NHL’s playoff beard tradition has grown over time : Sports : The Boston Globe
tags: Sports
Ovechkin’s Hart win proves it’s time to redefine meaning of the award Add to …
tags: Sports
Jason Kidd hired as new coach of Brooklyn Nets
It’s a bold move. Might also be a stupid one, but we’ll see.
tags: Sports
Bill Callahan says he’ll call plays
We shall see if this improves things…
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Mark Streit contract: Isles won’t re-sign captain, according to report
tags: Sports
When It May Not Pay to Be Famous
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29 Reasons Minor League Baseball Is The Best
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I simply don’t understand the love that Gordon Gee still gets from the OSU community. He repeatedly makes the same mistakes, he is arrogant, condescending, rude, and offensive.
Sure he can raise money with the next of him, but is this really the person we want to be the face of the University? Personally, I don’t.
As the semifinals of the EA Sports NHL14 Cover Vote went down this past weekend, I was given a quick preview of what Twitter will be like for me next season. The Islanders John Tavares was up against the Blue Jackets Sergei Bobrovsky.
Now, I’ve been an Islanders fan for as long as I can remember. I used to go out to Long Island to visit my grandparents and watch the games on TV with them as a small child. I was heartbroken when the lost in the 1979 playoffs to the hated Rangers. (Especially since my brothers were Ranger fans, ugh!) I sat and listened to the games on radio when they weren’t on TV during the glory years, and I’ve hung with them through some tough years since.
I lived in Columbus when the Blue Jackets came into existence. Since they represented the chance to see NHL games locally, I was a big fan of Columbus getting a team, and since they were in the Western Conference, I was safe to root for them for 79 or 80 games every year. (The exceptions being games against the Isles, where I traded out my Blue Jackets jersey for an Islanders one!) I figured one day, they might meet in the Finals, but it was unlikely and I’d worry about that then.
Now, with both teams in the same division next year, there’s no rooting for the Blue Jackets. As I watched my Columbus followers push for votes for Bob, and my Isles tweeps push for Tavares, there was no doubt which one I wanted to win. They are the enemy. We maybe don’t have the same history as we do with the Rangers, Devils, Flyers, and Penguins, but the Blue Jackets are the same as those teams. A division foe that must be banished if we are to make the playoffs and ultimately win the Cup.
Sure, I’ll always have a soft spot for the Blue Jackets, and if the Isles are eliminated, I might just pick up some rooting interest for them. On the other hand, as the years go by, there will be incidents, games, and players who I grow to hate, that will up the emotional ante for competing against the Jackets just like with our more traditional rivals.
It’s been fun Jackets, but starting next season, it’s over between us.
Seattle Is Frustrated By the NBA’s Command Economy
Interesting look at the way market economics work in pro sports, and the difference in the US from Europe.
tags: Sports
49ers WR Michael Crabtree could miss 2013 season after suffering a torn Achilles
This is a big loss for the Niners. Anytime you lose your top receiver it forces the rest if the offense into worse match ups.
tags: Sports
Blue Jackets season ticket sales are up after strong season
tags: Sports
Thunder Star Kevin Durant Makes $1M Tornado Pledge
Classy move.
tags: Sports
Dick Trickle’s suicide was caused by severe chest pain, brother says
tags: Sports
Texans Star J.J. Watt Surprises 12-Year-Old Leukemia Patient as Only He Can
tags: Sports
Los Angeles Dodgers Could Fire Don Mattingly Soon, but it Wouldn’t Be the Right Move – Yet
tags: Sports
VIDEO: Rays help reunite military family with ceremonial first pitch - CBSSports.com
Such a nice story
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Ex.-NHL player Theo Fleury walking to Ottawa for child abuse laws
The 25 Most Expensive Teams To Go See In Person
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Man dribbling soccer ball to Brazil dies after being struck by car - News | FOX Sports on MSN
tags: Sports
A Coach Who Stands Above Them All
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A by-the-numbers look at this year’s official NBA early-entry list
It’s sort of insane to think there are 45 underclassmen, 31 foreign players and one post-HS player declared for a two round draft on top of any actual seniors who might get drafted as well.
tags: Sports
Matt Kemp’s Gesture To A Disabled Fan
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The Coliseum’s 7th Man Was Out in Full Force on Sunday
tags: Sports
Just when the hockey world counted out the Isles and gave the Peguins a walk into round two, the boys gut it out and steal game 2. We go to Long Island tied up at a game a piece and the old NVMC will be rocking come Sunday. I’m just sad that I will be on a plane instead of enjoying the scene, but I’m sure the fans will do us all proud.
