Bleacher Report - Articles by Andrew Mason

Stop The Presses! T.O. Is Sitting Out of a Preseason Game!

Andrew Mason — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:56:20 -0400

This coverage of Terrell Owens has been absolutely outrageous.

People on ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and other blogs are ranting against and making big stories about Terrell Owens for sitting out the last game against Chicago and this coming weekend's game against Green Bay.

Oh gee another big time player sitting out of some meaningless preseason game?

What a shock.

Oh wait! It's Terrell Owens, Aw damn he is starting up his act and sideshow again! Quick let's make a big deal out of it and try to make it sound like he is the biggest prima donna!

This is one of the reasons why I like Owens. He gets ragged on for every action he does, but he does not lash out against the media in any way whether verbally or physically.

I get that part of the attention is well-deserved for actions such as lashing out at Jeff Garcia, calling Donovan McNabb out for puking in the Super Bowl (which I enjoyed and supported), the absurd press conference in his driveway with him doing pushups, and claiming Witten and Romo are conspiring against him.

Then there is the argument that he should be playing since it is his first year with a team. However, I would prefer a perfectly healthy Terrell Owens without the nagging toe injury who did not play five minutes in a preseason game than a Terrell Owens who played five minutes and still has the nagging injury by trying to play.

People seriously need to chill with the obsession over every action by Terrell Owens in Buffalo and whether he plays in a preseason game. Unlike Brett Favre, who as a quarterback needs to work on timing with his wideouts.

Where Is The Outrage?

Andrew Mason — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:21:26 -0400

How comes fans aren't calling Cubs' fans "classless" or "the worst" because of what happened tonight, as Philadelphia so often hears.

The incident occurred in the bottom of the fifth with bases loaded and the Phillies leading 12-1. Jake Fox hit a long fly ball and Shane Victorino made the catch on the warning track.

As Victorino made the catch, a beer thrown by a fan hit him in the back.

The incident luckily was relatively minor. The same play would have occurred regardless of the thrown beer, and security took the man away rather quickly.

However, what if this caused the ball to drop or hit him in the head?

If this happened in Philadelphia all hell would have broken loose. ESPN would be running cover stories on it and they would have the top 10 Philadelphia fan moments which would include Michael Irvin, Santa, JD Drew, Tie Domi and the most recent incident involving the death of a fan outside the stadium.

Chicago fans are going to try and defend themselves by claiming that it was only one fan. Well so was the Tie Domi incident and 98 percent of other "incidents" which are reasons why Philly is deemed the home of the worst fans.

A few weeks ago, a laser pointer showed up at the Philadelphia-St. Louis game. Now I do not condone this and thought it was absurd someone would do it. But there was massive outcry about how despicable Philly fans are. A quick search on Google will get over 10 pages worth of hits.

Will there be the same number of stories, Web sites and videos devoted to this incident? Probably not.

Why?

Simply put, it did not happen in Philadelphia and happened to a Philadelphia player. So the rest of the baseball and sporting world will probably just shrug it off. Honestly, I cannot think of one time where a fan threw a beer at a player during play in Philadelphia.

Is the beer going to cause the same controversy? No!

How Ray Emery Will Affect the Flyers' Offseason

Andrew Mason — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:56:45 -0400

Well, it is official: Ray Emery has signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Everyone has been debating about whether he will be good or bad, how he will handle Philly, how he will handle Philly fans, etc.

But now, let's take a look at what this will mean for the Flyers offseason.

1. No More Biron, but Possibly Still Antero

Martin Biron—who is quite possibly one of the nicest players in the NHL—will be looking for a new team.

Assuming the salary cap will stay around $56.7 million and taking into account the Emery deal, the Flyers have approximately $6.163 million to spend this offseason. Biron is looking for a deal that is around $5 million.

The limit of cap space will not allow the Flyers to make this deal because if Emery wins the starting job, Biron gets hurt, or some form of that, Emery becomes the starter and Biron the backup. The Flyers will not waste $5 million on a backup in such a tight cap situation.

Re-signing Antero suddenly becomes an option as he made just $1.225 million last year. Antero did not want to re-sign with Philadelphia previously if he had no chance at being a starter. However, seeing as each are low-cost goalies, they are possibilities.

However, there are other goalies that are free agents that I would like to see the Flyers make a run at: Martin Gerber, Ty Conklin, Scott Clemmensen, and my favorite goalie, Brian Boucher!

2. They Have Plenty of Cap Space To Re-Sign Knuble

Instead of going out and getting a blockbuster goalie as many fans wanted, they signed Ray Emery. What this signing means is that they can give Knuble the money he wanted. He made just $2.9 million this year, so the Flyers will be able to give him a slight raise.

There is other interest in Knuble, as well, so the Flyers have to be careful how much they sign him because then it will destroy the remaining cap space they have.

3. If Need Be, the Flyers Will Not Have To Make a Major Trade To Sign a Good Defenseman

The Flyers—if they wanted to trade for someone, say Jay Bouwmeester—will not have to trade a major player for cap space reasons, or sign Jay Bo on July 1. The most ideal player to make that cap space for Jay Bo is Joffrey Lupul. He is set to make $4.25 million over the next four years.

Some sort of trade involving him and Riley Cote would be best if they want a big d-man like Jay Bo, Ohlund, Derek Morris, or Hal Gill.

Iif they want to go cheap and big, there's Mike Komisarek as well. There's also Marc-Andre Bergeron, who has one of the hardest slap shots in the league.

In short, there's a lot of capable defensemen free agents out there. Without committing big money to the goalies, the Flyers will be able to get their hands on one without having to sacrifice Gagne, Carter, Briere, etc.

In conclusion, while I loved Martin Biron when he was in Philadelphia and Buffalo, Ray Emery makes financial sense, despite the fact that I think he is not the best goaltender. But by signing him instead of Biron, the Flyers get a ton of financial flexibility to make this team even better and give the goalies a lot of help.

This year will be the last when the Flyers will not have to worry about many contracts expiring, so this is the year to go out there, get a quality defenseman, and make a run at the cup.

Does ESPN Have An Editor?

Andrew Mason — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:58:07 -0500

Yes, I know this is a stupid topic for Bleacher Report but two articles this week have just been ridiculous so hear me out:

A few days ago ESPN posted an Associated Press article from Pittsburgh about Malkin-Ovechkin "feud." If you read the article, besides the fact it's an AP article and it's clearly slanted to Pittsburgh, as there is no quote from Ovechkin about the feud besides "a bad situation."

As well as my favorite line, which I guess has been edited since the numerous comments on the story pointed out, which stated Ovechkin is not known for hitting. I mean, he is only sixth in the league for hits! Does that mean absolutely nothing?

