Steve Nash the latest to weigh in on NBA refs

by Jeremy Visser… I’ve never been a fan of NBA ref Violet Palmer. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because she’s the only female or that I think she Donaghys games — I just think she’s a horrible game-caller. Steve Nash seems to agree, as evidenced by him givin’ it to her like KoKo The Monkey last night. Fine Steve, you can you the call…you don’t have to cry about it.

That’s what I’m saying, guy…

Leafs in Tough Against Western Powerhouses

by Louis “King of Roncesvalles” Pisano… Will that defeated forlorn look on Toskala’s face, as the young guns of Chicago try to pad their stats tonight against the Leafs, be the one we see?

With back to back games against two tough Western Conference opponents, first tonight on the road against the Blackhawks then back at home Saturday night against the Flames, the Leafs staff have decided to play Vesa Toskala on the road and save Gustavsson for the home game.

Does this give us an inkling of who will take reins for the team as the number one?

Most everyone, media fans and seemingly Leafs brass, have already made up their minds as to how good the Monster is, and admittedly he has made some outstanding saves. It sure seems the bus isn’t moving fast enough for most to throw Toskala under it and allow him to become an afterthought and scapegoat as he somewhat deserves with his soft showing not only this year but since he’s been in Toronto pretty much.

Gustavsson has endeared himself to Leafs Nation with his calm demeanour, big presence between the pipes and his spectacular leg stretching saves that would leave most of us in hospital, all in a very short time.

Are we just searching for any means of hope for our beloved blue and white and someone to blame namely Toskala for the demise at least in recent years of this once great franchise though we’ve had a long time between teams truly worth cheering  for?

Gustavsson has played well in nine games, eight of those starts, with record of 3-3-3 with a 2.77 GAA and a .912 save percentage, not too shabby with all the defensive and offensive problems taken into account.

Alexei Ponikarovsky is leading the team in the plus minus department at plus six though has been transparent in some games.

Ian White leads all defence at a plus two and has been slippery with the puck.

Tomas Kaberle leads the team in points with 20, eight points up on the next leading scorer, Grabovski, which is not a good sign for a team having a defenseman leading the way in scoring.

Contrary to most thoughts on tonight’s game that this Chicago team may be looking past the Leafs, I believe they will be up for the old rivalry of the Norris division foes, and will push a physical style of play that has made them successful. This will force the Leafs to answer or be run over, and should give Leafs Nation a good indication of how tough our really team is.

On the other side of the coin, are the Leafs looking past this road game and trying to save their physicality and all out effort for their home game against the Flames? With the Flames having to play a surprisingly good fore checking speedy physical style of team in the Buffalo Sabres tonight they may be tired and a little banged up for tomorrows tilt with the Leafs at the ACC.

If the Leafs are behind in the first period by a couple which has been the case in almost every game, we may seem them pack it in the second and third and try and save their energy for the Saturday nights home game. Sad as it may be this again be the case.

Hopefully Ron Wilson has something up his sleeve to keep this team motivated other than dodge ball as they have been playing well and have gotten points in seven of their last eight.

I believe the next couple games should give us a clear view of what our team is made of and what we can expect in the future from them as they will have to dig deep to scrape out a point or two if any. Hopefully the toughness and grit that has been the trademark of Leaf Nations leader Brian Burke will come to the forefront and be apparent.

UFC Weekend 105 Preview: Randy Couture “The British Are Coming “

by Stoker MacIntosh… “The British are coming” was the cry heard by American soldiers during the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, and the man who shouted it, Paul Revere, will forever live on in the minds of United States citizens as a silent reminder of the patriotism of that historic time.

This weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, led by “Captain America,” Randy Couture, will be staging its 105th event and, once again, setting sail for overseas into English territory.

This time it’s the Americans who are coming, and the UFC’s No. 1, 170-pound welterweight contender and lethal cage-fighter Mike Swick had better be firing on all cylinders on Saturday when he faces the dangerous up and comer Dan Hardy of the UK.

Swick, a 30-year-old native of Houston, is representing one of the foremost MMA Stables in the world, American Kickboxing Academy, and he is—for all intents and purposes—a masterful kick boxing-style fighter.

From the referee’s signal to fight, Swick wastes no time cutting off the cage and applying pressure to his retreating opponents, who are unwary of his hand speed and accuracy.

Then, utililizing his nickname, he—quickly—displays his fearsome blitzkrieg style of attack which brought sudden endings to more than half of this lighting like pugilists previous 14 contests.

This game plan, which we have witnessed many times before, was also was used by Matt Serra in his defeat over Georges St-Pierre; it’s quick, lethal, and extremely effective—and Swick has it down to a science.

Secondly, in Swick’s diverse arsenal is his self-proclaimed Swick-o-tine.

