State of...Enhancement

Not sure when this transformation took place, but did anyone else notice the makeover that the St. Pauli Girl got recently? I was driving on the highway and passed a beer truck and noticed that she looked a bit different from when I first noticed her - on a side note, the first St. Pauli Girl experience was my 16th birthday with my friend Brendan. We used to get each other a random 6-pack for our birthday (yes, this was before we were "legally" allowed to consume alcohol GASP!). I don't remember who bought the 6-pack this time but I do remember the label.

Either way, I was noticing that she's been put through an image upgrade. I can't tell if she's also been 'uplifted' or not. Initially I thought she'd had an operation to reduce the stress on her back...but now, seeing it next to each other I'm not so sure. See for yourself:

Old St. Pauli

New St. Pauli:

Cheers,
LW

State of...Twins

Slow news day...but I've been thinking about these possible lost siblings for a while and thought I'd share my random musings...

Alan Greenspan and Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs):


Musical genius T-Bone Burnett and movie mogul James Cameron:


And finally, Jerry Seinfeld and Gilbert Gottfried:


I'll post more as I think of them.

Cheers,
LW

State of...Misquote?

I've got a lot of respect for Apolo Ohno, so I hope that this turns out to be a false quote, but when asked about the referee's decision to disqualify him, Ohno replied, “You know, it's the head Canadian referee out there and there were two Canadians in the race.”

He's commented numerous times that "that's short track" when crashes and DQ's happen, so I really hope he's not claiming some illegal shenanigans on this one. He's always won and lost with grace, and this would definitely be a step down for him.

Said it ain't so Ohno! More to come?

State of...Captivity

First and foremost, my condolences go out to the family of Dawn Brancheau. She was the Sea World employee who was recently killed by a captive killer whale at the park. This is a horrible incident and I cannot imagine what her family is going through. The only words of encouragement that I can offer is that she died doing what she loved most - working with whales.

Now, that all being said...how the hell did all this happen?? This whale has been in two OTHER incidents that resulted in deaths. It's highly unlikely that the whale did this deliberately or with intent, more than likely the whale was just "playing" around and didn't realize what he was doing. But folks...he's a KILLER whale. Let me restate that, he's a KILLER, that's KILL-ER, whale. He wasn't named for his playfullness.

It's such a shame that animals/mammals are taken from the wild and trained to be domestic. Their natural habitat is NOT in a cage, aquarium, etc. so why is it a shock when violence happens? Remember that lady who had her face mauled by a neighbours chimpanzee? Why the hell was this lady allowed to have a chimpanzee as a pet?! Why can't we have a rule that outlaws stupid people?

So what's going to happen to the whale now? I haven't heard definitively but my guess is they are going to put him to sleep. What a shame. It's not his fault this happened. In fact, the trainers didn't even go into the water with him because they didn't feel it was safe. So if he wasn't safe to swim with - why have him???? Wild animals should be just that; WILD! As in, not captive, not a pet, not a trained toy. A majestic beast that should be allowed to roam free.

I'm very sorry about the incident...but let's place the blame where it needs to be - on Sea World. I'd like to know why they decided to purchase a Killer Whale that had a history of violence for their family shows. That doesn't sound like a very wise move to me. He should never have been captured in the first place. And after that first incident he should have been released as it was unsafe to keep him.

It's happening too often that people/companies are making the decision to purchase wild animals only to have the relationship end in tragedy. What do people expect? You aren't supposed to have a wild chimpanzee! Killer Whales are not supposed to be kept in captivity. Great White Sharks aren't supposed to be in aquariums. These are wild creatures people - let's keep it that way.

All together now, let's say it loud: FREE WILLY!!!!!

Cheers,
LW

State of...Cheating!

Let me first start by saying that I admire Mark McGwire for what he did yesterday. Regardless of why he came out, it takes a big person to admit they were wrong. And to admit it to millions of people is even more difficult. That being said, Mark McGwire does NOT deserve to be in the Hall of Fame (HOF).

