Thursday, February 22, 2007

That Old Black Magic, or is it Red, White & Blue

This NHL trading deadline thing is like waiting for Godot.
Tick tick, let's go already !
Give me some damn names !
This is Montreal after all, so we all know Bob Gainey is not likely
to be able to do his job without our input.
And we all know what he would do with our input once received.
That would certainly be an uncomfortable spot to accept our info !
But, what the hell...
Here goes.

If I were a Habs fan....
Trade them all !
Every last free agent to be.
Sheldon Souray...Gone !
Craig Rivet...Gone !
Markov, Aebischer, Bonk.
Gone, gone, gone !

This curse on the Habs is my fault.
Tortured by them and their Cups every damn year !
I hated them.
Let their fans find out how the other half lives I wished !
Enough is enough.
I've ended up torturing MYSELF.

Forced to watch this mediocrity season after season.
Someone much smarter than I might have described this,
hoping for the last playoff spot year after year
as having your feet firmly planted in the air.

Mr. Gainey,
Please.
Do what you have to do.
I've seen all I care to of the second and third line players this organization has rolled out for the better part of a decade.
This NHL is built on cheap labour.
Get the inexpensive ones that deliver and you can afford the expensive ones that bring riches.
If the hurt of missing the playoffs in the present means battling for a cup in the future.
Hab fans will thank you then.

YOUR problem of course is that general managers that miss playoffs at the Bell Center
don't get to do that twice !
MY Problem is, I'm getting old,
and can't remember how to remove this curse.
I guess it's up to you !

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Unforgetable Fire

Perhaps you haven't noticed all the attention that's returning to the
late great basketball life of Pete Maravich thanks to what's being described as a sensational new book "Pistol" by Mark Kriegel.

As turning 50 back in January reminds me,
I've got a lot more behind me than in front, though you never know when the fountain of youth will be uncovered.
It gives one pause however to having lived through a very different time when it came to viewing our sports heroes.
There was no nightly highlite show, let alone entire networks dedicated to the best of our time.
If you were lucky, your hero was on the "Game of the week".
If not, you waited and you read.

Today's highlites of the past simply don't do justice to the greats of my youth.
There is no doubt that today's athletes are bigger, stronger and faster than those of yesteryear.
For every Bobby Hull that could fire a slapshot through a brick wall,
every team has 20 of them now.

Stronger perhaps but more electrifying ?
I think not.

I didn't see the Rocket but I was told of a fire unmatched.
Before Gretzky & Sidney.
Before Magic, Bird and Michael.
Before Tyson.
Before Bonds.
Before Brady & Manning.
There was Pistol Pete, Bobby Orr, Joe Namath & O.J.
Willie Mays.
Muhammid Ali.

You didn't see them every day but their glow of flash worked wonders on imagination and will last MY lifetime.

Sorry if you missed them.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The King is Dead

The great Eddie Fiegner passed away friday.
Most of you never heard of him, the ones who saw him will never forget.
The famed softball pitcher who needed just a catcher but employed 2 other fielders
to form the 'King and his court'.
He threw 104 mph, pitched blindfolded and could throw strikes from second base if he wanted to. There were 930 no-hitters and 10,000 games.
There was his legendary spring training feat in 1967, where he struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew, Roberto Clemente and Pete Rose in succession.
Clemente on a between-the-legs pitch and he got Killebrew with one behind his back.
So famous was he that he pitched for presidents (Kennedy) and other kings (Elvis).
Once on Johnny Carson's tonight show,
he knocked a cigarette right out of the host's mouth with a softball.

There was a story several years back in sports illustrated about a ficticious pitcher with an otherwordly fastball by the name of Sid Finch.
Notice the date of George Plimpton's release (April 1st)

http://www.strongmemories.com/toppage8.htm

But this king was no made up character
and today he is gone.

Thanks to John Canzano for the memories...Go and learn:
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf?/base/sports/1171167946308780.xml&coll=7

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Super Bowl's Over Replacement Blog

Another 4 a.m. alarm
Never thought I would get used to answering that damn thing.
I was right !

Still, there are worse things than talking sports for 4 hours.
Really, how lucky can you be.
Oh yeah, you could be making millions for playing !
And by the way, I know that this is a shameless plug, but let’s face it
I’m preaching to the converted here.
I believe we have the most entertaining morning show in town.
They’re both gonna call me a big suck
But Casavant and Starr make up the best team I’ve ever been on.

I wouldn’t mind turning over tomorrow morning and waking up in April.
I love the NFL and that’s over.
I love playing golf.
I love playoff hockey.
I love the start of the baseball season.

I hate winter.
I hate the cold.

It’s not the worst thing being one of the Bears.
Eat until you can’t move and then go to sleep until it’s warm.

No one said this blog had to be about sports.
Sorry,
Elliott’s asleep right now
Please come back later in the week.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Superb Bowl

Another Super Bowl and it's getting hard to remember them all.
I don't remember the first 2 but the Joe Namath guarantee in III was for the ages.
Without looking them up, here are some random remembrances:
Broncos Craig Morton was a ragdoll, Cowboys Jerry Smith dropping a sure TD,
my beloved Raiders finally winning the big one on my birthday, thank you John Madden.
Kicker Garo Yepremium tries to throw a pass but the Dolphins are perfect anyway.
Wide right, Rams stop 'em on the goal line and 2 more Raider championships.
Lots of Steelers, Niners & Cowboys.

When I was a kid, you had two leagues to choose from.
I Had my Raiders in the AFL and yes the Colts were in the NFL.
After the merger I kind of lost the Colts when they moved into the AFC
seemed silly to have 2 teams in the same conference.
I'll cheer on Indy but I don't really care who wins.


After Thursday's Hab game in Pittsbugh,
I'm anticipating the Penguins afternoon affair as much as the football game,
that's how good that last one was.
Unless the Habs are playing, generally, I would pick any NFL game over the NHL.
And before the new rules last season,
I stopped watching the NHL altogether.

I used to know when pitchers and catchers reported.

Gotta go play with the kids.