The Nashville Predators Just Embarrassed Themselves and Their Fans

I love anything that gets rivalries ignited!

Fan's Fronchroom

So Much for “Southern Hospitality”

Alright, I’m going to do my best to avoid ranting altogether in regards to this issue, but I’d be lying if I said I could make that promise–either way, this ordeal absolutely needs to be mainstream knowledge for hockey fans all over the world.

Visiting a neighboring team’s city and arena for  a road game. A lot of us Chicagoans have done it, especially since our team’s resurgence has led to such a dramatic rise in individual ticket prices. It can be an absolutely awesome experience to visit another arena, and be introduced to the unique hockey culture that exists within one of the Hawks’ rivaling franchises. I have countless friends and family who have visited places like Nashville, Columbus, St. Louis, and even Michigan and Florida to watch the Hawks play on the road. Hockey fans are some of the most warm, passionate and…

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NBA: D-Wade NOT joining LBJ in Cleveland. Off to Chicago instead!

After 13 seasons with the Miami Heat, the 12-time All-Star and 3-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade has decided to sign a 2-year $47 million dollar deal with the Chicago Bulls.

In returning to his hometown to play ball, the Chicago native turned down $40 million from the Heat and offers from the Nuggets and Bucks to join them.

The 34-year-old Wade joins a Bulls team that has a new point guard in Rajon Rondo and all-star shooting guard Jimmy Butler.

To make room for Wade, the Bulls sent guard, and former Toronto Raptor Jose Calderon and two future 2nd round picks to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for the rights to an undetermined player who isn’t currently in the NBA, and then they traded Mike Dunleavy to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Wade leaves Miami as their career leader in games, minutes, field goals, field goal attempts, free throws, free throw attempts, assists, steals and points and second in blocked shots.

 

‘Your boat looks like a toilet’: Oil slick turns white boats to brown in Rio Olympic sailing venue — National Post – Top Stories

RIO DE JANEIRO — A new pollution problem has surfaced in Guanabara Bay, the venue for sailing in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Sailors complained Monday about an oil slick that turned white boats brown with crews in town practicing for the Olympics, which open in a month. “We’ve never seen anything like this. It…

via ‘Your boat looks like a toilet’: Oil slick turns white boats to brown in Rio Olympic sailing venue — National Post – Top Stories

How Awesome is This! Win Safari Niagara Passes here!

Awesome!

The Urban Daddy®

  As a father of 3 young children, we are always looking for fun, exciting things to do on the weekends with them which are hopefully mentally and physically stimulating, educational and hopefully interesting for us as well.  After 8 years of being a dad, we’ve been just about everywhere here in Toronto and surrounding area and I thought we had visited, heard of, or knew of all the great places to visit until I came across Safari Niagara.

Have you heard about Safari Niagara before?  Have you been there?  Did you know it is only 10 minutes from Niagara Falls in Stevensville, Ontario, and did you know that Safari Niagara is for visitors of all ages and all abilities and not only are there animals on a 150-acre, privately owned and operated nature park, which is home to more than 750 animals of native and exotic mammals, reptiles and birds.

If that is not enough…

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I didn’t realize – WCW, Hockey, Basketball and why is Chris Bosh crying?

Things I didn’t realize;

1) I’m watching the vintage collection on TV and currently they are showing a lumberjack match between 2 of my favourite wrestlers, Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat and Big Van Vader (managed by Harley Race).

I’m not sure I was aware back in the WCW days just how big they got.  At ringside of this match includes; Arn Anderson, Sid Vicious, Sting, Harlem Heat (Booker T), Davey Boy Smith,  but there are also some terrible wrestlers here like Tugboat, and Kevin Sullivan’s slow brother.  Those guys were a waste of everyone’s time, but the rest were quite a compliment.  So great wrestlers, but no writers.

