Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: Weekend recap


1. Floundering in Philly
On Saturday night in Philadelphia, the Washington Capitals downed the Flyers by a score of 5-3. It was the Caps’ first win in Philly since 1998, lasting a stretch of 16 games. Alexander Ovechkin bailed Washington out again netting two goals in the first period en route to the victory. He now has eight goals on the season. The Flyers, on the other hand, still haven’t picked it up. They’re off to one of their worst starts ever, currently standing with a 3-9-1 record. Much of this abysmal start can be attributed to goalie Robert Esche, who was expected to do well this season. Needless to say, his 1-3 record and 5.31 Goals Allowed Average have been a bit of a disappointment.

2. Hot Wings
The Detroit Red Wings have suddenly caught fire. With a victory in Columbus on Saturday, they’re now won six straight games and are tied for the lead in the Central Division. Dan Cleary scored his first two goals of the season, including a shorthanded tally in the second period. Cleary scored only three times all of last year for Detroit, who will go for their seventh straight win on Wednesday night against the Oilers. Dominik Hasek has been solid between the pipes, getting four of the six victories and only giving up seven goals in the process.

3. Sparking Flames
The Calgary Flames have been non-existent this season in a competitive Northwest Division, and with a record of 4-7-2 they’ve been a disappointment to many. Jerome Iginla provided the spark that they’ve desperately needed on Saturday night, leading his team to a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Iginla scored the game-winning Power Play goal with under five minutes to go, snapping a four game losing streak for the Flames. On the other side, the Blues’ Bill Guerin scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season. He’s more than halfway through his goal total of 13 from last year.

Check It Out
NHL.com’s Evan Weiner discusses the Chicago Blackhawks and the possibility that their lowliness is attributed to another Chicago curse. Story has it, the “curse of Muldoon” was put upon them by a former coach.

Game of the Night: Pittsburgh at Anaheim
Anaheim: Have not lost in regulation this year (10-0-4); Penguins’ Malkin held without goal for first time Sat. against SJ

The Last Shot
With their 4-3 win over the Wild in Minnesota on Saturday, the Predators extended a franchise-best road winning streak to seven games.

Categories
MLB General

Nov 4 in Sports History: Diamondbacks solve Mariano Rivera



Bloop Hero

In 2001: The Arizona Diamondbacks stunned the New York Yankees in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the greatest World Series Game 7 in over 40 years.  Despite the other three games played at Bank One Ballpark being ridiculously one-sided in favor of the Diamondbacks (they outscored the Yankees 28-3), Game 7 was a tight, low-scoring affair, with each team having only one run through seven innings. In the top of the eighth, rookie Alfonso Soriano?s solo homerun off Series co-MVP Curt Schilling put the Yanks up 2-1, and future hall of fame closer Mariano Rivera (who had converted 23 straight postseason save opportunities) loomed. In the bottom half of the ninth, Mark Grace led off with a single, and Damian Miller attempted a bunt, which Rivera threw into centerfield. Then Jay Bell attempted to sacrifice the runners over, but Rivera got Grace at third. Tony Womack tied it with a double down the right field line, and Craig Counsell was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Although it’s standard baseball strategy to bring the infield in with the bases full and only one out, Yankee manager Joe Torre might wish he had never done so. Arizona’s Luis Gonzalez hit a soft blooper right over the drawn in infield to give Arizona its first championship in only its fourth year of existence. Randy Johnson, the other co-MVP, got the win in relief. Although Rivera was blamed for the collapse, the fact that the Yankees hit only .183 as a team in the Series should not be overlooked. (baseball-almanac.com).

