NHL Recap: Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins where a surprise team this year that's for sure. They where in first place in the East all season. They where playing really good hockey in beginning and middle half of the year and looked like a contender to get the cup for sure. They end half of the year they faltered a lot and looked sloppy at times.

At forward are strong all around from center to wingers. Krejci and Wheeler had really good years. Also the trade deadline trade for Mark Recchi helped them out a lot when they got into the playoffs and trying to hold on to first place. They will be a good team at forward next year with all their young guys coming back and just losing some old guys, they might even keep one who knows.

At defense they are extremely strong, as strong as they are at forward they are tougher at defense. Zdeno Chara is a amazing defensemen getting nominated for the Norris trophy this season. They are kind of old at defense I wouldn't be surprised if they try to bring up a young guy or bring a young guy in to learn from the veterans.

In net there really isn't a question who will start next season. It will be Tim Thomas for sure. Manny Fernandez will be probably going to another team since he is an UFA. This will allow the Bruins to bring up there young stud goaltender Tuukka Rask. Next season the Bruins will look to push further in the playoffs then last two seasons. It'll be interesting to see how they get prepared for playoffs maybe they'll take it easier in the regular season.

By:Shane Murray

Lebron "The Crybaby"

I'm not going to beat a dead horse, seeing how everyone knows how I feel about showboating, front-running, King of Hype Lebron James. I do want to bring to every one's attention an article I read this morning on ESPN.com (GO HERE).
The cliff note version of this story is, not only is Lebron an over hyped, done-nothing "superstar" but he's also a crybaby and a poor sport. After the game, he immediately headed to the lockers, changed, and got on the team bus.

He didn't congratulate the Magic, and he didn't thank his teammates for trying or for the season. Above all, he didn't talk to the media. Normally he can't get enough of seeing his own face or hearing his own voice. Suddenly, he was invisible.

This is the MVP? This is the face of the NBA? This is "The KING" or "The next MJ" or "The chosen one"? I think we are all witnesses to what a punk-ass this guy really is. He has no problem showing his face when he wins, after every terrible foul call, wide-open dunk, or playoff win against a weak playoff competition. What a jerk-off! He's no different then the show boaters you see at the rec or the Y. He's a head-down to the basket ball-hog, who yells "and one" after every shot. Jordan my ass.

Side-note: If you watched the game last night the refs finally got it right and they didn't call a foul every time the crybaby went to the hole. You see the results when Crybaby is treated like everyone else in the league, a 25 point night. Not bad, but a more realistic show of the crybabies skill.



Thanks

Posted by: Mike Mady

Eddie Jordan Sixers New Coach

Eddie Jordan who got fired from the head coaching spot of the Wizards last season. Last season the Sixers fired their head coach Mo Cheeks and then went to Tony Dileo. Tony DiLeo got them turned around and headed towards the playoffs. Where they faced a tough opponent in Orlando Magic and lost in the first round again. Andre Iguodala and Theo Ratliff called him a weak coach after that series. Let's see how this pans out for the Sixers next season.

By:Shane Murray

Flyers Stars

What do Mike Richards, Simone Gagne, and Daniel Briere have in common? Besides all being forwards, from Canada, and once or now an assistant captain for the Flyers. All of them are having surgery on something this off season.

Mike Richards was the first to go under the knife to have surgery on his shoulder. He had it on his other shoulder already also. He is the captain and the heart and fire of the team.

Daniel Briere was the second to go under the knife and is having his eye problem fixed. He has been hurt a lot last two seasons during the middle/late part of the season. Hopefully this allows him to have a full season with the Flyers next year and add to the Flyers power play.

Simone Gagne is the last one to go under the knife and his having hip surgery. He has had some issues with concussions recently. Though he played real well heading into the back end of the season and in the playoffs particularly. Hopefully he can keep up his intensity after this surgery.
By:Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Atlanta Thrashers

Atlanta Thrashers where starting to look pretty good towards that back part of last year. Unfortunately for the Thrashers it was too little to late. They are a pretty young team though so to have a good finish last year helps them be prepared for next season.

Thrashers forwards are young except for a few pieces but mostly young. Kovalchuk is such a great forward and really is the key offense component for the Thrashers offense. They do have some key pieces that are kind of aging but I expect them to try to fix that before next season.

Thrashers defense is very young. They could use a good veteran defensemen to come in and help teach the young guys. They best defense players +/- was +14(Enstorm) and that's alright but it would be better if it was around +20.