2) I didn’t realize that the game of basketball meant anything to Chris Bosh.  I mean he did tell the entire City of Toronto that his decision to join buddies James and Wade in South Beach was a “business decision” and not personal.  So if it was just a business decision, why the heck was Bosh crying as he stumbled back to the locker room after the Miami (C)Heat lost the championship to the Dallas Mavericks. 

He looked like such a weenie.

I will always have fond memories of when Chris was leaving the court after the game, hand over face, crying up a storm probably because he was embarrassed the Heat lost.

Here is what Toronto Raptor Sonny Weems had to say about that incident;

@IamAmirJohnson and @DeMar_DeRozan why your boy was out there acting like that in the tunnel lol

 

He he.

 

It was also good to see Cleveland Cavaliers’ own congratulating the Mavs and saving something to the effect of; “You have to wait in line to win and cannot do it by taking shortcuts.  That was for you, LeBron James… Maybe you should have shown up for the finals instead of leaning on Wade to get you your ring…

 

Ouch.

 

I also wondered why Mavs star forward Dirk Nowitski left the floor before the NBA Championship was presented to his team?  Dude went to the locker room.   I’m not sure I get the NBA.  In the NHL and MLB , the teams that win championships actually look happy and want to celebrate with their teammates.  Not Dirk… 

 

3) I’m also glad that the Boston Bruins have tied the NHL Stanley Cup finals at 3 each against the Vancouver Canucks.  While I dislike players like Raffi Torres, Max Lapierre or the diving I have seen from Burrows or Kessler, I certainly do not like the fans. 

 

I know of one fan who has a Canucks jersey that says “HATE LEAFS” on the back.  Really?  Your team is in the finals and all you can think about is Toronto?  Very odd indeed.  Sure the Leafs have been brutal for quite a while, it would be really nice to see the cup in the hands of former Leafs Kabarle and Tukka Rask, or Tyler Seguin the 2nd overall draft pick that Boston got from Toronto in the Phil Kessel trade. 

 

I kind of feel that it’s the closest the Leafs are going to get to a cup in my lifetime, plus Tim Thomas is a much more deserving cup winner than Roberto Luongo which is why I am voting for the Bruins to hoist the cup this year and not the Canucks. 

 

They’re already blaming Toronto out there for being the centre of the universe.  Might as well be for this too.

 

Go B’s Go!

Toronto’s Best Kept Sporting Secret. Shhh. Don’t Tell Anyone. The Toronto Rock are in the Champions Cup Final!

Do you want to know Toronto’s best kept sporting secret?

Promise me you won’t tell anyone? 

It’s the Toronto Rock lacrosse team.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why the team is not selling out the Air Canada Centre for each and every one of their 8 homes games and so far one playoff game.  Yes, folks, a Toronto team that makes the playoffs!!!

Sure 10,000-15,000 is a great crowd and some nights over the past 10 years, this team has out drawn the Toronto Blue Jays, but for this sport and this team I’m at a loss for words.  If you have never seem lacrosse live, and you like the toughness of hockey and the pace of basketball, well you will love lacrosse.

Lacrosse (or the cross as my son calls it) has a 30 second shot clock which keeps the action fast and furious, but is tough like hockey except lacrosse has a lot of goals, lots of hitting and with music playing throughout the game, it makes this event a must-see for everyone.  It’s great for kids too!

I love watching this team so much that I am a season ticket holder.  I have been since the team started playing at Maple Leaf Gardens.  And sadly, while I am going to miss the Champions Cup re-match tomorrow afternoon at the ACC against the Washington Stealth, I will be PVR’ing the game and watching it “live” with my boys.

We will have out white rally towels and I will be wearing my blue original Toronto Rock jersey.  The boys will have their farewell Jim “Scoop” Veltman t-shirts on.

Go Rock Go!

Bring the Cup back to Toronto.  May 15th, 2pm Air Canada Centre.  Tickets are selling fast.  If you want them, get down to the ACC box office at least 2 hours before the game or you won’t get it!

Random Sports thoughts for a long weekend.

