal high season. Leafs plug in a player that will compete night in and night out and help stop the bleeding at times but this isn't anything special Leaf fans. If anything the length of the deal is a bit generous.

6:42PM New York Rangers re-sign UFA defenceman Michael Rozsival to a four-year deal worth $20 million. Solid defenceman.

6:34PM Vancouver Canucks sign UFA forward Darcy Hordichuk to a two-year deal. Tough guy who also endears himself to the community.

6:33PMPhiladelphia Flyers sign UFA forward Nate Raduns to a one-year deal. Another former St. Cloud State player.

Still waiting for...

Redden
Rozsival
Shanahan
Avery
Hossa
Orpik
Naslund
Satan
Sundin
Demitra
Forsberg
Sakic

Some of these players won't sign today. I'm most interested in seeing where Redden goes and I think a team could get a gem in Rozsival.

6:24PM New Jersey signs UFA forward Brian Rolston to a four year deal worth $20-million. Rolston returns to the swamp. He was maybe the best all round forward available.

6:15PM New York Rangers sign UFA forward Patrick Rissmiller to an undisclosed deal. Never heard of him.

6:06PM Philadelphia signs UFA defenceman Ossi Vaananen to a one year deal worth $1-million. No comment.

6:01PM Columbus signs UFA defenceman Mike Commodore to a 5 year deal worth $18.75-million. Columbus continues to make the wrong moves. Commodore did nothing for the Senators when they needed an infusion of solid defence last season. I also can't imagine his ability level in 5 years. Good for Commodore to cash in though.

5:40PM Chicago signs UFA defenceman Brian Campbell to an 8 year deal worth $56.8-million. BOOM! Finally a big free agent signs. This is a great move by Chicago. Campbell is the real deal in the new NHL. He bolsters a young team and young blueline - Seabrook, Keith, Barker. Couple this move with the Huet signing and you have to love what Chicago has done today. Hat tip to W on this one again - he called this last night.

5:04PM Buffalo signs UFA goaltender Patrick Lalime to a 2 year deal worth $2-million. The goalie shuffle continues.

4:27PM Ottawa signs UFA goaltender Alex Auld to a 2 year deal worth $1-million. The price is right but that pretty much makes Gerber the season starter.

4:14PMTampa Bay signs UFA goaltender Olaf Kolzig to a 1 year deal worth $1.5-million (plus bonuses). Kolzig will provide veteran support to Mike Smith who the Bolts got in exchange for Brad Richards at the trade deadline.

4:02PM Colorado signs UFA forward Darcy Tucker to a 2 year deal worth $4.5-million. Ahh shucks...my hope for Tucker beating up the Leafs with a North Eastern team is down the drain.

3:49PM Vancouver signs RFA forward David Backes to an offer sheet, 3 years $7.5-million. St. Louis has seven days to match or accept a 2nd round draft pick as compensation. This is the first RFA offer sheet. Backes has played one and a half seasons for the Blues and is a second round pick from 2003. I'd like to follow up this move. The Canucks cried the blues (no pun intended) when Philly signed Kesler to an offer sheet a few years ago. St. Louis may match the offer since they have plenty of cap space and Backes fits their team mold - young American with college experience. The other option is to take a second round pick.

3:43PM Chicago signs UFA goaltender Cristobal Huet (undisclosed). An upgrade and long term plan over Khabibulin. Huet is a solid goalie and should help the Hawks.

3:41PM Florida signs UFA forward Cory Stillman to a 3 year deal worth $10.6-million. Knows the SouthEast division from his days with Tampa and Carolina. Any proven NHLer is an upgrade in Florida.

3:40PM NY Rangers sign UFA forward Aaron Voros (undisclosed). Had to go to hockeydb to find out who this is. He played for the Wild last year but more interestingly a former Victoria Salsa.

3:40PM Pittsburgh signs UFA forward Eric Godard (undisclosed). Tough as nails forward who will drop the mitts with anyone. Farewell George Laraque.

3:38PM Tampa Bay signs UFA forward Adam Hall to a 3 year deal worth $1.8-million. I've liked Hall since seeing him play with the Preds. He's got size and can skate plus kill penalties. If used well enough he may even pot some goals.

3:24PM Toronto signs UFA goaltender Curtis Joseph to a 1 year deal worth $700,000. This is where I barf on the keyboard.

3:24PM Toronto signs UFA defenceman Jeff Finger to a 4 year deal worth $3.5-million a season. Former St. Cloud State where he played with Tyler Arnason and Ryan Malone. Pierre McGuire was very big on this guy during a telecast I saw then he turned up in SI in a brief bit by McGuire.

3:09 PM Phoenix signs UFA forward Todd Fedoruk to a 3 year deal (undisclosed). I'm happy to see this guy float around the league a few more years and year some dough. Considering he had his face smashed in (literally) it's remarkable he continues to play the rugged game.

3:07PM Montreal re-signs RFA forward Andrei Kostitsyn to a 3 year deal worth $3.25-million a season. Everyone is in love with the Kostitsyn's. Big deal.

3:07PM Detroit signs UFA G Ty Conklin to a 1 year deal worth $750,000. Goalie depth. I wouldn't be too confident with Conklin if Osgood goes down but Conks proved to be reliable in Pittsburgh plus he should only see about 15 to 20 shots a game. He's been to the Cup finals before so he knows what a winning hockey dressing room is all about. Good signing especially for so cheap.

3:03PM Colorado signs UFA G Andrew Raycroft to a 1 year deal (undisclosed). Raycroft will play back up to Budaj no doubt.

2:53PMWashington signs UFA G Jose Theodore to a 2 year deal (undisclosed). Theodore regained most of his form last year. He signs with an exciting team with high expectations.

2:50PM Phoenix signs UFA D Kurt Sauer to a 4 year deal worth an average of $1.75-million a year. Former Spokane Chief has played for Avs and Ducks before. Nothing great but has size and Western Conference experience.

2:02PM Pittsburgh Penguins re-sign UFA D Mark Eaton to a 2 year deal worth $2-million. Eaton and Dupuis. Nothing spectacular for Syd the Kid.

1:58PMMinnesota Wild sign UFA forward Andrew Brunette (undisclosed). The Wild add some of that leadership and scoring they lost with Rolston leaving. My brother called this signing yesterday. He also said he read somewhere where Reisbrough called cutting Brunette after the lockout season was his biggest mistake.

1:33PMVancouver signs RFA forward Kyle Wellwood to a 1 year deal worth $997,500. There must be a sour story between Wellwood and the Leafs. A younger player with offensive instict for less than $1 million seems to fit the rebuildig mode the Leafs are in.

Minnesota will most certainly lose Brian Rolston. They already traded his rights prior to July and offered Rolston 3 contracts that were never countered. He's gone and he took a huge power play presence and leadership with him. The Wild acquired Marek Zidlicky from the Preds to replace the power play presence with this trade.

No update on Wheeler on the Bruins website other than a photo of him and a bit of a synopsis of his college stats. I was able to clarify Cam Neely's role with the Bruins. It was a small topic of debate at the pool party. He is NOT a public relations guy. He is a Vice President.

12:55PM Boston signs UFA forward Blake Wheeler to an entry-level contract. Wheeler is a former 1st round, 5th overall pick by the Coyotes. I'll have to go to bruins.com to find out more. Wheeler played 3 years at Minnesota after being drafted.

12:52PMLightning sign UFA forward Radim Vrbata to a $9-million, three-year contract. At first glance I thought this contract is a bit of a reach. $3 million seems like a jackpot for Vrbata. He did score 27 goals and has clipped at 0.5 points per game over his career so he obviously contributes. The 27 goals was double what he has previously done. The Bolts better hope he continues to score at that pace.

