Preface: Don't worry, I'm not trying to go all Damien Cox or Adam Proteau here. Finding a reasonable column in print media on fighting is about as tough as finding Dire Straits on FM radio in Canada, but I'll give it a shot in online form.
Frequently, when a fight breaks out in another sport, I feel a tinge of pride that a baseball player, basketball player or elephant polo player doesn't fight like a hockey player. But that doesn't mean every clean hit needs to result in fisticuffs or that every accidental running-of-the-goalie needs to result in a scrum around the net. There's a little too much testosterone in the game, and last week we saw the epitome of it.
Showing posts with label Tennis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tennis. Show all posts
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Other than the Wells trade, what we learned this weekend
This weekend, we learned through Roy MacGregor of the Globe that the Ottawa Senators are finally going to go through a rebuilding process. Ottawa finish off their pre-All Star schedule at home to Buffalo on Tuesday, and in their recent stretch where they've lost 11 of 12 games, they have been outscored 49-20. That is, well, horrible, and the team hasn't been able to score this year, or put shots on net, or generate chances. They are 29th in goals, 24th in shots and 29th in 5-on-5 scoring.
The team aren't in a too bad of a position for a rebuild since they'll see a lot of expiring contracts over the next couple of years and aren't going to be signing any big names for a while (if they do it right).
The team aren't in a too bad of a position for a rebuild since they'll see a lot of expiring contracts over the next couple of years and aren't going to be signing any big names for a while (if they do it right).
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Damien Cox offers interesting perspective at Wimbledon
Probably [one of] the worst thought out headline ever [this week]:
Serena stands out in Wimbledon
I think the article itself is about how Serena Williams is the only favourite left in the field, but the obvious just creeps into the back of our minds so hard it makes us chuckle.
Meet your 2010 Wimbledone women's singles semifinalists:
So, uh... which of these is not like the other?
Serena stands out in Wimbledon
I think the article itself is about how Serena Williams is the only favourite left in the field, but the obvious just creeps into the back of our minds so hard it makes us chuckle.
Meet your 2010 Wimbledone women's singles semifinalists:
So, uh... which of these is not like the other?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 31st - Morning Briefing
Jays, Twins sweep. Dirk to Phoenix?
-Current ESPN know-it-all and future Vancouver Pacers General Manager Bill Simmons destroyed the internet in Arizona today with this tweet that suggested the possibility of a Steve Nash/Dirk Nowitzki reunion in Phoenix. Rumours have apparently been floating around for a while now. To me the situation is pretty far-fetched, seeing as both Nash and Nowitzki would be migrant workers taking the jobs of hard-working Americans, something that Arizona was supposed to run out of the state.
-In more basketball news, it was pretty much confirmed yesterday that Hedo Turkgolu wanted out of Toronto.
-Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 as the Twins doubled up on the Rangers 6-3, completing the sweep. The game's highlight came as Dernard Span caught the final out running in from centre (that's right, it's a Canadian blog) field and Orlando Hudson, apparantly not hearing Span call for the ball, clipped his shin. Hudson, the former gold glover with the Jays, stayed down for a while as the fans cheered the Twins win. I haven't seen a second baseman get up that slowly since the morning after Stubby Klapp earned his name.
-It was funny hat day atSkydome Rogers Centre:
That didn't seem to faze the Jays, who easily completed the sweep of the Orioles with a 6-1 win. Ricky Romero pitched a complete game, giving up the only run in the first inning and was just six hits and two walks shy of the second perfect game on as many days.
-Gibson, British Columbia's Ryan Dempster threw 6.2 innings before being chased by the Cardinals. He gave up nine hits and six earned runs with three walks to seven strikeouts and he drops to 3-5 on the year. St. Louis won 9-1, off of two homeruns by Albert Pujols. I can only imagine how many fruit flies were attracted by the Dempster/Pujols pitcher-to-batter combination in this game.
-Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimo... Zimongi... Zinmoji... Zimonjic made it to the men's quarter finals at the French Open in Doubles, defeating the host French pairing of Guillaume Ruffin and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3. They will play in the semifinals on Tuesday (Mardi in France) against two guys you've never heard of.