ESPN put this article on the front page of ESPN so if anyone even bothered to open the story, they will read it as Ovechkin is a punk who never hits except Malkin, and just takes swings at Malkin's agent.

I just laughed at this and just looked at it like typical ESPN articles: bias, half-covered, half-assed, and stupid. I thought, "Wow this is a new low for ESPN right up there with sparking Dallas to release Adam Jones."

However, that is, until I read this article about Darius Miles and how his 10th game will cost Portland...

"Miles set up the milepost by scoring 13 points in 14 minutes of a 102-87 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Memphis on Tuesday after signing the 10-day deal Saturday."

What is a milepost? A 102-87 what? Win or loss?

I mean, seriously, was someone typing this on their phone right after the game while walking to the car and thought that was good enough?

It is absolutely pathetic the type of writing that ESPN puts on their website. I mean, if I tried making up words and leaving words out in my paper or did not check sources, I would get an "F" on my papers and I would probably drop out of school.

Then as my picture that I was able to pull up points out they misspelled the word "the" during the Olympics while covering Michael Phelps.

ESPN is just a joke when it comes down to getting facts correct such as knowing Ovechkin is sixth in the league hits before posting an AP article as the front page, making up words that make no sense, or just plain misspelling the word "the."

Seven Reasons Why Dick Jauron Must Go!

Andrew Mason — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:52:47 -0500

I have been a supporter of Dick Jauron as Bills head coach for a while, but...

Dick Jauron must go!

Now I am one of the most optimistic Buffalo Bills fans, always BILLieving! But enough is enough! Get rid of Dick Jauron!

Seven wins seems to be his motif after three years, so I will give seven reasons.

1. 5-1 after six games. 2-8 the next 10. Don't give me Trent got hurt—they had a good enough running back tandem to use in Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson to get the job done.

2. 0-6 in the division. One of three teams to finish 0-6 in their respective divisions, with the Rams and the Lions!

3. Clock management. Nothing more evident then calling a running play with 22 seconds left with no timeouts down by only three, then Duke Preston lets himself get involved in a fight...which leads me to number four.

4. Player behavior. Duke Preston and Derek Schouman getting into a scuffle, costing the Bills at least three points and momentum. Two false start penalties today and numerous ones throughout the year.

5. Inexplicably not letting Marshawn Lynch or Fred Jackson run the ball into the end zone while in the red zone, instead throwing and getting intercepted. You would think he had learned from the Dallas game last year...

6. Not preparing your team against the 3-4 defense. Four straight weeks they played it. Four straight losses. Miami, Jets, New England, Cleveland.

7. Finish here with some nice symmetry. Letting number seven J.P. Losman (or is it Loserman or LOSSman) roll out on a pass play only up by less than a touchdown while Marshawn was having a great game, and he gets stripped and costs the game.

Now I understand the players love him and all of that stuff, but this team has the talent. However, the inability of the head coach to be smart using it has cost this team in every way imaginable.

Whats your opinon on Dick Jauron? Let's hear it!

Thank you and good night.

Don't Blame the BCS for the Jumble in the Big 12 South

Andrew Mason — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:59:21 -0500

Everyone is complaining that with the tie in the Big 12 South, this is a reason the BCS needs to go and a playoff needs to be established. THAT IS 100% WRONG!

Lets review the rankings real quick.

1. Alabama

2. Texas

3. Oklahoma

4. Florida

5. USC

6. Utah

7. Texas Tech

We can establish that 'Bama or Florida will be knocked out in the SEC title game. Now let's assume just for arguments sake that Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech win out and finish tied for Big 12 South.

How does this become the BCS's fault? Was it the BCS's fault that the three of them all beat each other and, therefore, tied for the league lead?

NO, IT IS NOT!

People are just looking for any excuse to get rid of the BCS, and it is getting to the point of sheer insanity.

There is absolutely no one who could have predicted this. Going into the year, it was supposed to be Oklahoma and Texas as the two best teams that would decide the South Division in the Red River Rivalry, and that was it. No one was supposed to be close.

That is until Tech came and crashed the party, creating this mess in the Big 12 South.

Well, what do you want the BCS to do about this?

The BCS just picks the teams on a combination of rankings and ratings and selects the best two for the national championship game.

Is it perfect? Not even close. Are the polls flawed? Absolutely, but that is what you get when you have humans vote who clearly show bias, and have computers factor in different things.

Now, if maybe this was, say, the Pac-10, and USC, Oregon State, and Oregon all beat each other and all had the same record, then you can have the argument. But the fact that this argument is taking place before the Big 12 Championship is just absurd, people.

This will come down to the whatever Big 12 tiebreakers are currently in place, and they will decide who comes out of the Big 12 South to face the North champion, Missouri.

But, for once, you cannot blame the BCS!

Stop looking for excuses to get rid of the current system!

Martin Biron and the Net Pitch Shutout Against the Fading Buffalo Sabres

Andrew Mason — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:59:19 -0500

The Buffalo Sabres slide has now reached four straight games and they have now been outscored 21-7.

Biron had to literally stand on his head to make the saves and had to rely on the crossbar/post for several others.

The Sabres did not play a bad game especially when you look at the shots which were in Buffalo's favor, 40-24.

However, a new trend emerged as I watched the game. The inability to be able to put the puck in the net and hitting everything but the twine: players, posts, crossbars, etc. Stafford missed a wide open net from a beautiful pass from Derek Roy and managed to hit the back of a sprawling Biron.

The game though was very close as it was a seesaw battle. However, two bad breaks for the Sabres ended up costing them the game.

After a 5-on-3 where they hit several posts including the crossbar, the Flyers managed to pick up the puck as the penalty expired and hit a streaking Hartnell for a breakaway.

Then a costly turnover by Clarke MacArthur in the Sabres zone with no pressure found its way to Carter's stick in the slot and he just sniped it.

Then there was the Stafford mistake which was originally called a goal, but disallowed when it was revealed that the puck never came close to being in the net. If Stafford finishes it is 1-1 and a whole new game.

However, it was disallowed and Buffalo could not finish.

Buffalo had five power plays and had so many oh so close moments. It was almost criminal that they did not put the puck in the net.

Tonight there was a line of Roy-Stafford-MacArthur that was very strong with the two disappointing players in Roy and Stafford. Between the three of them they combined for 12 shots on goal. Although they did finish at -2, they had a lot of good chances and just could not finish.

The Sabres go on to play the Islanders tomorrow night while the Flyers play Phoenix.

The Sabres need this game desperately to avoid falling further behind Boston as they are now nine points back.

The Buffalo Sabres: What Happened to Them?

Andrew Mason — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:14:06 -0500

What in the world happened to the Buffalo Sabres?

