Cleaning out the inbox

Time to clean out the inbox where interesting things from sports and outside the sports world build up for future posts like these.

Great to see Neil Young at the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver game.
The Canadian star was the perfect choice to play in the finale.
Neil didn't play this song there or even in Vancouver, but I like it so here it is.


The New Jersey Devils made a minor move at yesterday's trade deadline in obtaining defenseman Martin Skoula from Toronto for a fifth-round draft pick.
Skoula spent this season with the Penguins before being traded to the Leafs on Tuesday.
Skoula played for Jacques Lemaire in Minnesota, so he knows the system, but this is a depth move at best.

The NFL player movement period starts tonight at midnight and the Cleveland Browns are reported to have been talking to several teams about trading for a quarterback.
Among the teams mentioned are talks with the Eagles, which scares me as Andy Reid is close friends with Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert came from there.
Donovan McNabb would be a short-term fix at best and Kevin Kolb looks promising, but is he any more proven than Brady Quinn?
I suppose it depends on the sticker price.

The Browns cleared cap space with the release of Hank Fraley.
Fraley started 51 games for the Browns after arriving from the Eagles in 2006, but the arrival of Alex Mack put Fraley on borrowed time with the Browns
The undersized, but always hustling Fraley will be missed.

Those of you that wanted to see Boxing invade UFC will get your wish as three-division champion James Toney has signed a multi-fight deal with Dana White's group.
The downside?
Toney is 41, has not won a significant fight in years, and was not considered a huge puncher in his sport.
Anyone going from boxing to UFC is going to have to be a huge puncher and that was never Toney's game with the exception of his one-punch career extinguishing KO of Michael Nunn in 1991, NINETEEN YEARS AGO!

Keep that in mind when Toney fails (and he very likely will) that Toney fighting MMA today is the rough equivalent of Royce Gracie putting on boxing gloves and fighting one of the Klitschko brothers.
Past your prime and fighting another man's game is generally a losing bet.

In a time where we seem to lose species every day, some good news in Australia as The Yellow Bell Frog was discovered on a farmer's land after being thought to be extinct in 1980.
Seems like the gentleman that owns the land is willing to work with conservationists and that seems to be a great sign.

And finally, Scott Bowden over at KFR says goodbye to Angelo Poffo, who passed away at 84.
Poffo wrestled himself but is most remembered for being the father of wrestling star "Macho Man" Randy Savage and lesser star "Leaping" Lanny Poffo.
Poffo is also listed in Ripley's believe it or not for his record of 6,033 situps over a four-hour period.

Pirate thoughts

A few thoughts on yesterday's 6-3 loss in Tampa against the Yankees since this could be the only game that I see in the spring and if I see more,it wont be many of them since it appears that FSN Pittsburgh does not have plans to show many games.

As typically takes place in Spring Training games,lots of arms to showcase and lots of subs as well.
Virgil Vasquez was bad in allowing the winning three run homer to Colin Curtis in the ninth,putting the front two men on base and only retiring one Yankee.
Yuck.

The other pitchers did reasonably well with the first four (Maholm,Ohlendorf,Bass and Carrasco) not allowing a hit.

Only three hits for the Bucs with just Erik Kratz's double for extra bases.
Not a good start,but not worth worrying about either.

Jose Tabata singled,but butchered a fly ball in right,but his most memorable chuckle of the day came on the Curtis HR which flew over his head.
One step to the wall and then began jogging back to the dugout.

Reputed glove slickster Argenis Diaz missed a routine grounder in the game.
When your glove is your best tool,consider a warning sign raised...

Pedro Alvarez whiffed in his only at bat,while Jeff Clement and Gorkys Hernandez went 0 for 2 in the prospect roundup.

All for now.Will try to be back later with a feature,time permitting.

Devils chomp Sharks in San Jose

For almost two and a half periods,the New Jersey Devils played stunningly well and then the jinx struck-Steve Cangolosi to Chico Resch.
"The Devils have played almost a perfect game in San Jose here tonight,huh,Chico?".
Boom!
Three Sharks goals in under three minutes turned the rout into a squeaker,but the Devils held on for a huge 4-3 win.
Devils goals to Ilya Kovalchuk (33 power play),Travis Zajac (20),Dainius Zubrus (6) and Mark Fraser (3).
The Devils take two days off before traveling to Calgary against Brent Sutter and his Flames.....

Hell Raisers

1) A goal and an assist for Ilya Kovalchuk,who looked so much more smooth than in his pre-Olympic starts with the Red and Black.
Kovalchuk's power play work was so much more like the player that the Devils thought that they were getting than the often confused version that appeared right after the deal.

