10. Charissa Thompson's bad questions
No matter what I'm doing while watching the games, I make sure I'm paying attention when Charissa Thompson conducts her pre-game in in-game interviews. One, I like looking at Charissa. She's hot. Two, I thoroughly enjoy the idiotic questions she asks. It's clear she knows nothing about hockey and even more clear that Versus only hired her because she's hot. If a male asked Joel Quenneville such inane questions, he would no doubt turn his head and ignore him. When Charissa asks said inane questions, Quenneville is thinking to himself as he dutifully answers while staring at her breasts, "I wonder if I can meet up with her in her hotel room tonight."
9. Boston's meltdown
It was funny enough that the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers to face a decisive Game 7 in Boston but to actually lead that contest 3-0 and still manage to lose was absolutely priceless. The same fanbase that reveled in the 2004 Yankees-Red Sox playoff series now has experienced it from the losing side. The only thing that would have made it funnier would have been had the Celtics managed to blow a 3-0 lead to the Magic in the NBA.
8. Jonathan Toews becoming the new Steve Yzerman
The one difference? Yzerman didn't truly become Yzerman until 1995. Before that, he was a gifted offensive player who was essentially an offensive player. In 1995, he began morphing into the consummate leader and teammate, gritty two-way player and defensive ace who could still be among the better offensive players on his team. Toews is already that. He is, by far, Chicago's best player (sorry, Patrick Kane) and his combination of offensive skill, two-way play, leadership and maturity is something it took Yzerman a dozen years to perfect. Toews has it in his fourth season in the league.
7. P.K. Subban becoming a revolutionary player
We've never seen a defenseman with the skill set to be what Subban has the potential to be. He has the hands to quarterback a power play, the vision to trigger the transition game, the speed to rush the puck up the zone and the body type to battle big forwards in front of his own net. No other defenseman has ever had all of these traits (I think the closest comparable is another Montreal blueliner, Larry Robinson, but even he didn't have the body type to battle power forwards in the trenches that Subban has; Subban doesn't have Robinson's fu manchu though so maybe it evens out). I'm afraid to even think about what his ceiling is.
6. The death of the money goaltender
The Flyers got to the Stanley Cup Final even though their starting goalie was lost for the year in midseason and their playoff goalie was injured in the second round. So with Ray Emery and Brian Boucher out, Michael Leighton--their No. 3 goalie five months ago--has carried them through the East, taking over in the midst of the comeback against Boston and then shutting out Montreal three times in the East Final. Antti Niemi didn't even become the Blackhawks primary goalie until March and now is considered their No. 2 Conn Smythe candidate behind Toews. The goalie of the playoffs, Jaroslav Halak, was chased in multiple games and even benched for one. Meanwhile, the so-called great playoff goaltender, Martin Brodeur, failed to get to the conference final for the sixth consecutive playoff season and the so-called elite Roberto Luongo melted down against Chicago for the second consecutive spring and has never been to a conference final.
I'm believing more and more that the key to playoff success in the post-lockout NHL is to build a dynamite team in front of the goalie and then just hope the goalie catches fire in the playoffs.
5. Tyson Nash, Coyotes game analyst
PLEASE, GOD! MAKE HIM STOP!!!!
4. The Flyers resiliency
The Flyers didn't make the playoffs until winning a silly shootout against the Rangers on the season's final day. They did that without their No. 1 goaltender. They fell behind 3-0 to the Bruins, then lost their playoff No. 1 goaltender, then fell behind 3-0 in Game 7. In addition to Boucher, they also lost key forward Jeff Carter and valuable checker Ian Laperriere (both are back now). Despite all of this, the Flyers won the East. That's pretty impressive.
3. Getting Halaked
The playoffs aren't working out too well for Alex Ovechkin, not just now but throughout his career. Fortunately, he can take comfort in the fact that Sidney Crosby and the Penguins also couldn't beat the Canadiens. Both Washington and Pittsburgh lost to Montreal in a home Game 7, primarily because of Halak. Thanks almost entirely to their goaltender, the Canadiens took out the league's two biggest stars, the top regular season team and the defending Stanley Cup champion. There is no doubt that Washington was the better team in their series with Montreal, as was Pittsburgh except for in Game 7 (during which the Penguins played about as nervous a game as I have ever seen a team with Stanley Cup pedigree play in the postseason). Halak beat them.