Mark McGwire was a very good (possibly great) homerun hitter but his entire career and his HOF worthy numbers are all tainted. We don’t know which numbers were done while he was clean and which ones he accomplished while using steroids. We don’t know if he had stayed clean his whole life what his final homerun totals would be. I tend to think that he still would have been a much respected power hitter but we just don’t know for sure. There are those that will argue for one reason or another that he deserves to be recognized in the Hall of Fame. They might use some of the following arguments:

- Everyone else in his day was doing it
- Steroids don’t improve your hand-eye coordination
- It wasn’t banned by Major League Baseball

And to those people I say this:

#1 “Everyone else in his day doing it”
I don’t care if everyone else was doing it. I don’t care if every pitcher in the league was using ‘roids – that doesn’t make it right. I won’t believe that all baseball players in the “Steroid Era” were using drugs. A player like Fred McGriff (who has never been accused of using performance enhacing drugs) played his career clean and put up some very very good numbers. His accomplishments have been overshadowed because of cheaters like Canseco and McGwire. If these CHEATERS hadn’t put up such gaudy numbers then maybe some of the clean hitters would have a chance to be in the Hall of Fame. It’s a shame that the guys who relied solely only on their God given talents and hard word (and NOT on drugs) are cast aside as mediocre because of the few outliers.

#2 "Steroids don’t improve your hand-eye coordination"
We don’t know this for sure, but let’s take this as fact for now. People say that hitting a 90+ MPH pitch with a stick is one of the harder things to do in all of sports. Steroids may not help you accomplish the task of putting wood to ball, but it sure helps your strength. Who’s to say that 100 of McGwire’s homeruns wouldn’t have just been deep fly balls without the assistance of steroids? Maybe that number is only 50. Or maybe it’s 250. We don’t know for sure which homers were drug assisted and which ones weren’t – so we have to throw them ALL out. McGwire wasn’t a very good hitter (based on average) so let’s take a look at how a small change like adding strength can change a career. Say McGwire went 0-4 (one pop-out, 2 strikeouts, and a ground out) without steroids. If by taking steroids he is able to add an extra 20 feet to his fly balls then his 0-4 suddenly becomes 1-4 with a homer. Since he’s now hitting with more power the pitcher might decide not to take a chance of giving him anything to hit in his next at bat. So maybe now he gets a walk instead of a strikeout. So he went from being 0-4 to suddenly being 1-3 with a homer. Those are Hall of Fame numbers to be sure. But he didn’t do that on his own merit. He CHEATED to accomplish this.

#3 "It wasn’t banned by Major League Baseball"
Shame on MLB for not only not banning steroids but also for hiding their heads in the sand. At the time of McGwire and Sosa and their rise to greatness, baseball was suffering from lack of interest. These two player singlehandedly brought people back to the sport. Baseball NEEDED these guys to raise their game from their recent case of indifference. I was right there with everyone else. After the strike I lost a lot of interest in MLB (the Expos were robbed of a Championship title by the way) and these two guys got me back interested. See, I’m not saying that steroids don’t provide excited – they do. I’m happy to sit and watch a genetically enhance behemoths hit 500 foot homers – that’s exciting (but don’t expect me to say these mutants are “great players”). But it’s exciting in the way that watching Hulk Hogan or HHH fight. Also, while MLB hadn’t banned steroids it was still ILLEGAL! These guys broke the law in order to enhance their playing abilities. If you were driving down the highway and the speed limit was 65 but you knew that there weren’t any cops would you speed? Of course you would (I sure would). But if you did get caught you couldn’t argue that it was the cops fault for not having radar setup. You knew you were breaking the law.

It’s a shame that we will never know how good these players were without the use of performance enhancing drugs. Would McGwire have broken Mantle’s record? We will never know. But what we do know is that he was CHEATING while he broke it. That is a fact. He knew what he was doing was wrong but decided that the risk was worth the reward. Well guess what Mark, here is where your decisions come back to bite you in your big pin-cushion behind. You don’t get to go into the Hall of Fame. Sure you’ve made millions of dollars, but you don’t deserve to be enshrined into baseballs chamber of greatness.

LONG LIVE 61!!!

Cheers,
LW

State of...Alleged

So it appears that I’ve been a little busy lately - haven’t posted in over two months! I can say that I’ve been busy getting married, going on a honeymoon, and then getting back into the swing of things…but in reality, nothing has really jumped out at me for a new topic. I can only get so pissed about stupid celebrity baby names, boneheaded athletes, and the mediocre Toronto sports scene – and none of those are really ‘blog worthy’ anyways.

But when I saw the recent Tiger Woods “alleged” incident I had to get something down in writing on this topic. Please keep in mind that all of this is ALLEGED and not based on fact. But hey, if ThirtyMileZone can write about it then why not me?

