Does The NHL Remind You Of Team America?

Evenin' peeps, and anyone else checking in. Thanks for stopping by and spending a few minutes here. I knew this was going to be a good day today, as I was pulling into my parking spot at work, I was tired of listening to the half-wits on sports radio...changing the station to hear "Jammin" by Bob Marley. Is there a better summer song? I think not...Your thoughts on a summer song? Hazel...any suggestions?

What a great weekend in every respect - but more on that later, at the end of the entry. Before getting to the NHL - a few orders of business to address first.

1st - the television broadcasting industry lost one of its good people with the passing of Canadian anchorman Peter Jennings of ABC News. From all accounts, both before and after his unexpected passing, Jennings was well respected by his peers and his viewers - with nary a negative thing said about him. Mr. Jennings should be held up as a role model for the broadcasting world...from members of the television news industry - right over to the inspiration for this page and her peers in sports broadcasting. What made Jennings so likeable was his down to earth style...he seemed to be a genuine person, humble and sincere. May he rest in peace. For the record, I think the inspiration for this page has shown that she embodies some of these qualities.

2nd order of business tonight is to follow through on a commitment I made to one of the members of "Hazelspeeps", who emailed to say he liked the blog (first positive comment) but thought that maybe I was hating on Jody Vance a bit too much and that I should lay off that. He questioned the validity of some of the stories attributed to Ms. Vance and Hazel...while I'm not in total agreement with his entirewhat he said, he raised a few very good points - never let it be said that I am not reasonable - so to Jody Vance and her boys... I apologize if I was hard on her. There will no longer be any negative posts about Ms. Vance on this page from this point on. I won't be hating on her - not now that the Ottawa Senators and the NHL are making the news!

I, and Canadian members of the "peeps", want to take this opportunity to wish her the best in all future endeavours.

NHL
For anyone who hasn't seem the movie Team America - World Police...there is a scene where the mad Korean Dictator - Kim Jong Il - in a moment of frustration asks "why are people so stupid". It is quite amusing. Remember the question as you read.

I just heard on Sportnet news that Todd Bertuzzi has been reinstated, effective immediately. I'm not on board with this one - I don't buy this crap about him sitting out 17 months...there was no 2004/05 season - so he didn't miss anything. I wouldn't tie his return to Moore's return - he might never be back, but not necessarily because of his injury. I certainly wouldn't open the doors this soon...his suspension amounted to 13 regular season games and 7 playoff games - a joke by any standards. Speaking of jokes...

Today on sports radio two big jokes.

1) not hockey related but... the Jim Rome promo. This week's promo has Rome talking about Kyle Farnsworth and how he can fight, how he is good at fighting and if Rome could fight as good as Farnsworth...he'd like to fight too. I find this funny cuz I keep remember the clip of Jim Everett pushing him after Rome kept bating him by calling him Chris (Everett). Rome looked funny falling back after he tried to push Everett...real tough guy Rome.

2) Ottawa Senator fans perhaps the most annoying in the NHL - most likely due to the fact that 3/4 of them are former Montreal Canadiens' fans who jumped ship when the Habs started to go down and the Senators started to look up - these clowns were on the radio this morning talking about a potential trade between Ottawa and Boston. These half-wits think that the Bruins are going to trade Joe Thornton for Martin Havlat, Brian Lee and a draft pick. Ya, O'Connell is going to trade one of the top 5 or 10 players in the league for a draft pick, a draft pick that hasn't played one second of NHL hockey, and a temperamental winger who disappears when the going gets tough. These clowns think the deal makes sense for Boston because they get "three very good players" and the Sens can afford Thornton with lots of cap room. You gotta be kidding me...they must not know that Thornton is going to wind up in Toronto. Right Hazel? are we working on that?

Last week, everyone was ready to hand the cup over to Bobby Clarke and the Flyers. Huh? Yes, he signed Forsberg, a great player no doubt - a dominant player when he is healthy...operative word being "when". Clarke destroyed whatever chemistry his team had, and to make matters worse...he follows up the Forsberg signing with the signing of three defenceman who may be in for a rough ride from Flyer fans. So people are ready to hand the cup over to a team who's defence is suspect at best (Pitkanen and Jonsson can't play 60 mins) and who's goalie situation is unsettled - as good as Esche looked against Toronto...talk to the half-wits in Ottawa. Yes, I'm hating on the Flyers. Speaking of crazy signings...

Can someone tell me what Lou Lamoriello is doing? I think he is among the best hockey men in the NHL...a guy that puts together winning teams with very little money - but Dan McGillis? He signed Dan McGillis? I'm trying to figure that one out...But I won't question him.

Wayne Gretzky announced he's going to coach the Coyotes - I like what Gretzky said - that he would be the first guy to know that he should be fired if he isn't getting the job done...history says that he won't know. I don't think this is going to be good for his legacy...as great of a hockey player as he was - he's going to be over matched by the tactians in the league like Jacques Martin, Jacques Lemaire and Ken Hitchcock, as well as by the motivators who know how to get the most of their guys Tortorella, Sutter, Quinn, Crawford and guys like that. This is not like being a GM for Team Canada...but then again, its Phoenix - they won't know the difference...Steve Nash is the most popular Canadian down there.

