Watched some of the leaf pre-season last night and here are some thoughts. Joseph looked soft and over commited a couple of times and let in a soft goal. Looks like he's nervous to be back in T.O. (given how he left years ago i don't blame him).
Dominic Moore looked great. He plays hard and has a nice shot. His first goal was nothing short of sniperiffic.
Luke Schen played well for the minutes he got. He probably won't crack the roster (please let him develop) but he seems like a player in the same mold as Dion Phaneuf...a shutdown defenceman who can beat you from the point in the offensive zone. I'm excited.
The leafs almost blew the game late, are still showing the aggravating penchant for taking stupid penalties and their late game defence is quite quite suspect.
I hope Carlo stays healthier for a period longer than it takes me to write this sentence. At this point doesn't the universe perhaps owe him a break or at the least maybe it might want to look away and give this guy just one healthy pro season? It's like it has come to the point that whenever he laces his skates the city is holding its collective breath and muttering a prayer for him. If he's healthy he easily becomes a top3 defencemen on this team.
At 1st intermission, Darren Millard and Bill Watters were interviewing Cliff Fletcher just beside the rink. This interview has me convinced about two thngs:
- Cliff Fletcher is lying about Mats Sundin. He knows what Sundin is going to do.
- Bill Watters has confirmed my suspicions that he is a bona fide asshole and grade A dick.
On the first point, I came to this conclusion as Darren Millard asked Fletcher (for what must seem to Cliff like the 56546762th time) about his knowledge of Mats Sundin's plans. If you can somehow see this interview somewhere in the corridors of the internet watch this. Cliff was sitting with his legs apart, casually. Immediately after being asked, he closed his legs together and tightened his grip on the mic. His free hand, as he was answering the question, was fidgety with his index fingermaking small strokes on his thumb. His body language to me suggested that he is hiding something. My specualtion is that Mats has decided to train in Sweden without the camera's harrassing him and has told Cliff he will be ready but does not want to play in meaningless exhibition games. I think Mats is coming back by either the first game against Detroit or by the first HNIC against Montréal. If this is the case, good for Mats. No sense risking injury in games that don't count and you can evaluate the talent from Stockholm before you come over and see if it is worth your while. Keep your body for games that net points not games made for shareholder and concession profit.
The second point was confirmed to me during this whole questioning. Cliff, part way through answering, began to cough and looked really cold sitting so close to the rink, away from the nice cozy heated GM box. Don't forget that the Silver Fox is 73 years old and has been spending the bulk of time over the last few years in Florida. He's old and that kind of temperature at ice level can't be doing him favours. So as he's coughing, trying his level best not to look like a poor old man, Bill Watters decides to keep throwing questions at him. Cliff coughs some more and starts looking more and more physically uncomfortable. I felt really bad for Cliff. He's practically dying and Bill Watters is there sitting all serious like he's a real journalist posing tough but necessary questions. Thankfully Darren Millard noticed Cliff wasn't doing well, made quick eye contact with the segment cameraman and when Bill decided to ask ANOTHER questions, Millard quickly cut him off and said they ran out of time and had to go. Kudos to Millard for giving someone who needed stop the opportunity. I'm disguested by Bill Watters' behaviour. If you've ever heard his radio show, you'll notice he's just as pompous there as he was last night. This guy is the king of misery, the eternal pessimist (which given the leafs the last few years is justifiable) and speaks to others as if his knowledge of hockey is vastly superior to theirs and holds more water (no pun) than theirs. On his radio show he talks to "hockey people" so this attitude is downright rude. Now last night he was either as i said, an asshole and dick for how he treated someone who couldn't continue an interview, or so immensly ignorant he should apply for American citizenship. I go with the former since it is terribly difficult to not notice someone shivering and coughing every third word without some sympathy.
NFL stuff
The Jags in the second half perfected the peyton manning defense. This translates to using a running game clock to keep peyton on the bench. Manning was on the field in the second half for less than 4 minutes! Granted the offense needs to do it's job by making first downs and they were able to do that by running the hell out of the ball on a woeful Indy run defense an then using every second of a 40 second play clock for each play. Point in case, with little time remaining in the 4th quarter (2:36), manning drove his team down the field and got them a touchdown. The Jags defense almost blew the game for them, lucky they have a kicker that can make a 51 yard try.