Thrashers in net have some concerns they need to work out. Who will be starting in the next year. I'm gonna say they should give it over to they younger Lehtonen and let Hedberg be the back up. Thrashers will probably end up losing a few players to free agency but that just allows them to bring in the help they need to get into the playoffs again.
By:Shane Murray

Danica Patrick to consider Nascar

Before the start of the Indy 500 last week, Danica Patrick was answering questions of possibly racing in Nascar. Danica said that she would remain open about a possible future in Nascar, and would listen to any offers from Nascar teams. Patrick's contract with Andretti Green Racing is up at the end of the season and it being a contract year for her, interest is buzzing everywhere. Silly Season should be an interesting one this year.

By:Billy Donahue

Fightins in need of a few arms.

After a slow start to his season, Brett Myers was starting to come around and fill out the number two starter slot nicely. But after a pain in his hip he was taken out of his last start. He then later had an MRI and the results were not good. Myers could end up needing hip surgery,(seems to be a trend this year.) that could cost Brett the rest of the year. So where does this leave the Fightins? With an already shaky pitching staff the Phils have asked everyone and their mother about pitchers. The list includes: Roy Oswalt, Jake Peavy, Brandon Webb, Roy Halladay, Doug Davis, Erik Bedard, Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang, Brad Penny, Chris Young and Jason Marquis.

Roy Halladay would be the best of the bunch, but i believe he is untouchable, no matter what Metro fans say.

Peavy does not want to play on the east coast, and if you don't want to play for the World Fucking Champions, well we don't want you.

Brandon Webb would seem like a nice pick up, but he is hurt so he cannot help us now.

Erik Bedard would be a nice pick up. I think he wants to play for the Fightins. He was talked about being traded for last year before we picked up BamBam Blanton. Bedard is off to a good start this season, but he has a high risk of injury and is 30 years old. He is also a southpaw. That would create a rotation of 4 leftys.

Cliff Lee is another lefty, but just came off a Cy Young winning season last year and is starting to get into a nice grove after a slow start. Would be a nice addition.

Roy Oswalt is a little old and very pricey, but he is a right handed pitcher. Some say he has lost his edge and needs a change of scenery to get his balls back. Maybe Ed Wade can do us another favor and get us a deal on him. Maybe Brad Lidge could talk him into joining the Fightins.

As far as the other pitchers on the list, I do not think that they are worth trading the farm away for. The Phillies might end up needing two pitchers before everything is said and done.

By:Billy Donahue

Sorry Folks.

I know I've been slacking a while. And by a while I mean atleast two months worth of slacking. Well, I won't be slacking any more. The NFL season is upon us soon. Preseason games begin August 9th so for the next 8 weeks I'm going to spend each week previewing one division at a time starting with the NFC more specifically the NFC East with my predictions, and how far I think they will go.

By Christopher Diltz

NHL Recap: Anaheim Ducks

Anaheim Ducks did not have they year they where expecting. They where chasing the San Jose Sharks since the beginning of the season. This was their worst season since the lockout ended. They only had 91 points and finished 8th in the western conference. They aren't getting any younger that is part of the Ducks problem for next season. They did have Bobby Ryan who got nominated for rookie of the year.

Their defense is getting old they have some young guys, but their studs like Pronger and Niedermayer are in their mid 30's. Niedermayer might no even be with the team next year. He has been their captain for since 2005 with Pronger taking it for a little in 07 while he was out for most the season.

The Ducks look a great for the future and for next year. They Ducks forwards are young and talented. Getzlaf is one of the assistant captains and is real young. They have the rookie of year nominee Bobby Ryan. Those are just some of the stars in their potent offense.

Another good question is who is going to be the starting goaltender in the net next season. Will it be Jonas Hiller or Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Jonas Hiller lead the Ducks in their playoff march that was cut short by the Detroit Red Wings. It will be interesting to see what the Ducks do in the off season. The Ducks have 6 players who where part of the team this year that are going to be unrestricted free agents next season.



By:Shane Murray

Dale Jr changes crew chief

Dale Jr who is the cousin of Eury Jr his old crew chief. Eury has been Jr's crew chief for a long time. Jr always defend him, he wanted everyone to always put the blame on him instead of his cousin. Rick Hendrick was warning Jr for awhile that he might have to lose his crew chief cause of not producing the results Hendrick expected. Let's see who Hendrick places in the spot and see if it does end up helping Jr. Right now anything might help Jr seeing he is 19th in the standings.

