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Home / Archive: May 2009
By Louis “King of Roncesvalles” Pisano, Photo’s By James “The Lens” Patterson… 
The Dome was finally open and there were seemingly as many Boston fans as there were Blue Jay fans within the crowd of 35,484 gathered at the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays eventually, on the back of a great performance from the heart of the order, took the second game of this three game series 5-3.
Brian Tallet had a rough couple innings to start the game giving up four walks and a two run dinger to the light hitting Rocco Baldelli (2), trailing 3-1 after two, but settled down and pitched well going seven strong, leading to Brandon League having a 1-2-3 8th and closer Scott Downs getting done in the 9th for the save.
Alex Rios went 4-4, with two doubles, two singles, scored twice, and brought in two runs including the winning run in the seventh, after Marco Scutaro singled and then stole 2nd base on a bit of miff by the catcher Jason Varitek. Rios was quite involved in the outfield recording 9 outs and said “You’re in the game the whole time you’re active and that’s a good thing to be active it helps you get ready to bat.”
Hopefully the Jays are ready to bat as they face John Lester in the finale of this three game series, sending their good young rookie Ricky Romero to the mound Sunday at 1pm.
By Stoker MacIntosh… 
To all of you great fight fans who may be a little feint of heart, please don’t be alarmed by the photo, the smaller man was left unharmed, and no need to phone the authorities, I assure you it’s not a recent ” Big-foot” sighting either.
It’s simply Heavyweight boxer Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) who is scheduled to square off in a highly (non-anticipated) rematch with Ruslan Chagaev (25-0, 17 KOs), this weekend at the Hartwell Arena in Helsinki, Finland.
The fight is supposed to determine which of these two Europeans is the true heavyweight title holder of one of the many worthless sanctioning bodies; which—for reasons I don’t care to disclose—I won’t bother wasting your time by naming.
After all, it is the opinion of most fans and also this writer—that The Bible Of Boxing, The Ring Championship belts—should be the only truly recognized titles in the world.
That being said, we still have to put up with antics from the alphabet boys, such as this Saturday nights “freak show” spectacle in the great boxing Mecca of Helsinki (sarcasm.)
At 7′1″ and nearly 300lbs, Nikolai Valuev’s boxing gloves fit him like a small child’s mittens; he once killed a wild Boar with his bare hands, and eats somewhere in the vicinity of a side of beef and 12 dozen eggs a week.
His 11th rd. win over Monte Barrett in 2006 was eloquently described by a fellow sports writer as resembling something similar to a large grizzly bear mauling a flailing camper.
I once thought that perhaps Valuev would be good for the sport, a modern day Primo Carnera perhaps; he seemed to be involved in movies and books and shouldn’t we thank him for ridding us of Johnny Ruiz?
However, after witnessing Evander Holyfield—one of the all time greatest heavyweights—give the big Valuev a dominant trouncing and yet somehow emerge on the losing end, my opinion has taken a drastic turn to the left.
Another factor for my disdain, and one that I may as well get off my chest here and now, is that during my 35 years or so of being a hard core boxing fan, one thing has always remained constant; whenever Don King is involved in a match it is destined to be marred by some sort of controversial decision.
Valuevs fight with Holyfield was no different, Holy won every round on my unofficial score card, yet somehow Mr king managed to once again work his magic, and sway the judges to score it in favor of his fighter.
Carnera had his first fight in 1928, and by 1933, he had secured a title shot against Champion Jack Sharkey. The Championship date was the 29th of June, at New York’s Madison Square Garden; Carnera became World Champion by knocking out Sharkey in round six.
Primo Carnera would eventually lose the title to Max Baer, and then to a promising young contender who was waiting in line at the time named Joe Louis Barrow.
Valuev has lost to Chagaev once previous, in a—snooze-filled, man-hugger matchup back in April of 2007, maybe, if he beats him again this weekend, we can all move on with the true heavyweight championship, which will take place later this summer between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye.
I won’t go into great detail regarding how bad his skills are however, you can watch the fight and see for yourself.