So it looks like Tiger has been a bit of a dog. Okay a lot of a dog. For a long time. After publicly stating that nothing was more important than his family and being a good father for his kids he goes out and (allegedly) sleeps with no less than three other women. So he stayed true to his ‘till death do us part’ for what, two years?!!? He has (allegedly) betrayed his wife and his vows to her. What a slime ball.

So now it’s up to his wife to decide what to do. Apparently she is being offered between 2 and 50 million dollars to stay in this marriage for another two years. To tell you the truth, I don’t really care if she stays or goes. I can certainly justify going at this point. She has been betrayed, not once, but several times (allegedly) over the past three years. One slip up in five years I could MAYBE understand her staying around to try and fix it…but 30? I’m not sure it’s worth fixing at this point…in fact, I’m not sure if it ever was fixed. It might have been broken from the start.

But it’s not my decision. If she decides to stick it out and get counseling and try to fix what they had (?) then more power to her. But please, PLEASE, don’t take the money to stay. If I were her, and decided to stay, I would make a public announcement that I’m NOT taking the money but I am staying. At this point it’s not like she’s going to be poor if she doesn’t take the money. If she does stay do you think that she will go without anything she wants over the rest of her life? She could come home and say “I want a Ferrari” and my guess is there is a brand new Ferrari parked in the driveway the very next day. She doesn’t NEED the money to stay – she’s already gotten whatever cash she needs. If she decides to stay, and keeps the money is she any different than ‘Pretty Woman’?

I was always a big Tiger fan. He seemed like a good role model; he worked hard, he seemed to have fun doing his job, he always seemed like a nice guy (although I've since heard that he may not be the most fan friendly guy on the Tour). It was a pleasure to watch him play (probably still will be) and to cheer him on (no longer). Everyone is human and prone to make mistakes...but the way this whole thing was handled, I can no longer cheer him on and feel good about myself. It's the same way I had to stop cheering for Mark McGwire. I can't stand cheaters!

I’m very interested to see how this whole situation unfolds. I’m guessing that she leaves him…and gets a fortune while doing it. But THAT’S a whole different topic.

Cheers,
LW

State of...Overreaction

Hey Jorge, what did you think was going to happen when your pitcher threw at TWO of our players (one being our MVP Aaron Hill)??? Just be thankful that you didn't get hit in the head with that Carlson fastball.

So for those who don't follow baseball, the Jays faced off against the NY Yankees last night. During the game two Blue Jays were plunked by Yankee pitchers. The retaliation, as any respectful team will dish out, was to send a message back to a Yankee batter. Jay Jesse Carlson threw behind Jorge Posada, prompting the Yankee catcher to walk towards the mound and expressing his displeasure.

When Posada came around to score, Carlson was near the plate (obviously trying to stir the simmered pot somewhat) and Posada threw a slight elbow at him. The ump immediately threw the Yankee out of the game...but then the bench clearing brawl ensued. Carlson was plunked pretty hard on the head by someone (hard to see who). Posada will surely face a fine and possibly a suspension. That is NOT what the Yankees needed at this time of the year.

I would have thought that Posada was smarter than this. He's been playing the game for a while and knows what happens when you hit a few opposing batters. He's just lucky that Carlson's aim was off and he didn't get plunked somewhere dangerous. Now he's going to ride the pine for a few days just before the playoffs get started. I hope this little incident causes the Yankees to lose a few games and they miss out on the playoffs. I wonder how Posada would feel then?!

Hey Jorge, get over yourself and play the game the way it's supposed to be played. You made a fool of yourself last night.

Cheers,
LW

State of...Mediocrity

It’s been a rough few years for Toronto fans. Okay, it’s been a rough decade for Toronto fans. Alright, FINE…it’s been a rough couple of decades for Toronto fans. The Blue Jays haven’t done much since their back-to-back World Series wins, the beloved Maple Leafs haven’t done anything in my entire existence (although 1993 was exciting), and the Raptors haven’t pieced together a real run at a championship since they started playing.

It’s time to face the music Toronto sports fans. We aren’t good. We aren’t even bad. It’s worse than that. We are pillars of mediocrity; not good enough on any year to possibly WIN anything, but not bad enough on any given year to get any BETTER. It’s a viscous cycle we’re in. Look at the Penguins: They were really good for a few years, then they STUNK and got some great draft picks (Fleury, Malkin, Crosby) and now they’re Champs. They understood that they had to be awful in order to rise up again.