2. Road warriors
Remember the old adage that you play the entire regular season in order to have Game 7 on your home ice? Well, the Coyotes and Penguins both got blown out in a home Game 7, the Bruins blew a 3-0 lead in a home Game 7 and the Capitals got Halaked in a home Game 7. Road teams are 4-0 in a Game 7 this season.
So much for that theory.
1. Pronger and Hossa return the Final with their third different team since the lockout
It's true. Chris Pronger lost the Cup with the 2006 Oilers, won the Cup with the 2007 Ducks and now returns to the Final with the Flyers. Marian Hossa lost the Cup with the 2008 Penguins (to the Red Wings), signed with the Red Wings and lost to the 2009 Final (to the Penguins) and now returns with the Blackhawks.
The big difference between the two is that Pronger, like he was in 2006 and arguably was in 2007 (though Scott Niedermayer won the Conn Smythe) has been the best defenseman in the playoffs. Hossa has barely been noticeable, just as was the case last year in Detroit. When these teams kickoff the Final later today, offensive contribution from Hossa will be unexpected (incredible, given the contract he has) while every time you look up, Pronger will be on the ice doing something.
It would be quite the hat trick for Hossa to lose the Final in three consecutive seasons with three different teams but I feel the Blackhawks have to have the edge here. Why? Because I don't see how Philadelphia is going to handle all of Chicago's firepower, given their so-so goalie and their relative lack of top-level blueline players beyond Pronger. The Flyers beat Boston and Montreal in the last two rounds, the lowest scoring team in the league and one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. Now they're going to face an offensive juggernaut. Hey, maybe Pronger can play 40 minutes a night but I sort of doubt it.
That being said, I don't think you can discount Philadelphia. They are an extremely gritty group and they have more firepower than you think, especially with Carter and Simon Gagne both back in the lineup to go with Mike Richards, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux. But they're going to have to alter their game plan that has won eight of the last nine games because that game plan won't work against Chicago. The Blackhawks can do what they've been doing and dictate the pace.
I fully expect Pronger and Toews to be the two best players in this series and I fully expect the Blackhawks to win in seven.
May 29, 2010
May 28, 2010
Cards-Cubs 2010
The greatest ever Wrigley Field celebrity 7th inning stretch in honor of the Cardinals and the Cubs beginning the 2010 version of their rivalry this afternoon on the northside of Chicago.
Memorial Day weekend sports spectacular
Today: Cardinals-Cubs, Celtics-Magic Game 6
Tomorrow: Cardinals-Cubs, Flyers-Blackhawks Game 1, Lakers-Suns Game 6
Sunday: Cardinals-Cubs, Celtics-Magic Game 7 (if necessary), Indy 500, Coke 600
Monday: Reds-Cardinals, Phillies-Braves, Ubaldo-Lincecum (those are the probables), Flyers-Blackhawks Game 2, Suns-Lakers Game 7 (if necessary)
Plus: Assorted baseball games and the French Open every day.
Tomorrow: Cardinals-Cubs, Flyers-Blackhawks Game 1, Lakers-Suns Game 6
Sunday: Cardinals-Cubs, Celtics-Magic Game 7 (if necessary), Indy 500, Coke 600
Monday: Reds-Cardinals, Phillies-Braves, Ubaldo-Lincecum (those are the probables), Flyers-Blackhawks Game 2, Suns-Lakers Game 7 (if necessary)
Plus: Assorted baseball games and the French Open every day.
May 27, 2010
NASCAR Hall celebrates history, unkind to the present
I was at the NASCAR Hall of Fame over the weekend. It is a wonderful museum, one that really allows the fans of today to connect with the past. Even someone like me, with only a passing knowledge of the sport, left the building feeling like I knew everything about the sport's history. I feel like I'm an expert on Richard Petty (greatest of all-time), Dale Earnhardt (most intimidating), Junior Johnson (greatest all-around), Darrell Waltrip (most polarizing), Wendell Scott (the Jackie Robinson of NASCAR), Tim Richmond (biggest partier), David Pearson (how was he not in the inaugural Hall of Fame class) and so many others.
