You have to play hard every night

The New Jersey Devils continued to play off and on hockey as they lost in Reynolds Coliseum to the N.C St..err Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.
The Devils scored both of their goals on 6 on 4 situations in the third period and only turned a lopsided 3-0 game into a closer than it looked 3-2 final.
Paul Martin scored the first of the two (3) and Patrik Elias fired the other (18) with 22 seconds remaining.
The Devils return home tomorrow against Atlanta before the brutal road trip begins Saturday for a weekend SoCal doubleheader against the Kings and Ducks.

Hell Raisers

1) Damn it,the effort better be turned up soon!

2) I feel better.

3) No,I don't.
This team is not good enough to float through games and lately that has been the case more often than not.
Even in winning games against St.Louis and Ottawa,the team didn't look totally into the game.

4) Brent Sutter showed some creativity with pulling Scott Clemmensen midway through the third period with the Devils being on the power play and the 6 on 4 advantage resulted in Paul Martin's goal.
I liked the gambit,like 4-0 with 12 minutes to go is that much worse than 3-0?

5) I especially like the Sutter reaction to questions on it-“You’re not creating anything offensively, so what have you got to lose,” “If you’re on the power play you’ve got a two-man advantage. We were down three goals. It was’nt like we were down a goal. We were'nt generating a whole lot. We took the chance and it paid off.”
Good answer,coach-this isn't college football where size of victory counts in the polls,a one goal regulation loss counts the same as a 4 goal loss....

Bonus Rounds

I thought the first Carolina goal should have never happened.
One minute into the game,a Wolfpack pass bounced off the end boards into the Devils zone.
Bryce Salvador assumed the play was icing and was stripped of the puck by 65 year old Rod Brind'amour,who then fed 62 year old Ray Whitney for the goal that set the tempo for the night.
I thought it looked like icing,but for a formal rendering of the rule,lets go to the notably even tempered Brent Sutter-
"It's close, but it's a missed call," "The rule states very clearly that on on a pass to prevent an icing, the player that's receiving the pass his stick has to be on the offensive side of the blue line and it was not. That's why I was upset with it. His stick was not on the offensive side of the red line. It was on the defensive side of the red line."

All that said,Salvador should have just brushed the puck away anyway.
If you think it could be close,move the puck away and make the referee chase it,that is called playing it safe,Bryce.

Bullpen Notes

The Browns might be getting cold feet from the less than rousing response from their fan base on hiring George (Buy Mangini and I come free!) Kokinis as their GM as they have asked for and received permission from the Eagles to talk to their General Manager Tom Heckert.
Herkert does not have total control of the football operations,but is in charge of both the college and pro personnel departments and shares control with Andy Reid on all personnel matters.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer broke this earlier this morning.

The resume' of Heckert far outshines that of Kokinis and would be an incredible hire.
The Eagles usually draft very well and think of the guys that you never heard of on Philadelphia that turn out to be solid contributors......
I am not sure why the Eagles would allow him to interview,but this looks like it would be a tremendous coup' for the Browns.
Which means they will likely hire Gilligan (little buddy) from Baltimore instead of doing the smart thing.....

The Plain Dealer writes in the same article that Heckert's coach of choice would be the Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
I have no problem with Eric Mangini,but if I have to choose from Spagnuolo/Heckert or Mangini/Kokinis,it is an easy choice to make.
The NFC guys win every time....

In a note that should simply destroy Battlin Bob and the folks over at Grumblings and Rumblings,it appears that the Battlers close friend Drew Himsworth has left the Hagerstown Suns for a position in the front office of the Nashville Sounds.
Long time readers may remember the classic showdown between the Battler and Himsworth in the 2008 season and the resulting hilarious post from Battlin Bob at GaR that found yet another riotous battle between "CakeFace" and an anonymous fan of the Suns.
The best part of the whole thing for me was the way Himsworth would avoid Battlin Bob for the rest of the season even if that meant going FAR around him or stopping whatever he was doing at that time to avoid him...
Good times...

A serious note on the Suns now,here is a chance for the team with both Will Smith and Himsworth gone to finally correct the wrong and relax the ridiculous policy on autograph collectors not being allowed to stand in the "suite area" before the game.
This was never in place before 2007 and perhaps now with Smith and Himsworth gone,the Suns can relax and allow their hard core fans to have a bit of space to spread out before the game starts....


