NHL Playoff Preview - Eastern Conference

The 2012 NHL is at an end (though at present time the Sharks are still battling the Kings) and the playoffs will being on April 11th. It was a heck of a season and I was not able to get to any games during this season. For the record, I travel a lot but I subscribe to the NHL Game Center so I can watch games on my laptop & phone. I follow a few teams (Sabres, Caps, Blackhawks and Bruins) but I do manage to keeps tabs on most teams. Here's my take on the 2012 playoffs starting with the Eastern Conference. Keep in mind in the the NHL, they re-seed after each round.


Ottawa Senators (#8) v. New York Rangers (#1): The Senators were pretty steady all year and by that I mean that they were pretty much in the lower half of playoff teams most of the year. This is a good team by any standards but their leader, Daniel Alfredsson, is pushing 40, Jason Spezza is their leading scorer but he doesn't strike fear in the hearts of opponents. I don't know much about the goalie Craig Anderson but he put up a good record but the Senators gave up 8 more goals than they scored. The Rangers have one of the best (if not the best) goalie in the league in Henrik Lundqvist, he didn't play well today but he won 39 games and let up 1.93 goals/game (2nd in the league). The Rangers play solid defense but are prone to go thru scoring droughts.

Prediction: Rangers in 5. Ottawa will keep the games close but the Rangers are just too good.

Philadelphia Flyers (#5) v. Pittsburgh Penguins (#4): Here are 2 teams with a history of bad blood. In the Flyers 6-4 win on 4/1 there was a bit of chippiness on the part of the Penguins towards the end of the game. Suffice to say there were a few Game Misconduct penalites handed out as well a few ejections. If Healthy the Penguins should advance but the Flyers are really tough and do not back down. Briere was hurt in the 4/1 game against the Pens but the Flyers are still potent with Giroux & Hartnell. The Pens have Malkin (league leader in points & 50 goal scorer) and an apparently healthy Sydney Crosby. With those 2 healthy the Pens won the Cup in 2009. Crosby is the most talented player in the NHL when healthy but the Pens go as Malkin goes. in 2009 when Malkin decided to play they came back & beat the Red Wings for the Cup. Good defense and goaltending. They're a team that no one wants to face. The only reason they're the 4th seed is because the Rangers won the division. The Pens finished only 1 point behind the Rangers.

Prediction: Based on talent the Pens should win this series. However I believe it's going 7 games with the Pens advancing. But I would not be surprised if the Flyers advanced. The winner of this series could go very far.

New Jersey Devils (#6) v. Florida Panthers (#3): The Panthers are coached by former Hartford Whalers standout, Kevin Dineen so I have a soft spot for them. The Panthers barely won the Southeastern Division and the they were -24 in goal differential (the worst of any playoff team). There is NO ONE on this team that scares anyone offensively and their best goalie was journeyman Jose Theodore (19-28 for his career in the playoffs). The Panthers lost the most OT/Shootouts of any playoff team this season and in the playoffs its sudden death. I don't think any team fears the Panthers but they better not overlook them either because these guys will hang around if you let them. Martin Brodeur is not as good as he was years ago at the age of 39 so one has to ask how much he has left? The Devils have never been an explosive team over the last 20 years and they're defense isn't what it once was but they're still a solid team.

Prediction: Devils in 6. As much as I want Kevin Dineen to succeed the Devils play a little bit better defense and they have guys who can put the puck in the net (5 guys scored 20 or more goals). So in a close game (which they're sure to be), I like the Devils.


Washington Capitals (#7) v. Boston Bruins (#2): This could be a real interesting series. From 2008-2011 the Caps won 4 division titles, a President's Trophy (best record in the league) but got bounced in the 1st round twice and never got to a conference final. The Caps have the leagues most exciting player in Alex Ovechkin but he seems to be an enigma this year. Their best goalie Tomas Vokoun has been hurt, his back-up Michal Neuvirth left a game earlier this week with an injury so they turned to 3rd stringer Braden Holtby. Goaltending will make or break the Caps. The Caps needed a Sabre loss on 4/5 to secure a playoff spot. This team is too talented to have wait until the last week to make the playoffs.