I think I can tell you what is happening in Big Ben's head right now, starting from last summer until Sunday's Eagles loss.
BEN: Please sign Faneca. I don't care what he wants sign him. He's the only person on the line that can block.
MGMT: How much money did we make today? Wow that's alot! let's go to the racetrack. Oh Ben, hi, did you need something?
BEN: Yes damnnit. Sign Faneca or I'm going to get injured and Byron Leftwich will end up being your starting quarterback. Really sign, him, do whatever it takes. PLEASE!
MGMT: We have leftwich? Wow! Wait sign who?
BEN: FANECA YOU RETARDED HANDFUL OF PEBBLES! You know, pro bowl guard, the guy who helped achieve a perfect passer rating, contributes to my not eating the turf every week. The guy you drafted 26th overall, who has been here for ten years, has helped you win a superbowl, made willie parker into a star and is consistently chosen by fans as of the best ever to put on this uniform.
MGMT: Calm down Ben. Now look see here. We make lots of money. The way for us to make more money is to not pay this (consulting with suits)...Faneca person some money. We need money to make bets at the racetrack and with this ownership situtation, we may need to make more bets. This (consulting with suits)...Faneca can disappear as far as I care. Wait we won a Superbowl? WOW! That's fantastic. Great news Ben, keep up the good work.
BEN: Where's the hell did I leave my motorcycle keys, I think I need to go for another ride without a helmet.
MGMT: Great! Wish you all the best Ben.
fast forward to Philly Game
Philly sacks Ben 8 times, re-injuring his left shoulder and causing a throwing arm injury.
Sack 1: BEN: FUCK!
MGMT: huh what...there's a football game on? What we're losing?
Sack 2-8: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK MOTERFUCK FUCK. OW!
MGMT: Leftwich plays for us? Wow great news! We won't miss a beat now that Ben might be hurt.
Leftwich gets sacked for the philly defence's ninth sack of the game.
MGMT: hmmm...looks like we need a centre...let's draft one next year (suits nod vigorously)
See, i told you i had psychic powers.
In Brett Favre news, the Madden curse seems to alive and kicking with a vengeance. Aside from the first game where they played a weak Miami team (maybe not so weak after this past weekend), Favre has looked like a sack of dirt. Granted, 30 days with a new team is not enough to know the wives names of you o-line let alone a brand new 400 page playbook. But then whose fault is that? Favre is throwing to imaginary receivers, is not adjusting to the receiver play on the field is looks desperate when he makes a deep throw. It's as if he is thinking his repuation is at stak on gettting the deep ball for a score and cementing is legend status. You know what he's right. His legend is at stake because instead of retiring after a good season, he came back to a team that is followed by the New York City Media, without learning a playbook and every game he looks older and older and none the wiser. This is what happens when the only training you do in the offseason is calling press conferences instead of lifting, conditioning and LEARNING A PLAYBOOK. Favre does have some time to adjust, but it better be quick and he better learn fast otherwise, cause the Bills are running away with the division and the AFC is much tougher than the Jets for a wildcard spot. I did notice that as the game wore on, Favre started to use the BLUE 58 snap count. Aaron Rodgers has been using this snap this season. Perhaps the Jets need to adjust to Favre then, and let him run a Packer offense for the season for any hope at success?
Thank God Philly's defence stood up. Bravo. Bravo to the D-coordinator for the blitzes. This is where that defense excels, at blitzing from different angles, stopping the run and putting a Qb under duress. They are built for that type of game. I also hope Westbrook is ok, because as much as we need McNabb, we need Westbrook twice as much. He is the ofensive focal point, all schemes both offensive and opposing defensive revolve around him and his abilities to exploit and break the game open from numerous sets and positions. That being said, I really really really hope McNabb stays healthylonger than it takes for me to finish this sentence Not only is Kolb not ready to lead this team, McNabb is a personal favourite and he is as injury prone as a Bagdhad resident.
ok, c'est tout. Ciao
peacelovefreedomjustice
-s
"this has been a sports report from the free city."
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