Eight Days ago they were 9-3-3 and leading the division with 21 points. Now they are 9-6-3 and sitting third behind Boston, who are now 1-2 against and Montreal.

Eight Days ago they had a +11 goal differential. It appeared that the players have bought into Lindy Ruff's method of two way hockey.

Three games later their goal differential for the season is ZERO. They have been outscored 18-7 against Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Boston. Now those three teams are not exactly slouches and have some notables on the offense.

I expect all three of them to make the playoffs but I thought the Sabres were too. This has not been a good measuring stick for Buffalo's defensive play.

They have clearly regressed to their old style of playing river hockey and trying to win on offense alone but not being two way as Lindy has been preaching. As only four players are on the positive side of the +/-. Then there is Max being the worst at -8.

In addition to injuries to certain players, other players (not named Thomas Vanek) have not helped Buffalo's quest at all. Most notably, my favorite players, Drew Stafford and Derek Roy. Stafford has had just four points in 15 games thus far and has been a healthy scratch a few times. Roy has put up 12 points so far but is underachieving compared to last year with an abysmal -5.

Tim Connolly, Jochen Hect, and Paul Gaustad have played in only a handful of games so far due to injuries. Connolly has been doing well with seven points in six games but has only played a third of the Sabres games so far. It is not a good sign for the oft-injured center soon to be a free agent.

The Sabres are 3-4-1 in the month of November compared to 6-2-1 in October. They have five games left this month against four very good teams; Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, and Pittsburgh. They also have the Islanders, who are not very good this year. If they can snap out of this streak and if they can get 7 of the possible 10 points then I will feel a lot more confident about this team's playoff chances.

However, if this sort of stuff will keep happening then the Sabres will be sellers come March.

Don't Blame The BCS...Blame Ohio State

Andrew Mason — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:12:28 -0500

So the new polls came out today and the following order went as follows:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0)

2. Texas Tech Red Raiders (9-0)

3. Penn State Nittany Lions (9-0)

4. Florida Gators (7-1)

Alabama was the number two team in the nation, came out and just demolished the Arkansas State Indians, 35-0. Texas Tech scored with just one second left to beat the former number one team in the country Texas Longhorns, 39-33. Penn State was idle and the Gators, looking for a little revenge, got their wish against the Georgia Bulldogs, killing them (figuratively not literally,) 49-10.

Everyone agrees with the number one and four teams, but numbers two and three are causing problems. People are calling the BCS/polls "flawed" and "stupid."

While I, like many other college football fans, loathe the BCS and wish for a playoff. This time, the BCS and the pollsters made the correct the choice. Texas Tech beat the former number one team in the country. That is no small feat, especially with the talent that Texas has this year. While Penn State had the week off and was able to rest after their battle against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Instead of putting Penn State number two, they put Texas Tech there for one simple reason: they don't want another Big 10 team in the national championship.

The past two seasons, Ohio State was able to be among the top two in the nation mostly because of their schedule, while everyone else lost/blew their chances.

I think pollsters are nervous about putting Penn State in that slot because they probably decided to think of the past and future:

First, the Nitany Lions' schedule, which is as follows:

11/8 At Iowa Hawkeyes

11/15 vs. Indiana Hoosiers

11/22 vs. no. 18 Michigan State Spartans

As of right now, only Michigan State is ranked and who knows what is going to happen with them? For the past several years, Michigan State struggled to finish their season on a good note, and with just one game until that matchup, they could fall out of the top 25 with a loss to the Purdue Boilermakers and several other teams leap-frogging them.

Second, is the layoff factor. Penn State's last game is on November 22, while the Big 12 and SEC championship games will not be until December. That is a very long time to go without a game. In 2007, Ohio State had 51 days off, and got absolutely destroyed by the LSU Tigers.

Third and finally, do they want to put a Big 10 team in the National Championship against an SEC or Big 12 team that can score almost at will? The Buckeyes lost their two games by a combined score of 79-38. That is a pretty big margin of victory by LSU and Florida.

While Penn State is ranked eighth in the nation on the list for points per game, they only managed 13 points against Ohio State. It is going to take quite a lot of points in these last three games to convince voters otherwise.

Personally, I am a fan of college football and as it stands right now Alabama and Texas Tech looks like a pretty good matchup.

So to you all of you people complaining Penn State got the shaft dont Blame the BCS...Blame Ohio State

Why is Everyone Writing Off the Buffalo Sabres?

Andrew Mason — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:57:51 -0400

It is October 6, and everyone is already passing over Buffalo—the two-time Eastern Conference Finalist in the past three years.

But yet everyone is looking at them this year like they are nothing. I pose the question, "Why?"

This team lost few players this offseason. They got a solid veteran defenseman who can play both ways in Craig Rivet, and will also gain Teppo Numminen, who missed all but the final game last season.

After letting Chris Drury and Daniel Briere go for nothing two years ago, they reversed that trend and signed key guys like Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad—and most importantly, Ryan Miller—to long-term contracts for the next several years.

Offensively, this team should become even better once they finally realize they all have to contribute—not expect one or two players to do all the work.

They were fourth in goals for last year in the entire league, with Derek Roy, Pominville, and Thomas Vanek combining for 95 of the 251 goals scored. However they were 22nd in goals allowed—but that is expected to improve, with the additions of Numminen and Rivet, and the added year of experience for players such as Andrej Sekera and Nathan Paestch.

Teppo was plus-17 in the 2006-07 campaign, while Craig Rivet was just plus-three—which would have put him tied for third for defenseman who played more than 50 games with Paestch.

While the defensemen overall will be good, there will be some growing pains in adjusting from Brian Campbell to Craig Rivet as their primary point defenseman (along with Jaroslav Spacek).

The goaltending situation as a whole is also expected to be much better, with Ryan Miller no longer having to worry about his contract situation. He can also feel more confident with the guys in front of him, as all the key players are locked up and more solid defensemen have been brought in.

There will also be less pressure on Miller to play 76 of 82 games again this year, as former star-goalie Patrick Lalime was signed to a two-year, $2 million dollar contract. If Lalime regains his form from his Ottawa days, this team will have a scary one-two punch in the crease—similar to Giguere and Bryzgalov in Anaheim.

This team a year ago finished just four points out of the playoffs—DESPITE losing 12 of 13 games from the end of December to mid-January.

But last I checked the Sabres do have Lindy Ruff behind the bench once again. He will not allow another collapse like that December-January stretch last year.

I fully expect Buffalo to be in the playoffs, perhaps as high as fifth—although my guess would be sixth, as the Rangers, Flyers, and Penguins will be in a dogfight all year for the Atlantic Division crown.

Don't sleep on the Buffalo Sabres. And here's t he most important reason why.

