Bleacher Report - Articles by Brian Waugh

The New House Had a Smell

Brian Waugh — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:13:43 -0400

It was not all bad. The house was clean and all ready for its first of 81 home dates. What a sight it was!

You could not ask for a better day to play ball. The sky was bright and the $1.5 billion house that money built, in the face of a recession, was at its best. It was a full house.

The long awaited, say 85 year wait, was over. It is clear. The house that Ruth Built is a mere shadow of what it was. Ariel shots during the game Thursday afternoon showed the two stadiums in striking contrast. The old Yankee home was there, standing like a forgotten friend, a shell of of what was.

The form was there but the internal heart was gone. The infield and outfield grass was completely removed and it all resembled a construction dirt field. But we can still see all 26 World Series Tiles that no one can remove from her, no matter how close the new house is!

The game was close as it progressed through to the sixth and seventh innings. Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia worked it close for their respective teams. Sabathia did not make it beyond 5 2/3 innings because of a high pitch count. The Yankees escaped with the game still tied in the sixth. The seventh was a whole different story.

George Steinbrenner could not even watch from his new vantage point, his outdoor luxury suite. Even he had to go inside.

The Tribe put up a nine-spot in the inning and rode to a 10-2 finish on opening day at the new house in "Yankeeville".

It was a great start but not so great finish. The Yankee faithful even got to shower some boos down on their boys. It is all good though, another game is on for tomorrow afternoon and 79 more after that.

Even with Mats Sundin, Canucks Still Lack Leadership

Brian Waugh — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:31:32 -0500

Things are not what they planned in Greater Vancouver.

Last night's 5-3 loss to Nashville was the Canucks' eighth straight at home and it gives a new meaning to the term home cooking.

There was carnage all over GM Place as the expected participants of the points posse started off well with a 3-1 lead in the first period, only to see it slip away,

The Canucks were outshot 12-4 in the first and it would seem that Roberto Luongo is getting back into his all-star form. But what about the others?

The Mats Sundin hire of three weeks ago seems to have not rounded into form and the shine is beginning to definitely fade off his aura.

As a leader in Maple Leaf-land in Toronto, he was always counted upon to say the right thing but, now on the West Coast and without a "C" on his sweater, things have changed.

On the recent All-Star weekend in Montreal, where the festivities were held to celebrate the great game, many of the players who were not selected to represent their teams went home to be with their families for a well deserved rest.

On Monday afternoon, when all teams were required to report back to their teams for first practice, media types asked players what they did with their three days off.

On of the Canucks, Mats Sundin simply answered that he and his fiance took a trip up to Whistler. He took a break, focusing his energies on getting ready for the second half of the season!

What!

Mats needed a break after three weeks? There are issues of leadership and desire that continue to reign in Canuckland as the second half begins.

Richard Petty Back in High Gear

Brian Waugh — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:43:53 -0500

All good things take time and like mom's homemade soup, this one's going taste pretty good. The old GEM has become the new Richard Petty Motorsports, and with four cars in the stable, the mix is a good start for this new team.

The way George Gillette has brought forward this new team by purchasing a valued and storied enterprise like the Petty team is not unlike the way he has approached his other sports holdings.

He purchased the Montreal Canadiens from the Molson family when no other Canadian buyer would step up to the plate. He knew, as an American that he was buying not just a Canadian hockey franchise but an institution.

He carefully comes into the Canadian market placing the hockey people in charge of the hockey decisions and gradually wins the approval and trust of the Montreal people.

Now as he has entered the world of Premier League soccer and the life of owning a stake in Liverpool FC, he found it a little harder to win over the trust of the footballers, and their fans, across the pond.

In NASCAR, the Petty acquisition is in the same class. Richard and George have struck a friendship that has worked its way to this time where a great champion and icon is essentially bought out and Richard has several items on his list of deal breakers that must be met.

The name Petty, the Petty colour, and the Petty No. 44 and 43, not to mention the "no alcohol sponsors on the No. 44 and 43".

George Gillette is smart man and a great business guy too. He knows Richard Petty's value in the big track of NASCAR and this is going suit him well in the coming years.

There may be some reservations on the choice of driver choice on all of the 4 drivers but the slate seems to set for Daytona. This author is included among those who will say that 4 who start this year for Petty will not be the same four who finish and their will be one in the Chase.

This Is Not Hockey

Brian Waugh — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:51:37 -0500

The young men from Kazakhstan do know what they signed up for with the IIHF under-20 Championships. They have little to no hope of a medal unless they still pass for the Participant medal, like the the ones they give out in grade school.

Sunday afternoon's loss to the gold medal-defending Canadians, 15-0, was a score that actually was better than at least one NFL score the same afternoon, by two points.

There are 10 teams in this tournament that is two too many. It was changed by the money grubbing powers to be at the IIHF under the guise of allowing the lesser, smaller countries to play with the bigger countries like US, Sweden, Canada and Russia and the rest. The idea would be to have two teams qualify from the "B" tournament played in the fall each year.

To add insult to injury to the teams like the former Soviet states like Kazakhstan, the goal differential is a tie breaker, so it is fill the net till the final whistle.

That is not anyone's hockey.

Wait, maybe it is the IIHF's.

See, if you reduce the tournament to it's rightful size of eight quality teams, there are no longer 32 games to be scheduled. Hence, there are no longer 32 games worth of gate receipts to count and fold.

There is a solution—it is really clear. The schedule can still be re-jigged to handle 32 games even with eight teams and the result is two-fold. There are more close exciting games with no more blowouts, and the IIHF gets to count and fold its money.