The Indians signed Carl Pavano to a high incentive,low guarantee one year deal.
Pavano is worth the risk at such a low cost and he should be motivated and in shape as one more injury would likely end getting this type of contract for his next chance..

Pavano is also notable here for this-the first ever post besides the welcome of this blogs history and no,he will not be getting an incentive based contract for that!

I plan on being back at least once later as I finally slept well and long for a change and that means more Browns thoughts,a look back at the Fiesta Bowl and some comments on a fans letter to the Pirates and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that has set the Bucco blogsphere on fire....

Photo Credits
Elias-AP Photo

Devils rally to oust Ottawa

The New Jersey Devils rallied from a 3-2 deficit with under four minutes and put two power play goals into the net to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in overtime.
Brian Rolston's 40 foot slap shot beat a screened Alex Auld (6) to give the Devils the win...
Jamie Langenbrunner had tied the game in regulation with his 7th of the season with under four minutes to go.
The first Devil goals were scored by Dainius Zubrus for his 9th and 10th tallies of the season.
New Jersey travels to Reynolds Coliseum tomorrow for a showdown against the Carolina Hurricanes....

Hell Raisers

1) One of the best parts of the game was this fight between David Clarkson and Chris Neil.
The ironic thing is that the whole was caused by Neil crushing his own teammate with a hard check when Andy Greene ducked out of the way at just the right time..


2) Dainius Zubrus scored the two goals after missing Saturday's practice with undisclosed injuries.
Two goals a night and he can skip a few more practices!

3) The game was hard played,but it was a bit uneven.
One of those "we are trying,but this just isn't a smooth night" evenings for both teams....

4) The Devils visit to Carolina features the first time that Brent Sutter will coach against his son Brandon,a Carolina forward...

5) Tonight's World under 19 finals between Canada and Sweden has a Devil prospect on each team as Patrice Cormier skates for the Canadians and Mattias Tedenby stars for the Swedes....
Tedenby is rated as the Devils number 2 prospect,while Cormier is the ninth best in the New Jersey system.


Bullpen Notes

I forgot to post my playoff picks,but we went 2-2 over the weekend with losses in both Saturday games and wins in both Sunday games....

Tonight's Fiesta Bowl could close the mouth of the Ohio State and Big Ten bashers,but I kinda doubt it.
This is a game that OSU could win,but being fair
Texas 21-16

Keep in mind the record of teams that feel screwed over by the BCS though.
Many times they just feel listless and lose.
Look at Texas Tech's loss to Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl as just one example.


A quick thought on the Cleveland coaching search.
I would not have a problem with Eric Mangini as coach,but this insistence that his friend from the Ravens (George Kokinis) be hired as GM makes me wonder about Mangini's hire as well.
A former Bill Belichick assistant along with an inexperienced former Baltimore guy......
Seems like we watched this movie for the last four years.
Far from the promised fresh start....

Bud Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn't seem any happier than I am about the Browns handling of the hunt thus far.

One week away from Jim Rice's last chance at the Hall of Fame.
Get it right this time and elect the deserving Rice!

Until tomorrow when we get hit with a winter storm and I can post more often after a long work week!!

Photo Credit

Zubrus:AP Photo
Helmets:Helmet Project

Devils dominate Habs and one more nail in the BCS coffin

The Montreal Canadiens limped into New Jersey as beat up as the Devils were earlier in the season and the Devils took advantage with a decisive 4-1 win at the Rock.
Scott Clemmensen made 33 saves and the Devils never trailed in the win.
Zach Parise (22) and Jamie Langenbrunner (6) each had a goal and an assist in the win with the remaining Devils goals to Brian Gionta (10) and John Madden (4).

Hell Raisers

1) I read somewhere (I cannot remember where or I would provide the link) about whether the Devils would consider dealing Scott Clemmensen before the trade deadline if Martin Brodeur is back in the lineup.
One school of thought says that you move him,as his play has warranted a full time shot next year with another team and his contract expires at the end of the season.
The Devils might even get a decent prospect or draft pick if a team has a goalie go down.
The flip side offers this-what if Brodeur does not come back 100% and Clemmensen is moved?
Then the season could be really lost...

2) John Madden's goal was his first in 24 games!
Hopefully his slump is over.
The Devils depend on Madden more for his defense,but a little goal scoring pop can go a long way on the 3rd line!