Edmonton is reshaping their team through moves. In are Cole, Visnovski and Brule. Out go Torres, Greene and Stoll. I think with Visnovski and Souray on the point the chances of the Oilers signing D Wade Redden are pretty slim.

12:04PMAnaheim re-sign forward Corey Perry to a five-year deal worth $26.625-million which will average $5.325-million a year. Cross off another RFA. Perry is vital to the success on the Pond.

11:58AM Pittsburgh Penguins sign forward Pascal Dupuis to a three-year deal which will average $1.4-million per year. Dupuis appeared to fit in well after getting picked up from Atlanta.

11:58AM Detroit Red Wings and veteran defenseman Brad Stuart have agreed to terms on a 4 year contract that averages 3.75 per year. Detroit has long term contracts on their top 4 D that won the Cup. It's just good business in Hockeytown.

11:35AM - New Jersey re-signs forwards Jay Pandolfo (undisclosed) David Calrkson (undisclosed) and Barry Tallackson (undisclosed). Declines option on forward Sergei Brylin.

10:21AM - New Jersey agrees to terms with defenceman Bryce Salvador to a four-year deal worth $11.6 million (average of $2.9 million per season).

Sweet Lou takes care of a little in house business. Nothing exciting here.

8:45AM- Washington re-signs defenceman Mike Green to a four-year deal worth $21 million (average of $5.25 million per season). Washington can relax now after locking in their fan favorite stud defenceman and not worry about getting "kevinlowed". Green was near the top of the list for RFA.

Happy Canada Day!

July 1 marks the day we celebrate Canada so it's appropriate that it is also one of the busiest and most important days for the NHL. The unrestricted free agent market is open.

Having already had a fantastic 4 days (Friday - Love Guru and Bomber Game on TSN, Saturday - Goldeye double header, Sunday - pool party, Monday - Wall E and Birthday supper with my wife and son) I'm prepared to skip the Canada Day celebrations around the city and huddle up in my dark basement ranking fantasy football players and updating this post with comments on NHL signings. Toddler permitting of course.

If I fail in my assignment (right...no failure, just early attempts at success)....you can visit this tracker for updates and see these numbers for cap analysis. Fist pump to Hacks and Wonks for the NHL numbers site. In return I'll keep my fingers crossed Ottawa signs Darcy Tucker and Mats Sundin today. Oh, how sweet it would be to watch them stick it to the Leafs...and I don't even like either player.

There's no failure, only early attempts at success. - Guru Pitka

2008-06-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

I saw The Love Guru yesterday afternoon. It was pretty much exactly what I expected. There were some great parts and some really bad parts. Gross humor, slapstick, celebrity cameos, spoofs, etc. It was sort of like Wayne's World 2 meets a blend of the Austin Powers trilogy (especially Goldmember). Overall, I liked the movie and enjoyed myself.

Everyone played their part really well from Myers (Guru Pitka) to Alba (hottie Leaf owner Jane Bullard) toTimberlake (French Cdn goalie Jacques Le Coq Grande) to Troyer (Coach Cherkov) to Kingsley (Guru Tugginmypudha).

People will rip this movie and rip Myers for creating a new character that is too similar to Austin Powers. Myers is right up near the top of movie franchise actors - Wayne's World, Austin Powers, and Shrek. He takes another stab at a franchise character with Guru Pitka. I mean the possibilities are endless if the box office numbers will support it. The formula is easy. Two characters need relationship help. Guru Pitka to the rescue. 1.5 hours of nonsense. Personally, I hope it doesn't go the franshise route. I'd rather see Myers do a movie that looks more like So I Married an Axe Murderer than Austin Powers - Goldmember. Let's hope Myers sees The Love Guru as an early attempt at franchise success and create something different.

5 Headlines that hit me....

2008-06-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

1. Cito Gaston is back as Manager of the Blue Jays - I think that's cool and I was sorry he ever left. I didn't know much about Gibbons. My friend sounds heart broken about him getting the boot. Let's continue bringing classic Jays. I'm sure Tony Fernandez can still start a double play.

2. Strahan shoots mouth off on Shockey - Hmmm....retired Giant spouts of on current Giant to make splashy debut for network TV. Sound familiar? It's as original as a Don Imus racist comment.

3. Tampa Bay hires Barry Melrose - after drafting Stamkos and locking Lecavalier in for life you would think the Bolts were positioned well to regain credibility....and then they hire Barry Melrose. Get real.

4. Cliff Fletcher - getting all the dirty work done. It should be interesting to see what happens come July 1 with the Leafs. My money says they give a PR type contract offer to Sundin. Enough that saves face but not enough for Mats to consider especially when you consider Fletcher has no intention on assembling a playoff calibre team. The Leafs will miss the playoffs and could likely finish last overall. I say this because I can't see them having a big free agent shopping spree and they just don't have enough NHL calibre players on the current roster. Throw in the fact they play in a division where 3 teams made the playoffs and you have a disaster.

5. Fantasty Football - I received my notice that the league I was in is up and running. I think it was the same day that my potential RB keeper, Marshawn Lynch, was expected to reach a plea with the Buffalo DA for a HIT AND RUN! Yikes! Roger Goddell could have a field day on this guy.

3 Games Below .500

2008-06-26T18:12:00.001-07:00

Team Couch continues to drop ball games as the temperature rises in Winnipeg. Lefty Cooter was on the mound last night and turned in a well pitched ball game but it wasn't enough as Couch surrendered a last inning lead to lose the ball game.

Despite the lose it was another close game and there is plenty of ball still to be played including the all important tournament (say it like the Karate Kid does...it's more fun that way).

A New Slugger in the Family

2008-06-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

I love Winnipeg but I do miss my family in Brandon. I wish I had seen my niece Emily play ball this season. She just finished her first baseball tournament last week-end. I'm told she went 2 for 3 in the Gold Medal game but her team - the Racers - dropped the final game after going 3-0 leading up to the final.

Check out Emily at the plate. Look closely at the upright stance with the bat held high, feet not too far apart but slightly open, imposing her height on the opponent, head square to the pitcher, etc...you can tell she is coached well. In emailing my brother today we agreed she had a similar stance as Andres Galarraga (check the photo below). The Big Cat was a fan favorite of ours when he was playing with the Montreal Expos. The Cat would later play stints in Colorado, Atlanta, and a few other places. Back to E's picture...check out a few other things..1 - the catcher looks as if a bench coach is relaying in signs for pitch selection. I seriously doubt it but I'm going to run with that thought. 2 - I feel badly that the third base player is not paying attention because it would appear the little Cat may dead pull a ball and that could spell trouble.

-the little Cat

-the big Cat

Car Races with Grandpa

2008-06-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday my son took his Grandpa Tim and I to Victory Lane Speedway just south of Winnipeg. It was an all out blast. I highly recommend ear protection. It's very very loud...but lots of fun.

NHL Entry Draft Review

2008-06-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

Round 1 of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft is in the books. Here's my rundown:

1. Tampa Bay - Stamkos - I missed the first pick but really I didn't because I saw the NHL lottery draft before the playoffs started and that's really when we found out who would go first overall.

2. Los Angeles - Doughty - Great defenceman to add to last year's first rounder Thomas Hickey and young Jack Johnson. The Kings are set with blue chip prospects on the blue line.

3. Atlanta - Bogosian - Never heard of him but the TSN crew loved the pick. A theme that continued all night. Unlike last year where McGuire was slamming picks, this was a love fest.

4. St. Louis - Pietrangelo - Another defenceman from the OHL. Again, TSN loved the pick. I just don't get how both Pietrangelo and Bogosian were picked ahead of......

5. Toronto - Schenn - Cliff Fletcher traded with New York Islanders to move up and grab Luke Schenn. He's a rock solid defenceman that has logged a lot of minutes at a very high level with Hockey Canada and the Kelowna Rockets. It's easy to hate the Leafs but Schenn will make it a little more difficult to do it.