We don’t understand that philosophy. We’d rather kid ourselves with the perception that we can ‘challenge for playoffs’, and once in the playoffs anything can happen. Like an old coach of mine used to say “If you have a lane, you can WIN”. Well, let’s be honest…most Toronto teams don’t even have a lane to participate. Sure the Jays were 15 games above .500 for a while there…but then reality hit home and this team realized that they weren’t good enough to compete with the Yanks and Sox. Sure we can compete with the Orioles but where is that getting us?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have done a good job revamping their mediocre team from last year. They’ve brought in a bunch of ‘tough as nails’ competitors who are going to make everyone forget about winning the game – we WON the fight at least!!! And that will work for a while because it’ll be exciting hockey. But when push comes to shove is this team good enough to make the playoffs? Maybe. Would it surprise anyone if they just missed out? Nope. I’d be shocked if we finished dead last and had a great draft pick next year. We’ll be good enough to finish middle of the pack...Mediocre.

And here’s the best part about the Maple Leafs. Fans will attend no matter what. So where is the incentive to the team to do anything different than previous years? Sure they “want” to win…but only if it helps the bottom line. You think the Teachers Pension Plan cares one lick about whether their team wins or not? As long as their investment is sound and the return is coming in then they don’t care. That’s sad to me. Where are the passionate owners who will do anything to win? I saw what that passion can do firsthand last year with an Arena Football Team. We need an owner to come and say F* It! This team needs to WIN. And if we need to suck for three or four years to do it…so be it! I know that’s a hard sell for your season ticket holders…but we’ve already established that Toronto fans will come no matter what. So suck for a while and then WIN! I want to see Lord Stanley paraded in downtown Toronto!

But I digress (as I’ve been known to do). To prove my point about Toronto teams I took a look at our “major sports” teams over the past 15 years. Here is what I found:

The overall record the Toronto teams (Leafs, Blue Jays, Raptors) over the past 4,431 games is a combined 2,074 WINS and 2,276 LOSSES (and 81 Ties). Over that span we’ve only made a total of 12 playoff appearances. In 42 seasons we’ve only made the playoffs 12 times!!!!! That’s a lot of time being (less than) mediocre. The last time a Toronto team did anything (my apologies to the Rock – who kick ass every year) was 1993. That is pitiful!

Now, all this being said…I’ve still drunk the Kool-Aid and think that “this could be the year” for the Leafs. And the Jays have a great rotation and should be “able to compete” in 2010. The Raptors have also made some good key acquisitions and their European style of play might really “do something special this year”. What can I say; I’m just as bad as the rest of the sports fans in Toronto.

GO LEAFS, GO RAPTORS, GO JAYS!!!

Cheers,
LW

State of...Shame!

SHAME on you Discovery Channel. Shame on you for putting on this sorry excuse for a Canadian, Les Stroud. I am sitting here watching his show from Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week'. The show is called Deadly Waters, and examines the 5 most deadly locations in the world with regards to shark attacks.

If you are unfamiliar with Stroud's show 'Surviverman' consider yourself lucky. The show is based on the concept of being dropped in the middle of nowhere and having to survive on his own. He carries his own camera and films everything. He lost total credibility with me while he was 'surviving' in the cold north one episode. Les came across an old beaten up truck and decided to sleep in the truck. The next morning Les claimed it was the most uncomfortable night of sleep of his life. He slept...IN A TRUCK!!!! Try being homeless for a single night you jackass.

But I digress. My beef this time is with his attempt to educate viewers on why these waters are so deadly. At his 5th most deadly location, the Caribbean, Les wanted to test his theory as to why so many people had been attacked over the years. His belief was that it's because it's open water that the sharks attack mostly moving victims (swimmers, scuba divers, etc.). So here was his test. Behind his boat he dragged a "chumcicle" (a frozen mass of dead fish and guts). When the sharks attacked the moving meal this proved the liked to attack moving objects. In comparison, Les put a non-moving "chumcicle" in the water. The sharks attacked this as well, but with slightly less ferociousness.

To Les, this proved his point that swimmers and divers are at serious risk in these waters! Okay, I'm no scientist, but this doesn't seem like a very valid experiment. He was dragging CHUM!!!! Of course the sharks are going to attack it. What he should have done is have himself dragged behind the boat to determine if they would attack something that wasn't IN THEIR REGULAR DIET!!!! What Les also failed to notice is that when he was in the water filming the attack, when he got close to the chumcicle the sharks retreated. They didn't come close to the human (if he can call himself that). Yes, it may have been the small motorized propeller thingy that he was using, but the sharks weren't afraid of the boat so why would this do it?

