It's been almost a month since my post about Jeremy Lin, The Caps, Allan Iverson and Payton Manning. A lot has happened since then and I would like to follow it up a bit.
Let's begin with the Washington Capitals. At the time of that particular post the Caps were in 8th place, 3 points behind the Florida Panthers for the division and 1 point ahead of other division rival Winnipeg Jets. Florida has increased their division lead to 5 points (be advised...the Panthers are coached by former Hartford Whalers legend, Kevin Dineen btw) and the Jets are 4 points back and taking on water. However, the Sabres have come from nowhere and are tied with the Caps at 80 points (the Caps would get the 8th seed by reason of the league's tie-breakers). Things are very interesting indeed. Alex Ovechkin manages to show signs of brilliance then pulls a no-show. He is tied for 8th place with 32 goals but has a very pedestrian (by his standards) 56 points in 69 games. The Caps could be an interesting wild card come playoff time (provided they make it) as they are capable of beating the Rangers provided their goal tending got hot. However, the Caps best goalie Tomas Vokoun (25-17), who has has looked good at times but quite frankly he can't hold Henrik Lundqvist's (the Ranger goalie and potential round 1 match up) jock strap. I guess I'm saying that Vokoun won't heat up enough to get into the semi finals.
Payton Manning signed with the Broncos this ending Tim Tebow's career with them (not so long after he led them to a playoff victory and got a vote of confidence of Elway). I'm not sure what Manning sees in the Broncos, they have a good defense, a decent running game but their wide outs aren't the caliber Manning had in Indy. There was a lot of banter in the sports talking head scene about how Manning dragged out the process, was in it for the money and was afraid to go to the NFC. There's actually still some drama that can play out here before the season starts.
The Knickerbockers had won 8 of 9 games between 2/4-2/19 thanks in most part to Jeremy Lin. D'Antoni's job looked safe (at least until the end of the season). The Melo made his return and all that fuss about how he would he "gel" with Lin & what a not so fantastic teammate he was came out. With Melo and Lin together, the Knicks dropped 8 of their next 10 games causing D'Antoni to resign. Interim Coach Mike Woodson has won his first 4 games but the Knicks are 22-24, which may be less than mediocre but it's still good enough to be the 8th seed if the Eastern Conference playoffs. Just goes to show what a sub par conference the East is. The Houston Rockets (25-22), a team with no super stars, are the 8th seed in the West and could probably dispatch the star studded Knicks. If the Knicks do make the playoffs they'd be lucky to steal a game against either the Bulls or the Heat. The Knicks have been dysfunctional for a long time. James Dolan, though extremely wealthy, is a lousy owner who has a track record of bad decisions (Isiah Thomas anyone?) Yet somehow courtside seats for Knick home games can run up to $6,000 (that's the Ticketmaster box office price!).
The Ryan Braun thing has blown over it seems. I doubt he'll be answering questions about the subject ever again. It will be interesting to see what happens when then next major leaguer gets popped for PEDs. No new news about TO or Iverson but there was a strange development in New Orleans with the whole "bountygate" controversy. Apparently the Saints had bounties on certain opposing team offensive players and they got busted big time. Head Coach Sean Payton will be suspended without pay for one year starting in April (his salary is $7million from what I've heard). According to Warren Sapp, the Saints were allegedly "snitched out" by former NOLA tight end Jeremy Shockey (apparently a disgruntled former employee). I don't know how true the "snitch" portion of the story is true, I don't doubt that Sapp has a source (not within the NFL though) but I wouldn't liken Sapp to Woodward & Bernstein. The Saints were fun to watch over the last few years but this might sting a bit.
That's about all I have for now. In the future I am planning on a piece about George Lucas and the 35th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Thanks for your time.
Let's begin with the Washington Capitals. At the time of that particular post the Caps were in 8th place, 3 points behind the Florida Panthers for the division and 1 point ahead of other division rival Winnipeg Jets. Florida has increased their division lead to 5 points (be advised...the Panthers are coached by former Hartford Whalers legend, Kevin Dineen btw) and the Jets are 4 points back and taking on water. However, the Sabres have come from nowhere and are tied with the Caps at 80 points (the Caps would get the 8th seed by reason of the league's tie-breakers). Things are very interesting indeed. Alex Ovechkin manages to show signs of brilliance then pulls a no-show. He is tied for 8th place with 32 goals but has a very pedestrian (by his standards) 56 points in 69 games. The Caps could be an interesting wild card come playoff time (provided they make it) as they are capable of beating the Rangers provided their goal tending got hot. However, the Caps best goalie Tomas Vokoun (25-17), who has has looked good at times but quite frankly he can't hold Henrik Lundqvist's (the Ranger goalie and potential round 1 match up) jock strap. I guess I'm saying that Vokoun won't heat up enough to get into the semi finals.
Payton Manning signed with the Broncos this ending Tim Tebow's career with them (not so long after he led them to a playoff victory and got a vote of confidence of Elway). I'm not sure what Manning sees in the Broncos, they have a good defense, a decent running game but their wide outs aren't the caliber Manning had in Indy. There was a lot of banter in the sports talking head scene about how Manning dragged out the process, was in it for the money and was afraid to go to the NFC. There's actually still some drama that can play out here before the season starts.
The Knickerbockers had won 8 of 9 games between 2/4-2/19 thanks in most part to Jeremy Lin. D'Antoni's job looked safe (at least until the end of the season). The Melo made his return and all that fuss about how he would he "gel" with Lin & what a not so fantastic teammate he was came out. With Melo and Lin together, the Knicks dropped 8 of their next 10 games causing D'Antoni to resign. Interim Coach Mike Woodson has won his first 4 games but the Knicks are 22-24, which may be less than mediocre but it's still good enough to be the 8th seed if the Eastern Conference playoffs. Just goes to show what a sub par conference the East is. The Houston Rockets (25-22), a team with no super stars, are the 8th seed in the West and could probably dispatch the star studded Knicks. If the Knicks do make the playoffs they'd be lucky to steal a game against either the Bulls or the Heat. The Knicks have been dysfunctional for a long time. James Dolan, though extremely wealthy, is a lousy owner who has a track record of bad decisions (Isiah Thomas anyone?) Yet somehow courtside seats for Knick home games can run up to $6,000 (that's the Ticketmaster box office price!).
The Ryan Braun thing has blown over it seems. I doubt he'll be answering questions about the subject ever again. It will be interesting to see what happens when then next major leaguer gets popped for PEDs. No new news about TO or Iverson but there was a strange development in New Orleans with the whole "bountygate" controversy. Apparently the Saints had bounties on certain opposing team offensive players and they got busted big time. Head Coach Sean Payton will be suspended without pay for one year starting in April (his salary is $7million from what I've heard). According to Warren Sapp, the Saints were allegedly "snitched out" by former NOLA tight end Jeremy Shockey (apparently a disgruntled former employee). I don't know how true the "snitch" portion of the story is true, I don't doubt that Sapp has a source (not within the NFL though) but I wouldn't liken Sapp to Woodward & Bernstein. The Saints were fun to watch over the last few years but this might sting a bit.
That's about all I have for now. In the future I am planning on a piece about George Lucas and the 35th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Thanks for your time.
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