6. Columbus - Filatov - Welcome to Columbus where you are guaranteed to only play 82 games a year.

7. Nashville - Wilson - Son of former NHLer Carey Wilson. An American college guy with a Winnipeg connection. He looks like a rock solid physical guy. The Preds have shown a trend to go with American players.

8. Phoenix - Boedker - I think he's Danish but played in Kitchener. Gretzky thinks he can play sooner than later. Good luck. The bigger news was the Coyotes getting Ollie Jokinen from the Panthers for Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton. Seems like a steal for the Desert Dogs. I loved Gretzky's analysis of the deal...something like...We like our young guys (i.e Turris, Hanzel, Mueller) but Jokinen gives us a big centre to go up against Getzlaf, Thornton, Modano....It just makes so much sense to worry about your divisional opponents.

9. Islanders - Bailey - Commentary and video of this guy didn't wow me. Garth Snow better hope this guy has a long productive career because Luke Schenn will.

10. Vancouver - Hodgson - Character and leadership guy to replace Trevor Linden....yikes...I guess the new GM there doesn't plan on scoring any more goals than the last guy wanted to.

I'll stop at the top 10 but not before pointing out some other interesting picks...

13. Los Angeles - Teubert - feisty rock solid defenceman from the Regina Pats. Man, talk about stocking up on D.

15. Ottawa - Karlsson - slick puck moving defenceman. Great interview with Duthie and Murray after this pick. Murray went on about Cup Winners needing a slick puck moving defenceman. Duthie calls him out on last year's comment when Murray said Cup Winners need big guys. How about setting a trend Murray instead of following one.

16. Boston - Colborne - worst comparison ever by the TSN crew...to Joe Thornton.. because he has the same frame and makes plays behind the net and had long hair like Thorton and talks/sounds like him..geez...plus it reminded Bruins fans that they HAD Thornton until one of the worst trades of all time (but not the worst).

18. Preds - Chet Pickard - great name....great name.

22. Oilers - Eberle - 2nd Regina Pat taken in the first round. Nice day for the Pats. This pick was a gong show with Glen Anderson giving some sort of tribute to a former Oiler scout with classic hockey player cliches.

24. Devils - Tedenby - The Devils added some picks by trading down a few times then went after this small speedy forward. Lou and his scouting staff better produce some players from recent drafts to hold onto their elite draft/scouting status. Only two players from their last three drafts have played NHL games so far and it's basically a meaningless total...8 games played.

28. Phoenix - Tikhonov - Grandson of the legendary Soviet Coach. Gretzky thinks this guy can play now. So with both picks Gretzky went after guys he thinks he can insert into the lineup...here's a thought Wayner...why not trade those two first round picks for a proven player if win now is the philosophy.

30. Red Wings - McCollum - The Champs pick a goalie....not something they are very good at. You have to go all the way back to '91 when they picked current starter Chris Osgood. Lots of stabs at it since '91 with no success. Picking goalies is difficult but the Wings need the depth there and will make up for reaching on a goalie with a sleeper on Day 2. Plus they can count on Ozzy for another season until Ryan Miller becomes a free agent.

NHL Draft Preview

2008-06-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

The NHL Entry Draft is Friday June 20th. Last year's draft highlight turned out to be the Bill Simmons "Kudos to the NHL" draft review. I'd really love to see a 2008 review but Simmons is probably too busy celebrating the Celtics championship.

I know less each year about the prospects heading into the draft. I greatly miss watching the Wheat Kings in Brandon. I don't get to see the top junior kids from the WHL anymore. I have seen Wheat King defenseman Colby Robak play a few games as well as forward Matt Calvert. Both will be selected this week-end. Robak could go in the first round and be the highest Wheat King taken since Eric Fehr was selected by the Capitals 18th overall in 2003 (side note - I already consider that one of the best drafts ever and it just continues to build momentum. 1983 is another favorite). Robak has the size at 6'3 - 202 and skates well and has good offensive skill. The team that drafts Calvart will get a solid player. He scored 25 goals for the Wheat Kings and played on a line with rookie sensation Brayden Schenn ('09 draft class - sure first rounder). Calvart has a "great motor" as NFL scouts like to say about their prospects. I'm going to apply it for hockey in Calvart's case. I've only seen him play a handful of games but he always played at 100% and created a lot on the ice. He's not big at 5'9 - 172 but that doesn't seem to matter in the NHL today.

Aside from the Wheat King connection, seeing who the Bruins select is something I am interested in. I cheered for the Bruins faithfully in my adolescent years and I guess you could say the Black and Gold are still "my team". Their track record in the first round isn't great so I don't have high hopes for the B's first selection. Their recent first rounders include:

Zach Hamill (8th)
Phil Kessel (5th)
Matt Lashoff (22nd)
Mark Stuart (21st)

TSN mock draft has the B's selecting Tyler Cuma, D, Ottawa...never heard of him.....like most of the players listed in the mock draft.

Then there's watching the draft to see if any big name players get traded. I guess there's a wild rumor that Malkin is on the move but Bob Mackenzie shoots that down here.

Finally, I'd love to see Brian Burke make a smart remark regarding his selection at #12 - the compensation pick he was awarded when Kevin Lowe and the Oilers scooped Restricted Free Agent Dustin Penner from the Ducks last season and overpaid him. I don't think Burke will but you can never predict what he will say. The Oilers actually finished strong and avoided embarrassment. At one point in the season some people thought the Oilers were going to tank and Burke would have had a shot at a very high pick.

At the very least the draft should be somewhat interesting and hopefully TSN does a decent job covering it and I can raise my Bud Light and say, "Kudos".

Couch Drops 2 More

2008-06-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Team Couch dropped two games below .500 after a pair of losses this week in MARBLE action.

In both games Couch got behind early and had to play catch up. Both games also featured a few poor defensive innings that cost Couch since their bats continue to be a touch soft to overcome the costly runs against.

Despite the losses Couch had some very good plays including a towering home run by C-Foot and some hard hit balls by the girls.

Next action is June 25th.

Borsheim Injured

2008-06-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

Former Wheat King Les Borsheim was injured in a motorcylce accident.

Not good. There is an update/recovery fund site set up here.

Borsheim was the one side in the most one sided hockey fight I ever saw at the Keystone Centre. He was 16 playing in the Wheat King season opener against the Regina Pats in 1996 and did a number on some unfortunate Pat (I think Joey Beauvier). Let's hope Les can win the fight he's in now.

Father's Day at the Downs

2008-06-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

WIN-dy night for Team Couch

2008-06-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Team Couch was able to get in their game before the rain came and earned a win to get back to .500 on the year.

The real weather concern was the extreme wind. Mother Nature made routine pop outs a comedy of errors and awkward catches. TC prevailed and will look to get back to over .500 next week.

A victory celebration of wings and beer was had after the game in Charleswood at The Thirsty Lion Tavern in the Park West Inn. The 2 year old Scooter was busted for being underage. He was allowed to stay and have his hot chocolate and even have some food. So you could say it was wins all around on Wednesday night for Team Couch.

100% Chance....

2008-06-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

The weather forecasters are feeling very confident today.....

11 degrees
Rain at times heavy
100% P.O.P. - close to 15 mm of rain tonight

Team Couch baseball tonight is in jeopardy.

From One Shark Tank Into Another

2008-06-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

"My goal is obviously to win a Stanley Cup, personally," Wilson said Monday. "The team I was coaching in San Jose was starting to knock on that door. We're nowhere near as close with the Maple Leafs organization." - Ron Wilson, new head coach of the Leafs.

You got that right Ron!

I actually think this is a good move for the Leafs. Wilson has had success in the NHL and he's a guy that can handle the media circus of Toronto. I can't stand the guy so it fits with me too since I can't stand the Leafs.

