The sunny side of the street

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. A special "Hey" goes out to Hazel Mae, who is hanging out in Arizona this week.

It is almost time to do the Thoughts of Hazel Mae Super Bowl prediction - Tilt has the Patriots winning, but while in Vegas he laid money on the Giants to win outright (+ $400) so who knows what he's thinking; and yours truly...undecided.

We'll all get something up in the next day or two.

While Hazel is hanging out in Arizona, filing reports for NESN, her former colleagues in Toronto have gone past the point of ridiculous in speculating about the future of Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin. The latest theory comes from TSN's "Hockey Insider" Darren Dreger (the donkey doesn't merit having his picture posted) who speculates that the Maple Leafs are tanking the season in order to try to get the number one pick in the 2008. To support his speculation - Dreger pointed to Leafs' coach Paul Maurice's decision to play 19 year old rookie Jiri Tlusty on the first line with Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov. In Darren's opinion, it may be a sign that Leafs management is trying to encourage Sundin to waive his no-trade clause by playing him with players who are not ready. It is a giant leap in logic - but as an aside, have you ever met a person named Darren who wasn't a retard?) - but that's par of the course with TSN's experts. They normally qualify this nonsense with a "I'm not saying it is this way but" or "I'll leave you to consider that" or "I don't know for sure...but it sure seems funny". Whatever Darren.

Don't waive that clause Mats - don't let them off the hook for the awful decisions made by JFJ; let them find a way to trade McCabe or Tucker - according to Damien Cox, JFJ had been in talks with teams that wanted them...oh wait, I forgot that Damien Cox said that.

Ok, back to the subject line - The sunny side of the street; rather than focus on the boring or the negative, I'll go with something positive today.

Question to the readers - is there a professional athlete playing a team sport who is dominating his league like Cristiano Ronaldo? The Portugal international scored twice yesterday in Manchester United's 2-0 win over Portsmouth. Ronaldo has dominated by the best domestic soccer league in the world, he has been dominant in domestic league cups, he was dominant in the qualifiers for Euro 2008 (though the competition wasn't top notch), he has dominated in European club tournaments. Ronaldo's numbers for 2007/2008 look like this (keep in mind that soccer doesn't feature a lot of goals)

Premier League 19 goals in 19 games
English FA Cup 3 goals in 2 games
Champions League 5 goals in 5 games

Over the last 2 years - Ronaldo has scored 60 goals in 98 games.

You can offer up your own names - Tom Brady, ARod (oh wait, most of you are in New England huh? never mind), Kevin Garnett - I'll say this to put it in perspective. The best comparison I can make to Ronaldo - think Michael Jordan when he started to dominate the NBA.



Young, Talented, Portuguese - says it all.


WEDNESDAY'S THREE STARS
Have I mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo's performance yesterday? Go to footytube.com to see the highlights - an absolutely filthy goal by Ronaldo on a free kick.

Minnesota Wild LW/RW Brian Rolston had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks - good waiver wire pick up for the Maeple Leafs in the yahoo pool.

Calgary Flames RW Owen Nolen had a hat trick to lead the Flames to a 5-4 win over the San Jose Sharks - for good measure he has a one sided fight against Mike Grier.


THURSDAY THREE PLAY
New York Islanders over LA Kings - Kings started off their longest road trip of the season with a loss, expect it to continue tonight when they play the ultra-tight Islanders. Lay $100 on the Isles - $150.

Washington over Montreal - the back end of a home and home where the Caps were dominated and destroyed by the Habs, expect them to respond with a better effort. Lay $100 on the Caps - $120.

Added 6:00 pm

Ottawa/Boston under 5.5 - Krusty the Klown isn't suiting up for the Tards tonight, couple that with a game against the offensively challenged Bruins - you do the math, 1+2 = 3. Lay $100 on the under - $115

Leaving it at that for now - though games could be added later in the afternoon.

That's it for today gang - thanks for taking the time to check in. Have a great one peeps - leaving you with a song of the day, give it a listen...it kicks.

Lupe Fiasco - Go Go Gadget Flow

Hazel, here's hoping things are groovy in your world.

Later