Some of the recent signings have me perplexed...lots of big money being thrown around by supposedly "small market" teams who are supposed to be working with smaller cap numbers - gotta love that revenue sharing I guess. We'll get into my theories on NHL expansion another night...but it's coming peeps...this season and next will be a test. They will tinker with rules, increase scoring, make it more appealing to a nation of people that don't watch hockey...and mediocrity...errrrrrrrr "parity and cost certainty" will net the NHL $$$$. If you are going to accuse me of being an angry Leaf fan who is upset because his team did nothing...yaaaa so? Your point?

MLB
Things in the MLB stayed pretty status quo - as far as most of the readers of this site would be concerned - I'm assuming that most are fans of the A.L. East...or the L.A Dodgers (ya right...I know I'm alone there).

In watching what has unfolded over the past week or so - the Jays are done. Jays fans (Hazel included...sorry) give up the dream - the Jays lost two out of three to the Yankees. While this might not seem like its the end of the world...after all...its the Yankees - they lost to Aaron Small and Al Leiter...enough said. If I'm a Jays fan, I'd really be asking Jays management what J.P. did to improve this team - the answer is simply "nothing". While I have heard all the excuses

"we weren't going to make a trade for the sake of trading"
"we like our team...going in the right direction"
"we'll be getting Halladay back"
"there just wasn't a deal to be made"

To all that, and any other excuse he and anyone else in Jays land comes up with...I say one thing. "Make it happen" Jays management makes too many excuses - I think J.P messed up by not making something happen...while it may not be easy - good GMs make it happen. I know I've ragged on him before...but Hinske has to go - J.P could have tried to package him to get something. What you ask? Anything I say. J.P. won't get rid of Hinske because he traded for him and he's cheap - fine. But I think getting rid of him would have freed a roster spot for another player who may bring more game. With Hill, Hillenbrand and Koskie - the Jays seem set on the corners and at DH - while Hinske may be seen as "depth"...he's not putting up the numbers to justify that much playing time. He could have gone out (or promoted) someone with wheels...with speed - someone who could be inserted in late in a game and steal you a base or something when you need it. Hinske isn't bringing enough to the game - a good glove? Plenty of good gloves in AAA. My two cents - but then again, I wasn't expecting much from Toronto this year...but hey, at least they have nice hats - especially when Hazel is under one of them.

Sox continue to roll behind Damon, Ortiz and Manny - speaking of which...Manny cost me 140 bucks on proline tonight...I can't believe Blaylock beat him tonight. While I still think something isn't quite right with Boston...they are going to win the Division (chalk that up to Hazel karma) - but things could get very tough if they have to face teams with good pitching - A's kickin' these days... White Sox pitching and small ball could pose problems in the quest for a repeat.

Is it just me? or to the Yankees look old...tired and uninterested? The only guy that seems to really be pushing to win is "slappy" (aka A-Rod). Sheffield is being Sheffield and speaking his mind...unfortunately his teammates are getting slapped. I like Sheffield, always have - he's a great ball player and a competitor...his problem is that he can't let things go (sound like anyone you know? yes...I'm raising my hand) - he speaks his mind...for better or worse. I'm not disagreeing with what he said - I think most of it is probably true...his timing was bad. Anyways, when did Randy Johnson become so hittable? Anyone got any ideas?

No need to get into the Raffy saga - but...Scott Miller had another good article about the O's - from Mazzilli being fired, to Raffy, to the downfall of Sosa. As usual, Miller pulls no punches - gotta like that. Sammy Sosa...what a collossal disappointment he turned out to be.

SOCCER
The news of the weekend was all about my man...Figo! Luis Figo left Real Madrid to sign with Inter Milan this past weekend. Inter's site has a lot of coverage on the man - from the press conference announcing the signing - to training photos. If you are the least bit interested in soccer - or if you just want to see what an athlete should be...visit the site. Figo is, always has been, and always will be a class act. His so-called parting shot at Real was to say that things didn't work out...but he had five great years there...and wished them well. Figo's achievements at the club level have not been matched by many - Liga Championships in Spain, European Championships in Spain...bringing Portugal to the semi-finals of Euro 2000, the Finals of Euro 2004...next stop - World Cup 2006 in Germany. Hazel's gotta get that on the broadcast! haha

More soccer news later in the week.

Ok, it's late...the weekend update will be on tomorrow's entry. Thanks again to my buddy from the yahoo site for his comments and suggestions.

So I'm outta here for the night...thanks for stopping by, thanks for taking the time to read it, feel free to leave comments or suggestions...night peeps...night Hazel (if you are checking in).

Given the focus on the NHL in tonight's entry...The song of the day on Hazelspeeps at yahoo - a playoff classic from a couple of years ago.

Three Cheers for Ottawa - the Fan 590 Radio in Toronto
(to the tune of the Chanuka Song By Adam Sandler)

Here's a little story
About a hockey team
Who just might win the Stanley Cup
But only in their dreams
The team is from Ottawa
The Senators is their name
Their soon to be inducted to the
Golfing Hall of Fame

They think they'll take our Leafers
Now there's a funny joke
Cuz every year at playoff time
THE SENATORS ALWAYS CHOKE

Three cheers for Ottawa
A real team they are "nottawa"
They can give all that they've "gottawa"
But the Stanley Cup will never go to Ottawa


later on...

Three cheers for Ottawa
They must be smoking pot-tawa

So get ready for the crying
Take out your handkerchiefs
You're about to get your asses kicked by
THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS...

Download it...it's a classic!

Peesth out!