By:Shane Murray

Team's futures

I woke up this morning and came up with a good idea. I'm going to start making a blog for each team in the NHL and what they need to do to turn it around next year. How they can improve their team next year and what went wrong this year. I might do one for NFL too, but I might leave that one to Mike. I'll be going in alphabetical order but skipping the two teams in the Stanely Cup Finals(Detroit and Pittsburgh). So I'll start by doing Anaheim tonight.
By:Shane Murray

NHL Semi Finals

Well Detroit is leading Chicago 3 games to 1. Pittsburgh leads Carolina 3 games to nothing. It looks inevitable that we are going to have a rematch from last years NHL finals. Detroit is a much better team then they where a year ago and Pittsburgh though that have made it magically through the Flyers and Capitals aren't nearly as good as last year. Marc Andre Fleury is a better goaltender around this time. I just don't think the team in front of him is as good as last years Penguins. Detroit is just as good as last year if not stronger with Hossa. Osgood has won two cups already and is going for a third. I know that it's still possible for Canes and Hawks to win their series. I just don't for see that happening.

By: Shane Murray

Lebron Hype

Let the Lebron hype continue now to even higher proportions. One of the greatest shots in NBA history? Be serious. The torch passed from Michael? C'mon. A player hit a three-pointer to win the game. It happens every week. Oh wait, it was Lebron. So now we have to make it bigger because he has to be Jordan one day. This makes me sick.
Jordan earned everything. When you watched Michael you just knew he was going to win. When I watch Lebron I just count all the calls that go his way. It really is disgusting. He puts his head down and blasts into everyone between him and the basket. Then regardless of the defensive player positioning or who initiates the contact, the whistle blows and Lebron goes to the line.
I don't completely blame Lebron though. The NBA has become the WWE or whatever wrestling is calling itself now a days. It's simply good for business for the NBA to rig their series and chose their match-ups. The sad thing is that I love basketball, and after nearly every game I feel like the refs determined the outcome of the game. When I say that, I mean by making calls that obviously fall to side of the winning team. Then afterwards on ESPN or any other sports channel we here "that's just the way it is" or "those calls are hard to make."

Case and point: 4th quarter last night. "The King" is chucking up one of his miserable 3 point attempts he is blocked from behind by Howard who has 5, mostly suspect, fouls. At no point does Dwight even graze Lebron, but it's so embarrassing that the ref calls the foul and bye-bye Dwight. THEN! THEN! They review the play to make sure Lebron was behind the line and got all his shots. Now I believe that they can't change a foul call after they review it (stupid) but they should be able to if they can review other close calls.

Defensive MVP Gets robbed:


By: Mike Mady

Lebron... 'Nuff Said.

With Seconds left... Lebron James wins game two for Cleveland. What should this be called, because you know it's going down in history as one of the greatest shots in NBA history. I'm dubbing this shot. The Torch. Finally... the torch has been passed from Michael.



By: Christopher Diltz

RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL

The Fightins strike first and take the win in game one of a three game inter-league series against the hated Yankees. The Phils took the win on the bats of Raul Ibanez, Jimmy Rollins, Cooouch Ruiz, and Jayson Werth. Brett Myers also pitched a gem, going eight innings strong giving up three earned runs and striking out five. Chase Utley also added an RBI single. Hopefully this is a confidence booster that gets Myers on track to be a solid number two pitcher that we know he can be. A*Roid chipped in a homer, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira also went deep. All and all this was one hell of a game by the W.F.C's

Speaking of RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
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UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL

He clubbed a monster homerun tonight, bumping his total to a league leading 16. This guy is amazing, thats all i can say.
By:Billy Donahue

Good Bye David Ortiz... Welcome Back BIG PAPI !

What a better place to end a slump than right at home in front of his fans at Fenway. Wednesday night, Big Papi did just that. Ortiz has not hit a home run in his last 149 at bats. Boston's David Ortiz finally hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the 5th.

The funniest part of the run came when Papi reached his dugout. His teammates all calmly sat down ignoring the fact that he hit his first home run, only to mob him after he sat down, forcing him out for a curtain call.

By:Christopher Diltz

Philly's Futbol Club Has A Name

Philadelphia has an expansion futbol club, and the name of the brand new club is Philadelphia Union. All and all it is not a bad name selection because it has a very revolutionary ring too it, and any soccer team that is going to wear "Join or Die" on their chest is pretty bad ass. Might even get me into watching this thing called Futbol.