Work & Play

2008-06-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Detroit Red Wings - 2008 Stanley Cup Champions

2008-06-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

"I watched Steve Yzerman win it as our captain, and I'm very proud to be captain of the Detroit Red Wings and to win the Stanley Cup again." - Nicklas Lidstrom

ASSiniboine Kicking

2008-06-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Two games in three days was too much for Team Couch to handle as the Assiniboine Clinic put on a hitting clinic to set Couch's winning percentage back under .500. Team Couch now stands at 2-3 after the two loss week.

The game featured some very hard hit balls by the Assiniboine hitters including a moon shot home run off of Cooter. Team Couch bats could not respond and littered the game with costly 2 out errors and base running gaffes. There was also a violent outfield collision between C-Foot and Dubba Dees.

Team Couch will try to even up their record next week when they take on the veteran Neds at Blumberg. The game is a 6:30 PM start which means Couch will have Scooter the rally monkey on the bench for a boost.

Penguins Make Things Interesting

2008-06-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

"I think it's natural to feel bad for yourself for a bit, but this is the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's supposed to be a battle, and we're in one." - Mike Babcock.

Fly Catchers Live Up To Name

2008-06-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

The veteran Fly Catchers handed Team Couch it's second loss of the year ending Couch's 2 game win streak. Well placed hitting complimented by forcing the Couch batters to shallow pop fly ball outs was the winning formula for the Fly Catchers in the 16-7 win.

The game didn't quite have the same Blumberg feel as the Umpire failed to show up and the lights were slow to come on as the sun went down.

Team Couch looks to rebound quickly this Wednesday in a return to Blumberg. Hopefully their bats and the Umpire will show up this time.

May is in the books. For real this time.

2008-05-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

My wife pointed out today that May has 31 days so last night our family didn't close out the month of May with fireworks (as referenced in the last point) unless you call a 2-1 Detroit win to go up 3 to 1 on Pittsburgh a fireworks display.

I'd say it was a display of poor coaching. I know Don Cherry said this after the game but it's something I've been harping at work since Game 1. Crosby has to play more. Way more. I also agree with Grapes on the poor decision of Therrien to play Malkin on the 5 on 3. That was a huge mistake.

Detroit has a chance to win the Cup on home ice in Game 5. I wonder who Scott Oake will interview in the celebration. Brad Stuart? Dan Cleary? I mean geez Scott, I know Detroit lacks Canadian content but could you mix it up a bit or maybe learn some Swede.

Ending May with Fireworks

2008-05-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Sackville family took in our first Goldeyes game of the 2008 season last night. Rain earlier in the day and some ugly clouds kept attendance at the park down but it was still a lively crowd. The game started out a pitcher's contest but some big dude named Diaz for the Joliet JackHammers crushed a 3 run home run that broke the game open. The Goldeyes clawed back but after the final out the score was JackHammers 5 Goldeyes 3.

Here's a little rundown of my game observations.

Fastball away - Ball ONE

I just loved some of the names announced at the game last night. Baseball players, and especially minor league players have some of the best names. Here's a few I enjoyed.

Trino Aguilar

Fehlandt Lentini

Tydus Meadows

Ace Walker

Freddie Thon

Doc Brooks

Wally Backman Jr.

Slider inside - swing and miss - Strike ONE

Just like interesting names, minor league ball has some wild mascots. I think I once read that Goldie was a mix of Goldeye owner Sam Katz's favorite ball mascots especially the Philadelphia Philly. If you ever want to know what a mascot really is just ask a 2 year old. According the my 2 year old, Goldie is a bear. Some Internet research shows the JackHammers have a bear mascot as well.

* Jammer, the JackHammer mascot.

Fastball away - foul out of play - Strike Two

I figure since the Northern League is only a six team league I should really get to know a bit more about each team and the city they are from. The teams that make up the Northern league are: Winnipeg Goldeyes, Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, Gary SouthShore RailCats, Kansas City T-Bones, Schaumburg Flyers, and the Joliet JackHammers.

Joliet is in Illinois. A city of 145 000 and considered one of the fastest growing cities in America according to the City of Joliet website. It is located about 1 hour southwest of Chicago and was the home of Joliet Prison, a state prison until 2004. The Joliet Prison is the basis of the fictional prison, Fox River, in the TV series Prison Break. That's all I've got for now. I've got an entire summer for the other teams.

Fastball high - Ball Two

Prior to the game the Goldeyes had a moment of silence for former Manitoba Moose and NHL prospect, Luc Bourdon. Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident on Thursday in New Brunswick. A sad loss. I thought it was a classy move for the Goldeyes to honor a fellow local sports star and to remind fans that tragedy hits everyone.

Change-up - swing in front, Strike Three on the Pancake Batter

The game started off with the JackHammer lead off hitter being named the designated Pancake Batter of the night. If the designated Pancake Batter strikes out then everyone in the ball park recieves pancakes (a coupon for the Pancake house). I love this gimmick. It draws major pitch by pitch attention when the designated Pancake Batter is at the plate. Last night the designated Pancake Batter lead the game off with a strike out and the fans went nuts.

To end the game the Goldeyes had a fireworks show that was almost worth the price of the ball ticket alone. Here's the Sackville Slugger watching the final innings and waiting for the fireworks to end the night....

Couch Taps Out Home Brew for Second Win

2008-05-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Team Couch player/manager, Cooter sent another Couch ace to the mound in MARBLE league action last night. Herschel Bolstien III got his first start of the season and pitched out of early first inning trouble to lead Team Couch to it's second win of the season. A 16-5 victory over the expansion Home Brew squad. Bolstien attempted the complete game but a late rally by Home Brew forced BlackJack to come in for the save.

The win is the second in a row for Team Couch and sets a franchise best 2-1 start to the season. The bats came alive early in the game resulting in an early lead that was built on slowly throughout the contest.

Last night's game featured the debut of Steph. A free swinger at the plate and a creative fielder at second base. Steph made probably the first and only 4-1-3 put out in Couch history last night. The play was fun to watch but not something she plans on doing again. The timing of Steph's debut was fitting as Lan Lan pulled up at third base with a sprained ankle early in the game. She had just smacked a double and was advancing on the next hit when she injured herself. She was carried off by her husband, Cooter, somewhat romantically or maybe better described as awkwardly. She is listed as day to day. No word on Cooter's back this morning.

Team Couch looks to build on it's 2-1 start next week. They may be without Jerry Can as JC is scheduled to depart to Afghanistan for a Nick Carter Spy novel type adventure. Either that or office/project management work in air conditioned quarters. Whatever role he fills he will take his Team Couch winning ways with him to do it.

2007 Stanley Cup remake

2008-05-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, this Stanley Cup final is looking a little too familiar. Are the Penguins trying to put on the same performance as Ottawa did last year in the final? Is this a CBC Stanley Cup 2007 remake?
It looks that way with Hal Gill playing the role of Wade Redden - a flat footed defenseman making sluggish plays. Then there's Gary Roberts starring as Chris Neil in the no talent "grinder" role trying embarrassingly to "get something going". But the real stars are Michel Therrien as the inept and confused Coach Murray and Evegeni Malkin as Jasson Spezza. The rising superstar that becomes overwhelmed and tanks the final playing out the final games no better than an ECHL call up would do. Don't miss the cameo by Mr. Invisible - Syd Crosby.

The Penguins aren't showing up at all. I'll give Detroit credit for playing sound hockey but it would be nice to see them face some adversity in the Cup final. I mean talk about a gift the Penguins are giving them. Don Cherry said it best when he described some of the Penguin play as "criminal" for NHL standards. It's not the first time the Wings have had an easy Cup final. 2002 - Carolina (4-1), 1998 - Washington (4 -0), 1997 - Philadelphia (4-0).