-The lead story on both Sportscentre and Sportsnet Connected was that a goalie who is 6-1 in the playoffs with a 1.96 GAA and a .930 save percentage will start in Game 2. Although considering Philly's revolving door of goalies ever since Ron Hextall left, perhaps it is headline news that the Flyers are starting the same goaltender on consecutive nights. Hell, Ray Emery never made it to the rink sober in consecutive weeks.
===
Today is going to be busy. Stanley Cup Finals, maybe some tennis action, and a couple of baseball games later. Toronto has a pretty important three-game series with the Tampa BayDevil Rays. For those in Sportsnet's Pacific Region (or have the channel) you can watch Justin Morneau play against the Seattle Mariners for the nightcap.
-Current ESPN know-it-all and future Vancouver Pacers General Manager Bill Simmons destroyed the internet in Arizona today with this tweet that suggested the possibility of a Steve Nash/Dirk Nowitzki reunion in Phoenix. Rumours have apparently been floating around for a while now. To me the situation is pretty far-fetched, seeing as both Nash and Nowitzki would be migrant workers taking the jobs of hard-working Americans, something that Arizona was supposed to run out of the state.
-In more basketball news, it was pretty much confirmed yesterday that Hedo Turkgolu wanted out of Toronto.
-Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 as the Twins doubled up on the Rangers 6-3, completing the sweep. The game's highlight came as Dernard Span caught the final out running in from centre (that's right, it's a Canadian blog) field and Orlando Hudson, apparantly not hearing Span call for the ball, clipped his shin. Hudson, the former gold glover with the Jays, stayed down for a while as the fans cheered the Twins win. I haven't seen a second baseman get up that slowly since the morning after Stubby Klapp earned his name.
-It was funny hat day at
That didn't seem to faze the Jays, who easily completed the sweep of the Orioles with a 6-1 win. Ricky Romero pitched a complete game, giving up the only run in the first inning and was just six hits and two walks shy of the second perfect game on as many days.
-Gibson, British Columbia's Ryan Dempster threw 6.2 innings before being chased by the Cardinals. He gave up nine hits and six earned runs with three walks to seven strikeouts and he drops to 3-5 on the year. St. Louis won 9-1, off of two homeruns by Albert Pujols. I can only imagine how many fruit flies were attracted by the Dempster/Pujols pitcher-to-batter combination in this game.
-Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimo... Zimongi... Zinmoji... Zimonjic made it to the men's quarter finals at the French Open in Doubles, defeating the host French pairing of Guillaume Ruffin and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3. They will play in the semifinals on Tuesday (Mardi in France) against two guys you've never heard of.
-The lead story on both Sportscentre and Sportsnet Connected was that a goalie who is 6-1 in the playoffs with a 1.96 GAA and a .930 save percentage will start in Game 2. Although considering Philly's revolving door of goalies ever since Ron Hextall left, perhaps it is headline news that the Flyers are starting the same goaltender on consecutive nights. Hell, Ray Emery never made it to the rink sober in consecutive weeks.
===
Today is going to be busy. Stanley Cup Finals, maybe some tennis action, and a couple of baseball games later. Toronto has a pretty important three-game series with the Tampa Bay
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday May 29th - Morning Briefing
Suns host Lakers in Game 6, Bettman sounds off
-Phoenix fights for for their playoff lives against the Lakers in Game 6 of the series, tonight at 8:30 PM on TSN. The way Nash has played these playoffs, if you miss this game, it's probably because you have to work. In other basketball news, Nate Robinson dominated the 2nd quarter with 13 points in the frame to put the game out of reach as the Celtics won 96-84 over the Magic. Fitting a small black guy would play that well on the day that Gary Coleman died.
-Meanwhile, at 8 PM, Chicago and Philly start their series. Refer to my previous post to decide who you want to cheer for. Both teams riding long Cup droughts, and both teams have horizontal stripes. Hard to cheer against either, unless you have a long standing personal vendetta against a player. And boy, oh boy, does my hatred for Blair Betts go far. (kidding)
-This is Gary Bettman finally being annoying on our side.