My second beef with Les (oh, don't you worry I'm getting to my beef with Discovery Channel)...is while investigating the Great White Shark. He wanted to test the bite of a shark to determine how deadly a Great White's jaws are. So he put a dead tuna on the end of a rope and dropped it overboard. When the Great White didn't immediately attack it Les said that the shark had no interest in it " this shark is really inspecting the dead tuna, but for some reason it doesn't seem sure".

Rather than attacking the dead decaying tuna, the shark decided to attack a live albatross on the surface of the water. The shark chose a life prey over dead decaying prey. Here is Les's take on this:

"The Great White swam right up and hit the albatross. Now it looks like he's circling and is gonna come back and finish it off. THAT'S INSANE! He's hit the bird, injuring it preventing it from flying off...and circling it he comes back to finish the attack...these really are DEADLY WATERS."

So wait...these waters are suddenly "deadly" because a Great White attacked a bird - something that is not uncommon in the diet of a shark? Talk about sensationalizing the deadliness of sharks. And this is where I have a serious beef with Discovery Channel. I will admit that over the years Discovery Channel has done a tremendous job of raising the awareness of sharks and their miscast role as "man eaters". But what they've done in this single episode of 'Les Stroud; Jackass' has put sharks back in the cross hairs. As if sharks didn't have enough trouble with the whole finning industry - now they have to worry about cowboys like Les Stroud labeling them as man-eaters again.

Shame on you Discovery Channel!!! I watch the news each night and see how fear sells. Teasers like, "could the vitamins you take be the same thing that is killing you? Next on XYZ News". It's this type of shoddy reporting that is making me disgusted with so called unbiased news reporting. I thought that Discovery Channel was above this; only filming and reporting the truth and trying to dispel ugly rumours about nature. But seeing this "Deadly Waters" has made me rethink this belief. While one episode certainly shouldn't ruin all the help that sharks have received over the years - it certainly didn't help.

I look forward to Shark Week every year - as do several of my family members. I will ask them to watch this single episode to see if I'm overreacting. I hope this is not a sign of things to come from Discovery Channel; I have 8 more hours of saved Shark Week content to watch. But one thing is for sure...this single episode confirmed what I already thought - Les Stroud is a giant douche bag!!!! I wish that sharks WERE deadly man-killers...then maybe he wouldn't have made it through this sorry excuse for a TV show with his four limbs.

I still have 15 minutes left in the show...maybe there's still hope!

Oh, my God. It keeps getting worse and worse. Now he's in Florida at the most deadly of waters. Les mentions a few years ago a fisherman was attacked (who was standing in the water reeling the bait towards him). To test if these sharks like human flesh Les has devised a brilliant plan. He will put a fish head on a metal rod. Next to the fish head, about half a foot away, he will put a prosthetic human arm. If the shark bites the arm then they are man-eaters. The fact that the arm is less than a foot away must have no bearing on this test. Please allow giant douche-bag Les to set the stage:

"Let's see if the sharks go for the arm or the fish. I'm moving off a safe distance to watch. Trouble with these waters is - nowhere is safe!".

How many swimmers are there in the state of Florida??? And how many attacks have their been? You're right dickwad - "NOWHERE" is safe! So the test goes just as planned for Les. In the clear waters the shark just takes the fish head. When Les clouds up the water and adds another fish head, the head is taken...and then another shark does bite the arm - only to spit it out after realizing it's not actual food. But this CLEARLY shows that "so there you have it, in the murky waters off the coast of Florida you might just be mistaken as prey".

Les Stroud you are a GIANT douche bag! And Discover Channel should be slapped upside the head for promoting this guy and his archaic beliefs. Strangely, I'm not the first to notice - check out THIS link from 2008.

Cheers,
LW

State of...Perception

The ship is sinking!!! I'm in the sports industry, so I understand that sports is a business. But when I saw the following newsflash I was only looking at it from a fan's viewpoint:

"The Blue Jays have decided to trade Rios to the White Sox without receiving any compensation in return..."

The Blue Jays have officially given up. Not just this year, but they've decided to throw in the towel with regards to baseball in general. They are going to do their best impression of the Florida Marlins. That means get rid of all those players who are making more than a few million per year. But I digress...

How am I, as a fan, to take this? The Jays just let one of their better players walk away for NOTHING! I don't care how much money he makes or is scheduled to make next year. They gave away talent and in exchange got a grand total of ZERO. Teams trade away their high priced talent all the time, I get it. But those teams get SOMETHING in return. At least get some extra batting practice balls!