The Bruins are the defending Stanley Cup champions. They started this season slowly (Cup hangover no doubt), caught fire in the middle of the season and stumbled a bit at the end (if stumbled is a good word). Offensively the Bruins don't have a "big bopper" but they have a lot of different guys capable of stepping up (6 scored more than 20) in a big spot. Zedano Chara anchors a tough defense. The Bruins will look to control the pace and play very physical. Tim Thomas didn't have the kind of year he had last season but he can still stand on his head but he may not need to against the Caps.

Prediction: Bruins in 6. The Caps don't have a goalie that's as good as Thomas' back-ups (Rask & Turco), plus who knows which Ovechkin will show up as he seems to dominate when he wants to or if at all. The Caps have the talent to make a run but you need a goalie to get hot to make a that run and the Caps are lacking in that department.

 That's what I got and by my worthless predictions, the Rangers would face the Devils and the Pens would square off against the Bruins in the semi-finals. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Any thoughts or opinions are welcome and it should be an exciting NHL playoff season. Thanks for your time.

The Hunger Games

Yes, I went out and saw The Hunger Games last night. Before I get into my thoughts of the film let me set the stage. I am currently in Fresno, CA with not a whole lot to do. My tractor is being repaired and I am content to lay low. However, one can only lay low in their hotel room for so long before one just needs to get out. So I watched the Pens v. Bruins game at a sports bar near a cineplex. Presently, there's not too many titles that interest me but Hunger Games has been producing a ton of buzz and it's been killing at the box office.

My sister tried to turn me onto the books not too long ago and outside of the fact that I know its a series of books, that's all I know. So I contacted at friend who was familiar with the books & film (my sister left for Hong Kong so I couldn't enlist her opinion) and she informed me that it was worth seeing and since I have no familiarity with the books that I might enjoy the film more. So I had the time to kill and I decided to see the film. Despite my misgivings about seeing films that are geared towards a younger demographic. Yes the theater was filled with teenagers (on a Tuesday night no less!).

To start I would like to say that Jennifer Lawrence is a statuesque beauty with a great deal of talent. I would hope that her career isn't wasted with ridiculous romantic comedies. There were also strong performances from a great supporting cast that included Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley and an unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks. Even Lenny Kravitz (not known for his acting skills) did a nice job as Cinna, the image specialist for the District 12 Tributes (Catniss & Peeta).

The film takes place in the post apocalyptic future where civil strife has turned the country into an oppressive totalitarian regime that forces the remaining 12 districts to send forth a male & female between 12-18 to fight to the death for the television viewing audience. The government makes the districts do this as penance for a failed rebellion. So Catniss volunteers to take her sister's place (she's 12 years old & would probably get killed in the opening seconds) and her partner is a Peeta, the baker's son who just happens to have a crush on Catniss (funny how these things work out). Overall the film wasn't terrible and it was enjoyable though I did check my watch during the more gushy scenes. It's probably a good thing that I never read the books. I was a big fan of the His Dark Materials trilogy but the film (The Golden Compass) wasn't very good and it bombed. As previously stated I thought the supporting cast made the film for me. Sure Lawrence is beautiful but she does a nice job with what looks to be a very physical role (though I will never get over how she retains her freshness despite being very active in the woods for several days, perhaps it's a positive by-product of the post apocalyptic future).

Some of the problems I had with this film (as with most films) is that it didn't seem all too original. The book (written by Suzanne Collins) was published in 2008. Here's some of the films that Hunger Games borrows heavily from:

• The Running Man (1987): A televised battle to the death. Also Richard Dawson's and Stanley Tucci's characters are similar.
• Battle Royale (2000):In the post apocalyptic future, teenagers are sent to an island (or arena) to battle to the death. They are sent there by the Japanese government mostly because teens are big a**holes in the future. Also I believe that the male & female protagonists fall for each other. 
• Dragonslayer (1981): the scene where Catniss "volunteers" herself at the reaping to take her sister's place is reminiscent of the scene where the princess rigs the lottery so to offer herself up as the sacrifice for the dragon.  In fact the whole "reaping" process is similar. The "winners" face death.
• A League of Their Own (1992): Tell me that the relationship between Lawrence & Harrelson is not similar to the relationship between Hanks & Davis. He's the drunken has been that sees the talent in her, decides that being a drunk isn't a good idea, passes on his knowledge and begins to care about her because of her talent & spirit. Sounds pretty similar to me!
• The Truman Show (1998): You've got the whole "show" being monitored and manipulated by the people in the control room. Wes Bentley's Seneca is very similar to Ed Harris' Christof. Though Ed Harris' role/character was better.