-UFC 114 plays tonight in Las Vegas. No Canadians on the card, but that won't stop us from watching. Rashad Evans and Quentin Jackson are the main event, with a feud dating back to last year's filming of 'The Ultimate Fighter' TV series. Jackson quit the UFC for his acting career, so he may have some ring-rust. Evans is coming off a controversial win over Thiago Silva, in which he won a boring fight but may have been knocked out briefly in the third round. The winner of this one gets to take on Shogun Rua, who recently took the light heavyweight belt from Lyoto Machida in Montreal.
-At the French Open, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, QC, lost to Elena Dementieva in three sets. One of these days, Wozniak will have an opponent who's name I can pronounce.
-Toronto FC play the San Jose Earthquakes tonight, in what will assuredly be not in the top three most-watched sporting events in Canada. Just a heads-up.
-Taylor Hall didn't work out at the NHL draft combine. Tyler Seguin was above average on all the workouts (no shit). Taylor Hall will still go first, proving that the combine is pretty well meaningless and pretty much just an excuse for TSN to promote the World Juniors a little bit more.
-Finally, in baseball, the Blue Jays shut out the Orioles 5-0 thanks to a strong performance from Ricky Romero who went 6 strong, striking out 7 and not allowing a run. Aaron Hill went 2-4 with a homer to raise his average to .164 (still somehow below the Mendoza Line). Jason Bay was 1-4 as the Mets got shutout 2-0 by Milwaukee, and Justin Morneau was 0-2 but walked twice in a 2-0 win by the Twins over the Rangers. In other major league news, it turns out that a girl we hang out with is the cousin of Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster. Crazy.
---
It's Saturday, and there is lots going on. Some of you will be stuck at work all day, like me. For those that aren't, don't hang out at the beach. Do what I'd do. Sit inside and watch people bounce balls, play with sticks and beat each other up.
-Phoenix fights for for their playoff lives against the Lakers in Game 6 of the series, tonight at 8:30 PM on TSN. The way Nash has played these playoffs, if you miss this game, it's probably because you have to work. In other basketball news, Nate Robinson dominated the 2nd quarter with 13 points in the frame to put the game out of reach as the Celtics won 96-84 over the Magic. Fitting a small black guy would play that well on the day that Gary Coleman died.
-Meanwhile, at 8 PM, Chicago and Philly start their series. Refer to my previous post to decide who you want to cheer for. Both teams riding long Cup droughts, and both teams have horizontal stripes. Hard to cheer against either, unless you have a long standing personal vendetta against a player. And boy, oh boy, does my hatred for Blair Betts go far. (kidding)
-This is Gary Bettman finally being annoying on our side.
-UFC 114 plays tonight in Las Vegas. No Canadians on the card, but that won't stop us from watching. Rashad Evans and Quentin Jackson are the main event, with a feud dating back to last year's filming of 'The Ultimate Fighter' TV series. Jackson quit the UFC for his acting career, so he may have some ring-rust. Evans is coming off a controversial win over Thiago Silva, in which he won a boring fight but may have been knocked out briefly in the third round. The winner of this one gets to take on Shogun Rua, who recently took the light heavyweight belt from Lyoto Machida in Montreal.
-At the French Open, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, QC, lost to Elena Dementieva in three sets. One of these days, Wozniak will have an opponent who's name I can pronounce.
-Toronto FC play the San Jose Earthquakes tonight, in what will assuredly be not in the top three most-watched sporting events in Canada. Just a heads-up.
-Taylor Hall didn't work out at the NHL draft combine. Tyler Seguin was above average on all the workouts (no shit). Taylor Hall will still go first, proving that the combine is pretty well meaningless and pretty much just an excuse for TSN to promote the World Juniors a little bit more.
-Finally, in baseball, the Blue Jays shut out the Orioles 5-0 thanks to a strong performance from Ricky Romero who went 6 strong, striking out 7 and not allowing a run. Aaron Hill went 2-4 with a homer to raise his average to .164 (still somehow below the Mendoza Line). Jason Bay was 1-4 as the Mets got shutout 2-0 by Milwaukee, and Justin Morneau was 0-2 but walked twice in a 2-0 win by the Twins over the Rangers. In other major league news, it turns out that a girl we hang out with is the cousin of Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster. Crazy.