Teemu Selanne Officially Back with Anaheim Ducks

Andrew Mason — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:36:29 -0400

After three months of waiting for Mats Sundin and Teemu Selanne to sign, one of them has finally made a decision.

Selanne is returning to Anaheim for two more years on a $5.25 million contract.

One word can accurately describe this situation here: FINALLY.

One of these guys finally decided to make a decision and stopped making at least three teams sit there and wait. However, this puts Anaheim in an interesting position yet again. They are nearly $1 million over the cap. I have not been following Anaheim's training camp, so I can't say who Anaheim is going to move.

This year will be very interesting for Anaheim as over half their payroll will come off the books after this season. Or, in other words, they will have approximately $34 million to spend.

In other hockey news, Nikolai Khabibulin was scratched in tonight's game. In my opinion, this means one of two things. One: They do not want to risk him being injured, especially at his age. Or, two: He is about to be traded.

I think it is the former, as Tallon has stated they will keep Khabibulin and Cristobal Huet despite the amount of money that is tied up in them. So just something to watch out for in the coming days as the regular season draws closer.

Quick Note: Khabibulin is on waivers...

The Three Teams Who Deserve National Attention

Andrew Mason — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:19:18 -0400

This article is dedicated to three teams who should get attention for the improvement over the last few years, but do not (or at least not yet).

Buffalo

Yes, the Buffalo Bulls of the MAC. Yes, the team that only won two games two years ago. This a very good team and they have a good shot of winning their conference. Last year they won just five games, but they were all conference wins and finished one win behind division champion Bowling Green.

They are lead by Senior Quarterback Drew Willy, who, in my opinion, is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the NCAA. He threw for 2,572 yards, 15 touchdowns, and six interceptions last year. He was seventh in completion percentage in the country and tied with Tim Tebow for fewest interceptions thrown.

He will also have James Starks returning with him in the backfield. Last year, as a sophmore, he ran for 1103 yards, which was good to tie for 45th on the rushing list with Jacob Hester of LSU. He also had the second longest run of the year, last year, with a 92 yard run.

This year they started off with a very good win over UTEP with Willy throwing for four touchdowns. This week, after three quarters, they trailed Pittsburgh by only one point. Unfortunately they struggled in the fourth and surrendered 10 points to lose by 11. Still they have to be happy with that kind of showing against a decent Big East team. They then beat Temple on a last second hail mary play.

Unfrotunately they have lost two games to Missouri and Central Michigan. However they stayed close with Missouri and only lost to Central Michigan by two.

Kentucky

Now you are going to ask me why they are on this list. Well I am going to tell you.

After losing Heisman Candidate Andre Woodson to the NFL most people have written this team off and have predicted them to finish near the bottom of the conference. Most people have said their defense will not do well enough.

So far through four games their defense has done pretty well. They have let up twenty two points so far and would have shut out Louisville if the offense did not allow safety. Now, you are going say, "Who cares? It was against Louisville, Norfolk State, Middle Tennessee, and Western Kentucky."

Well, last year in their first two games against Kent State and Eastern Kentucky, they let up a combined 30 points. They also let Louisville score 34 points last year as well.

In addition to Woodson they also lost starting running back, Rafael Little, and starting wide receivers Steve Johnson and Keenan Burton.

They have turned to a two running back system with sophomore Derrick Locke and Tony Dixon. So far Locke has responded well—becoming the leader of this offense. He has 121 yards and one touchdown in their two wins, while fellow sophomore Mike Hartline adjusts to being the starter after throwing just six passes all of last year.

Kentucky's first true conference test will not be until October 4th against currently ranked 13th Alabama.

Air Force

After somehow pulling off a nine-win season that included beating Notre Dame last year, many people seem to believe they will slip back to futility.

People are pointing to the fact that they only return eight starters on offense and defense as a reason. But, I believe after back to back four win seasons in 2005 and 2006, 2007 was hardly an aberration and Air Force will stay at the top of their conference.

On offense, they lost their top six rushers last year which will be tough to fill but three of the five linemen started last year so that will make the adjustment to the new backfield a lot easier.

So far they have beaten Southern Utah and Wyoming by a combined score of 64-10. Now you might say like Kentucky, "whatever", but people have picked Wyoming to finish ahead of Air Force in the standings.

Their schedule gets a little tougher having to play at Houston next week, Utah the following week, and BYU near the end of the season.

They beat Houston who just beat ECU and nearly beat Utah.

Well there you have it. My three teams who are improving but you just don't know it yet.

And after this week, September 27th they are 9-4.

Boston Signs Stephane Yelle

Andrew Mason — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:26:37 -0400

Per the Canadian Press, the Boston Bruins have signed free agent Stephane Yelle to a one-year contract.

Yelle, after spending the last five years in Calgary, is now moving to Boston.

I think he is a very underrated player in the league. He is a hard-nosed player who is not afraid to hit. He is also very versatile, playing defenseman for the Flames when they were down several to various injuries.

He also lead his team in faceoff percentage, with an outstanding 75 percent success rate in the faceoff circle.

Never known as a scorer or point producer, Yelle does all the other things which help teams win games.

He is also very skilled as a penalty killer, playing up top or down low.

At 34, he is most likely on the downside of his career—and this might be why it took so long for Yelle to be signed by a team. But he also provides invaluable leadership, having worn the "A" on his sweater in Calgary.

Leadership is something which Boston GM Peter Chiarelli has said his team needs: "We have a young blend of players, and we’ve lost a little bit of the experience in Muzz (Murray) and Metro (Metropolit), but he helps fill that gap."

I think while Stephane Yelle is not going to fill up the scoresheetm he will win the faceoffs and be on the penalty kill when the Bruins will need him most.

After Week One, USC Deserves Their No. 1 Ranking

Andrew Mason — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:28:46 -0400

What is everyone's problem with this?

Instead of playing some school from the 1-AA or some low school in 1-A USC went to Charottlesville, VA (that's right they went on the road).

They played a Virginia team, who is although inexperienced losing some key players such as DE Chris Long and QB Jameel Sewell, is going to be on offense by senior running back Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson.

Though many people think UVA will struggle this year since as a team they are very young and inexperienced still better than some other teams. They also receveived 12 votes in the coaches preseason poll. But let's also take a look at four who were ranked in the Top Five going into the season shall we?

First up Georgia: Week One Opponent: Georgia Southern. League: 1-AA. They went 7-4 last year and missed the playoffs. Although Georgia Southern is looking to move to the 1-A in 2010.

But letting up 21 points regardless who is in for them and in fact if I am not mistaken the starters were in for Georgia Southern's first touchdown. Georgia gets some credit for playing a team that might soon be in 1-A but not enough to warrant they should be No. 1 in the country.