In 1934 and 1942: If November 1 is considered All-Saints Day, maybe the 3rd can be called All-Baseball-Writers-Are-Mush-Brained-Idiots Day. While the 2006 AL and NL MVP races are considered to be very close with many deserving winners, the snubs that Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams suffered in 1934 and 1942, respectively would be considered criminal in today’s sports-crazy, light-up-the-message-boards society. All Gehrig and Williams did was win the TRIPLE CROWN in their leagues, but writers didn?t see fit to award either player. In 1934, Gehrig hit .363 with 49 HR?s and 165 RBI. He somehow finished FIFTH in the voting. Mickey Cochrane won the award with two homers, 76 RBI and a .320 average. In 1942, Williams smashed his way to a .356 average, 36 HR?s and 137 RBI. Then he left baseball for three years to kick some ass in World War II. Probably because of an ongoing feud with the press (who criticized Williams for asking to defer his military duties until the end of the season), Williams finished behind 2B Joe Gordon of the Yankees. Gordon’s impressive season included leading the league in strikeouts, double plays hit into and errors at his position.

Categories
College Football

Tidbits From The Tailgate: Louisville’s Dreams Will Die On The New Jersey Turnpike

Underwhelmed.

That is the word I would use to describe the Louisville-West Virginia game last night. The two teams might as well have been playing flag football out there as the two defenses were just awful.  Not only do I not think Louisville deserves to go over a one-loss Florida or Auburn……..I would add that I think Texas, Notre Dame, and USC are all also superior to the Cardinals.

Louisville’s chances of beating The Ohio State University for the national title are roughly the same that Michael Spinks had against Mike Tyson or Alabama State had in the NCAA Tourney against Duke or even Trevor R. Freeman esq. currently has of bedding down Kirsten Dunst.  Don’t give me that Brian Brohm gives them a puncher’s chance talk.  That defense would have problems stopping Ohio University let alone Troy Smith, Ted Ginn Jr. and the rest of the Buckeye assault.  

Luckily for us……….Louisville is going down next Thursday in Piscataway, New Jersey to the Cinderella of College Football.  While West Virginia was Louisville’s toughest hurdle, I submit to you that Rutgers will be the one that they trip on.  The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers are going to line up and they are going to run the football and control the time of possession.  Their defense is a poor man’s version of Greg Schiano’s old Miami Hurricane defenses and they will make Brian Brohm uncomfortable which he wasn’t at all on Thursday night in Louisville.  

Next Thursday is the biggest game in Rutgers history and they will play like it.  Big-Time College Football excitement will officially hit the New York Metropolitan area as there will be Glory Days in New Jersey.  The goal posts will come down in a Rutgers 24-21 upset.  

Categories
College Football

Now we make sexytime?

Sorry folks, it’s an abbreviated Friday as we’re headed to see the Borat movie. And if you don’t know what the Borat movie is, just go see it. (It might be better without the hype.) If you don’t laugh your ass off, we don’t want you back here anymore.

Meanwhile, check out this very cool time lapse photography of the Louisville – West Virginia game from last night.

Categories
College Basketball

It’s time to dust off Dick Vitale


We are so excited about the college basketball season getting underway this year… that is, until we were reminded that along with college bball comes Dick Vitale. It’s like sitting through Freddie Prinze Jr to see Jessica Biel. (You know you saw Summer Catch.) Check out his column for USA Today:


Hey, it is time for college hoops, baby.
Are you kidding me? My passion just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I can’t wait for the middle of November and the start of my (insert number)th campaign on ESPN.

Somebody pinch me. Sitting at courtside for the best games in the land is like stealing money.

Man, I’m (insert current age), but I act like I’m 12 when I’m around some of the best college kids across America. This year there are so many story lines, so let me play a game of a Dozen Questions.

And then at some point he’ll mention Duke and put them in the top 10. There’s gotta be a Dick Vitale column generator out there like there is for Bill Simmons, right? In any case, college hoops is right around the corner…. kicking off with Vermont vs New Orleans? Talk about a let down. The NCAA has to get a little bit of the NFL hype.