I don't have a favorite in this series to cheer for. I'm just hoping for a good series to be salvaged and for CBC to stop showing the goofy looking Ken Holland and his even goofier looking sidekick sitting so uncomfortably close in the sky box. If Detroit manages to score the first goal in Game 3 there won't be a series so I'll cheer for Osgood to shutout the Penguins the entire series and then have fun watching the critics try and describe his play. "Points for staying awake" was the last I heard on CBC when announcing his first star selection. He has 13 career playoff shutouts and is on the verge of 2 cup rings. What else does this guy have to do?

Let's get this thing over with and start NFL training camps.

2 Cup refill

2008-05-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

I forgot about the Marc Andre Fleury fall during the intro of Game One. I guess it was an ominous sign for Fleury as he had a less than stellar Game One performance.

I just love the reaction by the Detroit fans/on-ice helpers.

Check out the fall.

Great sports bloopers week-end.

2 Cups of Hockey

2008-05-26T06:24:00.000-07:00

This past week-end I went back to Brandon for my brother's birthday. We just got in a BBQ Saturday night before the first real rain showers of the season for southern Manitoba began. You could say the birthday had a baseball theme to it. I'm working on picture proof. Until then I can describe a few birthday gifts - baseball cards, Winnipeg Goldeyes t-shirt, Minnesota Twins BBQ cover. We also had plans for some BP but the rain didn't let up. Instead, we turned our attention to a few cups. updated: the proof is in the...well, cake.

Game One of the Stanley Cup finals - there was really only a small window of opportunity in the first period for the Penguins to take control of the game and that was on the power play. Once Detroit killed off the first period penalties and took the lead it was all over. Detroit was in cruise control the rest of the game. That's what you can do when you can skate, check, pass, and play your position. A pretty basic game plan but not many teams can do all four at once at a high level.

The second was on Sunday - the Memorial Cup - and only shortly after the game was decided the cup was broken in two pieces. Easily one of the funniest things I have ever seen on TV and a top 5 sports bloopers of all time. Before you check out the YouTube video you should know that the Spokane Chiefs won the Memorial Cup on skating, checking, passing, and playing their positions well. Sound familiar? I've got lots of Memorial Cup comments and memories but I'll save it for later...maybe when the Wheaties get there next year. So without further delay I'll send you off to YouTube (can't save the video here at work and upload straight to the blog) and the M-Cup drop.

Looking ahead

2008-05-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

1 - day until Game One of the Stanley Cup finals. I think the Penguins will find out how difficult it is to play in Detroit at the Joe Lou. Heck, it took Marty Turco something like 9 or 10 games to get his first NHL win there, didn't it? Marc Andre Fleury could be in for a rough start. So I think the Penguins get behind early in the series and I think Detroit has enough skill and experience to get a split on the road in games 3 and 4 and maintain home ice advantage postponing a Crosby Cup hoist until next year. Nicklas Lidstrom will earn MVP.

28 - days until the NHL Entry Draft. There is no suspense in the first pick. It will be Tampa taking Steve Stamkos. A late Oiler winning stretch ruined the chances of Brian Burke picking in the top 5 with the Dustin Penner compensation pick so I doubt Burke will rub it in Kevin Lowe's face when he selects at the spot received from the Oilers but you never know with the fiery Burke.

60 - days until baby number two for the Sackside. To be honest this is where my thoughts have been more recently. It kind of crept up on me. It may seem like a long time to you but trust me each day starts to feel like an hour. The name poll will close soon but my wife and I have a bit of a curve ball to throw out later. We are seriously considering using a family name combination from her father's lineage if we have a boy. Waverly Ryan stands as the name for a girl.

28 - days until the release of The Love Guru staring Mike Myers as a romance self help guru working to save the relationship of a hockey player and his girlfriend. It also stars Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake and Verne Troyer plays Coach Chekov. Looks like a silly flop like the Austin Powers sequels but I'm a Myers fan and look forward to seeing it.

95 - days including long days with no air conditioning and babies crying all night before the release of Prison Break Season 3 on DVD. My brother got me hooked on the show with terribly cheesy acting, ridiculous story lines, and constant cliffhangers. Thanks a lot W. No, seriously, thanks.

half a day - until the week-end starts!

***If I was any kind of blogger I would have all kinds of links littered in this post so you could visit sites for more information but I'm lazy and I think you know how to Google.

Couch Win! Couch Win!

2008-05-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

On a very cold night at Blumberg, Team Couch evened up their record to 1-1 with a solid win. Cooter was on the mound and held Up in Smoke in check after the bats of Team Couch gave the southpaw an early lead. Blackjack came in relief late in the game to preserve the win for the save.

The game was a low scoring affair for softball. Team Couch pitching had probably a record high strikeout total. I lost track at 5. C-Foot was his usually Gold Glove self in center field shagging fly balls like it was soft toss. Despite his great catches the highlight of the game was on the last out. Up in Smoke was mounting a comeback and with runners on a monster fly ball was hit to the gap. Kapower appeared to have a line on the ball but was a step or two late. He extended his long arm and threw out his glove in pursuit of the ball and then seemed to extend his arm even further and made the running stretch catch. His reach would have made Inspector Gadget jealous. It was a remarkable play and sealed the victory.

Team Couch looks to go to 2-1 next week under the lights again. Hopefully the weather warms up.

May Long Recap

2008-05-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

What happened over May Long this year?

Big Brown won at Preakness making him only 1 win away at Belmont on June 7th for the triple crown.

Sydney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Eastern Conference title over the Philadelphia Flyers. Crosby and Company await the winner of Detroit and Dallas. Marty Turco won Game 5 in Detroit to force Game 6. That result will be in before the end of the week-end. Lidstrom and the Wings are confident they can win but you just can't let Marty Turco steal wins.

Russia won the Men's Hockey Championships over Canada with a 4 on 3 OT power play goal. Two controversial issues at hand. #1- Rick Nash was called for shooting the puck over the glass in his own zone - a somewhat questionable rule the NHL introduced a few years ago. #2 - the OT final was 4 on 4, a NHL regular season rule in place to get rid of ties. The NHL doesn't use it for the playoffs and there's a reason why - it's a gimmick! Pretty disappointing way to settle a World Championship.

I'm sure plenty other sports stories are worthy of mention but I was busy.....

HOT TUB - my wife's parents rented a hot tub that was on the back of a '60s fire truck. Pretty cool stuff.

POOL PARTY- the pool was opened but temperatures were still a bit mild so house coats for before and after were the fashion for some.

ROCK BAND - a really cool and fun game but nothing will EVER beat Baseball Stars for the original Nintendo - E-V-E-R!!

HOT DOG - I used to think I could eat a fairly big meal but my brother in law puts me to shame. He's also the real hot dog when it comes to roasting wieners.

Back to work soon for a short week then off to Brandon to celebrate my brother's birthday.

Have a good week.

Season Opener @ Blumberg

2008-05-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Team Couch Softball season opened last night at the John Blumberg Softball Complex. It was a really nice evening for ball. Of course it was a few miles per hour too windy at times out at Blumberg but that's to be expected.

We kicked off the season with a well played ball game but still came up short on the scoreboard. It was easily the best fielded infield defense in Team Couch history last night with Black Jack tossing a complete game and keeping the balls mainly in the infield and out of the swirling outfield winds. We had a least half a dozen cleanly fielded balls and accurate throws to first base for put outs. The first base rotation did a really good job of stretching for balls to beat out close plays. Once we get the rust off the bats we will start posting wins.

Plenty of fun for Nolan or "Scooter" (we all have clever or not so clever nicknames for ball on our slick uniforms - just like the big leagues). Scooter's job was to give high fives. Next week we play under the lights and since it's a late game he gets the night off.