Ohio State: Week One Opponent: Youngstown State. League: 1-AA. Once again another 1-AA team and another team that went 7-4 and missed the playoffs. They were impressive completely shutting out Youngstown State and limiting them to -11 yards rushing.

Chris Wells injuries his foot in the game and it is unknown if he will be able to be play this Saturday against another tough team: Ohio and/or USC September 13th. Without Wells they are certainly not No. 1.

USC we covered. Playing a team who went to a bowl game last year and just barely lost to Texas Tech. Blew them out at UVA 52-7.

Fourth Oklahoma: Week One Opponent: Chattanooga. League:1-AA. They a woeful 2-9 last year. Blew them out 57-2. Enough Said.

Fifth Florida. Week One Opponent: Hawaii. League: 1-A. Yes this team went 12-1 a year ago. But Hawaii was good because of Colt Brennan and June Jones. They also lost their top two WRs in Davone Bess and Ryan Grice-Mullen.

Georgia who is ranked above Florida beat them 41-0 with all four of those guys on the team. Florida beat a team whose only real claim coming into this season is "best non-bcs recruiting class".

There's a common thread between these four teams. They are played at home and not really challenging teams.

The Philadelphia Flyers Have Some Tough Decisions

Andrew Mason — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:49:52 -0400

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Stevens and General Manager Paul Holmgren will have some tough decisions coming into training camp on both with forwards and defense. First the forwards. There will be four centers: Danny Briere, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Glen Metropolit.

Nine wingers: Simon Gagne, Joffery Lupul, Scott Hartnell, Scottie Upshall, Mike Knuble, Arron Asham, Riley Cote, Steve Downie, and Claude Giroux.

The first six wingers are guaranteed spots unless they somehow managed to screw up that badly or get injured. The last three on this list will be the ones vying for two spots. Riley Cote is the new team fighter after the departure of Ben Eager. Steve Downie recorded 13 points in 38 games total last year but made some costly mistakes in the Pittsburgh series but is still growing as a player.

Then there is Claude Giroux who is only 20, In three seasons with the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL(Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) he has recorded over 100 points in each of the three seasons, including 51 points in 19 playoff games this year. So what to do?

Riley Cote will probably remain on the team as the team fighter and punisher. Therefore, that leaves Downie and Giroux vying for that coveted final starting spot. Downie is also young at 21 and played significantly during the season averaging nearly 10 minutes of ice time a night. Claude Giroux played in only two games and did not get a point.

So what to do? I say play Downie and see if he can rebound form the mistakes in the Pittsburgh series. If he still makes the same mistakes and struggles then send him back to the Phantoms and call up Claude Giroux. There will also be need to be a decision on the defense too. There are eight defensemen, all with NHL experience.

There is Ossi Vaananean, Derian Hatcher, Kimmo Timonen, Randy Jones, Braydon Coburn, Lasse Kukkonen, Ryan Parent, and Steve Eminger. Kimmo, Jones, Coburn,Vaananean, and Eminger will probably be the five to start the season. I believe Eminger will start the season or otherwise expect a lot of angry Flyers since Holmgren traded a first round pick for him.

Holmgren will want Hatcher to be on the injured reserve so his salary does not count against the cap and that will reduce the number of defensemen to seven and make it a lot easier decision which would be Lasse plays. Hatcher will want to play which will make it tough for Holmgren.

Kukkonen played in 53 games last year and it will be hard to send him back down after playing so much last year. Holmgren and Stevens will need to decide on this team on and make difficult decisions on who to keep and who to send back to the minors.

Latest Happenings in The NHL

Andrew Mason — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:16:24 -0400

Well First I have to start with the obvious one here: Mats Sundin

There was the report Philadelphia is looking into Sundin but at this point who has not even taken a look at him? But Philadelphia does not have the cap space and will not trade any of their players to free up salary.

There is a breaking news report from Eklund of hockeybuzz that the Rangers are seriously considering moving Scott Gomez to the Canucks to make room for Sundin. Yes Ek is highly unreliable but this is a pretty big one that you simply cannot shrug off. To me this seems too absurd to be true.

That the Rangers will get rid of Gomez who they just signed for seven years to get Mats who will be there for one year maybe. It would be interesting to see if this deal happens, and who the Rangers will get.

They cannot get another player of equal value because the idea is to shed salary and sign Sundin with the money they gained. So the most likely deal is young players, prospects, and draft picks with combinations of those.

Personally, there is no way Sather would be this insane to do this, but hey pre-lockout if you had any talent you were making four million plus. (See Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros, Petr Nedved, Bobby Holik, Brian Leetch, and Darius Kasparitus). So do not be too shocked if Sather pulls this deal.

Ok I am done talking about Mats now.

I touched base on this on one of my previous articles "Marian Gaborik Going to the Buffalo Sabres? Closer to Happening Than You Think" but it now appears if Marian does not sign a new contract before training camp, there is a very good chance Marian is going to be moved before the season.

GM Doug Risebrough said when asked about Gaborik in the St.Paul Pioneer Press, "If he were to indicate he wasn't going to sign, then we'd have to make a decision about whether we'd want to play with that distraction".

Minnesota will want to trade him now while he is healthy and coming off his best year. Plus they do not want the distraction of knowing Gaborik will be moved by the end of March here. Risebrough knows Marian Gaborik's history and this was the most games he has played since 2002.

If there is any injury, or if Gaborik does not perform anywhere close to the level last year his stock will plummet. Gaborik clearly does not want to stay here in Minnesota otherwise he would have resigned by now or progress of talks would have been reported.

On the Buffalo Front, Jason Pominville is very close to resigning with the Sabres. Darcy has finally changed his attitude about the key players on Buffalo and will be a force for years to come. Although some people refuse to admit Buffalo will be good this year, I believe they will be a force.

They are very young and with all the key players signed and having played together on Buffalo and Rochester this team has great chemistry. Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Paul Gaustad, Daniel Paille, and Ryan Miller with the exception of Paille are now signed through the 2011-2012 season.

In the case of Alexander Radulov, there is still no clear cut plan on what is going to happen with him. The KHL wants him to help their new league get going. What is better than a Russian born player who is pretty good? Granted he is not as big a name as fellow countrymen Evgeni Malkin but he does not want to go back to Russia.

While Nashville and the NHL are expecting Radulov to come back and at least finish his contract. The KHL president clearly wants Radulov and also wants to establish a friendly relationship with the NHL as he has already offered compensation for Radulov but Bettman has flatly said no.

Once this situation gets resolved I believe the KHL and NHL will have a good relationship, so there will be no more Radulovs not honoring their contract and jumping back to Russia or Malkins fleeing to the NHL.

Finally there still has been no clear direction that arguable Future Hall of Famers Brendan Shannahan, Joe Sakic, and Teemu Selanne will play again. A lot of reports flying around and it is only August 23rd! Watch a lot more trades and decisions by veterans to happen as training camp draws closer.