Here are some links to get you in the mood:

[ESPN]: USA Today/ESPN Coaches Preseason Top 25
[College hoops.net]: CHN’s Top 144 Season preview

[SI]: Sports Illustrated 2006 Preview

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: Early season payback


1. Sweet Revenge
In a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Montreal Canadiens squared off with the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Goaltender Cristibal Huet was rock-solid in net, making sure that it wasn’t a playoff repeat for the Hurricanes. He lead them to a 4-0 victory, dropping Carolina’s record to an underwhelming 6-6-2. It was Huet’s first shutout of the season, and it couldn’t have come against a more ideal opponent. Coming off of their Stanley Cup season, the Hurricanes are now 0-3-1 against all of the Easterrn Conference teams they defeated in the playoffs.

2. #450
Florida Panthers coach Jacques Martin reeled in his 450th career victory on Thursday night, leading his team to a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. He became just the 13th coach in NHL history to reach the milestone. Martin, who also happens to be the General Manager of the Panthers, has worked for St. Louis, Colorado, and Ottawa in his professional career; he picked up a Stanley Cup as a member of the Avalanche organization in 1996.

3. Sabres Stay Hot
As the Boston Bruins found out last night, the Buffalo Sabres are never really out of the game. Buffalo overcame a 4-1 deficit with just 8:49 remaining in regulation to eventually win it in a shootout, 5-4. Maxim Afinogenov scored the second and third goals of the night for Buffalo, trimming the Bruin lead to one with only 2:30 left in the game. Less than a minute later, at the 1:35 mark, Ales Kotalik tied the score at four apiece. The Sabres would eventually roll out of Boston with a victory, improving their record to a miraculous 11-0-1 on the year. Even with the win, Buffalo’s Daniel Briere had his league high 10-game point streak snapped.

Check It Out
Former Islander co-owner Sanjay Kumar is not a happy camper right now – he’ll be spending the next 12 years behind bars for accounting fraud.

Game of the Night: Dallas at Edmonton
Dallas: Off to best start in franchise history (10-2-0).

The Last Shot
Last night, the Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 for their fifth straight victory.

Categories
General Sports

Nov 2 episode of Poor Man’s PTI

Welcome to another episode of Poor Man’s PTI.

You can download this week’s podcast directly (running time 32 mins) or subscribe to the feed.  

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

This week’s topics include:

  • NBA preview
  • Rutgers football
  • Local sportswriters on the national scene

Hope you guys enjoy the podcast.  If you did enjoy it, please give us a good rating below so we can rise up in the rankings. If you didn’t, send us an email ([email protected]) and give us some suggestions. Thanks for listening.

Categories
New York Giants

Say it isn’t so Tiki!


Last week we said, “we kinda like Tiki Barber” — he walks away at the top of his game, calls Michael Irvin an idiot… And of course, what happens? A story comes out in the NY Post that he’s completely pussy whipped. Nice Tiki, real nice.


Tiki Barber’s wife was the catalyst behind the Giants star’s decision to hang up his helmet. A longtime friend of Barber says she made him afraid he’d suffer a catastrophic injury that would turn him into a lousy dad. The 205-pound running back is heading for the broadcasting booth at age 31 because Ginny Barber has been “nagging him for a long time – and with others present – that he’d better retire before he has a crippling injury,” Barber’s friend says. If that happened, Ginny told him, “he couldn’t participate in raising his children.

This story makes us sad. Like when rock stars have kids and start making shitty music.

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: A Star Is Born


1. Malkin: A Part of History
We said it a couple of days ago — but after another amazing game, it bears repeating again: This kid is good. Last night against the Los Angeles Kings, Evgeni Malkin became the first player in 89 years to score a goal in his first six games, beating Dan Cloutier with a pinpoint wrist shot. Three other NHL players accomplished this feat, but they did it all the way back in the inaugural 1917-’18 NHL season. Malkin is still less than halfway to the all-time record of first 14 games with a goal, but talk about finding your groove… Malkin is just tearing up the ice.