Mother's Day Classic @ Fungoes

2008-05-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day my wife and I joined her parents and family at Fungoes family golf just outside of Winnipeg off Highway 59.

It was my son's first round of mini-golf. He had a great time but I'm not expecting a little Tiger out of this guy. In fact, he yelled "he shoots, he scores" more than a few times. I'll give him a break on that one because after all it is NHL playoff time.

Burtnyk podcast

2008-05-13T11:05:00.001-07:00

Kerry Burtnyk speaks to Resby Coutts on thecurler.com's first podcast.

I would love a podcast from the curler.com reviewing the many team changes, comments, and predictions.

Holmgren wants a good Tight End

2008-05-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

My brother got me into Fantasy Football about three years ago and that in turn got me hooked on the NFL and American football in general. I'm still learning about the game. Specifically the the offensive and defensive schemes. What's a Tampa 2? Nickel or Dime? West Coast or Pony Back?

It's articles like this one that helps me to understand some of the schemes and importance of certain positions in a particular scheme. Like the article points out, it also helps to understand Mike Holmgren's various shades of red and why he publicly scrapped his running game late last season.

Feathers and Wings

2008-05-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

It appears the Penguins and Red Wings will meet in the Stanley Cup Final. Both teams are only 2 wins away from the Finals and have commanding 2-0 series leads. Anything can happen but it just seems only fitting that the best team over the last decade should be playing the team on course for being the best in the next decade.

If these two teams do collide in the Final let's hope it's a good series. Round One was exciting but lopsided series wins in Round Two and 2-0 starts in Round Three have meant a light playoff hockey schedule.

Walchuk in at third. Smith sticks at lead.

2008-05-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

Kerry Burtnyk announced his curling line-up for next year. Despite some Internet rumors of Don Bartlett playing lead, Burtnyk will stick with his front end meaning the only change will be at third where former Martin Vice-Skip Don Walchuk replaces Dan Kammerlock.

Burtnyk also plans on defending his Manitoba title but may have to find a Manitoba third to do it.

Check out the initial report here.

I'm okay with the Burtnyk announcement. I got caught up in the rumor about Bartlett and I should know better. I'm happy to see Burtnyk add Walchuk for the Olympic run but also satisfied he hasn't dropped out of the Manitoba curling picture as some Internet rumors were implying with the Bartlett rumor.

Okay, no more rumors here. If you want that check out curlingzone.

Carruthers needs to fill out his team with a second but other than that the big boys are all lined up for next season.

Gentleman, the off season is yours.

Dynamic Tag Team of Curling

2008-05-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Daley Peters and Jason Gunnlaugson is the new dynamic MB curling duo to watch next season. Peters takes over for the departed Reid Carruthers while the front end remains in order.

A very interesting team to watch. I sure hope they secure a Safeway Championship spot and stick together long enough to put on a good show in Selkirk. I have my doubts that it can work but there's no denying the talent and potential for both players.

Carruthers lined up Shane Killgallen to play lead for his new team. Killgallen previously curled with Randy Dutiame and Mark Lukowich at the Brier. A good enough curler I guess but the new Carruthers team lacks the pop and excitement.

More shake-up should follow today with Burtnyk announcing his team at a scheduled press conference. The rumor is Burtnyk will announce Don Bartlett as his new lead. I can totally see this happening but if I'm Richard Daneault do I really want to curl with three guys only interested in one last crack at the bat for the Olympics and are these guys going to deliver? I hear there's a spot on the new Carruthers team.

We spend the summer with the top rolled down

2008-05-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Just like Marc Crawford not putting Wayne Gretzky's name on the shoot-out list in the '98 Olympics in Nagano, I had a brain cramp this morning when doing my marathon week-end review.

How could I forget the wedding social I attended at the Earl Grey Community Centre? It featured one of my all time personal highlight moments. The second to last song came on and it was the final slow song and it was SKID ROW - I Remember You. Awesome!! I danced with my pregnant wife and her prego belly to one of the best power ballads of all time to wind down the social. It likely won't happen ever again because - a. my wife and I don't plan on having another kid after this one and even if we do there's - b. I don't know any other Skid Row fan like HP that would put it as the closing slow song for a social.

The social also featured the best bride and groom to be "first" dance. A rock out fast number to -totally forget the name of the song/band - instead of the classic cheeseball slow song.

So you can include all of that into the week-end review.

4OT Week-end Review

2008-05-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

It was an action packed marathon week-end on the Sackside with all kinds of activities with friends and family. To post week-end thoughts into one post will be a challenge and maybe a marathon too...kinda like the Stars vs Sharks in Game 6 last night.

Let's drop the puck!

1OT - Resurfacing the curling scene - Here's the rundown. Carruthers joins Kammerlock leaving his old team without a skip (rumor is Daley Peters will be skipping). I think this is a stupid move for Carruthers. It has been suggested that tensions ran high last season and a change was in the works. It didn't sound that way when Carruthers gave his team the vote of confidence when the spot on Stoughton's team became available. Kammerlock must be really happy he has someone to play with. Now they will seek a front end. David Hamblin won't be on it because he bolted Team Axial for the Bohn twins. Dennis will play second and David Hamblin will play third. I think this is a good move for Team Bohn. They improve their team from last year and Hamblin brings experience, poise, intelligence and the touch shot to the runback double doubles. The friendly handshake and "good game" could be a little cold on the curling sheets this coming season with all the shake-ups.

2OT - The NHL final four is set. I went 4 for 5 last round only missing the Sharks who tanked in round 2 and spoiled yet another good regular season.

Detroit (1) vs Dallas (5) - The Wings haven't had much competition yet and/or have been lucky facing opponents with major injury issues. The Stars just seem to line up each night for Dallas.

Pick Dallas in 6

Pittsburgh (1) vs Philadelphia (6) - The Penguins have all the skill in the world but Philly has a balance of skill and grit. I think this will be a great series but it may a short one. Does that make sense? Sure it does, good games but Pittsburgh ends up on top too many times early for a long series.

Pick Pittsburgh in 5

30T - Special Olympics & Wine festival - This year my friends hosted a wine tasting evening on the week-end of the Winnipeg Wine Festival. It was a fantastic evening with close friends, great wine and tasty food. It conflicted with the wine festival but we knew that in advance. In each of the past few years we have supported the Wine Festival and Special Olympics. I think it's one of Winnipeg's premiere events of the year and it's for a good cause. I have to say I much rather enjoyed tasting wine in my friend's basement though. Everyone did a great job selecting wine and presenting it to the group and my friends were the perfect hosts as usual. During the evening we began making plans for a trip to Brandon, MB to play the Special Olympic softball Comets, coached by my brother. We will pass the hat around at the ball diamond to support the Comets. You see, Special Olympics doesn't lose out on us skipping the wine show and it's more than a monetary donation. We provide some tune up games and get to know some players as well. So the evening was win win all around. I gotta brag here...I've got really good friends. I just wish they would let a dude off the hook for not wearing a collared shirt.

4OT - Friday Night Lights every night - My wife and I picked up FNL Season 2 this week-end. We watched the first two episodes last night when we finally had some down time with the Prince of Sackville sacked out. The first two episodes left me confused, frustrated, annoyed, excited, uncomfortable, and it was awkward. So, since it's a high school tv drama the show has either done a perfect job of making you feel the lives of the characters or it just sucked and is an example of tv writers jamming the season premiere and follow up episode with loads of story lines then using the middle of the season to sort it all out. Basically they put all their bait out in 2 hours to hook you in. Time will tell which it is.

I'm done. Just like Thornton and the Sharks.

Fish Win

2008-05-01T11:13:00.001-07:00

Maybe I won't be forcing the ball glove on Nolan just yet.