The Three Dark Horses Of The NHL 2008-2009 Season

Andrew Mason — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:21:38 -0400

I think that there will be three teams who missed the playoffs last year, who will make it this year that many people are not sold on yet.

Here we go in no particular order:

1. The Columbus Blue Jackets: Yes the team that has yet to make the playoffs since they came into the league in 2000. This team has slowly been improving year by year finishing this past year with a franchise high 80 points.

They have perennial all-star Rick Nash, and youngster RJ Umberger looking to continue after his monster playoff series against Montreal, the consistent Fredrik Modin who was limited by injuries this past year, rugged defensemen Mike Commodore, and young goalie Pascal Leclaire.

They will also have veteran Michael Peca again as well as Jason Chimera. They have three solid defensemen in Commodore, assistant captain Rotislav Klesla, and newly acquired Fedor Tyutin.

Pascal Leclaire was a star for Columbus last year playing in 54 games and although only being 24-17-0-6 he was seventh in the league in GAA and 11th in save percentage and second in the league with nine shutouts.

Plus you got love that picture. The only things that might prevent Columbus from reaching the playoffs for the first time in franchise history are injuries, which seem to happen to key players on this team, and offensive firepower on defense. Last year Fredrik Modin who put 50+ points the last three years played in only 23 games gathering only twelve points.

Then on defense Mike Commodore, Fedor Tyutin, and Rotislav Klesla were the only defensemen who amassed more than 10 points but the most was 20. Otherwise expect this team to be in the playoffs this year but they will most likely face defending champion Detroit Red Wings or always near the top of the conference the San Jose Sharks.

2. Buffalo Sabes: This is a slight homer pick but I still believe the Sabres will return to the playoffs after their up and down season last year. This team finished just four points of the playoffs despite having an 11 game streak where they did not win a single game. They also had a 1-6 start to November as well.

This team will have 11 players who had at least 30 points last year and had two just finish outside of that mark. The Sabres lacked that big checking defensemen but remedied that with Craig Rivet who can also fill up the stat sheet with goals and assists.

They did not make any acquisitions on the offensive side but instead resigned or in the case of Pominville working on resigning the core of offensive players. Thomas Vanek though disappointing finished 52nd among all players with 64 points while Derek Roy and Jason Pominville finished with 81 and 80 respectively good enough for top 20

Hopefully a full season as being the top guys without being able to rely on Briere and Drury to get the points taught them that they need to step up. The Sabres will also look to see major contributions from Ales Kotalik, Jochen Hecht, Paul Gaustad, and surprising youngster Drew Stafford(who I hope the Sabres resign as he becomes a RFA next year).

They also hope for a huge rebound from the very disappointing Maxim Afingenov and for a full season from Tim Connolly who played in just 48 games but still finished with 40 points. The defense is still young but they clearly missed the leadership of Teppo Numinmen who will be back this year after missing the first 81 games last year.

Once again Ryan Miller will be the backstop and will have a capable backup in Patrik Lalime behind him. As long as the Sabres avoid those 11 game losing streaks this team will be in the playoffs. Although how well they will do will be unknown.

3. Chicago Blackhawks: Before I begin about Chicago let me be clear about this. I chose them as a dark horse because many people believe they will make the playoffs being lead by Patrick Kane, Johnathan Towes, and Brian Campbell. I am making them a dark horse as they will win at least a series or two although many people do not expect them to do that much. I am also clarifying that there will be more than just Kane and Towes on offense. Now back to the article:

After making the playoffs just once in the past 10 seasons, it seems Chicago finally got their act together and look to be a formidable team again. They missed the playoffs just by three points last year.

Their offense once again will be second year players Patrick Kane and Johnthan Towes and veteran Patrick Sharp. The three finished with 72, 54. and 62 points respectively. The three once again look to be the leaders of the Blackhawks as Towes was named captain becoming the third youngest captain behind Crosby and Lecavalier.

Their second line will also contain Martin Havlat and Robert Lang. Havlat is looking to rebound after playing in only 35 games due to injury but still had 27 points and Robert Lang looks to stay as Mr. Consistent as he has not had a sub-50 point season since the 1998-1999 season when he was with Pittsburgh.

Off season acquistion Brian Campbell looks to be the leader of this Blackhawk defense and will give the Blackhawks four defensemen who finished with 18 points or more. The most interesting position on this team to watch will be the goaltender situation.

They will have Christobel Huet and Nikolai Khabibulin in goal. Both are number 1 goaltenders in this league. But the Blackhawks are over the cap and have over 12 million invested in just those two.

The consensus will be Khabibulin will be moved most likely to Los Angeles but Dale Tallon has stated there is a possibility that both will stay in Chicago. The only thing stopping the Blackhawks is if Kane and Towes have sophomore slumps. Otherwise this team will be in the playoffs and a force to be reckon with come playoff time.

Watch out for these three teams this season! They have all the pieces to make it to the playoffs and don't be surprise if they win a series or two...

John Stevens Extended By Flyers For Two More Years

Andrew Mason — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:03:39 -0400

John Stevens has signed a two year contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers. In case you did not know Stevens was voted coach of the year by The Hockey News which helped him gain that extension.

Stevens is a good coach and especially since most of the guys on the Flyers currently played under him on the Phantoms. He knows them well and knows what to expect from them.

The players he has not coached are well-seasoned veterans who know what needs to be done in order to win this league. The team is perfect combination of young and old and Stevens knows what to expect from all of them.

Many have praised Stevens for turning the Flyers around from last place to the final four of the playoffs this year. I, however, am still skeptical of him. I believe with the amount of talent he received in the offseason last year he would have to try to screw it up. Stevens had basically three all-stars last year in Mike Richards, Kimmo Timonen, and goalie Martin Biron who was huge for Philadelphia. There was 11 Flyers with 30 points or more last year and that number is looked to be increase with Simon Gagne last year and Glen Metropolit. With the potential of 13 guys with at least 30 points there should be no reason that the Flyers finish lower than fourth in the conference.

Granted last year he did have to deal with injuries to Gagne, Richards, Lupul, Upshall, Umberger, and Jones at times. Additionally Briere struggled at times but there was too much talent on that team to not be able to compete with the best of the east.

However you cannot just blame losses or meltdowns to injuries, the best teams learn how to keep going and keep winning, the losers shift the blame and lose.

Hopefully this year Stevens will lead this team to the playoffs again but hopefully this time it leads to the division title and the Stanley Cup.

The NFL Experiment in Canada Begins Tonight

Andrew Mason — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:38:23 -0400

If you thought preseason didn't mean anything, you are wrong.