Those are the 5 that came to right off the top of my head. Sure they are others that deal with teen love under extreme circumstance and the oppressive totalitarian (that's twice I've used this word in 1 segment if you're counting) government. Now the film was enjoyable but it was not a film geared towards my demographic but I'm glad I saw it. I may not take part in the sequels and probably never bother reading the books but the film was ok.

Thanks for your time.

We're Just Not There Yet...a pseudo review

It was 2009 and I was the Manager of Tour Bravo for the Strength In Action Tour. It was June and we were doing activations at Cedar Point and following that up with the NHRA race in Norwalk, OH. Seth Conger, who would later go on to lead Tour Delta, had found a sweet house to rent in Sandusky right on the lake.  So one night Seth & Daryl Motte (Seth's friend from his NASCAR days on an ESPN tour) interviewed me for a relationship type book they were going to write. I warned them from the get go that I did not have a monumental relationship history (a story for another time perhaps) but they didn't seem to care so we went ahead with the interview. We spent maybe 10-15 minutes talking about relationships/dating (I think I cited stuff from movies and they knew it) the other 75-80 minutes were them listening to me talk about the movie Gallipoli.

As time went by Seth had explained to me that he and Daryl had been doing research for the book by reading all the other relationship books out there (I remember him reading a lot of Chelsea Handler for some reason). They went to see relationship movies and stuff like that. So the day came and the book was finally published (they did it by themselves) and I got my copy. I was very confident that there was nothing useful from that 90 minute interview in case you're wondering. They even managed to get a plug in the Huffington Post last fall so I who was I to not read the book? Relationship books are normally what I read but seeing how it was put together by close friends of mine I sat down and read We're Just Not There Yet.

My first thought was, do they have to use so many cuss words (yes it's a reference to The Big Lebowski)? I met Daryl in 2008, got to actually know him in 2009 and I can't seem to recall him swearing a whole lot. In fact, he went out of his way not to swear. The next thing I came away with was that Daryl came off as more interesting than I remember. To me Daryl seemed to be a pretty boy type who flirted with every single pretty girl around, cared almost too much about his appearance and didn't seem to drink much. He didn't like sports but he did like movies which was our common ground and we would talk about films that should be seen and not be seen.

Back to the review. As someone in their 40's, this book wasn't written for my demographic but there were some interesting insights and amusing stories. It's not written like a real author, in fact that's a tone they try to set. The book reads like a guy talking about relationships in a bar or at a seminar (something along those lines). The book was easy to read and very enjoyable. If I was 10-15 years younger I might have used some of their pointers. It's good fun and worth the time. You may even come away thinking to yourself, "that's not me," "I know that person" or "I've been there before." Daryl & Seth did a nice job and they even continue their blog, We're Just Not There Yet. So check it out, buy the book and stop by their FB page.

Thanks for your time.

This Day in Sports...

In 1996, Colorado swept Florida (seriously?) for the Stanley Cup. En route to winning the Cup, Colorado beat Detroit in the Western Conference Finals. In Game 6 Colorado's Claude Lemieux checked Detroit's Chris Draper from behind into the boards right by the Detroit bench. The problem was that the door to the bench was open and Draper went face first into that opening and was severely injured. He sustained the following injuries: broken jaw, shattered cheek & orbital bone and lots of stitches. It was pretty bloody. Draper required a lot of reconstructive surgery over the off season. Game 6 was the deciding game and after the post game handshakes, Detroit winger Dino Cicarelli (himself no stranger to the rough stuff) was quoted as saying, "I can't believe I shook the guy's freaking hand. That just pisses me right off."

Claude Lemieux's Hit on Kris Draper

So the next season started and Detroit and Colorado had played 3 times without incident. Then on March 26th it happened. The night is referred to as "Bloody Wednesday, "Fight Night at the Joe" and the "Brawl in Hockeytown." The Red Wings lay in wait for almost 10 months to the day of the original incident (May 29, 1996) before receiving their retribution. That's the amazing part, they waited and waited for the right moment. They lulled everyone to sleep and the struck!