We had an exchange about what type of hat he was wearing. It was a Winnipeg Goldeyes hat but he said he was wearing a "Canada" hat. We had an argument about it before his mom dropped him off for daycare. It was intended it to be a teasing/playful argument but he snapped because he's two and then I got upset because I act like I'm two sometimes. So I tried to tell him there was fish on his hat and that meant Goldeyes not Team Canada. His mom ended the ordeal and took him off for daycare. Well, another dad commented on his hat this morning. Here's how it went down:

Ava’s Dad: Nice baseball hat Nolan.
Nolan: Is not baseball… Fishy!
Ava’s Dad: Oh ya… it is a fishy on there.
Nolan: Ya… Fishies. Not Canada, not baseball. (Shaking head)

I guess the two year old wins this round.

Ocho Stinko

2008-05-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Bengals fans are trading in their Chad Johnon jerseys.

There's a good chance #85 doesn't play another game in Cinci. Too bad because he is such a good talent and was at one time a fun sideshow to watch.

MAY

2008-05-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

May has arrived!

That should take care of the Winter season. Someone suggested snow is on the way this week-end but I refuse to believe that and will not check the weather network to confirm the report.

The May poll closed and the one or two readers that visit here want to enjoy grass instead of snow so that has to happen.

My son is enjoying his new bike and is ready to get a crash course in baseball. He's only 2 and a half but after seeing Daniel Cook struggle to catch a ball on TreeHouse this morning I figure Nolan can do about as good now so no sense waiting anymore.

Looking ahead to epic playoff match-up

2008-05-01T08:09:00.001-07:00

The Flyers and Penguins are about to collide in the Eastern Conference Finals. Both teams have a commanding lead on their opponents in Round Two. A Penguins vs Flyers match-up could end up being the best series of the entire playoffs. Here's a few reasons why:

1. Pennsylvania State rivals
2. Young guns of NHL - Malkin and Crosby vs Carter and Richards
3. Hired guns - Penguins paid a big price for Hossa at the deadline. The Flyers started earlier signing Briere, Hartnell, Biron and Timmonen in the offseason last year.
4. Quebecois goalies - Biron vs Fleury
5. Giant Defenseman - Orpick and Gill vs Coboryn and Hatcher
6. Avoidance meets destiny - The Penguins did not want to play the Flyers in round one and tanked the final game of the season to get an easier match-up vs the Sens. The Flyers know this.

That's from the top of my head so I can only imagine other story lines that have developed over the course of the season and playoffs between these two teams.

I must admit I have been pretty uninterested in Round Two of the Cup Playoffs but should the Penguins play the Flyers I won't miss it.

Perseverance pays off

2008-04-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

Oregon QB Dennis Dixon was drafted by the Steelers.

Pretty good follow up article to the website and SI story I posted prior to the draft.

Team Manberta

2008-04-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

Both Jeff Stoughton and Kerry Burtnyk tapped into the province of Alberta to replace their respective thirds. Stoughton added Kevin Park while it is anticipated Burtnyk will officially announce Don Walchuk as his new third.

Stoughton has spun the move as reloading his team versus replacing Ryan Fry. I anticipate Burtnyk will use the same press conference line with Walchuk.

Both guys are looking for a spark or a thrower that will allow them to compete with Kevin Martin and Glen Howard but let's be honest, picking up a couple of thirds that were kicked aside in Alberta won't scare Martin or Howard much.

Wicek outlines the move and details the new curlers as well as provides his commentary on the level of Manitoba curling. It will be interesting to see Stoughton and Burtnyk chase the Olympic spot with their new teams but to me the big positive out of this news is that Team Carruthers and Team McEwen stuck together. Both teams will help raise the level in the talent pool soon enough. Calm down Wicek.

Putting the Kammer Down

2008-04-27T11:13:00.001-07:00

Kerry Burtnyk cut Dan Kammerlock from his squad.

With that move and the Fry defection there is plenty of rumor and speculation.

I'll leave that stuff to curling lounges and chat rooms like curlingzone.

2008 NFL Draft Round 1 Review

2008-04-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

My mock draft flopped. There were just too many deals completed with teams jumping around to pick guys they wanted. It's funny how teams say they take the best player on the board approach but if that's the case then there shouldn't be any moving up to draft a particular player. Despite my poor mock draft the draft day party was a blast. My buddy Brian was a great host and there was a good group of guys to share some laughs and drinks with while the picks roll in. I'll leave it at that. No blog review of the party. What happens in the draft war room stays in the draft war room

Here is a list of the first round.

1. Miami - Jake Long - OT - old news
2. St. Louis - Chris Long - DE - safest pick in the draft should help Rams improve sack total
3. Atlanta - Matt Ryan - QB - nothing like starting to rebuild a franchise by risking a 3rd pick overall on okay QB. I think this will be a bust pick when we look back on it.
4. Oakland - Darren McFadden - RB - the Raiders have two explosive weapons on offense. McFadden will help QB Jamarcus Russell.
5. Kansas City - Glen Dorsey - DT - Chiefs were happy to see him here at 5.
6. New York Jets - Vernon Gholston - DE - he rounded out the consensus top 6 guys.
7. New Orleans - Sedrick Ellis - DT - Saints moved up to take Ellis.
8. Jacksonville - Derrick Harvey - DE - Jags make a big splash and move up to take Harvey. Great move! The Jags have a lot going for themselves right now and they learned last year home field advantage would be a nice thing to have but the only way they can get that is to win the division and that means beating Manning and the Colts. They took another step closer in doing that if Harvey pans out.
9. Cincinati - Keith Rivers - LB - Bengals need all kinds of help on D.
10. New England -Jared Mayo - LB - I like to think that the Pats thought they could get Harvey here then were scooped by the Jags. I'm going to run with that thought. Instead the Pats missed Harvey and Rivers and Ellis and reach to get Mayo. To me that's fun to think. The downside is I think Mayo looks like a player and the Pats probably got a dandy.
11. Buffalo - Leodis McKelvin - CB - the Bills resiste the tempation to reach for a WR and pick up a corner. Gotta have a corner if you play Tom Brady twice.
12. Denver - Ryan Clady - OT - as anticipated the Broncos beef up the o-line.
13. Carolina - Jonathon Stewart - RB - Panthers roll the dice on Stewart and his turf toe.
14. Chicago - Chris Williams - OT - Bears don't go for Otah and the power and pick Williams and his quickness..very interesting.
15. Kansas City - Brandon Albert - OT - Chiefs beef up both lines in the first 15 picks. They are happy.
16. Arizona - D.Rodgers-Cromartie - C - Cardinals don't upgrade at RB with Mendenhall and instead go with a corner.
17. Detroit - Gosder Cherlius - OT - Lions pass on Mendenhall too but beef up the line to protect Kitna and establish power runing game with the monster Gosder. Too bad they don't have any power running backs.
18. Baltimore - Joe Flacco - QB - Ravens moved down to 26 with the trade with the Jags then moved up to 18 to get Flacco. They must really like this guy and were worried other teams did too otherwise why trade up and reach for him. Move over Kyle Boller.
19. Carolina - Jeff Otha - OT - The Panthers can't believe he is still on the board and move up to take him to protect new turf toe RB Stewart.
20. Tampa Bay - Aqib Talib - CB - I nailed this one. For some reason I could see Gruden in love with this guy despite his drug past.
21. Atlanta - Sam Baker - OT - The Falcons had the depth in picks to move up and take Baker. I guess if you put your franchise in the hands of a lanky QB you better get some decent protection.
22. Dallas - Felix Jones - RB - as predicted by most. I just can't believe that with all the trading in the first round and with Dallas having two picks they couldn't get in on the trading action and either move up or stock picks for later.
23. Pittsburgh - Rashard Mendenhall - RB - I'm sure I've spelled his name wrong and differently here a few times. It's just tricky to say and spell...kinda like the Steeler's QB.
24. Tennessee -Chris Johnson - RB - Titans reach for this speed demon. All kinds of great analysis on how running backs help out Vince Young and the Titans more than wideouts do. Where was that info before the draft?
25. Dallas - Mike Jenkins - CB - as predicted by most. Not a big surprise.
26. Houston - Duane Brown - OT - never heard of him.
27. San Diego - Antoine Cason - CB - one writer called this guy the best player in the draft.
28. Seattle - Lawerence Jackson - TE - never heard of him.
29. San Fransico - Kentwan Balmer - DT - saw this guy's name in the high 20s.
30. New York Jets -Dustin Keller - TE - Jets pick up Packer's pick here and select TE.
31. New York Giants - Kenny Philips - S - Defending champs get highest rated safety in the draft to fill the team's most pressing need. Is that nice?