2) Travis Zajac's goal was a blazer that ripped by Evgeni Nabokov.
Looked like a typical skate into the zone and shot,except it wasn't as a lot of wood (or whatever composite they use now) on that bomb!

3) Liked David Clarkson's return,especially his assist on the Mark Fraser goal.
Clarkson's play brings so many intangibles to the Devils that often aren't noticed until he is absent from the lineup.

4) Dainius Zubrus was playing well when the break arrived and I thought he continued his run last night.
Zubrus is always at his best when he plays with power and when he does,his effectiveness improves...

5) The D corps played very well with the notable exception of the three goal stint.
I thought Bryce Salvador and Colin White very solid,but Andy Greene looked very rusty and made quite a few dumb mistakes...

6) Martin Brodeur looks to be past his Olympic pulling as none of three goals that he allowed were truly his fault or softees.
Hopefully,his Olympic time off could prove to be a benefit to Marty and the Devils.

Photo Credit-Ben Margot-AP Photo

A little Pirate talk

Not much going on down in Bradenton yet,other than Neil Walker beginning to learn second base and outfield in an attempt to extract value from Walker as a "super sub" player.
This is the best career move for Walker,even if it means that he isn't a success with the Pirates.
Many players have carved out long and lucrative careers doing exactly what Walker is attempting and with Walker's age and athleticism,he has an excellent chance of being quite good at it.

Looks like the main battle in the Pirates rotation is for the fifth spot between Daniel McCutchen attempting to move up from Indianapolis and Kevin Hart,who was downright awful in his Pirate tenure after being brought over in the trade that sent John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny to the Cubs.
Of the two,Hart has the better stuff,McCutchen the better control.
All things considered,I would prefer McCutchen,as I have seen Hart and he didn't impress me in the smallest of manner.

The other battles in camp look to be Ronny Cedeno vs Bobby Crosby for the shortstop job in the unofficial "Ryan Heimberger Invitational and the battle for the final one or two outfield spots between Rule V pick John Raynor,waiver pickup Brandon Jones and returning champion Brandon Moss along with 1b/of Steve Pearce.
Andrew McCutchen,Lastings Milledge and Ryan Church are in along with Garrett Jones,although Jones could play first if Jeff Clement isn't up to snuff.
If Jones plays first and Clement doesn't make the climb to the bigs,two of the above could make the team,while if Jones is a outfielder for the year only one spot would be available.

Bob Smizik of the Post Gazette says to extend Neil Huntington and John Russell's contracts or fire them.
This smacks of a typical slow day in news and someone needed a column up.
Huntington has not nearly had enough time to deserve an extension or a plane ticket,although I would not be against Russell going at the end of the season,if it is needed.

Outside of that,things are pretty slow,but I will (hopefully) see the Pirates take the Yankees on tomorrow afternoon on the YES network.
That means real baseball writing,folks!

Back tomorrow with the Devils vs Sharks!

Devils back in action and more

The New Jersey Devils return to action after the Olympic interruption with a three game western swing starting tonight in San Jose before a two game Alberta stop against Calgary and Edmonton.
The Devils struggled in Feburary (2-4-1) and barely hung onto first place in the Atlantic Division over Pittsburgh,so the best way to move towards the playoffs would be with a win in San Jose.
Puck drops at 10:30.

The trade deadline for the NHL is tomorrow and even though the Devils could still use some defensive help,it looks like they are going to be content to allow Paul Martin's return to be their defensive upgrade.
Martin said last week that he didn't expect to make the three game road trip and I have heard nothing to the contrary,but he does hope to be ready to go for the Devils return home against the Rangers next Wednesday.

David Clarkson does appear to be returning tonight against the Sharks.
Clarkson's style of play might be just what this team needs to snap out of their doldrums.
Clarkson brings so much energy and his willingness to drop the mitts enables the Devils to have that physical capability without having to activate a one trick pony like Andrew Peters or Pierre Luc LeBlond.

Tip of the cap to the Devils Zach Parise,who was named to the Olympic all tournament team for his performance in the Games.
The Devils should now really begin to market Zach to all of those people that watched that game and might remember his goal to force overtime.
Former Devil Brian Rafalski was also named to the team as well.

We mentioned the resurgence of Pavol Demitra yesterday (Demitra was the only non North American named to the team),but I forgot to mention the Canadian player that impressed me most despite scoring just one goal-Chicago's Jonathan Towes.
Toews played a supporting role on a lower line,but his play at both ends of the ice showed me why I have been so high on him.
Towes being named to the tournament team shows that the voters did look at more than just goals in the Games.

