Steaming hot from the melting pot

Some dips from the melting pot take over today as we clean up some items that have built up.

The Pontiac Silverdome did get sold and for a pittance.
Well,more than I have to spend,but next to nothing for anyone with a decent supply of money.
$583,000 dollars is all that it cost to own the Silverdome and while that is a huge amount of money for me,it is virtually nothing in the stadium business.
The Hagerstown Suns couldn't completely renovate the Muni for that cost.
The new Canadian owners are reportedly going to change the Silverdome to a soccer facility and hope to attract a MLS team to play there.

The New Jersey Devils had both their overall winning and road winning streaks snapped on Monday with a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia.
I missed the game,but In Lou We Trust reports the Devils were simply outplayed in the defeat.
The Devils goals went to Zach Parise (11 with one second remaining) and David Clarkson (7 PP).
The Devils go on the road for two games that I will see only parts of due to the later start times with visits to Nashville tonight and Dallas on Saturday.

The Devils also made a surprising move in sending Cory Murphy down to Lowell and bringing up Tyler Eckford to replace him.
This move along with bringing Matt Corrente up before the loss in Philadelphia,means that either Eckford or Corrente is guaranteed to make their NHL debut tonight in Nashville.
Eckford was named the AHL player of the week last week with two goals and seven assists,but it is out of character for the Devils to have two similar young blueliners making their debuts at the same time.
Eckford is playing well,so it will be interesting to see how he does....

Sorry to hear that one of my all time favorites,Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,is battling leukemia.
My dad was a huge A-J fan and I remember very little of my childhood that didn't have the master of the sky hook hanging on my bedroom poster wall.
Was there any child of the 70's that didn't at least TRY the sky hook??
Best wishes to the greatest center to play the game....


Manny Pacquiao stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th of what was reported to be a dominant performance by Pacquaio,but Cotto was good enough to make the fight entertaining.
The drumbeats have already started for Pacquaio vs Floyd Mayweather,but I am skeptical that this bout will take place as Mayweather's track record shows that he only fights fighters far less skilled than him or fighters that are far smaller than him.
HBO will televise a replay of the bout on Saturday.

The Pirates released a slew of six year free agent players from their system.
Only one name stood out in Jamie Romak.
The power hitting Canadian once looked like a good prospect,but a disastrous 2009 split between Lynchburg and Altoona placed him on the suspect pile....

The Indians did the same and two names stood out.
Scott Roehl was a pitcher that once held promise,but the most interesting name was Josh Barfield.
Barfield had a nice rookie year with the Padres,was shipped to Cleveland for Kevin Kouzmanoff
and was expected to be the Indian second baseman for years.
Some struggles and the Indians apparent issues with working with talented young second basemen (Example: Brandon Phillips) ended that far sooner than expected.
Could Barfield have a career Renaissance like Phillips after leaving the Indians?
I would like to see the Pirates take a shot,if it works Barfield solves a problem and then the newly acquired Akinori Iwamura could be the rotating utility man and still get his at bats that way.

Finally,the Browns placed Dave Zastadil and Steve Heiden on the injured reserve ended their seasons.
Reggie Hodges punted against the Ravens,but I was unaware that Zastadil's season was in jeopardy.
Too bad,his performance was one of the few bright spots.....

The Browns claimed two players off waivers to replace the IR players on the roster.
Wide Receiver Jake Allen joins the Browns from Green Bay and Arnold Harrison is a linebacker formerly of the Steelers.
Allen appears to be just a practice squad player,Harrison was using mainly as a special teamer by Pittsburgh.....

Photo Credits
Boxing:Mark Terrill-AP Photo
Barfield:AP file