It’s a product of Brazilian jujitsu, or judo, known as the guillotine-choke-hold. Pressure to the throat from the forearm is an air-choke, the other form, where the neck is cranked tightly, proceeds to cut-off arterial blood flow to the brain, both types will cause sudden, and painless unconsciousness.

Quick Swick has mastered—and perfected—this move, and he applies it while having his opponents back firmly trapped against the cage. And you can be sure that—once Swick gets his hooks (feet) in the proper position, there will be no escape other than tapping or snoozing.

Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy is indeed the real deal.  He has extremely impressive past UFC wins against Rory Markham and Akihiro Gono, but his most impressive performance was a win his last time out against Marcus Davis.

Davis, who calls himself “The Irish Hand Grenade,” has a background in amateur and professional boxing and is known to have lethal hands.

Yet, in this writer’s opinion, he lacks solid defense and as a result gets hit far too much resulting in losses which are, to say the least, ugly to watch.

Hardy faced off with Davis at the UFC’s 99th event held in Cologne, Germany, in June of this year. It was a brawl and a grudge match of sorts between the two which began with Davis, who has Celtic roots, bragging about the success he enjoyed against British sub-par opposition.

Whether this was all hype—prearranged to boost promotion for the fight—is unknown to this writer. But the smack-talking got serious when Hardy began openly insulting Davis and calling him among other things, a “wannabe Irishman,” and jokingly saying that Davis’ internet site resembled an explosion at a St. Patrick’s day gift shop.

What was explosive, however, was the three-round-war waged between the two, which went to Hardy by a narrow split-decision margin, and justifiably so.

Also, noteworthy to mention that, since that time, there have been many rumors regarding a rematch, which would undoubtedly promise to be another great fight.

First thing’s first, however; The Outlaw from Manchester, England, needs to sneak  “quickly” past—pardon the pun—a much improved, and more dynamic Swick, a fighter who I contend has all the tools to give the current 170-pound champion—and my countryman—Georges St-Pierre, all he can handle.

Hardy versus Swick will be the fight to watch in my opinion, a win for either man is of the utmost importance here, a title shot is up for grabs so everything in the both fighters careers is on the here, thus, a stand-up striking fan’s dream match should ensue, and I’m more excited to see it than the headlining event.

The main course in this British-cage-fighting-pot-luck-supper, involves an over-the-hill Couture, struggling to hang on to his fading youth, against Brandon Vera, a younger, bigger, stronger, and much tougher competitor in comparison to Couture at this point.

Honestly, I love Couture’s fights—his longevity in the sport of cage-fighting is stoic and admirable. However, my true feelings are that it’s time for “The Natural” to hang em up for good.

The other match-up doesn’t thrill me.  It involves Michael “The Count” Bisping, who will be attempting to get back on track against part-time Canadian cage fighting veteran Denis Kang, after being cold-cocked by Dan Henderson earlier this year.

All in all, this event with the added USA vs. Britain flavor should leave us bloodthirsty fans with our fight cravings quenched and satisfied, so good luck to all fighters, no matter which country they hail from.

UFC 105, Saturday, Nov. 14, at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England.

Maple Leafs and Blackhawks in Classic Norris Division Battle Tonight

By Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter… For those of you that remember, a Toronto Maple Leafs/Chicago Blackhawks matchup used to be a regular occurrence, a tremendous “Norris Division” battle that brought fans to their feet. Sadly, much like the Norris Division itself, a tilt between the Leafs and Hawks have, for the most part, become a thing of the past and that’s just wrong.

Tonight’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks, which is in Chi-town, will be the only meeting between these two historic franchises. In fact, Chicago and Toronto met only once in 2008 as well, a game Chicago won, 5-4 in overtime.

The Hawks, currently 10-5-2, have been one of the NHL’s hottest teams, featuring an enormous amount of young talent, including forwards Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg and defensemen Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell and Cam Barker, all of which have All-Star potential.

There has been some finger pointing at Chicago’s number one goalie, Cristobel Huet, for his inconsistent play this season. Unfortunately for the Leafs, Huet seems to have found his groove and has been sharp in recent victories over the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings.

A win tonight would give the Blackhawks their third win in a row and sixth consecutive win at Home, where they are 8-2-1 on the season. The United Center has never been an easy place to earn two points, tonight will be no exception.

For the Leafs, tonight’s game provides yet another litmus test to see how they matchup with one of the NHL’s elite teams. Sitting at a paltry 3-8-5 on the season, the Leafs are stuck in 29th spot.

Despite some recent good play, the Leafs are coming off a 5-2 loss to the mediocre Minnesota Wild, a game in which the Leafs seemed disinterested and unwilling to hit. Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson looked shaky against the Wild but, by all accounts, will get the nod as the Leafs starter tonight.

Here’s a news flash for you Maple Leafs: if you don’t want to end up on a stretcher you better be ready to take a hit and dish them out, the Hawks come to play every night and boast one of the toughest lineups in the League. If the Leafs play like they did against the Wild on Tuesday they are going to get hurt, end of story!