Rios is a multiple All-Star. Sure he's not having the greatest year of his career, but he's still on pace for 21 homers and 28 stolen bases. That's certainly worth more than NOTHING, isn't it?? He is one of only a handful of players who give at least 20 HRs and 20 SBs each year. He has 30-30 potential every season. Do you know how many 30-30 players there were last year. TWO! And the Jays just gave away a guy who threatens this every year...for diddly squat!!!

So what's a fan to do? I feel like I have to continue to support my team...but they are making it so damn difficult. First they almost trade away the best pitcher in the AL (or maybe in MLB), then they GIVE away Rios. How can I continue to support a team that clearly has no desire to compete for the foreseeable future. You'd think that I'd be used to this being a Maple Leaf fan, but I'm not. I'm pissed.

If I were in Toronto I would have been attending games (someone has to, right?!). But after seeing this, how could I bring myself to continue attending this charade of a season? This team is being dismantled from the inside and they aren't improving. I could maybe understand if our best players were being traded for great prospects...but this deal proves that ownership is only worried about one thing. The bottom line. They don't care about winning, they don't care about giving the fans what they want. You can worry about the bottom line while still trying to get better - many teams do this. What we lack is leadership from the top.

Get rid of JP, that stupid useless, waste of space for a General Manager. He has yet to make a trade that has worked out for the Jays, and the number of moves he's done that have backfired is staggering!!! He's an idiot who can't do anything right at this point! He is the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. Honestly, I wish we could trade HIM for nothing. Hell, I'd even give up a prospect to get rid of that loser.

Please, for the love of God, get rid of JP. Do it. Do it now!!!

Cheers,
LW

State of...Heroics

It's become almost a regular occurrence to read about some NFL goon getting caught with possession of drugs, or weapon charges, or attempted murder. So it's refreshing to hear about the good sports stories. Yesterday's Edmonton Sun had a great story that made me stand up and cheer.

Kitwana Jones is his name. For those of you who don't follow the CFL (and trust me, that's just about everyone), Kitwana is a defensive end for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. At 6'0, 240 pounds he is a somewhat imposing specimen (albeit nothing to compared to some of the NFL giants that roam the gridiron), but on the field he is just another averaged size athlete. Running down a would-be purse snatcher is a different story altogether.

While driving around town Kitwana heard a lady screaming. He slowed down the vehicle and was able to make out the cry "Help, Help". An older woman had just had her purse and laptop stolen by a petty thief. Kitwana took off like a sprinter and chased the man down "in seconds" and tackled him. He held him down, and maybe threw a few kicks in for good measure, and waited for the cops to arrive. While he waited he angrily asked "Why are you out here trying to beat up old women?". I don't know what response he got, but...

Can you imagine this man tackling you on the hard concrete?

I wonder how many of us, let alone star athletes, would do what KJ did. Literally he put him self in harms way for a complete stranger. Can you see T.O. stopping his tricked out Escalade (just a guess) to help an old lady? HA HA. Not in a million years. I'm not picking on T.O. in particular (okay, maybe just a bit)...I'm not sure that even I would do such a thing. The guy could be carrying a gun, knife, or whatever. I'd certainly call the cops...but would I get out of my car and run down the guy? Most likely....hells no.

When asked about his act of courage he said: “I’d put myself at risk for anybody, any day. I don’t have much fear for anything except God.” Kudos to you Kitwana! My hat goes off to you. You've done the Eskimos proud.

I might actually tune in the the next CFL game on TV (I think they air at 4 am on Tuesday mornings here).

Cheers,

LW

State of...Winning

I guess I only have myself to blame for this one. Since my last post about the all-time greatest athletes I have found myself a little more interested in the Tour de France than normal. I wouldn't usually pay it any attention whatsoever...but since Lance is back and the hype machine is running at full force I thought I'd follow it a bit. And that's where my confusion comes in.

Is this a team sport? Is it individual? To the best of my knowledge (which is limited I know), no individual rider can participate in the Tour. You need to have a team. And no rider can win the Tour without the full support of his team. There's certain procedure that the "lead rider" need to follow in order to win. Lance couldn't have won all those titles without the help of his team. Without the team taking part of the drafting and leading and strategy he would be slaughtered by other riders.