Will try to be back later with another post,either some Pirate talk or a feature...

Olympic Hockey Recap

We complete our look at the Vancouver Olympic Hockey event with some thoughts on the good,the bad and the future...

I wouldn't say that I am unpatriotic,but I cannot help but be happy for Canada's victory.
This would be a big win for Americans for a day or two and then slowly forgotten,while for Canadians,yesterday was a game never to be forgotten...

Usually I am of the opinion that the losing team should not have the tournament /postseason MVP (Jean Sebastian Giguere comes to mind from the NHL playoffs a few years back),but I have no such qualms with the selection of Ryan Miller.
Miller was clearly the most deserving player in the tournament.

Player that surprised me the most?
Slovakia's Pavel Demitra,who showed a return to his past productivity and looked sharp for a player that has missed much of the season to injury.
Vancouver Canuck fans had to be happy with Demitra's possible return to form for their playoff run.

I was hoping for a Slovakia bronze over Finland.
Slovakia had never medaled and Finland's quitting against the USA was simply atrocious.
Slovakia and the Czech Republic being strong teams is good for the game.

Speaking of Finland,Mikka Kiprusoff was nothing but crap in the loss to USA.
For a guy that was refusing to play unless named as the number one goalie beforehand over Minnesota's Nicklas Backstrom,he laid an egg of monstrous proportions.
Watching his performance made me wonder if Calgary would ever win anything with him as their main goaltender...

A rarity in these times was the fact that no team had gaudy,unbearable to look at uniforms.
Switzerland's weren't great,but I have seen worse and they were the worst in the tourney.
Classic looks by most teams made this a pleasure to watch.

I wish someone would tell Gary Bettman to quit the posing and just allow NHL involvement in the 2014 games.
It makes this the best tournament in any sport and needs to continue.
IF the issue is closing the league down for two weeks,then the solution is simple-don't.
Continue NHL play with the players that you have with a few reinforcements from the AHL and maybe have special ticket offers for the games without the stars.
If the scheduling is done right and they have four years to tinker with it to make it right,each team could have two home dates that count in the standings with the regular players and could still make money.

Want another idea for the Olympics that has no chance of being installed?
Wouldn't it be fun to put a "unified team" in the tournament with the best players in the world that didn't get selected for their country?
I am not saying such a team would win the Gold,but it would be interesting to see them try and I know they would win games over the lower level teams....

It was great to see Doc Emrick get the exposure for his work that he so richly deserves.
I am spoiled having Doc as the voice of the Devils and getting him to announce most of the teams games.
Any network that has a national contract with the NHL or the Olympics in the future needs to keep Doc around as their voice because no one does it better.

Back tomorrow with more as the Devils return to action tomorrow in San Jose.

Olympian feat?

Olympian feat or just another hockey blip on the sports radar map until another day jumps onto the screen and knocks hockey away?

Putting aside which team that I preferred to win the gold medal yesterday (Canada has the disadvantage of the biased hockey media,while the USA has the downside of the annoying regular media),did the quality of play make new hockey fans?
Or was it something to watch for a day,the game was good enough to be talked about for a day and then moves on to the next thing to watch?
I walked into the office today with my Devils cap and had two people want to talk to me about the game and one had never watched a game before,with the other commenting on seeing very few.
The lady was interested in discussing the game and to the point of wanting to know about the rules as in "wanting an "inservice" (Companyspeak for a training class") on hockey.

This made me think about just how much effect this could have for the NHL.
Did this make more NHL fans?
Well,considering the NHL's cable partner being Versus instead of ESPN certainly isn't going to help the exposure,but the NHL's game of the week deal with NBC isn't going to hurt.
I am usually critical of the same few teams always being on the game of the week,but Sidney Crosby's game winner should take some of the sting off from the Penguins being on so much,if it helps fans want to watch.

I asked a knowledgeable sports fan,who commented that yesterday was his first time watching hockey on his thoughts.
His response was it was hard for me to get into it. "Without having any idea of the rules and having never heard of most of the players I just didn't feel connected to it at all other than wanting the US team to win."

I would like to think that the NHL made some new fans yesterday,but more likely than not,few of those fans will sample the NHL game and that is too bad for hockey....

Back later with a look back at the Olympic tourney and the NHL's threat to not allow players to participate in the 2014 Sochi games....

Photo Credit-Harry How-Getty Images