One word-Awful

One word covers the New Jersey Devils play and (in most cases) effort last night-Awful.
The 3-0 loss to the Florida Panthers before 43 people in Miami was not awful because of the loss,it was HOW they lost.
Little enthusiasm, little spark and after the Panthers went ahead 2-0,it seemed that most of the Devils just wanted to head back to the hotel.
If the Devils goalie was not Marty Brodeur-the score could have been easily 7-0.
Now to be fair-the second Panther goal can blamed on the coach as after a bad interference call on David Clarkson,Brent Sutter made the power play 5 on 3 for calling the ref a name that Bill O'Reilly uses to order Ice Tea!
Yes,it was a bad call and should have been addressed,but that basically put the game away considering how the Devils played.
There are some legitimate reasons for the play thus far.
The injuries to Jamie Langenbrunner and Colin White are killing this team.
Langenbrunner adds scoring and toughness,while White is the steady hand defensively that this team is screaming for right now
And I am so tired of watching Johnny Oduya screw up every game.
Cant we please showcase Richard Matvichuk for a while and scratch Oduya?
God,he is terrible!
The defense is struggling but would look much better with the prospective addition of Danny Markov and White's return from the IR.
Things I liked:
Nice game from Marty,even in the loss.
David Clarkson,Mike Mottau ,Arron Asham,Vitaly Visnevski and Zach Parise never stopped trying.
Outside of that,not much.
The Devils play in Atlanta on Saturday night.

Bullpen notes

The Cleveland Indians begin the American League Championship Series in Boston tonight vs the Red Sox.
Game time 7:00 as the Tribe sends C.C.Sabathia to the hill vs the Beantowners Josh Beckett.
Coverage here tomorrow.

Dusty Baker is appearing to be the leading candidate for the Cincinnati Reds managing job.
Not sure if that is a great fit for Dusty.

Rumors are flying that the Rogers Corporation will attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills after the passing of current owner Ralph Wilson.
Wilson has stated that after his death,the Bills will be sold to the highest bidder and no hometown discount for Buffalo.
This would be a killer shot to the CFL as a league and could be its downfall.

Speaking of the CFL-The Hamilton Tiger-Cats lost in Montreal on Canadian Thanksgiving 27-19.
The loss dropped the Cats to 2-12 on the season and eliminated them from the playoff hunt.
Like that had not been decided long ago!

The Ashland Arrows battle the Mansfield Tygers (correct spelling) in Ashland tonight,as the Arrows attempt to keep their share of first place in the OCC.
As of now the 6-1 Arrows are in 7th spot in Region 6 and would qualify for the State playoffs.
One problem-the team that they are tied with for 1st (Lexington) is in the same region and holds the 6th spot.
So the Ashland-Lexington game that could (if both teams win out) decide the conference title,could also send the loser out of the state tournament.
The two teams play in Lexington two weeks from tonight.

Finally-Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on the environment.
Kudos to Gore for the award and all his work.
Now we just need him to run for President to put his efforts into the highest position in the world.

Photo Credits
Clarkson-Allen-Doug Benc-Getty Images
Helmets-Ohio Helmet Project
Gore-A inconvenient truth