I'm on vacation right now, but it's been a while since I've posted anything so I figured I'd give my two cents on two topics relating to the NHL: the Leafs UFA signings & trade and the Burke vs Lowe feud.

Yesterday, one of my favourite Toronto sports media types, Howard Berger, Wrote a nice blog entitled "Leaf Acquisitions Deserve Time". The thing that caught my attention the most were the paragraphs that he quoted from Larry Brooks and Eric Duhatschek.

Brooks gave his award, an event that I'm sure had all of the NHL's and Hollywood's finest on the red carpet, for "Least Understandable Free Agent Signing of the Year". As I'm sure you've guessed, the Leafs won this prestigious award for their signing of the man, the myth, the legend, Jeff Finger. Now, I'm not in any way trying to say that this was a great signing, but saying it was the worst out of the ones so far is pretty narrow minded, or at least lazy because who doesn't like to pick on the ol' Maple Leafs? I guess he liked Atlanta giving Hainsey $4.5 mil for 5 years. Yes, he put up 34 pts in 2006-07 and 32 pts this past season, but he also was a minus-19 when he put up 34 pts in 2006-07 and was a minus-7 this past season...Hainsey is a defenseman right? You say you're a fan of that one? Well, how about Chicago signing Cristobal Huet for $5.625 mil for 4 years. $12 mil in two goalies, pure brilliance! The Islanders giving up $4.1 mil for 5 years for one-dimensional Mark Streit. Or you can look across the state with the Rangers giving Wade Redden $6.5 mil for 6 years. Lots of money and years to tie up in a 31-year old defenseman who's been on the decline the past two years.

My award, I know you've all be waiting for this, for "Least Understandable Free Agent Signing of the Year" would go to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the contract they gave Ryan Malone. Since when did averaging half a point a game in four NHL seasons warrant a player $4.5 mil for 7 years, that's right SEVEN YEARS! As has been well documented in the past, you don't sign power forwards to long-term deals. Just like RBs in the NFL and catchers in MLB, power forwards ware down quicker than any other player in hockey because of their style of play.


Eric Duhatschek
As for Duhatschek's comments, they seem premature and short-sighted. First off, 9 times out of 10 you overpay for free agents. That's the price you pay for not having to give up any players for that player. Secondly, since when was trading up to draft a premiere shutdown defender, signing two 28-year olds, soon to be three once Frogren gets under contract, and trading for a 24-year old considered "mortgaging the future"? Yes, they don't have a 2nd round pick in the 2009 & 2010 drafts...so far. It's obvious one of McCabe or Kubina will be moved. You don't think a 2nd round pick, maybe a 1st, will be involved in a trade for one of those guys? Plus with Kaberle, McCabe/Kubina, Colaiacovo, Stralman, Finger, Frogren, White, Kronwall and Schenn all scheduled to compete for spots in camp, a player like White, Kronwall or maybe even Colaiacovo will most likely be changing teams either in the summer or during the season which would bring in another pick or prospect.


Kevin Lowe/Brian Burke
Lastly, about the Burke vs Lowe feud. With all due respect to Burke, and I do mean with all due respect, he has to let this thing go. Lowe's job is to make his team better and he did so by signing Penner. It's not Kevin's fault he caught Burke with his pants down. Plus the Ducks ended up with a top 15 pick in a deep draft this past June because of it. If you're a smart GM you get your top players signed before any other team can sign them, plain and simple. Which is what Burke did this year with Perry. GM's kept saying after the lockout how the young players were a lot more important because of the cap, but the GM's still never paid too much attention to them until Lowe finally woke them up.


Take off,
Coco

So with the dog days of sports officially upon us I thought I would spring a different sort of sports list. I like to call it my “feelings” list, don’t worry this has nothing to do with Dr. Phil or opening up your darkest secrets.
I always like to compare different random sports moments to see which one has had a greater impact on me.
What is a better feeling: Winning at a Sports Book in Vegas or winning at John Madden Football?
When your team signs an awful free agent, is that worse than when one of your players has to go see Dr. James Andrews?
So here is my list of 10 great & 10 bad feelings that happen in sports. Please feel free to agree/disagree and send in your own ones.

10 Great Feelings in Sports:

#10 Your team winning on a walkoff home run and you’re at the ball park. Plus this one feels better because you stayed for the whole game and didn’t suck out early to miss the traffic.