If this is the case, and that a team is so valuable, why does the team not get recognition on the podium? Lance Armstrong and his "teammate" Alberto Contador are in a battle for who is the team leader, i.e. who will be supported by the rest of the team in order to ensure a "team" (individual) victory. Contador even recently validated my above sentiment: "Believe me, everyone who wants to win a Tour needs a team - to win the Tour de France on your own, it's impossible." And about the most important part of the Tour: "We still have two weeks to go, the most important thing is that Astana wins in Paris."

Is this a team sport or an individual one? If it's a team sport then why isn't the "TEAM" recognized when an individual wins a stage? And if it's an individual sport, then why do all riders insist that a team is needed.

Normally I'd be all for this sort of selfless, for-the-good-of-the-team, we are family type nonsense...but for some reason it annoys me here. The idea that most of these riders are there only to support their team leader is ridiculous. And who's to say that the team leader is the best rider out of the team? It certainly appears that Contador is a better rider than Lance, but I'm sure Lance was the one that they have/had focused on getting the yellow jersey. Has that changed now that Contador broke away from his team?

You play to win the game. Why compete if you're not going to try and win? And if you're going to compete, why not try to win. You play to win the game. In the end, the Tour de France winner is an individual, NOT a team. So why not do everything in your power to beat EVERYONE (not just the other teams). This whole take-on-for-the-team attitude in an individual sport is silly. You play to win the game. (Bitch aren't you proud of me?!)

Maybe someone can explain this to me, but it makes the whole Tour seem frivolous. It makes it feel rigged for some reason. I know that these guys are in fantastic shape and have put in years and years of training...but that's my point - why spend all that time so you can help your teammate win? I'd say "Sack up" but it would be in poor taste...so I'll just say this: PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION! Go for the win!

Cheers,
LW

State of...Egomania

I was beginning to think that my gut was leading me astray, but it's good to know that I've still got it. A few months ago I posted about LeBron. I was a little harsh on him at the time and when I saw a nice interview a few weeks later I decided that I had been too quick to judge. Well, boy was I wrong!

This guy is an out-of-control egomaniac! Reports are coming out (here) that LeBron recently had an embarrassing moment. He was dunked on by a college kid in a friendly game of pickup basketball. Apparently there were two camera men filming the event when the dunking took place. LeBron called over his representative from Nike and a minute later that same rep asked both camera men for their tapes.

There were no issues with the filming of this UNTIL the King was dunked on. And of course we can't have THAT getting out in the public can we? Much better to have a story come out that you are an EGOMANIAC!!! What, you can't handle that someone was able to dunk on you? All the greatest players have had these moments - but you don't see Michael Jordan asking to have the tapes destroyed. It happens, get over it you scum-bag!

LeBron, you're never going to be perfect. Nobody is. Michael Phelps got beaten in the pool (by a Canadian no less) a few weeks ago. You didn't see him whine about it and ask for people to cover it up. The great Albert Pujols even strikes out from time to time. You don't see him keeping it quiet. It's VERY rare that I agree with Skip Bayliss, but he nailed it this time.

You are a whiny toddler and I can't stand you. I was right about you months ago when I called you out. You are a self serving, classless, ego maniacal douche-bag! I hope you never win a championship. Get a life.

LW

State of...Tenure

First off, let me send out a very large and heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Joe Sakic on a wonderful career. He is certainly one of the greatest players to ever play the game of hockey. He is also one of the great ambassadors of the game. It has been a pleasure watching him play hockey for all these years. He will most definitely be missed – not only from the NHL but from Team Canada.

Joe’s retirement got me wondering about sports “stars” these days. It feels like the days of an athlete playing out his time for ONE team is gone. I remember growing up and watching guys like Ryne Sandberg, Steve Yzerman, Cal Ripken, Mario Lemieux, and Magic Johnson.

Those guys bled their team colours and it was a given that they would retire with that team. I’m not sure when all that changed (Gretzky to the Kings perhaps?), but today’s stars seem to move around a lot more than they did in previous times.

This got me chatting with my friend Bev about current stars that could spend their entire career with the same team. We came up with a partial list of the guys that could conceivably play their entire career with the same team. In order to be really considered you had to have spent at least 10 years in the league.

I'm sure that we've missed some, but here is what we came up with so far:

Derek Jeter – Can you imagine him playing anywhere else? There’s no way that the captain of the Yankees would ever get traded and I don’t see him deciding to move on. Derek IS pinstripes.

Nicklas Lidstrom – at 53rd overall the Wings made one of the greatest draft picks ever. Nick will finish his career with the Winged Wheel.

Peyton Manning – See above. Peyton now embodies what the Colts are all about….although isn’t that what we said about Favre and the Packers?