Tonight in Week Two of the NFL preseason there will be a first for the NFL.

There will be the first NFL game in Canada that will be played annually. It will be the Pittsburgh Steelers being "hosted" by the Buffalo Bills.

This is will be an important indicator for the NFL in whether Toronto will be a viable location for an NFL franchise. According to ticket sales there will be a capacity crowd tonight at 54,000.

Since this is only preseason, fans will only get to see the stars of each team for about a quarter, even if that. Then they will hand it over to the second, third, and fourth stringers to play the rest. Many fans might be disappointed by that considering that some websites are selling tickets in the high triple digits.

Depending on the fan's reactions to the game and the feedback from the players, this game will play an important role in Roger Goodell and the owners' decision whether to place the Bills or another franchise in Toronto.

Personally, while this may seem like a good idea to move a franchise to Canada, which is one of the largest cities in North America, it will be a hassle. There are two huge obstacles that the NFL will have to deal with: the CFL and the new security measures that are imposed by the United States.

First, the CFL has two teams in the area. The Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are right there. So there will be major protests from them about moving the NFL into their territory. Toronto has already voiced their displeasure of Buffalo playing eight games over the next five years in Toronto, so you can only imagine their reaction if the NFL tries to move a team there.

Second, the United States now requires everyone flying into the United States to have a passport. Canada will also require passports for flying into the country as well. This will cause massive hassles for players, families, and fans to go across the border and back in order to play/see the game. So there will also be that problem, unless the NFL can work out something with border patrol to make is easier.

Too Bad the game isn't televised!

Open Mic: All-Time Buffalo Sabres Lineup

Andrew Mason — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:23:49 -0400

I don't how to open this, so I will jump right into it:

Forwards

First Line: Rick Martin - Gilbert Perreault - Rene Roberts.

AKA the French Connection. Do I really need to explain any more?

Second Line: Miroslav Satan - Pat LaFontaine - Danny Gare

These three are probably the most prolific players in Sabres history.

Third Line: Dave Andreychuk - Chris Drury - Donald Audette

Andreychuk and Drury provide invaluable experience—and who can argue with "Captain Clutch"? Audette was a physical players who also knew how to put the puck in the net, although he was never able to play a full season.

Fourth Line: Brad May - Matthew Barnaby - Rob Ray

Dubbed the 1990s version of the Hanson Brothers, and possibly one of the best checking/fighting lines ever in the NHL.

Defense

Tim Horton - Jay McKee

Horton is the most well-known defensemen in Sabres history and McKee is probably the best offensive D-man in history.

Alexi Zhitnik - Jason Woolely

Easily two of the best players on the Sabres during the '90s.

Brian Campbell - Teppo Numminen

Campbell was one of the best defensmen to come through the Sabres system. Teppo provides experience and leadership along the blue line.

Goalies

Domink Hasek

Ryan Miller

They are/were both the franchise goalies for the Sabres. And both were the cornerstone of the team.

Coach

Lindy Ruff

Currently the longest-serving coach in the NHL, and has seen the best and worst of the Sabres franchise so far.

Executive

Darcy Regier

It's a close call between him and Muckler, but Regier has made the moves to make the Sabres one of the best teams in the league.

Marian Gaborik Going to the Buffalo Sabres? Closer to Happening Than You Think

Andrew Mason — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:18:45 -0400

Before I begin there have been comments on this article below accusing me of just pulling stuff of thin air. This is simply not true, there have been TRUE and REAL reports of Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Washington inquiring and talks of actually trading Gaborik. The following is why of those three teams and what I have heard from Minnesota that Buffalo has a very good chance of acquiring Gaborik. All of this has come from reliable sources that I frequently check with.

There now I cleared that up onto the article:

Will the Faster Player in the NHL be traded to one of fastest teams in the league?

There's a very good chance it's going to happen soon.

If Minnesota does not succeed in convincing Gaborik to sign on long-term, look for him to be moved this year, before he can walk as UFA and the Wild get zilch for him.

Buffalo is also looking to move an important piece before he becomes a UFA—Maxim Afinogenov. Buffalo could put an interesting package of Afinogenov, Kotalik, or even Connolly if they want to move players in their contract years.

Buffalo seems to be the team with the best chance to acquire Gaborik and give him the money he wants. The two other teams that are known to inquire about acquiring Gaborik are the Penguins and Capitals. They are both going to be very close to the cap this year, and will need to trade some significant salaries to sign Gaborik to a deal that he will want.

Gaborik will make $6.33 million this year. At only 26 and one of the top players in the league, he is going to demand a lot of money.

For this reason, there is no way Pittsburgh will pay him what he wants, plus Malkin and Crosby at $8.7 million, Whitney at $4 million, Orpik at $3.75 million and Fleury at $5 million.

Starting next year, they will pay those five guys about $30 million combined. Say the salary cap goes to $60 million next year—the Penguins will not invest over $37 million for just six guys and then try to fill out the rest of their roster on $23 million.

The Washington Capitals will also have a very tough time signing Gaborik to the extension that he will want from them. They will have no more than $10 million in cap room next year—and that is with them losing five guys.

Unless they expect to replace those five by replacing them with cheap free agents or minor league players the Caps will have a lot less space than that. But they are very close to being an elite team and will not want to sacrifice a quarter of their roster for one player.

The Sabres, on the other hand, have plenty of cap space. They currently have nine million dollars free as of today which is a good chunk of change. They can easily sign Gaborik to a long-term deal for whatever he wants—especially if they trade Max plus either Kotalik or Connolly, which would free up an extra $5.23-6.23 million.

Gaborik's salary for this year will be almost the same as what will be paid to those two combined. Gaborik will not get anything more than ten million—nor will anyone in the league for awhile now.

So, say for whatever reason Darcy goes insane(which he might have had already) and gives him a nine million dollar-per-year contract starting next year, and they trade Connolly and Afinogenov. Assuming Kotalik and Peters and Spacek walk, the Sabres will only have $12.06 million in cap space to sign three guys if they want to. And that's if they keep the salary cap at the same.

Could you imagine a line of Vanek-Roy-Gaborik next year? That is one scary line. Vanek had 64 points, Roy had 81, and Gaborik had 83. And that could quite possibly be one of the fastest lines in the NHL ever.

Buffalo seems to have the right guys to pull it off, and there is a very real possibility that in this upcoming 2008-2009 NHL season, Gaborik could be playing for the blue and gold.

Is the NFL the Most Unwatchable League?

Andrew Mason — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:24:18 -0400

The NFL is the most unwatchable league of the four major sports.

Now before you all come at me with torches and pitchforks and burn me at the stake, hear me out.