From all accounts, Sunday's induction of the inaugural class of enshrinees (Petty, Johnson, Earnhardt and executives Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.) was a wonderful tribute not only to those honored but also to the sport's entire history. Something often ignored now has a museum for which it will always be remembered.
(Side note: it's amazing to me that NASCAR didn't already have a Hall of Fame. I always just assumed that Petty was a Hall of Famer. Little did I know that he wasn't, because he couldn't be, at least until now.)
But there is one problem with the Hall of Fame: it made me really worried about NASCAR's present. This is a sport with a real history, one filled with colorful characters who really didn't care one bit about their safety. Dale Earnhardt wasn't afraid to die (and he did). Junior Johnson spent his childhood making illegal moonshine runs and even was called upon by the Hall of Fame to build a moonshine still inside the museum, since those illegal moonshine runs were the early racing that ultimately would become stock car racing. Tim Richmond was a bad ass driver who drove fast and aggressively and lived fast and aggressively (which is why he died slow and painfully, of AIDS in 1989). The Allison brothers, Bobby and Donnie, actually tag-teamed Cale Yarborough in a fist fight at the end of the 1979 Daytona 500. All of this stuff is celebrated at the Hall of Fame. I learned that NASCAR's history is filled with tough guys, cool cats (even as a non-NASCAR person, I have a hard time coming up with a list of people in all walks of life cooler than Petty) and crazy characters.
You never would know this if you're just learning about the sport now. The sport has been so neutered that it's impossible to relate its history to its present. It used to be that Bristol was the site of one wreck after another. Not anymore. It used to be that insanely fast speeds made Atlanta semi-dangerous. Not anymore. It used to be that the Coke 600 went all night because the extra 100 miles created more time for more aggressive driving and more wrecks. Not anymore. It used to be that winning the race was first and foremost. Not anymore.
The things I learned about NASCAR's history don't even resemble the NASCAR I know now. I don't see a single driver who goes for the win with any sort of regularity anymore. Instead, I see a bunch of drivers who are content to just finish the entire race, knowing that if they're on one of the big time teams they're pretty much assured of a top-15 finish each week and if they manage this, they'll have a chance at the championship at the end of the season. Earlier this season, Jimmie Johnson had three wins and the quartet of Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch had won the other four, yet those four other winners weren't even in the top-12 that make The Chase. Of course nothing better personifies this than the 2003 season, during which Matt Kenseth won the championship even though he won only one race. Ryan Newman won eight races, twice as many as anyone else, yet finished sixth. Kurt Busch's four wins were the second most and he finished 11th. I'm pretty sure that whoever it was who first came up with the saying that a system is broken had 2003 NASCAR season in mind when he came up with it. (How crazy was 2003? So crazy that Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip each managed to win two races.)
It's also clear that the money involved has made today's drivers pansies. The sponsorship money drivers were getting as recently as 10 years ago pales in comparison to what they make today. Between the television money paid by partners Fox, Turner and ESPN (money that didn't exist in 2000) and the increasing fees paid by sponsors, a driver can make $4 million in a season simply by qualifying for and finishing each race, and that's before the sponsor's individual payment to the team. Dale Earnhardt died in his car in 2001, driving in an era when the money was good but not great. Why would any driver today drive to win when it could kill them (even though I don't think a driver actually could die in his car with how safe they have been made in the aftermath of Earnhardt's death, unless he did something unconscionably stupid) and when dying would prevent them from earning and living off the millions they make?
Fox Sports czar David Hill expressed concern about dwindling ratings in NASCAR. I can't say I'm surprised. The NASCAR I discovered while at the Hall of Fame doesn't exist today and until NASCAR gets closer to the sport they presented in the old days and further away from the product they're putting out there now, why would anyone watch? The races we see now are boring. The drivers have no personality whatsoever. No one drives aggressively. They're all just content to get their sponsor's check and not crash.
I feel like Petty, Johnson, Pearson and the others of the day must be appalled by the racing they see now. Yet what can they do? They're part of a different generation, an era where winning was everything. I fear those days are gone forever. Fortunately, they are preserved in the Hall of Fame, reminding lifelong fans and teaching newbies like myself that NASCAR once was an exciting and colorful sport.