He was not content with just one goal, however. In overtime, he hit the twine for the seventh time to give the Penguins the 4-3 victory. It will be interesting to see if Evgeni can keep it up – if he can, the NHL will have something very, very good on its hands.

2. Bringing Him Back
Less than two weeks after giving him the boot as head coach, interim GM Paul Holmgren is welcoming Ken Hitchcock back to the Philadelphia Flyers. His role with the organization, however, will be quite different – he was hired this time to work as a pro scout instead of working behind the bench. Our thoughts? Hitchcock better be pretty darn good at scouting, because the Flyers need the best that they can get at this point. People within that franchise must firmly believe in Ken to bring him back aboard this mess so easily, which prompts the question – why would they have fired him in the first place? Keep him within the organization, and protect yourselves from all the drama of his firing. With all of the shenanigans, the only thing we truly know is this: the Flyers are not that good, and they need quite a miracle to help right the ship.

3. On Todd Bertuzzi
Florida’s veteran winger made some headlines this week, announcing that he’s considering surgery on his lower back. This isn’t the first time folks in Colorado have heard about Todd, because here, everyone believes that his back isn’t the only thing that needs fixing.

It seems nobody who is a fan of the Avalanche has decided to forgive Bertuzzi – in 2003, he put a blatant hit on Colorado’s Steve Moore, cracking his vertebrae and giving him a severe concussion. The check from behind was shown over and over here in the Rocky Mountain area, and was extremely hard to watch. Moore’s head hit the ice hard, and fell in an awkward position. What ensued was a long period of silence, as Moore lay motionless on the ice, simply unable to move. Bertuzzi was suspended for an extended period of time, but then reinstated at the beginning of the 2005 season. The common consensus here is that Bertuzzi should not be allowed to play for as long as Moore is out, which probably means that Todd’s career would be over. Moore has not been able to get back out on the ice, and is now a schoolteacher.

It is also interesting to note Todd Bertuzzi’s Wikipedia entry. For a guy who happens to be a really good hockey player, it is sad to see that this incident covers the entire page.

Check It Out
NBC Sports’ “The Bellowing Moose” investigates the recent effect of fights in the NHL.

Game of the Night: Vancouver at Minnesota
Wild: 7-0-0 at home this season.

The Last Shot
Nashville defeated Edmonton 5-3 Wednesday night, giving the Oilers their first home loss while notching their sixth straight road win.

Categories
NFL General

Nov 2 in Sports History: Useless NFL record trivia


In 1969: If you had to answer the trivia question, “Name the two quarterbacks who combined for an NFL record 12 touchdown passes in one day,” an easy guess would be something like Dan Marino and Jim Kelly in the old Miami-Buffalo shootouts, or John Elway vs. Dan Fouts, or even a Joe Namath-Johnny Unitas clash. Of course, you’d be way off. In a game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, two unlikely gunslingers named Billy Kilmer of the Saints and Charley Johnson of the Cardinals put on an aerial display that would’ve made Broadway Joe himself blush with inadequacy and embarrassment (not that wearing pantyhose ever did). Each tossed six TD passes and threw for well over 300 yards in the Saints 51-42 victory. Of course, neither team could keep up the pace the rest of the season (or the century, for that matter), as the Cardinals finished 4-9-1 while the Saints didn’t have a winner until 1987.

In 1997: Chargers’ running back/kick returner tied his own NFL record when he ran back two punts for scores – including an 85-yarder – in a 38-31 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati. Metcalf also pulled the same trick in October of 1993 against the Pittsburgh Steelers while playing for the Cleveland Browns. Metcalf holds the NFL record with 10 career punt returns for touchdowns. Useless trivia to take into your weekend (we know it’s only Thursday, but hey, take a long one!): Metcalf was traded at the end of the season from San Diego to Arizona so the Chargers could move up one spot in the draft. Who did the Chargers end up jettisoning Metcalf for? Ryan Leaf. Ouch. (The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia).