this has nothing to do with hockey...

but i sometimes get annoyed with the world, and i MUST share.

the following is part of a 3 minute clip that all sorts of north american sporty types are yappin' about. it pits the LA galaxy's superstar david beckham against the new orleans saints' reggie bush in a pleasant afternoon of sport sharing. becks tries to kick a field goal and runs a mad buttonhook play to the endzone in full gear, while bush succeeds in proving he's a whiz at american football but not the sport known worldwide as "football:"





what it appears that nobody knows is that becks met up with 2003 rugby world cup champion flyhalf, jonny wilkinson, at the end of that year to produce a very similar spot for adidas. personally, i find this one much more interesting --since beckham proves that with a little more size he could certainly crossover, while "the man with the golden boot" shows he can bend it better than anyone:



no point. prepare for the influx of beckhams on the world as we know it... dude is pretty witty, i'll give him that...
(for the record : jonny wilkinson is un-fucking-believeable)

bye bye reggie ?????

"There are reports out of Calgary this morning that Robyn Regehr may want to move on and may not re-sign after this year with the Flames. This is a very interesting report indeed...for one reason...When I first heard that Ryan Smyth was rumoured to Calgary and I asked around as to how Smyth would fit under the cap, I was told that "Regher would be moved." I was pretty shocked. I think Regehr may be one of the top five young D in the game and many Flames fans will tell you he is often better than Phaneuf on many nights. Now that reports are coming out that he wants out it gets REALLY intriguing.

What team may make the biggest pitch for Regehr? The team that I was told just yesterday that was on the verge of the most MAJOR deal...The Penguins. The Pens have some great young players and just picked up some more...Whitney +?"
-hockeybuzz.com

okayokayokayokayokay. i can't help but think this rumour (sans the ryan smyth angle, as i really don't believe smytty will end up in a flaming C, though i can't say i hate the idea) makes a lot of sense. if regehr doesn't look like he'll sign up for next year, NOW is maybe the time to deal him for some seriously good prospects/young roster players. there is definitely a shortage of good 1/2 defensemen out there, and reggie would command a lot of return. this, of course, would totally decimate the flames' blueline --already in need of help.

back to work.
:)

early thoughts...

because i'm in toronto, and people here like to shift focus from their team's downward spiral to... well... pretty much anything else (ex: "ooooh !!! SHINY !!!!!"), i've been fielding a lot of commentary on the 07/08 calgary flames potential and the latest big changes in the organization.

i find it absolutely fascinating that the masses are so split on the keenan hiring, and equally divided on the prospects of adrian aucoin. some leaf fans seem to think calgary could be the hands-down NW division champs, others figure we've made a couple of bonehead moves and will end up in the basement. i say it's way too soon to tell, but by xmastime we'll know if we've got a contender or a dud --cause i can't see the bell curve occurring under keenan. it will either be a slow climb or a bullet southward... we shall see...

i also find that a lot of the negative keenan feedback does not address his coaching but moreso his GMing, which really shouldn't apply. i don't think there's any question who's driving this bus, in terms of player acquisition, and it ain't iron mike. the other main concern (if you can say that the leafs fans actually give a shit about the flaming Cs) is potential player [specifically goaltender] alienation. well, maybe it's just me and my blind faith in darryl sutter (which, btw, is beginning to wane ever so slightly) but i cannot imagine him hiring keenan without addressing this. don't get me wrong --i don't expect a softer iron mike, i expect a smarter one.

appx 75 days till rookie camp.
;)

mourning timmo

not sure if you guys know this but i love the scandies.
oh. you DO know ?
right. cause i can't stop talking about 'em.... ever.

i really thought kimmo timonen would look über-sexy in a flaming C... but not sexy in the way that forsberg would look sexy or lundqvist would look sexy. i thought he'd look sexy in the way that a bonafide #1 defensman would look, paired with (say....) dion phaneuf out there on the flames blueline. the way hamrlik kinda did (although, i must admit, hammer was kinda sexy in the other way, too).

so today i hear that nashville's traded him to the flyers and i am a little gutted inside. orange is not the right colour for our boy timmo. and now i have to scan the list of free agents and note who's left that might fill the spots presumeably vacated by #4 and andrew ference (let's face it. brad stuart didn't work out. there's a gaping hole in ference's roster spot and all of us know it).

*sigh*

i think we're better off making a trade. for who ? no idea. but let's get tömi mäki some icetime somewhere.
:)

KEENAN ??? FO' RIZZLE ???

well, i'm not convinced it's the answer. but i really can't imagine it being worse...

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070613.wsptkeenan13/GSStory/GlobeSportsHockey/

(too tired to link nicely)


thoughts ?

what's the word in calgary ?

superstitions and stats: updated

1. teams that win game one of the finals win the cup statistically more than 78% (but i'm not good at math, so i don't know how much better, percentage-wise)
2. those who touch the conference trophy continue to lose the cup
3. non-european captains continue to win the prize 100% of the time
4. for the first time in history, the cup was won in a year ending "7" by a team other than the red wings or a canadian team (who LOOKS for these stats ???!).
5. maggie the monkey has been wrong in the finals 100% of the time

that's all i've got. it's late. teemu cried and it made my heart race and i wanted to sob with glee for the mighty finn.

alfredsson, much to my surprise, threw an arm over niedermayer's shoulder in the post-game line, instead of offering the standard handshake. it looked kindof awkward, and he followed it up with some words [more words, i might point out, than "congratulations," which is what he told elliotte friedman he said... so i guess you can add "liar" to alfredsson's list of outstanding qualities].

another season in the can. looks like stanley's cup will spend a good portion of the summer back home in canadia, with the odd trip to the northeastern states and a couple stops in scandinavia (i find it fascinating, btw, that sammy pahlsson played for MoDo in his early career but frölunda during the lockout....). but i digress...

and i don't suppose that it's quite time to talk about how JFJ has re-signed antropov to a 2 year 4 mil deal that makes me really think he's actually planning to ice the EXACT SAME TEAM next year. antro is virtually untradeable at that price... which brings us back to my conspiracy theory.

that's all for now.

let's not talk about tonight....

i think the season will end tonight, and that makes me incredibly sad. what the hell am i gonna do till rookie camp starts ?!?!

for your amusement:


:)

2007 cup finals: the battle of the jackasses

just when i thought maybe daniel alfredsson was gonna take the high road and win a cup, he pulls the most absolutely ridiculously selfish and stupid move i've maybe ever seen on the ice. with a second or two left in the 2nd period of this game four, the guy decides to crank a slapper directly at scott niedermayer, instead of either aiming for the net or just counting down till the buzzer.

sure, there was another player between him and the duck's net, but it would've made far more sense to aim in that direction, instead of stopping short and blasting a howitzer off of the opposing team captain's ankles....

while it hurts me to no end to think that pronger will enter the triple gold club, i have to say i hope alfredsson never wins a cup. ever. and it looks like this year he'll drag down a bunch of really great teammates into his bad karma black hole....

sorry, ray.

sorry, teemu...

while i thought the negative hockey karma was fairly equal between the sens and ducks (alfredsson guaranteeing a cup, being a loob 50-goal denier v. pretty much everything chris pronger has ever done on and off the ice), now it's becoming clearer to me: the hockey gods cannot possibly allow pronger to be the 19th member of the triple gold club.

so, sorry, teemu. too bad you've got such a jackass on your bluline.