• I loved the R-Truth / John Morrison segment on RAW the other night.  Brought a whole new look at R-Truth who I could not stand mainly because of the singing and the piercings.  I could have done without the smoking, however.
• Hoping the Buffalo Sabres – who held off the Toronto Maple Leafs late season surge beat the Philadelphia Flyers.  I detest the Flyers – well everything Philly, except the Phillies.  To see them lose will hopefully be a sign to management there that being the league bullies will not bring success and championships.  Hartnell, Carcillo, Pronger, Versteeg, Mike Richards… Ugh.
• Any chance the Heat are going to lose in the 1st round?  Doubt it.
• IF the NHL brings the Jets back to Winnipeg, I think the country of Canada should arrange a deal with the Jets where by people buy a Jets jersey and 50% of it goes to the team to help it keep some cash so it won’t be considered a small market.  I’d buy one!
• I watch TNA wrestling and as much as I like the wrestling, I realize each and every Thursday night how bad the writing is.  Storylines come and go with no rhyme or reason, people like Rick Flair and still in there, and guys like Gunner and Murphy and Rob Terry are portrayed as useless.  Even RVD gets called out for being a pothead in the show.  I just don’t get it.  If I wanted to watch the alsorans from the WWE, I’d watch Superstars, not Impact.
• Come to think of it… I think Philly management might be writing for TNA… The Flyers always like to be big and tough, however, no goaltending and too many goons is a huge problem.  They got to the finals with Michael Leighton, then gave him a huge contact but he didn’t play well this year so they turned to Bobrovsky, who had a bad game and they handed the reins over to Brian Boucher – who I used to watch in junior… Big talent, big ego I thought, and now Boucher let in soft goals so they’re back and Leighton whho may not have played since December 3rd or something crazy like that.  Hey Philly… Less goons, better goaltending!

2011 Boston Red Sox – BEST TEAM EVER!!!

http://www.massholesports.com/2011/03/boston-herald-declares-2011-red-sox.html

The Boston Herald proclaimed prior to the 2011 Major League Baseball season that the Boston Red Sox, 2011 edition, were the best team ever!

Such lofty praise.

So let’s look at these fantastic Red Sox after today’s game against the Cleveland Indians;

Boston Red Sox Start Season 0-6 for First Time Since 1945 after 1-0 loss to Cleveland.

Yikes!

The Red Sox home opener is tomorrow, when they start a three-game series against the New York Yankees. So they could be 0-9 by next week.

Think they miss former pitching coach John Farrell, new manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.

AL East Standings:

1. Baltimore 4 1 .800
2. NY Yankees 4 2 .667
2. Toronto 4 2 .667
4. Boston 0 6 .000
4. Tampa Bay 0 6 .000

So Boston is tied for last in the league…

Yikes again.

Chris Bosh is back in Toronto. Where is Charles Oakley when you need him?

So tonight is the night that Chris Bosh and his ego make their return to the Air Canada Centre as his Miami Heat play the sad sack Toronto Raptors.

What can I expect to see tonight? 

I know what I would like to see tonight… Nothing like what happened when Bosh, James, and Wade returned to Cleveland to play the even worse Cavaliers.  In that game, there were hugs, handshakes, high-fives, and the Cavs allowed LBJ to return and embarrass the Cav players and insult the fans who paid money to watch the team play that night and any other night prior.

It was a black mark for the league.

In today’s NBA with some team’s having one good player and a few team having 2 or 3 of them, there is nothing left to draw fans to the games.  The rivalries are dead.  If in that game the Cavs players refused to take part in the LeBron love-fest and play the game  hard, they would have earned the respect of the fans of not only Cleveland but also the rest of the league.

Instead they sucked and went on to lose 26 in a row soon there after.

No heart!

Which is exactly why tonight I want to see no hugs, no hi-fives, no helping anyone up after a foul.  I want to see Canadian basketball… Play the Heat hard, treat this game like it matters for the fans of Toronto AND the fans of Cleveland.  I want to see someone on the Dinos step up and knock one of these Heat on their ass and take no prisoners.