March 26, 1997 (Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche) Fight

It was Darren McCarty who went after Lemieux and pounded away at him. Lemieux had little choice but to pull a "turtle" and cover up as he was being showered with uppercuts courtesy of McCarty's left hand. From his crease Colorado goalie Patrick Roy was skating at full speed to aid his teammate and he's cross body blocked by Brandon Shannahan of Detroit (traded to the Wings from the Whalers earlier in the season). Eventually Roy and Wings goalie Mike Vernon go at it, in one of the better goalie fights of the era. Roy is much bigger than Vernon and managed to get in at least 2 good shots (including a good opening punch) but Vernon took it and dished it out as well.

Scotty Bowman, Wings coach at the time, took a page from Sun Tzu on this night. If there's anybody out there who thinks that this happened randomly then you're wrong. I'd be willing to bet that the Red Wings stewed over the Draper hit the entire summer of 1996 (made worse by Colorado winning the Cup) and they plotted their revenge. Bowman is a master tactician and he's easily the greatest coach of his generation if not all time. He deserves a lot of the credit in planning the revenge...allegedly. Of course I was never in the Wings locker room nor was even near Detroit in 1997 but Bowman had to have put it into the heads of his players that they were going to get Lemieux and make him pay. Lirianov got into it with Forsberg and that was the distraction McCarty needed to go after an unprotected Lemieux (who made the mistake of leaving his guard down...he had to know he was a marked man).

There was a bit of history between the 2 teams prior to the May 29, 1996 hit on Draper. While Patrick Roy was still with the Montreal Canadiens he had some troubles with management (or his coach I don't remember). On the night of December 2, 1995, Roy got scored on 9 times against the Detroit Red Wings. Roy didn't have it from the get go and even wondered why his coach didn't pull him. Well Roy stayed in there and contined to get "beaten like a rented goalie." The Habs lost the game 11-1 and after the game Roy said in an interview that he played his last game for the Montreal Canadiens as his coach left him out there to be embarrassed. See it here...

Patrick Roy Moments: The End in Montreal

So Roy is already bitter towards Detroit for lighting him up like an Xmas tree. So it must've felt great to win another Cup with Colorado the season following his trade from Montreal (where he helped them win 2 Stanley Cups and was a national hero) and beat the Red Wings to get there. Both teams dominated hockey between 1996-2002, winning 5 Stanley Cups, 4 President's Trophies and meeting for the WCF 3 times.

As a fan of the NHL I am hot & cold on fighting. Usually I don't like to see the flow of the game interrupted and I certainly don't like to see anyone hurt. However, fighting is a necessary evil. No one touched Gretzky back in the day for fear the Craig McSorley or Kevin McClelland would beat the brains in. I applaud what the Red Wings did this night. They wanted revenge for their injured teammate on what they thought was a dirty hit by Lemieux. 

As always your comments are welcome. Thanks for your time.

 

February 2012 Sports Observations follow-up

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.

Today in History...March 8th

Everyday I wake up I check the Today in History app on my phone. Today I saw something that struck me as weird so I wanted to chime in. It kind of coincides with a previous blog from 3/16/11 about how Mississippi finally ratified the 13th Amendment 130 years after it was passed.

On March 8th there was the 1957 Georgia Memorial to Congress. By joint resolution of the state legislature and backed by the Governor, Georgia urged the U.S. Congress to declare the 14th and 15th Amendments null and void. For those of us who need a history refresh (like I did), the 14th Amendment deals with citizenship, equality  and due process. It overturned the 1857 Dred Scott case (which stated that blacks could not be citizens) and would eventually set the foundation Brown v. Board of Education. The 15th Amendment says that people can not be denied the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). The South would counter this with the legendary "Jim Crow" laws which tried like hell to limit the ability of Blacks to vote. Both Amendments were part of the Reconstruction Amendments that were established to bring the U.S. from a "half slave and half free" country (Lincoln's words) to a country that guaranteed the "blessings of liberty" for the entire male populace (women would have to wait a few more decades but that's another post).

Apparently the whole Brown v. Board of Education thing was chaffing the state of Georgia and these guys wanted to "continue the battle for segregation." Yes folks, Georgia didn't like the idea of desegregation and they were trying to rally the Southern states behind them.