Belated Cup Conference Semi Finals Preview

2008-04-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

I totally dropped the puck on the Stanley Cup Conference Semi Finals preview. By now you surely now the teams and a bit of background. Heck, you even know the first game results. Even though it may seem unfair for me to make predictions this late I'm going to do it anyway...I make the rules on this site!

Detroit (1) vs Colorado (7) - Osgood is locked in the net for now and that's a good thing for Detroit. Colorado looked sharp at times against the Wild and are getting good goaltending by Theodore. Detroit owns the season series 4-0. I think they continue the trend and roll the Avs in 5 after getting over the Nashville bump in round one.

Pick Detroit in 5.

San Jose (2) vs Dallas (5) - San Jose is a big team and each game wears the big guys down a bit. That's why Ron Wilson has been shuffling his lines and line-ups. He needs to keep legs fresh and it showed in his move to sit J.R. in Game 6 vs the Flames. He's a good coach and his depth creates match-up problems. As long as they don't shoot themselves in the foot with bad penalties or poor goaltending I think they win. For Dallas, until last night, I had not watched them play. They seem quick and have some quality players and leadership plus Turks in goal. I still like the Sharks and just like in round one I think they do it the difficult way...seven games.

Pick San Jose in 7.

Montreal (1) vs Philadelphia (7) - I can't pick the Canadiens. By now I hope you have read the Sports Guy's Bruin post and if you did you know why I can't pick the Canadiens. In reality it's going to get more and more difficult to win in Montreal for opposing teams and Philadelphia went and dropped game one to start the series. Still, gotta go grit over granny.

Pick Philadelphia in 6.

Pittsburgh (2) vs New York (5) - I think the Rangers have the better goaltending and veteran leadership but the Penguins have Crosby and Malkin and moxy. The more these young guys win the more it appears there will be many Cup playoff games in Pittsburgh this year and beyond.

Pick Pittsburgh in 5.

NFL Mock Draft

2008-04-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

The NFL draft has arrived. I've read several mock drafts and caught some NFL Network TV "Path to the Draft". The NFL draft is unreal. I will be watching at a friend's place. He does it up real nice.

Sackville Sports Mock Draft

1. Jake Long - OT - Dolphins

2. Chris Long - DE - Rams

3. Glen Dorsey - DT - Falcons

4. Darren McFadden - RB - Raiders

5. Vernon Gholston - DE/OLB - Chiefs

6. Matt Ryan - QB - Jets

7. Derrick Harvey - DE - Patriots

8. Leodis McKelvin - CB - Ravens

9. Sedrick Ellis - DT - Bengals

10. D. Rodgers-Cromartie - CB - Saints

11. Devin Thomas - WR - Bills

12. Ryan Clady - OT - Broncos

13. Brandon Albert - G/OT - Panthers

14. Jeff Otah - OL - Chicago

15. Keith Rivers - LB - Detriot

16. Rashard Mendenhall - RB - Cardinals

17. Chris Williams - OT - Chiefs

18. Jonathon Stewart - RB - Texans

19. Mike Jenkins - CB - Eagles

20. Aqib Talib - CB - Bucs

21. Philip Merling - DE - Redskins

22. Kenny Philips - S - Cowboys

23. Gosder Cherlius - OT - Steelers

24. Jared Mayo - WR - Titans

25. Kentwan Balmer - DT - Seahawks

26. Calais Campbell - DE - Jaguars

27. DaJuan Morgan - FS - Chargers

28. Felix Jones - RB - Cowboys *

29. Limas Sweed - WR - 49ers *

30. Chad Henne - QB - Packers *

31. Tyrell Johnson - S - Giants

some of these picks are based on trying to just get in the range where the player will be picked to score points in my draft pool or projecting a trade. For example, I'm not sold Ryan is going to the Jets.

A Chief becomes a Viking

2008-04-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Vikings have traded for Chiefs DE Jared Allen. They gave up their 1st pick (17th overall) in the draft this Saturday plus two 3rd round selections.

Also being reported is the massive deal Allen signed with the Vikings. 6 years, $31 million guaranteed and possibly as much as $74 million. If that's true then he becomes the highest paid defensive player in the NFL.

I think it's a good move. At the 17th spot the Vikings were not going to get an elite pass rusher. In order to do that they would have had to make a move into the top 5 and then be on the hook for similar guaranteed money on a player with no NFL experience. Instead, they get a proven player in his prime ready to go. The Vikings already posses the best run defense and now have a pass rush threat in a division that features QBs Kitna (sacked close to 50 times last year), Grossman (seriously, the Bears plan on starting him again), and 1st year starter Aaron Rogers (until Favre come out of reitrement). It's up to Childress now to get some depth at OT,WR,DB, and QB in the draft or by plucking guys as they get cut in training camps.

The move also means more work needs to go into my draft board....again.

Conference Quarter Finals - final chapter

2008-04-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

I missed the better of the two game 7s last night. Philadelphia won in OT while the Flames were put out in only half a game. I watched the first period of the Flames and Sharks game and agreed with CBC analysis that the Flames didn't "play themselves out of the game" and that the game would be a tight affair. So I settled in with high expectations. It didn't happen. The Sharks displayed their talent and the Flames just couldn't match it.

J.R. put on a classic performance. I think he ended up with 4 points last night. Wilson was savvy in sitting J.R. out in Game 6. He didn't need him emptying the tank in Calgary. I'm sure Wilson knew all along if there was to be a Game 7 J.R. would be clutch and he needed him to have his legs for it. Smart move.

I feel bad for Iggy. I don't think there's a player in the league that has the passion and desire he does game in and game out. He deserves a cup.

Like I said above, I missed the Caps/Flyers game so not much to comment on.

I went 5 for 8 in round one. I missed the mark on the Ducks, Wild, and Bruins.

Sn..oh!

2008-04-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I was laughing at the Lay's Potato chip add featuring Mark Messier. It's pretty silly but maybe not as silly as last year's where he was walking on the sidewalk in his hockey skates. That was stupid. I was laughing because most of the cup party scenes showed snow in the background. C'mon Lays, it's damn near May and the Cup Finals don't start until June.

Well, Messier and the marketing people at Lays have the last laugh. This morning I woke up to the radio weather report stating an anticipated 10 cm of snow and 15 mm of rain is on the way to the Peg in the next day or so.

At the back door with my 2 year old son getting ready to leave the house for daycare this morning I had a perfect exchange with him about the snow. The type of parent-child exchange you don't want to forget.

Me: Nolan, there's snow coming soon.
Nolan: (pointing to the backyard happily) No snow...grass.
Me: It's grass now but soon it will be covered in snow.
Nolan: (with a look on his face like he just found out Ryan Fry left Manitoba and Stoughton for Newfoundland and Gushue) No..ooh..oo!

Yes, even a 2 year old knows how brutal snow over the grass during the Stanley Cup playoffs is even if the people at Lays feel otherwise.