Hines Ward – A perennial fan favourite, there would be a revolt if he were let go or traded.

Kobe Bryant – He’s been in the league for 13 years already! Granted he’s only like 26 years old (I know, he was drafted at 13 – that’s crazy!!!) and has several years left, but he certainly has made a name/home for himself in LA.

Ray Lewis – I’m not sure that he’s untouchable anymore…but he made the Ravens what they are today. A couple more years and hopefully he gets to retire in the black and purple.

Paul Pierce – At the rate the Celtics are moving players and bringing in new talent, who knows if PP can stay on forever. He certainly looks at home in the green jersey.

Tim Duncan – it’s not like they don’t have a history of keeping their captains. The Admiral made a career of playing for the Spurs…I don’t see Timmy leaving any time soon (unless to retire).

Dirk Nowitzki – Strangely, we’ve heard talks over the years of him moving so I don’t know how stable this is…but he’s been there for 11 years so I guess he’s got the potential.

Steven Gerrard – Who? I know, I know…it’s soccer so it hardly counts, but he is a hometown hero (born 10 minutes from the stadium) so he makes the list. He’s been with his team for 12 years and he’s a fan favourite. Thanks for the insight Bev.

Other than this, there isn’t much out there. Some names that were thrown about were Tom Brady (he’s been with the Pats for 9 years), Donovan McNabb (who’s name is rumoured every year to be traded), and maybe Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, David Wright (all too young to be considered Lifers yet). Rich Nash just too an 8 year deal to stay with Columbus, but that deal expires when he's in his mid 30's so he has another contract before he retires. Other than this there isn't much out there.

I know that sports has become a much larger business than it was in years past, but it saddens me a little bit to know that some of the stars that my kids grow up watching may get moved around every 3-5 years when their contract expires. Is that what sports has become; take as much money as you can while you can? Surely there is more to sports than that?! We’re just not seeing as many players taking the “home town discount” as we used to.

I’d love to think that a player like Roy Halladay, who was drafted by the Jays and was developed in the minor league system, would want to stay on with the team forever…but the reality is, players want to win and players want more money. Sometimes a player is okay settling for just one of those things and sometimes players need both. It’s what sport has become.

How many people would rather have seen Bret Favre retire as a Green Bay Packer instead of the circus that he's been involved in over the past couple of years? I'm not even sure that Jets fans would have wanted to see him come out of retirement for what he did last year.

Maybe it's just that there are too many teams now. Back in the day when there was only 6 hockey teams there was no need to trade players. If you wanted another stud you just got him from down on the farm (literally). Maybe it's free agency. I'm not even sure there was "free agency" back in the day. You stayed with the team because that was your only option.

Either way, I miss having players that played their entire career with the same team. It helped me remember who the good guys and bad guys were. Now the lines are all blurred. If Halladay goes to Philly do I still hate them? What if Hines Ward becomes a Bill?

Thanks Joe, Steve, Mario, Cal, Magic, Ryne and all the others for your dedication to your team. My hat goes off to you.

Cheers,

LW

State of...Disappointment - Part II

Well, I got called out by my good friend Bitch. Upon reading his review of my LeBron rant he made a potentially valid point regarding Sid the Kid. I had to go back to the tape and watch the incident. If you recall, I relayed what I had heard on Hockey Night in Canada Radio in which they said they saw that Sidney showed remorse regarding missing the handshake after the Cup series. Here is what I saw (after a multiple viewing no less!):

Sidney did NOT show any remorse from missing the first half of the Detroit Red Wings team. In fact, in the background of the handshake line you can see Sid skating in front of the bench and NOT in an interview like it was claimed. While the US feed of this incident didn't show an interview at all, the Canadian feed could have.

Either way, Sidney should know better. And if he has the chance to skate by the bench then I would be shocked if he didn't see that the handshake lineup was in full effect. While I don't think that it was deliberate, I am left without a real explanation as to why he missed this. Without a reason I am forced to believe that either Sidney just messed up or he felt like he had some reason to display a lack of respect to the Wings. Perhaps this stems from last years handshake??? I guess we'll never know.

Either way, I am man enough to admit that what I saw did in fact disappoint me. I thought Crosby had more class or smarts than that. It appears that both he AND LeBron have some growing up to do. To his credit, Sid did participate in roughly half of the ceremony. LeBron didn't do ANY handshakes. He showed NO respect to his opponent...at least Sid showed some. Small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Cheers,

LW