It seems to me the NFL is now designed for people with ADD. Each play is only a few seconds long. The famous sack escape by Eli Manning and the pass to David Tyree in the Super Bowl against the Patriots, which seemed to be forever, was only a paltry nine seconds long.

Now you all are going to tell me Major League Baseball is worse and can take forever. Well, you are wrong. Baseball has new rules to make the game go faster. The games are getting shorter than football by over an hour most of the time. The game can get slow, especially if the pitcher keeps throwing pick-off throws. However, even though there is no current ball in play, there are still things going on.

In the NFL, the sequence of events could be, a run for a three yards lasting three seconds, huddle for 30 seconds, incomplete pass, huddle for 30 seconds again. Complete a pass for only three yards, then huddle for 40 seconds while the punt team comes out. Then comes a punt, fair catch, five seconds, then a TV timeout for three minutes. Not that much fun now when you break the NFL down like that right?

Sure there are the occasional fantastic plays, like the picture I included of Reggie Bush making that Washington player look foolish trying to tackle him. But how many times do you see that in the NFL? Almost never.

What about the NBA? For most of the game, unless there are fouls, the clock keeps moving and the game keeps going. When the final two minutes comes every timeout, which at six per team, seems to be used. Every break seems to be an excuse for a TV timeout.

And the NHL? Very rarely are there any TV timeouts during the games. After stoppages of play, they have the away team and then the home team make line changes if they need a switch. If either team is too slow to change, tough luck, they have to wait until they can change on the fly or another stoppage.

Unless they are trying to score quickly, which only happens right before halftime or in the last few minutes of the game, each team can use up to 45 seconds to choose a play lineup and hike the ball in football. Say there are 120 plays in one game, 60 on each side. If each team takes 20 seconds to lineup and each play lasts seven seconds, that means there is 40 minutes of teams huddling, choosing a play, and hiking the ball. This would be compared to just 14 minutes of actual playing time.

Of course that math is going to be fuzzy because it's based just on the amount of plays. It does not take into account timeouts teams call when the offense gets confused or the defense doesn't have the right personnel on the field. Also missing is how much time actually runs off if the clock keeps running, etc.

The NFL is different compared to the NBA and NHL. When the players are on the ice or court, it means they are actually playing, not standing around. Time does not keep going after plays except in the NBA after scoring. That being said, all the players have to get either in their offensive or defensive set almost immediately while NFL players can take the time if they need to.

Again, my opinion is that the NFL is designed so people do not have to focus for any more than a few seconds. Don't believe me? Watch an NFL game this year and actually count how many seconds it takes them to huddle up, choose a play, line up, and snap the ball. Then compare that to how many seconds that play actually lasts.

The All Star Game Conundrum

Andrew Mason — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:49:00 -0400

There appears to be an interesting debate with sport fans. Many fans love the idea of an "all star team" for each conference and are pitted against one another for conference supremacy in addition to the championship. Fans always fantasize about having that perfect team with all superstars.

However, everyone's teams differ and that soon causes intense debate about who is better than who and the whole process. Currently MLB, NBA, and NHL have fan voting for starters with the coaches of each team filling out the roster. The NFL picks their pro bowlers out of a hat it seems like.

In MLB, each fan can vote up to 25 times per e-mail address on an all-star roster of their choosing and there is no limit to voting when in a stadium. So of course, fans are going to load up on their own team. In addition, it's simple math the larger the fan-base the more all stars from that team will be selected. This year A-Rod lead all voting with 3.9 million votes.

Then fans always complain that there are too many players of the more popular teams in baseball (Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs). A combined nine Red Sox, Cubs, and Yankees were voted to start the all-star game.
This of course leads to people complaining about players who are having better years than say Jason Varitek and Miguel Tejada but did not selected. In the NBA, the starters are chosen by the fan, which leads it to be basically being a popularity contest.

It pays to be well known and does not matter about your stats during the year as long as you did well in the past. What else can explain Jason Kidd's selection as a starter over Chauncey Billups who was statistically better than Kidd? Alternatively, in the case of the NHL the famous Rory Fitzpatrick Campaign this past winter?

Rory garnered allegedly 550,177 votes from fans, which was good for third place (that is number is disputed by some as being too low and due to unlikely numerical coincidences in the final week of voting). Rory in 77 games finished the season with eight points and 57 penalty minutes. He does not sound much like an all-star to me.

The NFL has become the pinnacle of players being "snubbed.” Two Notables this year include Fred Taylor who is nearing 10,000 yards for his career and has never been to a pro bowl, David Garrard who finished with 18 TDs to just three INTs.

Everyone talks about how prestigious it is to be voted an all-star and how much it improves their Hall of Fame credentials. Mike Sweeney due to the MLB rule of every team being represented was a five time all-star. However, honestly is Sweeney really worth being in the Hall of Fame or Rory Fitzpatrick?

They take away spots as well from more deserving people. The all-star game while it is fun to watch the process of selecting players have become a major debate among fans and analysts. It gives me a headache having to listen to the "experts" on ESPN about snubs and undeserving players.

Why The NHL Should Chill Out With The Winter Classic

Andrew Mason — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:19:08 -0400

First of all I want to say I love the Winter Classic. I watched both the Montreal-Edmonton and last year's Pittsburgh-Buffalo as well as the "Cold War" between Michigan and Michigan State.

The Buffalo-Pittsburgh had the exact storybook ending the league wanted-the whether you like it or not the face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby, scoring the goal in a shootout. Both games were great for the game and the league and even better for the fans.

However the NHL needs to learn how to not overdo a good thing. The Winter Classic is like chocolate its great once in awhile but if you continue it on a consistent basis you will grow sick of it.

There was a four-year gap in between the "Heritage Classic" and the "AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic" which was huge for the NHL. That game was also a huge success and paved the way for the Buffalo-Pittsburgh game.

But also while fans remembered the game they missed it. Most fans also loved the whole concept of playing outside and on basically a "pond" which many players and fans played on when they were kids.

Despite the minus 22 temperature over 50,000 turned out in Edmonton. For last year it was over 70,000 and 41,000 tickets sold out in 30 minutes. Soon all the teams wanted their own outdoor games.

But the key is although the stadiums will sell out the TV ratings will only contain hockey fans. Non-hockey fans were drawn to watch the game by the mystique of actual NHL teams playing outside and/or the rarity of it. But if it's on every year the casual hockey fan and non-hockey fans will not want to watch it.

Then eventually even hockey fans will grow tired of the same thing every year. The NHL should take a page from the Olympics, people love to see the teams and athletes but only every four years for each season.

If the Olympics were held every year or two then the Olympics would lose their meaning and speciality which the Winter Classic needs to hold onto. Otherwise it would just become a game that's played outdoors every year.

However as long as the NHL does what I am suggesting and chill with the Winter Classic they will have great success every time they play it.