3) The Devils moved into a second place tie in the Atlantic Division with the Philadelphia Flyers with the win and only 2 points behind the first place Rangers.
Last night's win,tomorrow's game against Ottawa and the Thursday game against Atlanta are games that have to be put in the pocket with the long road trip on the horizon.

4) Fire and Ice assumed that we noticed (and we did) David Clarkson going after wannabe tough guy Mike Komisarek after the Montreal blueliner smashed Brian Rolston with a big hit in the first period.
Komisarek was not willing to drop the gloves with Clarkson,so Clarkson had to settle for a battle against Tom Kostopoulos,which he won pretty easily.
Nice to see Clarkson taking on all comers after the Dallas game where Brent Sutter criticized the team for allowing Dallas Star Steve Ott to hammer Devils all game long without retribution..

5) Bryce Salvador and Mike Mottau played well in the win as both picked up an assist to go with a plus three for the evening.
Mottau has never been a favorite of mine,but Salvador is rapidly becoming one with his steady and physical play.....

Bullpen Notes

It only took a quick look to see the score of Utah's win in the Sugar Bowl to see that yet another crack in the BCS occurred.
If Florida beats Oklahoma on Thursday,the BCS has a serious problem on their hands and even more so if the Gator win is less than impressive.
How can you give the National title to a one loss team that earned its way to the title game with a less impressive win over a undefeated team that beat the common opponent in a far more impressive manner???
Answer: It just will be done that way....

A eight team playoff as many propose is not the answer either.
The eight team version will just give you a tournament that does not include the Utahs and Boise States.
Same BS,different style.
You have to have 16 tournament with the 6 BCS champs with the Mountain West,WAC,Conference USA,MAC and Sun Belt champs getting bids with the exception of the lowest rated champ,they stay out for a round number of 6 at large teams.
That stops the undefeated team from losing out to the two loss major team.....
That is the only fair way to get this done!!

If the BCS really wanted to keep credibility,they would announce that the Mountain West was being added to the BCS every year,if their champ was rated higher than any of the BCS leagues.
With the Mountain West boasting Utah,Texas Christian and BYU,can anyone argue that either the ACC or Big East has better football than the Mountain West???
Please tell me that either Cincinatti or Virginia Tech beats any of those three teams,so I can argue that with you!!

Photo Credits
All Hockey:AP Photo
Utah:Helmet Project

Random Ramblings-2009 version

Not much to write about yesterday,so I passed until today since I missed the final two periods of the Devils 4-2 loss in Dallas due to work requirements.
Devil goals to David Clarkson (7) and Mike Mottau (1).

The Devils return to the Rock tonight for a battle against the visiting Montreal Canadiens and then get a day off before a Sunday early evening game at the Rock against Ottawa.

After Sunday's game against Ottawa,the Devils will have only one home game until (Jan 8th vs Atlanta) until January 21st.
You want to know about playoff hopes,that run could tell you all that you need to know about hanging around until the return of Brodeur.
After a Tuesday game in Carolina and then the return home for the Atlanta game,the Devils play the next six games on the road and that includes a three game western swing against Los Angeles,Anaheim and Vancouver before visiting Columbus,the Islanders (which gives them at least a chance to visit home before finishing up in Nashville.

I listened to the Devils loss on the way to work and one thing popped into my head when the Stars Landon Wilson tied the game-Landon Wilson is still in the league?????
How many chances has that guy had???

The Browns are still going through the interviewing process for the new coach and GM.
I have some thoughts that I will share soon,but a quick note on this-Sometime in the near future-I will be doing a feature on what I would do if I was named as the Browns new GM in what will be a multi-part feature.
Long time readers will remember the similar four part series that I did when Captain Dave got the axe by the Pirates.
The entire four part set can be located in the July 2007 archive.

The Pirates lost out on free agent righthander Derrick Turnbow to the Texas Rangers,but I cannot say that bothers me much.
Looking at Turnbow's walk numbers,he would have fit in with this team,but not in a good way.

I did watch the MLB network's premier show-Hot Stove talk.
Not bad for a start,but a little too much Harold Reynolds thus far and not enough of the other folks,but things will evolve....

Would someone tell me ANY reason that Cleveland defensive coordinator Mel Tucker is being interviewed for head coaching positions with the Browns AND Jets other than the Rooney rule?
A one year coordinator with one of the leagues worst defenses gets interviewed for head coaching jobs???