Granted I haven't read the entire proposal but there is a combination of possible valid points and of course ridiculous nonsense. The memorial claims that the Amendments were passed without two-thirds approval. This would be the one point that seems to carry validity. Here are some other good ones:

• That when the southern Senators and Representatives appeared in the Capitol to take their seats, "hostile majorities" in both houses of Congress refused to admit them;
•  That the proposals were rejected by the State of Georgia and twelve other southern states, as well as some northern states, but that subsequent Congresses illegally dissolved the governments in Georgia and nine other southern states by military force, and that puppet governments "compliantly ratified the invalid proposals."

Apparently the Southern officials of each House were still bitter about losing the Civil War, wore their hearts on their sleeves and were apparently barred entry into chambers.  Of course the second point I mentioned almost voids the first one. Here they're saying that because of the defeat, they didn't have the representation that they would've had (racists I guess). If they didn't have proper representation then why did they get kicked out? If there really was a "puppet" government then there wouldn't have been a need to bar these people right? Makes sense to me.

It boggles my mind that things like this went on. Not that I enjoy making fun of The South, but it's so easy. Granted each state has things in its past that are disgraceful and ludicrous but The South leads the way. Maybe I should do some research to see who else has got stuff they would like to remain in the closet. I'm going to have to cut this short as I will be heading to the airport shortly. I encourage everyone to check up stuff like this as these things are NEVER taught in history class. As always I welcome your comments. Thanks for your time.

Some pro sports observations of February 2012

The month of February saw some strange things happen in the month of February. Naturally I would like to throw my 2 cents into the ring.

Probably the most popular item was the Jeremy Lin situation in NYC. Lin was a Harvard graduate who was undrafted in 2010, played in the NBA Development League and appeared in 29 games for the Golden State Warriors during the 2010-11 season. At the beginning of the current season he was waived by the Warriors and the Houston Rockets before landing with the New York Knickerbockers. Lin spent the first few weeks on the bench before injuries got him into the line-up and from there he took off. It's a given that playing in NYC was the cause of much of his popularity but he went on to do things that no NBA player had done since the NBA/ABA merger back in 1976. Lin is still raw but he definitely as talent and he almost single handedly made the Knickerbockers relevant again, something Carmelo wasn't able to do with his ballyhooed arrival last season. There really aren't any comparisons to Tim Tebow as Tebow was a big time college player (with suspect QB skills as he went into the NFL) and Lin had an unheralded college career (a solid one but it was in the Ivy League so draw your own conclusions and he stayed all four years which is a career killer in the NBA these days) and came from nowhere (I heard that Lin was sleeping on the couch of teammate Landry Fields before his career took off). I doubt Coach D'Antoni knew how good Lin was going to be. Lin's play may have allegedly saved D'Antoni's job. Lin started a craze and let's hope his play and the fortunes of the Knickerbockers continue to improve.

In the NFL, the Peyton Manning/Jim Irsay soap opera continued. Manning's health has put his career in jeopardy. The theory is that he may never play again because of the neck & nerve surgery he had over the offseason last year. Peyton is due a $28 million roster bonus on March 9th and the Colts hold the #1 pick in the NFL draft and the consensus that they will take highly touted Stanford QB Andrew Luck. Personally, I think the Colts should let Manning go and rebuild with Luck. The NFL is the coldest of the pro sports and all the players know it.  As an NFL fan, I don't want to see Manning's career end like this but that's the way it goes. There's no reason why this has dragged on like it has, neither Manning nor Irsay want to be the "bad guy" but this issue won't solve itself.

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers got parted ways with Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians, a favorite of QB Ben Roethlisberger, and hired former KC Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley to replace him. When Haley came in he apparently called everyone except Roethlisberger and suffice to say "Big" Ben was a bit put off. This seemed a bit ridiculous to me a professional athlete (and grown man!) appearing to pout about the loss of his coordinator and the fact that the new coordinator didn't call him when he got into town. Ben is a heck of a QB but enough already. Ben should be wondering who thought it was a good idea for him to wear those ridiculous hats than when Haley gets around to calling him. I'm sure Haley has some blame as well but these situations prop up in sports from time to time and it's silly. The Steelers look like they're going to get rid of long time receiver (and fan favorite) Hines Ward as well.