My honest opinion, for what it’s worth, is that the only existing possibility of Valuev scoring a knock-out victory over Klitschko or Haye in the unforeseen future, is if by chance he happens to fall on one of them.
Do you know Charlie Walser who has the farm east of Sanderson? Well, you know how they used to slaughter beeves, hit ‘em with a maul right here to stun ‘em… and then up and slit their throats? Well one day Charlie has one trussed up and he is all ready to drain him and the Bull comes to ! It starts thrashing around, six hundred pounds of very pissed-off livestock if you’ll pardon me… Charlie grabs his gun there to shoot the damn thing in the head, but what with the swingin’ and twistin’ it’s a glance-shot and ricochets around and comes back hits ol’ Charlie in the shoulder. Charlie, still can’t reach up with his right hand to get his hat… Point bein’, that even in the contest between a man and a steer the issue is never certain. ( Tommy Lee Jones in No Country For Old Men)
By Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter…
This time it was supposed to be different, this time the results were supposed to be in the Pittsburgh Penguins favor, but in the end, after 60 minutes of uninspired play, the Penguins fell victim to the Detroit Red Wings tough play and timely fortune.
When the puck dropped in Detroit last night every NHL fan expected a war, what they got was anything but. Sure their were a few scuffles after the whistle blew, but the game was void of big checks, tough battles in the corners and the kind of one on one battles that defines NHL playoff hockey. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were good, just not good enough to be a factor. Marc-Andre Fleury was unlucky, but then again, there are those out there that say good teams make their own good luck, and in that respect the Red Wings did just that.
The Penguins were spotted practicing how to deal with the way the puck comes off the boards behind the nets. They knew this could be a factor, they were very aware that the Red Wings had a number of set plays that took advantage of the way the puck came off the boards. So how does the first goal go in? The boards were a factor as Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart threw the puck at the net, had it play off the boards and watched as the puck found it’s way under Fleury’s pad. It was a frustrating moment, as the Penguins had played a decent road period. The Penguins fought back with a late goal in the first period courtesy of the surprising Ruslan Fedotenko, but it was short lived and you never got a sense that the Red Wings were ever in danger of letting the game slip away.
After the game Marc-Andre Fleury seemed frustrated at his bad luck, but he did try to see the good rather than all the bad stating, “I thought, outside of the rebounds, we played pretty well. We know we can win. We have to play better. But, we’re confident”. For his part Sidney Crosby seemed to take the loss in stride and when asked if he felt more confident this time around he responded, “ Yeah, definitely, we made a few mistakes and so did they. They got a few bounces. That’s what it came down to”. A few bounces indeed. If the Penguins are to get back in the series they will have to get a few lucky bounces themselves. Wings goalie Chris Osgood had another well controlled game, somehow, someway, Ozzy just seems to get the job done. Osgood’s rebound control was exceptional, he left very little if anything in front of the net, limiting the Penguins chance of netting “Garbage goals”.
A huge factor in the game was the Penguins inability to establish any pressure on the Power Play. The Red Wings Penalty Kill was fantastic, they continually held the Penguins to the perimeter and more often than not they were able to escape any danger by consistently hammering the puck down into the Pens zone. If the Penguins are to win this series they will have to take advantage of what little Power Play opportunities the Red Wings will give them. Failure to do so will be disastrous.
Game two is set for Sunday night at 8:p.m.. Many believe Pittsburgh’s young legs will respond favorably to having to play back-to-back games. For their part, the Penguins had better hope they bring their “A” game, if not, surely the Pens will be in a world of trouble.
Look for Penguin’s Head Coach Dan Blysma to look for a lot more energy from the likes of Bill Guerin and Miro Satan, who, for the most part anyways, were invisible. Sidney Crosby will likely be matched up against Henrik Zetterberg again, a matchup that worked in the Red Wings favor. Evgeni Malkin, who had completely dominated the boards against the carolina Hurricanes, looked very average in game one and must find a way to find some open ice. For their part, the detroit Red Wings will likely keep their lineup status quo. The Wings second and third lines matched up well against the Pens and their defense was stupendous. The Wings may have been lucky, but they did not allow the Penguins to penetrate the neutral zone with speed, which handicapped the Pens attack, again, good teams make their own good luck.