The best bowl game of the season could be today's Cotton Bowl between Texas Tech and Ole Miss.
Even if it turns out to be a lopsided game,it still should have big plays by the truckload...

I am not a huge fan of Mark DeRosa,but he is a definite upgrade for the Indians at third base and the cost was not exactly massive.
Jeff Stevens has potential as a bullpen arm,but the Tribe has loads of similar players in Buffalo and Akron and Chris Archer has a top arm,but his season at Lake County was nothing eye-popping.

For looks at the players that the Cubs are getting,click here to go to Indians Prospects Insider.

Until next time!

Parise sends St.Louis the Blues

Zach Parise's second goal (20 and 21) of the night with just under six minutes to go in the game was the go-ahead goal and Jay Pandolfo slammed the door two minutes later with his fourth goal of the year to lift the New Jersey Devils to a come from behind 4-3 win over the St.Louis Blues.
Brian Rolston scored the other Devil goal (5).
New Jersey continues the road trip tonight in Dallas at 8:30,I will be following most of the game on XM and therefore can tell you about the Dallas radio commentators......

Hell Raisers

1) I watched very little of this game live as I missed the first few minutes due to watching the end of Maryland's win in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl over Nevada and went to bed in the second,so the rest of the game was a tape delayed one for me.

2) I know I write this a lot,but it is nice to write for positive reasons-Goals happen when you crash the net!
Zach Parise scored one his goals by simply being in front and making things happen,while the Rolston goal was off a rebound off Manny Legace after a David Clarkson shot.
Why the Devils don't do this every night makes me so frustrated sometimes!


3) Here's some credit for sharp passing to a player not noted for it in Mike Rupp.
Rupp's pass to Jay Pandolfo on a 2 on 1 gave the Devils an insurance goal that it turned out they would need.

4) Perhaps it is time to consider locking Zach Parise up to a long term contract to keep him as a Devil for a long time.
A poster over at In Lou We Trust suggested it a while back and I have considered it since then.
Finally,the Devils have a top notch goal scorer,which is hard for a team that is among the best every year to find,unless you want to be like the Penguins and be awful for ten years to get those types of players.
It would be nice to have him for the course of his career.

5) Maybe the St.Louis jerseys are just a super dark blue,but they sure looked black on the Versus telecast.
If they are black jerseys,that is dumber that I can imagine!

Bullpen Notes

Hang in there for my thoughts on the Browns hiring process and a look back at the Crennel/Savage tenure.
I am looking forward to doing those,but I want to take the time to do them well instead of rushing through them.

I have no intention of recapping the Browns loss in Pittsburgh with this exception.
The hit on Ben Rothlisberger was not a dirty hit.
Willie McGinest is an aging player that has been become a shell of what he once was,but McGinest is not a dirty player,the hit was not crown to crown (which the NFL defines as an illegal blow to the head with the helmet) and anyone that thinks it was just doesn't know very much about the game.

Seattle will pick 4th and Cleveland 5th in the 2009 NFL Draft,which hopefully can add an impact player to both teams.

I enjoyed the Humanitarian Bowl from Boise and was rooting for Maryland,but head coach Ralph Friedgen made an error in playing runner Da'Rel Scott in the second half.
Scott was the difference in the game as he ran for 174 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries.
But why was this an error?
Scott was one of several Terrapins that were punished for violating team rules during their Boise stay.
By levying such a lax punishment,Friedgen put winning one game ahead of what was right for his program and these types of instances eventually add up as players discover that the cost of screwing up is slight......

Photo Credits
Parise:AP Photo
Hit:Karl Walter-Getty Images

Sizzlin start sinks Rangers!!

The New Jersey Devils scored early on a Brian Rolston power play goal (4) and then slammed the door on the New York Rangers with a Patrik Elias shootout goal (17) and despite two Ranger rallies,the outcome was never in doubt as the Devils grabbed a 4-2 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Travis Zajac (10) and Zach Parise (19) each scored goals that pushed the lead to two goals after the Rangers cut into the lead.
The Devils are off for the next two before hitting the midwest circuit for back to back games in St.Louis and Dallas.....