A concerted effort on defense from both the forwards and the defensemen will be needed if the Leafs and Gustavsson are going to have any chance of beating the Hawks. Chicago boasts the NHL’s 14th ranked offense and their defense, ranked sixth in the league, has been exceptional of late.

Unfortunately for the Leafs, the defense squad will be without defenseman Mike Komisarek, who, after struggling to find his game at the beginning of the season, was playing better of late and was becoming a valued asset for the Leafs.

Phil Kessel, who has played well in his return and Alex Ponikarovsky, will have to continue their strong offensive effort tonight. That said, if the Leafs keep getting poor efforts form the likes of Jason Blake (two goals on the season), Matt Stajan (three goals on the season) and Nikolai Kumelin (three goals on the season), then Kessel and Ponikarovsky’s offensive efforts and the Leafs defensive efforts will be all for not.

The Leafs own the NHL’s worst penalty kill at 71.6 percent. They have the worst goals against per game average at 3.69 and, averaging 2.56 goals per game, their offense sits at 21st overall, all of which has to have the Blackhawks drooling and the mouth and ready to go on the hunt.

So, how did it come to this? Why do the Leafs and Hawks, two of the NHL’s Original Six franchises meet just once this season and just once in 2008? Read on, as I try to make sense of the NHL’s undoing of the once mighty Norris Division.

As a result of realignment, the Norris Division was formed in 1975 and lasted until after the 1992-1993 season, when the Norris Division became a thing of the past.

Originally featuring the Montreal Canadiens, L.A. Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals, the Norris was always known as a tough Division to play in and often featured bench-clearing brawls and fights.

The Norris went through a few changes over the years, first dropping the Capitals and taking on the Hartford Whalers in their place (1979-80) and then receiving a more complete face-lift in 1981-82, adding the Minnesota North Stars, Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues, while dropping the Hartford Whalers, L.A. Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Finally, in 1982-83, the NHL made yet another change to the Norris, featuring what many of us remember the Norris as being: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars.

The Norris may not have been the most skillful Division in all of hockey, but it did feature a ton of lunch pail players, including Toronto’s Wendel Clark and Chicago’s Al Secord. Fighting was the norm in the Norris and much blood was spilled on the ice night after night, in fact, they were some of the most memorable fights in NHL history.

Unfortunately, when the 1992-1993 season ended, the NHL decided to chop up the divisions once again, only this time they took it a step further, eliminating the historic Norris, Smythe, Patrick and Adams Divisions, opting instead to go with a “less confusing” Eastern Conference—featuring the Northeast Division and the Atlantic Division, and the Western Conference—featuring the Central Division and the Pacific Division.

Once again, marketing and realignment was more important than the history of the game. The NHL cited that the majority of the U.S. fans had know idea who James E. Norris, Lester Patrick, Charles Francis Adams or the legendary Conn Smythe were and, therefore, were unable to identify with the Divisions.

So, for the “betterment” of the game, NHL fans lost a little bit of their history and, along with the name changes, lost some beloved rivalries—Chicago vs. Toronto being one of them.

It is a sad state of affairs that the Leafs and Hawks don’t meet more often, then again, given the disparity between the two teams, perhaps it is in the Leafs’ best interest to stay where they are, history be damned!

Until next time,

Peace!

Toronto Raptors Ready To Make The Jump

by Chase Ruttig… The Toronto Raptors have been in the Association for 15 years this year, and well they haven’t really made the jump from an expansion franchise to a franchise that is constantly on tv and makes the playoffs almost annually.

Whether it was the false hope in Damon Stoudamire, or the memorable but brief Carter/McGrady era, which was crippled by bringing in overpaid veterans and trying to build a team around a pure scorer.

Perhaps it was Carter’s departure, which was in the horrible Rob Babcock era which brought the Raptors such busts as Rafael Arujo.

Whatever the cause, it seemed like the Raptors were headed to be a basement team to suffer the same fate as their countrymen the Grizzlies, and be shipped back to the the US.

But then Bryan Colangelo was hired and the team has been retooled and overhauled with a focus on European talent and height at every position. The Raptors have been one of the NBA’s most exciting teams of late and won the 07-08 Atlantic Division title. They have real potential to go on a run this year.

They have one of this year’s breakout stars Andrea Bargnani who has finally found consistency in his game, and a stronger, more motivated Chris Bosh.

On top of that they picked up Hedo Turkoglu and have a healthy Jose Calderon. It seems like everything is good in Raptorland lately.

They have a motivated team that can shoot the lights out of the gym every night. Their weaknesses has always been defence, but hey, defence may win championships, but offence wins games.

In the regular season winning games is what matters at the moment.

This is not meant to be a long article but just a notice on how Canada’s team is on its way to the joining the top of the NBA and taking what they think is theirs.