By: Billy Donahue

Coyotes Bankruptcy

The former owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, Jerry Mowes, filled for chapter 11 bankruptcy. What does this mean for the rest of the NHL and for the future of the Coyotes organization.

Right now Gary Bettman is in control of the future of the franchise. Though their is one offer on the table to buy the team for 212.5 million. That offer comes from Jim Balsillie, a billionaire from southern Ontario.

This is a problem for the NHL because he wants to relocate the team to southern Ontario. Which has sent all kind of crazy rumors going through that area. He's idea behind relocating is that they can fill the stands in southern Ontario easier.

Which is a true theory Ontario is hockey crazy. The NHL though isn't thinking of what is going to fill the stands now though. They are looking towards expanding the NHL to more consumers. That's why they went out to California and Arizona for.

What would be a good idea is maybe adding to expansion teams into the mix, or relocating the Coyotes to an area that used to have a team but missing one now. They could move the Coyotes to Winnipeg or Quebec. I think those would be good markets for a NHL team that is coming out of bankruptcy and their is no competing NHL team in the market. Also they could fix Phoenix and keep it their and just add and expansion team to each of those cities that would be a good idea also.

Well in the upcoming months will see how this plays out. The NHL is a business and though Bettman can be blamed for a lot of things, he will fix this problem of the Coyotes bankruptcy. After all he did not relocated Pittsburgh, Ottawa, or Buffalo when they filled for bankruptcy.

By:Shane Murray

Hart Memorial Trophy Finalists

Three way race between countrymen Pavel Datsyuk from Detroit, Alexander Ovechkin from Washington, Evegni Malkin from Pittsburgh. These are all very good scores and all have leadership roles in the locker room. Let's take a look at these players and see who is most deserving.

Pavel Datsyuk is one the core parts of the Detroit team that got second highest point total in the West. He had the most points on the team at 97 points and also led the team in assists at 65. He is the only two way threat out of this list of players.

Alexander Ovechkin is the core part of the Washington offense. He had a point total of 110 points and lead league in goals at 56. He is one of the biggest celebrators after a goal in the league. It gets the rest of the team into the game his excited celebrations.

Evegni Malkin is part of the two person core that is Pittsburgh. He had the highest point total in the league at 113 points and lead his team in goals at 35 goals and in assists at 78 assists. When Crosby went down people were worried that Pittsburgh will falter but Malkin carried them himself.

I think that Datsyuk should get it just because he is the only two way player. I could see Malkin or Ovechkin getting it though. Let's see who the NHL gives the award to.

By:Shane Murray

Frank J. Selke Trohpy Finalists

Mike Richards from Philadelphia, Ryan Kesler from Vancouver, and Pavel Datsyuk from Detroit. These are all great picks it's hard to just pick one for the winner. Let's look at the stats of all three players and see if we then know who to pick.

Mike Richards is the captain and heart of the Flyers. He had 30 goals and 50 assists on the season for a total of 80 points. He had a +/- of +22. He also spent the most time on the ice for the Flyers. He also was on almost every penatly kill for the Flyers, so that's a good plus minus.

Ryan Kesler is a third liner for the Canucks. He had 26 goals and 33 assists for a total of 59 points on the season. He had a +/- of +8.He played against all the tough lines in the West and deserves to be on the list.

Pavel Datsyuk is one of the reasons the Red Wings are so scary. 32 goals and 65 assists for a total of 97 points on the season. He had a +/- of +34. He is probably the best two way player right now. He can take a puck away just as fast as he can take the puck and score.

I think that Richards should get it this year, though I can definitely give an argument for Datsyuk. Let's see who the NHL picks.

By: Shane Murray

NHL Playoffs Predictions: Round 2

Well here's my round 2 predictions, let's see if these ones go better then round 1. Though it wasn't really that bad in round 1.

*My Picks in BLOD*
East
Boston vs Carolina
Good match up here between these two teams. Both teams are defense oriented and have good goaltenders in net. This game could easily drag out for 6 or 7 games.


Pittsburgh vs Washington
The NHL's most wanted series I can say that. Ovechkin vs Crosby and Malkin. This should be an explosive series. I expect a lot of points to be scored between these players.
West
Detroit vs Anaheim
Both very good defense teams and both very good on special teams. Anaheim took out San Jose pretty easily by being bigger and tougher going to have a tough time doing that against Detroit.

Vancouver vs Chicago
A very interesting series these teams match up well. Neither team has a big name player besides in the net. Luongo vs Khabibulin and that's a good match up. This is my series to watch if you ask me.

By: Shane Murray