Hell Raisers

1) The Devils played with tenacity tonight and never seemed to be on the verge of losing even when the Rangers were outshooting them and trimming the lead.
The Rolston goal came on a blast from the point,but credit to David Clarkson for screening Henrik Lundquist,who never saw the shot.

2) Hustle points to Patrik Elias,who was doing his job killing a penalty and that put him in position to breakaway and beat Lundquist one on one.
After that play,you could see the Rangers sag and effectively end their evening.

3) Tossing some credit to Scott Clemmensen and the penalty killers that killed off a five on three situation without allowing a goal.
Clemmensen made an excellent save on Chris Drury's shot and turned aside the Nikolai Zherdev followup shot.
The was especially impressive considering the absence of Bryce Salvador,who is a key member of the penalty killers....

4) The Travis Zajac goal was a pretty one as well,as Zajac smashed a shot off the pipe and past Lundquist.
Zajac got a lot of stick on that shot and showed the power that he rarely unleashes.

5) Dainius Zubrus showed up,I could have almost sworn that he sat out the last two games,his name was seldom called.
Zubrus was solid in this one though.....

Bullpen Notes

Sorry to hear of the passing of one of my old favorites from the horse racing game as Ruhlmann passed on at the age of 23.
The winner of the 1990 Santa Anita Handicap has been pensioned from stud duty since 2004 and had been living at Old Friends,which a retirement farm for racing stars of the past to live out their days....
Click the name of Ruhlmann for a nice blog post on him by the people that cared for him.

Quick Picks
Steelers 38 Browns 3
Seahawks 21 Cardinals 20

The Browns would pick 7th in the NFL Draft as of now,but could get as high as fourth depending on the events of today.
Cleveland gains a spot with each win by the following teams;Seattle (playing at Arizona,Cincinnati (Home vs Kansas City) and Oakland (at Tampa Bay).....

I figure Arizona will try to rest some players and that might be enough to get the Seahawks a win.

Photo Credits
Parise:AP Photo
Ruhlmann:Flashpoint/Old Friends

Just missed

Ruslan Fedotenko's second period shot was just enough steam on it to make it into the net after Scott Clemmensen was able to get some of the puck deflected and that summed up the scoring for the night as the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the suddenly punchless New Jersey Devils 1-0.
The Devils travel to the big cesspool for another divisional tilt against the Rangers at 7;30 tonight.

Hell Raisers

1) The Devils had several chances to score in this game as Jamie Langenbrunner missed two wide open nets and Travis Zajac missed one early in the game that could have set the tone for the evening.
Instead,the tone was set in a different manner and that leads us to number two...

2) The Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury played very well,so don't take this as a criticism of the Pittsburgh stopper,but the Devils had numerous rebound opportunities to pounce on them and no one was there.
Teams that crash the net tend to do better than teams that don't and when you look when the Devils were on their solid run,they were doing that.
The last two games they haven't and look at what they have to show for it....

3) This is related to number two in a way.
The Devils are suddenly becoming reliant on outside shots and much like a basketball team that depends on three pointers,there are going to be good night and bad nights.....

4) Doc Emrick hung in there for two and a half periods despite having a bad cold and sore throat.
With his sore throat,Emrick sounded almost exactly like Mike Gorman,who used to be the voice of Big East basketball for years and now does the Boston Celtics local TV games....

5) The possible game tying goal by David Clarkson with four minutes that was reviewed and ruled no goal was a call that I thought was a good one.
The entire puck was not across the line....

Bullpen Notes

Cleaning the in box out with a few things that I didn't have time to write about.

As a Star Trek fan,I was sorry to hear about the death of Majel Barrett Roddenberry last week at the age of 76.
Majel had roles in many of the Star Trek series,but most notably to me as
Nurse Christine Chapel in the original series of the franchise.

The Mansfield Ohio speedway closed its doors as well over the week and as a result was forced to transfer the Craftsman Truck Series race (Kinda the NASCAR version of AA baseball) to Newton Iowa.
Too bad for the NASCAR fans of Ohio as it was the only stop of any kind in Ohio....

Battlin Bob sends us word of a Pirate caravan stop in Cumberland Maryland on Jan 19th.
The Pirates are sending Sean Burnett,Ryan Doumit,Manager John Russell and announcer Tim Neverett and Bob Walk for the Cumberland leg of the goodwill tour.

Photo Credits
Clarkson:AP Photo
Chapel:Unknown