My thoughts? Game two will be a “Do or die” situation for the Penguins. Look for them to go all out with a much higher tempo game. If the Pens can take an early lead they can get the Detroit crowd settled down and go about their business. Give up the first goal and the Pens are in tough. Detroit knows how to win, don’t expect them to lie down for the Pens, make no mistake about it, the Wings want the title of “Dynasty”, a win tonight will go a long way to achieving that.
Quick Prediction: The Pens get things back on track, play a desperate game and finally solve Chris Osgood. As I said earlier, it’s “Do or die” and I don’t think the Penguins are ready to take a bullet in the head. Penguins 3- Detroit-2
Until next time,
Peace!
By Jack Porter… 
Juraj is virtually an unknown commodity when it comes to Maple Leafs prospects. The 20-year-old Slovak was selected in the fifth round—134th overall—in the 2007 draft by the Leafs.
Mikus is a towering 6′4″ defenseman with considerable offensive upside. In 2006-07, he tore up the Czech Junior League; he was plus-32 and added 24 points in 42 games. He represented Slovakia at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship, scoring a goal and two assists in six games.
What Mikus Could Bring the Leafs
Juraj is a big defenseman who has the vision and puck-moving ability to play the North American game. His biggest assets are his reach and point shot. Once he fills out his lanky frame (he’s only 186 lbs. now) he could become a solid fifth or sixth defenseman in the NHL.
Mikus Next Year
Juraj will continue to play in Europe, and once he fills out he could be playing in the AHL. He could graduate to the NHL a few years later.
By Bryan Thiel… 
It almost seems like poetic justice doesn’t it?
In the eyes of many, the Wings need to win back-to-back championships to cement themselves as a dynasty. They now have their chance to be the first repeating champions since they did so back in 1996-97 and 1997-98, and have done it by matching styles with their opponents and winning in many different ways along the way.
Now they’re facing the team they beat for last year’s championship.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are almost doomed until they win a championship: A player or team can have all the talent in the world, but in a time of vindication, nothing is solidified until a star wins a title.
If Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin aren’t able to win a Stanley Cup for a second-straight finals, would many start to wonder about their ability to “finish”, or would they just say that the kids are alright and there are more of these where the past two came from?
On top of that, there’s the Marian Hossa subplot—seeing the defending champs as a better shot to win the cup, he jumped ship in the offseason.
Common thought is that Hossa has made them better without the Wings having to take something away. Now the Pens have the opportunity to stick it to the star that spurned them before questions surround his offseason plans once again.
In other words: Something’s Gotta Give.
Ron Burgundy: What a bad movie reference. It’s indescribable, the reason you brought up that move.
BT: How come? It’s applicable. According the IMDB.com the plot centers around an aging swinger (the championship Red Wings) looking for another shot at glory, but falling for an accomplished older woman (Marian Hossa, who’s an accomplished scorer but just needs that ring).
The Pittsburgh Penguins also had an attraction to Hossa (much like the doctor in the movie), but they slipped up and watched the accomplished winger hitch-hike his way to HockeyTown.
How’s that for a comparison?
Burgundy: You know far more about this movie than any man ever should.
BT: It was all IMDB. I swear.
Burgundy: I bet. And Terry Bradshaw was just asking for those sexual advances from Champ Kind wasn’t he? And Harken’s son isn’t a deranged bow-and-arrow wielding acid-addict. Or thinking that punching a bear in the uvula works.
BT: Wasn’t that your idea, Ron?
Burgundy: The Human Torch was denied a bank loan.
BT: Ron?
Burgundy: The arsonist has oddly shaped feet.
BT: Looks like he’s ignoring us. We’ll try to get him back on track in the meantime.
To all of you great fight fans who may be a little feint of heart, please don’t be alarmed by the photo, the smaller man was left unharmed, and no need to phone the authorities, I assure you it’s not a recent ” Big-foot” sighting either.
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