I know doing this may result in a lopsided score but at least it tells Bosh – he is not going to be welcomed back with open arms tonight and it will tell that blowhard James to keep his mouth shut and not to comment on anything to do with Toronto.  I’ve commented on how LBJ feels he is entitled to comment on things Toronto and things NBA because he is one of the best players, but deep down inside he’s just another kid with a high-school education who can play a game very well.  He should leave the talking to those who know something.

But all of this is just a dream.

There is no Charles Oakley, or even Rafael Arroujo who are going to destroy Bosh as he swoops in for a dunk, not is a player like the very tattooed Ed David going to step in to one of the Heat.

Instead, they will hug at the beginning of the game, at the end of the game and during the game the Raptor players will watch the Heat destroy them and Bosh, LBJ, Wade and Co will leave Toronto with a perceived notch in their belts having taught the Raptors a lesson like they did to the Cavaliers.

Boo on the NBA for allowing all this “love” before a game.  It cheapens the event and sets the tone the game is going to played by a bunch of rich dudes just collecting their pay checks.

I’m not saying allow fighting like they do it other sports – ahem – NHL, but man, could some Raptor leave tonight as the hero to the City, the Country and even to fans of NBA teams upset by the hijinks of the Miami Heat.  These guys made a mockery of the leagues free agent process, they want the spotlight on their egos all the time and the trash-talk and put down Toronto management – saying the team didn’t want to win.

If I was playing tonight, I would pour water into the chalk LBJ tosses into the air, or crazy glue… Something to stop the “King LeBron” show before it starts.  Do I come to see this man, excuse me, boys act?  Nope.   I want to see a game.  

But it won’t happen… Not tonight.

 It’s going to be too painful to watch for me.  When I play sports I take pride in my team and I play to win – within the rules – but hard each and every second I’m out there.  I do it for free.  These guys are getting paid BIG bucks to do it.  They should do it for the team, for the City and most importantly for themselves. 

After tonight Raptors management will know for sure who wants to be here and who is just collecting a paycheck.

Cavs management must have been horrified after their experience.

I fear we are going to experience the same.

Toronto Maple Leafs trade Kris Versteeg for draft picks and Toronto sports fans still hate it…

Brian Burke is in a no-win situation.

He gets Phil Kessel for two-first round picks and a second round pick and fans hate that move because Kessel – probably better suited as a solid 2nd line winger – is slumping.

Then, yesterday he ships out Kris Versteeg – a 24 year old winger he picked up from the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks for 3 spare parts in the summer – for a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick from the Flyers.

Fans… Still not happy because the Flyers are a top team in the league.

But let’s put this all in perspective. I’ve been a Leafs fan since the late 70’s – yes I’m that old – and back then they sucked worse and had no future because of Harold Ballard. Now, they have pressure from everywhere.

Versteeg – I watched him play last week against the Thrashers – was not a good hockey player. Watching him skate around made me realize that because a player is on a championship team does not make him a top-notch player. He is replaced by Jeoffrey Lupal. Lupal came to Toronto with a prospect for a very over-priced give-away prone defenseman named Beauchemin.

Net result, is the Leafs have to get better so as to not give the Bruins a lottery pick this year. They have filled out the second line now with MacArthur, Kulemin and Grabovski. Their first line is Lupol and Kessel (insert a centre that can move the puck here not named Bozak) and in the off season urke will load up a real first line with some free agent talent as the team will have a ton of cap room once Komisarek and Kaberle are gone.

I’m sad for the Leafs.

The sounds I heard most in the ACC were those of apathy.

I just don’t want to give the B’s any more quality players, as Rask and Seguin are enough.

As for the deal just completed today which saw the Leafs pick up Aaron Voros from the (who else) Ducks for a 7th round pick. Sure Voros was available last week on waivers and yes, he was assigned straight to the Marlies, but why give up that pick? Voros, no goals and 43 PIM in the farm this year… Yikes.