Last year's NL MVP Ryan Braun won his appeal after failing a drug test for elevated testosterone levels last fall. The test took place before the Brewers playoff game on an October Saturday. Braun provided a sample and the taker prepared the samples to be shipped off to a lab in Montreal. Braun signed off on the samples and saw them sealed. Since it was a Saturday the collector, Dino Laurenzi, wasn't able to ship the samples until Monday morning. Laurenzi thought that Fedex was closed (it was late Saturday afternoon) so he called his superiors and brought the sample home to store in his refrigerator, which was ok'd by his superiors. Braun alleges that since the sample sat for 44 hours that something must have happened to his sample. Braun & his attorney later produced evidence that there were multiple Fedex drop off locations open until Saturday evening in the area that Mr. Laurenzi could've used. Mr. Laurenzi later issued a statement through his attorney saying that he is a professional and did nothing wrong. His name and reputation have been damaged by Braun's allegations that the sample was tampered with.

Here's some information I picked up while listening to Chris "Mad Dog" Russo not too long ago. MLB and the union have an arbitrator that they both agree on and pay to hear the appeals. In the last 12 appeals of this nature the arbitrator, Shyam Das, has ruled in favor of MLB. This time he overturned it MLB's decision. Russo alleges that Das threw the players a bone because the 44 hours of "grey area" where the sample sat before being tested. Russo did a lot of leg work to cover the bases by talking with labs and MLB reps. Like Russo, I believe that Braun was using something, though his only explanation for the high testosterone was that the sample had to be tampered with (he denies that he has/had any health problems that may require him to take testosterone as well). It's a variation of the old Marion Berry defense, "the bitch set me up!" Even thought the sample sat for 44 hours I doubt that the chemical composition of the urine magically changed to show elevated testosterone and the lab reported that the samples were intact when they arrived.

That leaves me wondering, just who is in the cabal of evil doers who tamper with the urine samples of pro athletes causing them to fail drug tests? They apparently used an illegal cream to rub down Barry Bonds. They got Floyd Landis, Rafael Palmeiro and they somehow managed to add testosterone to Braun's sample. That means they followed Laurenzi home, broke into his house, tampered with the sample in the fridge and all without leaving any signs of forced entry or of tampering with the samples. Who are these people that they can pull this stuff off? Is there no end to their mischief? What wholesome and unwitting player will be next?

In the NHL, the Washington Capitals continue to underachieve. From 2008-2011 the Caps won the Southeast Division and were the #1 Eastern Conference playoff seed. During that time they got ousted in the 1st round of the playoffs twice (including 2010 when they won the President's Trophy for having the most points) and never even made it to the Conference Finals. Last season they made a commitment to defense but got swept in the Semi-Finals by the Tampa Bay Lightning (trust me when I say it was a lackluster performance). Coach Bruce Boudreau was fired 22 games into the season (his record was 12-9-1) because he had lost the players and Alex Ovechkin (the franchise) was no longer responding to him. The Caps have had the same core group of players over the last few years so what is the reason for their mediocrity? Going into tonight they're 6 games over .500 so new coach Dale Hunter has by no means worked any miracles. Granted Nicklas Backstrom has been hurt this season but that can't be the only reason. Ovechkin still shows signs of awesomeness (he scored the overtime game winner Tuesday night against the Islanders in a great come from behind win) but it seems few and far between. As I write this the Caps are the 8th seed with 69 points. They're 3 points behind the Florida Panthers for the division but only 1 point ahead of Winnipeg so they can still blow it. I hope they get the ship righted because they can be a very exciting team to watch.

On a closing note it came out that Allen Iverson is broke. He was offered $20,000 a game to play for a professional soccer team. I've also heard that Iverson bought new clothes for road trips (leaving rather expensive but used threads behind) and owes $800,000 to a jeweler. I'm no longer surprised when I hear this type of news (it also came out earlier this year that Terrell Owens is also broke). I do not feel sorry for Iverson. It's been said that Iverson's background didn't prepare him for the monetary success of his NBA career. That's true I'm sure but that can be said of anyone who has grown up not being wealthy. Iverson was a fierce (if not the fiercest) competitor on the court but like many other athletes squandered his millions. What kind of jewelry are you buying if you owe $800,000 to a jeweler? How about having your entourage get real jobs (I don't know if he had one but MC Hammer went broke paying for his entourage so their is a precedence).

As usual your comments are welcome. Thanks for your time.