#9 First time you enter a stadium that you have always wanted to visit. For me Wrigley Field and Fenway Park will always stick out. Yes it is a bit of cliché to pick these two but there is a reason why it is called a “cliché”. Watching games at Skydome can suck the life out of the most ardent baseball fan. But to sit in a stadium where the crowd is on edge for every 3-1 count is something to behold and makes you appreciate that baseball is not always a boring sport.

# 8 Stumbling across a great playoff game by accident. You weren’t planning on watching some random playoff game but you get sucked in by the drama and you drop all other plans. The type of game where afterwards you feel so lucky to have been part of such a great event. For me it was Lebron James’ Game Five 48 point outburst against the Pistons. Just an unbelievable performance that I may have missed.

#7 Watching ‘Caddy Shack’ tipsy after going six months between viewings. ‘The Big Lebowski’ also works for this one.

#6 Sitting up close at an NBA team and having a player react to your heckling. But it must be noted that none of the heckling can be overly mean spirited and it has to be G rated in regards to language. I once had Isiah Thomas glare at me, needless to say that made the rest of my night.

#5 Mastering the art of flipping between three different 1pm NFL games at the same time. All your friends believe they are the best at avoiding commercials so if you aren’t on your game they will be hurling insults at you while the jingle “Everyone loves Marine Land” is a reminder of your failure. Is their a greater honour with your buddies then everyone agreeing that you should be the one that holds the remote control. Especially if it isn’t even at your own home.

#4 Kicking your friend’s ass in John Madden Football. From the early grainy versions to the current model, always a great feeling. Especially if it is before you are heading out for a night on the town. No matter how the evening goes you at least have that small victory you can hang over your buddy.

#3 Winning your three team parlay at Vegas. I can’t think of a better way to spend three hours in Vegas then sitting at the Bellagio Sports Book with all my bets coming up gold.

#2 Playing catch with your dad …not to get all sentimental but it needs to be on the list. No if you will excise me I have to go watch the special collector’s edition of ‘Field of Dreams’ on Blu Ray.

#1 And finally the best feeling is when your team wins the championship when they weren’t supposed to. Hey I’m sure all Red Wings fan were ecstatic to see their team win but it wasn’t like it was much of a shock. But when your team is a double digit underdog and still finds a way to win … well as a Giants fan, I can assure, it is that much sweeter.

10 Bad Feelings in Sports:

#10 Trying to find any relevant information on cfl.ca. They don’t have every stat, they don’t update quickly enough and they make you work really hard to find simple game information. If the league wants to grow they have to capitalize on fantasy football. The league has little fantasy presence, which is a joke. But until I can find RIGHT AWAY how many yards Jesse Lumsden has during the game there is no way fantasy football can work with the CFL. Sorry to get off on that tangent but as someone who has worked in sports media for a decade there is nothing more infuriating that attempting to do any research on the CFL.

#9 The guy you want your team to draft is taken one spot ahead of you.

#8 A penalty calling back your team’s touchdown.

#7 The Skydome, 8649 fans, 7th inning of a meaningless 8-7 game in August against the Twins. I’ve seen better atmosphere at the dentist waiting office.

#6 This one doesn’t really apply so much in today’s day … but back in the early and mid 90’s their was nothing you could do about the games that would be on TV in the Southern Ontario region. This was before Direct TV. I’ll never forget the first week of the 1992 season where the only two games we got were the Rams/Bills game at 1pm (40-7 win by Buffalo) followed by a classic 21-3 win by the Cincinnati Bengals over the Seahawks. My friends and I spent the whole day praying for updates.

#5 Your team has just overpaid for a guy who had one nice playoff run but beyond that has never done anything for his career except for under achieve and get injured.

#4 Your favourite player having to go see Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham Alabama because of “knee issues”.

#3 The guy you want your team to draft and is available for your team to take and they don’t take him. This one is so far worse than #9. I mean he is right there for the taking!!! Everyone knows you should have taken Player X but the team goes off the board and makes that stupid hero pick where afterwards the GM claims “they couldn’t believe he was still on the board”. By the way the Giants took Ron Dayne over former NFL MVP Shaun Alexander. I remember exactly where I was when that happened and yes I am still bitter.

#2 Anytime your team blows a lead in a playoff game that was considered “insurmountable” and afterwards you are left just shaking your head wondering what went wrong. I would give a list of memorable one’s but I am assuming that everyone reading this has their own personal one.

#1 “Ladies and gentleman I would like to introduce you to our new Coach/General Manager Isiah Thomas.”