The Pens may be the better team, and may yet win the series, but the Islanders are declaring themselves a team to be dealt with going forward.
Thanks to this week being a busy work week, what with out annual user conference being in Vegas this week, I wasn’t around to follow the Islanders and/or Jets games last night. I had to wait until I was finally free of social obligations to check the scores and realize that, despite all the expectations of the experts for this team, that the Islanders are a playoff team!
Honestly, I didn’t expect this to happen this season. Coming into the season I thought there were still too many question marks among to young prospects, and was beginning to wonder if a couple of them maybe needed to go. But they have proved their metal in this stretch run and shown me that they are definitely coming of age.
I don’t know what their first taste of playoff hockey will be like, but I’m going to enjoy it knowing that this team is only going to get better from here. Look out NHL, the Isles are back in the playoffs!
Dodgers Fans At Chase Field Forced To Change Clothes Or Move Seats
For that ticket,price, I should get to wear whatever the heck I want. Lame Diamondbacks, lame.
tags: Sports
Ohio State Spring Game 2013: Recap, Grades and Analysis
tags: Sports
Greinke vs. Quentin: The Official Breakdown
tags: Sports
When I first found out I was going to be traveling to Los Angeles, I thought to myself, wonder if the Dodgers are going to be home? Turns out, I was supposed to arrive in LA on Monday, but the Dodgers would be out of town, but if I picked up the tab to spend an extra day or two in LA, I could catch the game on Sunday afternoon against the Pirates.
Now, I’ve been a Dodger fan since I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn. There was always something about that historic tie to Brooklyn that I found sort of cool, and well the fact that some in my family hated the Dodgers just made it even cooler to root for them.
Anyway you look at it, going to Dodger Stadium, enjoing a beautiful Southern California afternoon, getting to hear Vin Scully welcome us to the game, eating a Dodger dog, and seeing the Dodgers win, made for a pretty fantastic day. Being present for Ryus first major league win, and seeing the Dodger offense put together 6 runs, were just extra bonuses really.
So glad I took the chance to go. Not that I’ve ever really sat down and made one, but this woul certainly be something I consider a bucket list item. I can check it off the list!
Jim Delany’s Pay for Play Threat May Be Empty, but That Doesn’t Make Him Wrong
tags: Sports
Forget Rutgers Coach Mike Rice: College Sports Abuse Virtually All Students
tags: Sports
You’re One Classy Guy, Deshaun Thomas |
tags: Sports
Kwame Harris: Being openly gay, in NFL wasn’t ‘compatible’
I’m not gay, and wouldn’t really care if a player was, but I also understand that the NFL, of all places, would not be a good cultural mix. I can’t imagine coming out and having to,deal with that.
tags: Sports
On the down side, the way this team is hitting is going to require some great pitching to make the playoffs.
On the other hand, they’re on pace to throw 81 shutouts. So there’s hope. ;-)
While neither of these trends are likely to continue through the whole season, I’m concerned about the lack of hitting, because they didn’t hit especially well last year either. They need Kemp to be Matt Kemp again, and a return of Ramirez wouldn’t hurt either.
Looking at the larger picture, today’s trade for Marian Gaborik makes perfect sense. Both teams were trying to replace what they lost in this Summer’s Rick Nash deal.
So let’s recap the big picture.
The Rangers acquired:
The Blue Jackets acquired:
Does that seem rather symmetrical to anyone else? Both teams traded away and received a 30+ goal scorer, a talented, if inconsistent, playmaker, a high energy, physical player, and a decent prospect on defense. That’s a whole lot of running to stand still.
On the other hand, Nash clearly wanted out of Columbus, Gaborik clearly needed to be gone from New York, and some of the Blue Jackets were “Howson guys” who weren’t as highly prized by the new management team, so it makes sense. On paper, it seems like a wash, but we all know the game isn’t played on paper. The Blue Jackets, despite losing Nash, have been much better than anyone thought they would be this year, and the Rangers have been a disappointment. Will this latest trade change the fortunes of both teams, or push them further along their current track? Will Gaborik get injured again and again, will Moore or Erixon turn into the better prospect? Will Brassard suddenly blossom into the player Jackets fans have been waiting for? Time will tell.
Both Anders Lee and Ryan Strome scored in their debuts last night, Lee with the Islanders in a big 5-2 victory to help them stay on a roll that has them contending for a playoff spot, and Strome with the Bridgeport Soundtigers.
After watching all those other prospects make their debuts after the lockout, it’s nice to see some of the Isles kids doing the same, and having an immediate impact.
