Heeeerrrre's Renee! Where's Johnny?

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. A special "Hey" goes out to Hazel Mae.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you have undoubtedly read about my friend Renee; aka the Den Mother or resident shit disturber on the yahoo site (depending on what side of the fence you are on). Well, good news for anyone reading this page - Renee will be sharing her thoughts, observations, opinions and rants with us...right here on this blog (I'm guessing that with Renee's venture into the world of blogging - the new members signing up to yahoo will slow down).

Renee lives in New England where she works in the entertainment industry, she is an ardent supporter of all of New England's sports teams - but that doesn't mean she is a homer. She calls them as she sees them (which normally diametrically opposed to yours truly - but its all good, we have an understanding when it comes to sports) in a "pull no punches" style where she calls out players who are dogging it, management for making bad calls, or fans themselves for behaviour unbecoming to sports fans.Renee's knowledge of sports is solid (even if she is a chick) and she has no qualms about sharing what's on her mind. Now if I could just get her to show some love for the Portuguese National Soccer team.

Renee's Rants (good title huh?) will not be limited to sports - no, Renee is going to give the page a diverse view of the world from a New England point of view; and I'm certain we will all be better for it.

This should be interesting, a porkchop from Canada and a soccer hating chowda head from the heart of New England sharing space on a page...I wonder if she'll have her own tag line to open her blog. Good news, Renee is more of a day poster - so don't be surprised if she logs on during the day for a quick hit or two; we'll leave that up to her.

Renee's first entry should be coming sometime later today - I'm sure Renee will be worth the wait.

Now if I could just get my lazy bastard of a buddy Johnny to join the page as our resident Eklund(ianoplis) on hockey. Johnny is a good Hellenic dude, so we had to "Greek-ify" Eklund's name.

Great night in the NHL last night - the SenaTards dropped a tough one in New Jersey last night, so I guess that means the Stanley Cup parade on Bank St. is off. The SenaTards faithful, who like to refer to themselves as "Sens Army" were flooding the sports radio station with calls about how the team is back and ready to go on a winning streak to get over .500; obviously that was short lived, because they already on the horn complaining about how the team "isn't playing up to their potential." It won't get any easier for the Tards tonight - the Sabres come to town looking to avenge Wednesday's loss on home ice to the Tards.

HAZEL'S THREE STARS

Dallas center Mike Ribeiro had two goals last night to lead the Stars to a 5-3 victory over the high-octane Atlanta Thrashers. In case you were wondering (or not wondering as it may be) my boy "Miguel Ribeiro" is indeed Portuguese - so you know he is going to get plenty of play on this page. I'm hoping Hazel would be down with that.

New Jersey Devils' winger Jamie Langenbrunner had 2 goals and an assist in 3-2 victory over the Tards - slapping the Tards and their faithful back to the reality that says they aren't legit this year.

Carolina's Captain Rod Brind'Amour had two goals and two assists to lead the Hurricanes to a 4-1 victory over the Capitals in Washington last night.

NFL PICKS - STRAIGHT UP
I didn't get my picks up last week - but I survived another week of shocking upsets and did ok in the pool. I'm still in the top 5 after a couple of shaky weeks - I'm looking to right the ship this weekend.

16) PHILADELPHIA over Tennessee - I hate going with that Chunky Soup lovin' mama's boy McNabb, but I can't see the Titans pulling one out in Philadelphia. Eagles win, but I doubt it will be a blowout.

15) Kansas City over OAKLAND - Hi, welcome to Thoughts of Hazel Mae - have you heard of her?

14) Seattle over SAN FRANCISCO - the Seahawks are getting healthy which is bad news for a 49ers team that usually gets spanked by good teams. When healthy, Seattle is a very good team. Not even Joe Montana himself could save this 49ers team (ouch...Hazel would kick my ass for that crack).

13) New England over GREEN BAY - is Brady hurt or not? That might be a question on Hazel herself could find the answer to; doesn't matter though - the Pats don't drop this one. Brett Favre, meet Richard Seymour.

12) Chicago over NY JETS - Chad Pennington averages somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3 yards per completion (ok, maybe 8 to 9 yards - but that's it!), the Bears will stack 8 or 9 in the box and challenge Pennington to go deep. I think Hurricane Hazel has a stronger arm that Pennington.

11) CAROLINA over St. Louis - I don't think much of the Panthers, but they are due for another little run to get their fans all excited before breaking their hearts. Bulger goes this weekend for Hazel Mae's Cowboys - but the Rams and grass aren't a good match.

10) JACKSONVILLE over NY Giants - Eli Manning had a tough game against the Bears last week and I don't see it getting much better against a very good Jags D. The Giants are too banged up to win this one, which is just fine with yours truly.

09) TAMPA BAY over Washington - Clinton Portis is done for the season, Mark Brunnell has been benched, and the Skins D hasn't been dominant this season; its a recipe for a loss in Tampa Bay. Tampa's QB Gradkowski showed me something in Carolina on Monday night. The Official Joe Gibbs' farewell tour starts tomorrow.

08) BALTIMORE over Atlanta - Baltimore is finding ways to win, Ron Mexico is finding ways to lose - seems academic, even with Ray Lewis out. Baltimore's offence wears down an undersized Falcons D, while their defence stuffs Mexico and Dunn.

07) Pittsburgh over CLEVELAND - both teams are playing a bit better of late, but the defending Super Bowl chumps won't drop one in the Dawg Pound. The Steelers aren't going anywhere, but neither are the Browns.

06) MIAMI over Minnesota - Miami's Madman Nick Saban has his team playing a little bit better these days - his defence anyways. Brad Johnson is in for a long day against Jason Taylor and the Dolphins - those four yard passes aren't going to cut it on Sunday.

05) DENVER over San Diego - second straight road game for the Chargers, and this one at altitude; Denver's defence contains L.T. and Plummer manages his team to a victory.

04) HOUSTON over Buffalo - it comes down to this, David Carr and Andre Johnson vs J.P. Losman and Lee Evans - who would you choose? Look for Eric Moulds to have a big game against his former team.

03) Detroit over ARIZONA - I think the Cardinals thought the game against the Bears was the Super Bowl. Detroit had been playing better until the 49ers slapped them around last week. This is one of those games where the temptation to think "The Cardinals have to win a game, don't they?" will cost you. Take Kitna and play it relatively safe.

02) DALLAS over Indianapolis - The Cowboys could easily be 7-2 right now (and probably should), they are the league's best 5-4 team. Parcells knows how to get his team ready to play juggernaut offences like the Colts. Dallas will control the ball by running Jones and Barber right into the gums of a toothless run defence. You heard it here first - Dallas wins this game.

01) Cincinnati over New Orleans - giving up 38 points to a pop-gun offence like the Steelers tells me your defence is in trouble. Look for Palmer and Johnson to exploit that defence in a shoot out win over Brees and the Saints...this one could be won on the final series of the game.

There you have it gang...have a great one peeps!

HAZEL'S SATURDAY HOROSCOPE
Don't back down when everything is starting to click for you. Get serious and pick up whatever education, knowledge or information you require to make your next move. If you are passionate about what you do, you will be successful. 3 stars

Hazel, I hope things are groovy in your world.

Song of the Day on Hazelspeeps - just because

Fadeaway - The BoDeans

Peesth Out...Buh Bye!