---
It's Saturday, and there is lots going on. Some of you will be stuck at work all day, like me. For those that aren't, don't hang out at the beach. Do what I'd do. Sit inside and watch people bounce balls, play with sticks and beat each other up.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Morning Briefing: Friday May 27th
Suns drop heartbreaker, Twins avoid Yankee sweep
-The Suns loss has settled in, full TSN highlights can be found here. Sweet redemption for Ron Artest, who had two big misses in the waning minutes. Victoria's Steve Nash had a team-high 29 points and 11 assists and was 12-of-20 from the field. This was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen, which is saying something because I used to take in about 30 Vancouver Grizzlies games a year.
-New Westminster's Justin Morneau went 2-for-2 and the Minnesota Twins beat the Yankees 8-2 to avoid a sweep, and maintain a game-and-a-half lead in the American League Central. The idle Blue Jays are mired in the middle of a statistical anamoly. Their 27 wins is tied for 5th in all of baseball, yet somehow they lie in 4th place in the American League East. That will change, with a three-game set coming up against the Baltimore Orioles. Check your local listings. The scheduled pitchers for the Orioles are Kevin Millwood, Chris Tillman and Jeremy Guthrie, who have combined for three wins this year.
-The City of Ottawa has introduced plans to renovate Landsdowne Park with a new stadium. This is an artists rendering of the new building, complete with Renegades fans packing the house:
-In junior hockey news, Travis Hamonic of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and former Canadian Junior Team member, has signed with the New York Islanders to an entry-level deal. Just for kicks, let's watch that video of him knocking the piss out of Taylor Hall:
Hamonic will qualify as an overager next season, so there's a possibility to see him on NHL ice next year, although with the condition of Nassau Coliseum these days, that will only happen during away games.
-Twitter and Live Blogging didn't exist back in 1993, but that doesn't mean that we can't pretend Game 6 of the '93 Western Conference Finals between Toronto and Los Angeles wasn't extensively covered. Brilliance from Down Goes Brown.
-Finally, Blainville's Aleksandra Wozniak advanced to the third round of the French Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kateryna Bondarenko. Why do Eastern European countries have women's tennis players with hotter names?
---
It's Friday. That means the start of my weekend shift at work. Don't miss the Celtics/Magic game tonight, if only because there's a chance that Boston sports teams could potentially choke away two 3-0 series leads in the same season.
-The Suns loss has settled in, full TSN highlights can be found here. Sweet redemption for Ron Artest, who had two big misses in the waning minutes. Victoria's Steve Nash had a team-high 29 points and 11 assists and was 12-of-20 from the field. This was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen, which is saying something because I used to take in about 30 Vancouver Grizzlies games a year.
-New Westminster's Justin Morneau went 2-for-2 and the Minnesota Twins beat the Yankees 8-2 to avoid a sweep, and maintain a game-and-a-half lead in the American League Central. The idle Blue Jays are mired in the middle of a statistical anamoly. Their 27 wins is tied for 5th in all of baseball, yet somehow they lie in 4th place in the American League East. That will change, with a three-game set coming up against the Baltimore Orioles. Check your local listings. The scheduled pitchers for the Orioles are Kevin Millwood, Chris Tillman and Jeremy Guthrie, who have combined for three wins this year.
-The City of Ottawa has introduced plans to renovate Landsdowne Park with a new stadium. This is an artists rendering of the new building, complete with Renegades fans packing the house:
-In junior hockey news, Travis Hamonic of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and former Canadian Junior Team member, has signed with the New York Islanders to an entry-level deal. Just for kicks, let's watch that video of him knocking the piss out of Taylor Hall:
Hamonic will qualify as an overager next season, so there's a possibility to see him on NHL ice next year, although with the condition of Nassau Coliseum these days, that will only happen during away games.
-Twitter and Live Blogging didn't exist back in 1993, but that doesn't mean that we can't pretend Game 6 of the '93 Western Conference Finals between Toronto and Los Angeles wasn't extensively covered. Brilliance from Down Goes Brown.
-Finally, Blainville's Aleksandra Wozniak advanced to the third round of the French Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kateryna Bondarenko. Why do Eastern European countries have women's tennis players with hotter names?
---
It's Friday. That means the start of my weekend shift at work. Don't miss the Celtics/Magic game tonight, if only because there's a chance that Boston sports teams could potentially choke away two 3-0 series leads in the same season.
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