Monday Musings

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. A special “Hey” goes out to Hazel Mae if she is checking in.

Musings on the weekend that was in the world of sports – if you take that to mean we are doing “World Football”, give yourself a pat on the back.

NFL/NHL
Who says the NHL isn’t relevant in the U.S.? We couldn’t help but notice that the NFL ripped off one of the NHL’s more clever marketing ideas – though in typical NFL style, its bigger and better.

For those of you who didn’t watch the Chargers vs Seahawks game (maybe some of you were watching SportsDesk) one of the featured commercials involved a back and forth with Reggie Bush and Peyton Manning – with each making calls to a front desk clerk at a hotel and making somewhat outrageous room service requests in the other’s name – funny stuff. Except “we” (as in Canadians) saw that commercial last year where Alex Ovechkin calls room service and orders thousands of dollars worth of food – when asked his name, he responds in his heavy Russian accent with “Sihdnay Crozbeh”.

Maybe that doesn’t work as well as Peyton Manning saying, “Oh, it is so on!”

Pacman Jones is in the news again – this time for being “attacked” at a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling event in Florida yesterday. Pacman needed the help of actors posing as policemen to restrain a fellow wrestler from welcoming him to the world of “sports entertainment” with a (real life??) beat-down. Roger Goddell and the Tennessee Titans must be loving this.


MLB
Why all the doom and gloom in Boston? The Red Sox are four games up on the Yankees with forty-five games left to go and there seems to be a growing sentiment that they are going to blow it. It is almost as if some members of The Nation want to see them blow it – like they want to go through the heartache of years gone by. Which leads us to ask “How many members of Red Sox Nation are Portuguese?”

To members of Red Sox Nation who might be confused by the emotion they are feeling these days – look up the word “Saudade” on wikipedia…it may explain a few things. If you are Portuguese, you know exactly what it means – you live it everyday.

By contrast – crazy baseball fans in Toronto are celebrating the “triumphant return” of AJ Burnett and are actually entertaining hopes of a Wild Card run – they must have visited J.P. Ricciardi’s lemonade stand outside the Rogers Centre. Burnett comes back and blows away the Royals and his name is being interjected in a sentence that includes “Cy Young contender…some day”.

Yep, Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun thinks that if Burnett ever pulls it all together on a consistent basis – he could be a Cy Young winner. We, in Canada, are growing used to Zaun saying some pretty dumb things – this one takes the cake though. A.J. Burnett has demonstrated throughout his career that he is injury prone AND inconsistent.

We’re wondering if anyone mentioned the name “Rick Ankiel” to Zaun – he was a guy with loads of potential too.


GOLF
We caught about 20 seconds of the PGA Championship this past weekend – Tiger Woods hitting a tee shot on par 4 or 5 (who cares?) and a gallery of idiots screaming “get in the hole” – the ball wound up in the rough. Funny overhead shot of a bunch of fat-asses and seniors loping down the fairway to stand by his ball.

Still trying to figure out how our American friends say “hockey is unwatchable on tv” but still manage to plunk their asses down to watch freaking golf for hours on end. Its like watching someone get a haircut (which may become a sport on ESPN).

FOOTBALL
Shrek, aka Wayne Rooney, left yesterday’s game against Reading after suffering a hairline fracture in his foot. This was particularly noteworthy for two reasons:

A) Luis Nani, Manchester United’s big signing from Sporting Lisbon, came on to replace Shrek and acquitted himself quite well.

B) For the first time in over a year, the British press wrote about Wayne Rooney without a reference to him “being sent off by Cristiano Ronaldo at the 2006 World Cup”. They may have finally let go…though we aren’t holding our breath.

Speaking of Ronaldo – he didn’t score yesterday, but he served notice that he is going to be even more of a force than he was last year. He had Reading’s defenders twisting, lunging, and falling over as he attacked them. For those that hate Ronaldo for diving – he also showed yesterday that he has matured, continuing on after being pulled, pushed and tackled.


SUNDAY’S THREE STARS
Detroit Tigers RF Magglio Ordonez hits two home runs in the same inning (driving in four runs) to lead the Tigers to an 11-6 win over the A’s.

San Diego Padres RF Brian Giles hit two solo home runs to power San Diego to a 10-4 win over Bronson Arroyo and the Reds – it was the second consecutive two HR game for Giles.

Pittsburgh Pirates P Tom Gorzelanny pitched a complete game shutout against the Giants yesterday. Gorzelanny gave up five hits and a walk, while striking out five in the Pirates 5-0 win. Barry Zito is doing his best to make Dodgers GM Ned Coletti look like a genius for signing Jason Schmidt.


MONDAY THREE PLAY
We finished the week off in ok fashion – no thanks to Eric Gagne. The total for the week was + $350 bringing the total for the year down (yes DOWN) to - $1,600…remember, the goal is break even by week 1 of the NFL. Today’s suggestions:

New York over Baltimore – Yankees are in a zone right now (sorry Red Sox Nation) so you have to take advantage and play them – especially with Wang coming off an awful performance against the Jays last week. Lay $100 on the Yankees - $250.

Boston over Tampa Bay – risky pick, but Tim Wakefield has dominated Tampa over his career – look for Boston to get back on track tonight at Fenway. Lay $100 on the Sox - $165.

Red Sox West over Houston – it has to get better for the Dodgers. It won’t be easy against Roy Oswalt, but we like Chad Billingsley to keep the road wimp Astros in check long enough for the Dodgers to scratch out a run or two against Oswalt. Lay $100 on the Dodgers - $110 (we’d suggest the under – but this will probably turn out to be one of those games that gets stupid).

That’s it for today gang – thanks for taking the time to check in. Have a great one Peeps.

Hazel, we hope things are groovy in your world.

We’re Out.