From all accounts, Sunday's induction of the inaugural class of enshrinees (Petty, Johnson, Earnhardt and executives Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.) was a wonderful tribute not only to those honored but also to the sport's entire history. Something often ignored now has a museum for which it will always be remembered.
(Side note: it's amazing to me that NASCAR didn't already have a Hall of Fame. I always just assumed that Petty was a Hall of Famer. Little did I know that he wasn't, because he couldn't be, at least until now.)
But there is one problem with the Hall of Fame: it made me really worried about NASCAR's present. This is a sport with a real history, one filled with colorful characters who really didn't care one bit about their safety. Dale Earnhardt wasn't afraid to die (and he did). Junior Johnson spent his childhood making illegal moonshine runs and even was called upon by the Hall of Fame to build a moonshine still inside the museum, since those illegal moonshine runs were the early racing that ultimately would become stock car racing. Tim Richmond was a bad ass driver who drove fast and aggressively and lived fast and aggressively (which is why he died slow and painfully, of AIDS in 1989). The Allison brothers, Bobby and Donnie, actually tag-teamed Cale Yarborough in a fist fight at the end of the 1979 Daytona 500. All of this stuff is celebrated at the Hall of Fame. I learned that NASCAR's history is filled with tough guys, cool cats (even as a non-NASCAR person, I have a hard time coming up with a list of people in all walks of life cooler than Petty) and crazy characters.
You never would know this if you're just learning about the sport now. The sport has been so neutered that it's impossible to relate its history to its present. It used to be that Bristol was the site of one wreck after another. Not anymore. It used to be that insanely fast speeds made Atlanta semi-dangerous. Not anymore. It used to be that the Coke 600 went all night because the extra 100 miles created more time for more aggressive driving and more wrecks. Not anymore. It used to be that winning the race was first and foremost. Not anymore.
The things I learned about NASCAR's history don't even resemble the NASCAR I know now. I don't see a single driver who goes for the win with any sort of regularity anymore. Instead, I see a bunch of drivers who are content to just finish the entire race, knowing that if they're on one of the big time teams they're pretty much assured of a top-15 finish each week and if they manage this, they'll have a chance at the championship at the end of the season. Earlier this season, Jimmie Johnson had three wins and the quartet of Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch had won the other four, yet those four other winners weren't even in the top-12 that make The Chase. Of course nothing better personifies this than the 2003 season, during which Matt Kenseth won the championship even though he won only one race. Ryan Newman won eight races, twice as many as anyone else, yet finished sixth. Kurt Busch's four wins were the second most and he finished 11th. I'm pretty sure that whoever it was who first came up with the saying that a system is broken had 2003 NASCAR season in mind when he came up with it. (How crazy was 2003? So crazy that Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip each managed to win two races.)
It's also clear that the money involved has made today's drivers pansies. The sponsorship money drivers were getting as recently as 10 years ago pales in comparison to what they make today. Between the television money paid by partners Fox, Turner and ESPN (money that didn't exist in 2000) and the increasing fees paid by sponsors, a driver can make $4 million in a season simply by qualifying for and finishing each race, and that's before the sponsor's individual payment to the team. Dale Earnhardt died in his car in 2001, driving in an era when the money was good but not great. Why would any driver today drive to win when it could kill them (even though I don't think a driver actually could die in his car with how safe they have been made in the aftermath of Earnhardt's death, unless he did something unconscionably stupid) and when dying would prevent them from earning and living off the millions they make?
Fox Sports czar David Hill expressed concern about dwindling ratings in NASCAR. I can't say I'm surprised. The NASCAR I discovered while at the Hall of Fame doesn't exist today and until NASCAR gets closer to the sport they presented in the old days and further away from the product they're putting out there now, why would anyone watch? The races we see now are boring. The drivers have no personality whatsoever. No one drives aggressively. They're all just content to get their sponsor's check and not crash.
I feel like Petty, Johnson, Pearson and the others of the day must be appalled by the racing they see now. Yet what can they do? They're part of a different generation, an era where winning was everything. I fear those days are gone forever. Fortunately, they are preserved in the Hall of Fame, reminding lifelong fans and teaching newbies like myself that NASCAR once was an exciting and colorful sport.
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