Now what, Blue Jays?

Not really any other way to describe the Jays season except as a complete disaster.  How fitting was it that one of the young pitchers the Jays traded last winter, Henderson Alvarez, throws a no-hitter for the Marlins to end the season?  And if that wasn't enough of an example, how about Colby Rasmus getting hit in the face by a ball... in warm ups... by his own teammate.
So what do they do?  Well, here's my take...
- First, the idea that Anthopolous should be fired is ridiculous.  No one thought his moves last winter were bad or that it would turn out anywhere close to this.  The fact that not all of those moves worked out doesn't mean he's not a good GM.  I would bet that whoever you replace him with would have made the same moves last offseason if given the chance.  Only thing that kind of concerns me is when John Farrell said that the Jays focus too much on scouting and not enough on development.  If this is true, it's not a good thing.
- Next down the line is John Gibbons.  Even though I'm not a huge Gibby fan, I still don't think he needs to be fired either (although it wouldn't bother me if he was).  It does bother me to watch him waddle out to the pitcher's mound when he changes pitchers, but his use of the bullpen and his other "coaching" jobs were fine.  It's not fair to blame him for the injuries, poor starting pitching and disappearance of Ricky Romero.  My only complaint is that it would have been nice to see him reign in Lawrie and Bautista when they were acting like 3 year olds at the plate.  John Farrell winning the AL East with Boston after doing nothing with the Jays proves that managers are over-valued.  Plus, there is something to be said for stability and changing Managers and GM's every 3 years doesn't help that.
- As for the roster, the consensus is that they need a left fielder, catcher and 2nd baseman. ~ 2nd base ~ Ryan Goins had a decent audition late this season and would be a good backup, but he is not good enough offensively yet to be the starter on a team looking to contend now. ~ Catcher ~ JP Arencibia has been unbelievably bad this year, starting with his sad attempt to catch Dickey in the season opener.  JP has had decent seasons (or at least acceptable seasons) that were trending upwards until this year and he is still only 27.  Will he mature enough to change his offensive approach?  Does one terrible season make a career?  In this case it looks like it at least marks the end of his Jays career anyway.  ~ Left Field ~ I have never understood why Rajai Davis doesn't get a full time shot at left field.  He is good enough defensively and at the plate to warrant keeping him to take advantage of his speed on the bases - being the best base stealer in the league should carry some weight.  Plus, he shouldn't be that expensive, leaving more cash available to spend on the other 2 positions.  Bautista will obviously be back in right and I like Rasmus in center.  I'm not sold enough on Sierra or Gose to be an everyday starter on a contender and would be fine with moving one of them to help upgrade at one of the other holes in the lineup or even letting them develop further in Buffalo.
- Pitching trumps all of that though and will again be the priority this offseason.  Dickey, Buehrle and Happ will be back next year but after that I'm not sure you can rely on anyone else - if you plan to be a contender.  Morrow can't be trusted to stay healthy for a full season, so he would be better suited to be slotted in as a long relief bullpen arm, but since there will likely be a lack of options (and he is owed $8 mil next season) he will probably get another crack at starting.  I can't imagine Josh Johnson coming back at $14mil, so he's gone.  Then there is the 2nd tier of Rogers, Redmond, Romero, Hutchison, Drabek and the top prospects in the minors (Sanchez, Stroman, etc).  Any one of these guys is a complete gamble and at best a 5th starter.  Nothing overly exciting on the free agent market except maybe Matt Garza or Ervin Santana - neither of which are true #1 guys.  A trade may be the Jays only route to really step up the rotation.
- So, that should all be easy to fix right?  I would go hard after Brian McCann as a free agent catcher.  Although his offensive #'s have declined each of the last 5 years, he still seems like a perfect fit to me and my approach with free agency is - who cares how much the Jays spend?  It doesn't affect the roster or the prospect depth. Which is why I would also throw stupid money at Canno as well.  Again, who cares - it won't hurt my feelings if Rogers Communication has to spend some money.  Besides, even with Canno the Jays would still be under the luxury cap so, as a fan, what is the deterrent?  I would say that either one of Davis or Goins can start next season provided that 2 of the 3 are replaced with significant upgrades.  You can get away with one below average bat in the lineup, just not 2 or 3. 
- All of the big moves made last year have Jays fans thinking it will happen again, but I wouldn't be surprised if AA makes only small moves this winter.

Wayne Gretzky was at a grand opening for an arena named after him in Brantford.  In front of the arena is a statue of him.  Someone asked him how this statue compares to his other statues.  You know you've done ok when you have more than one statue.  My daughter drew a picture of me once.

Drake is the "Global Ambassador" for the Toronto Raptors eh?  Isn't Alicia Keys the same thing for BlackBerry?  That definitely helped them bounce back.

This is fantastic!  I've gotta get my girls on the drums and piano more...

After watching that I found a Tool documentary on YouTube called Tool: The Ultimate Review.  If you ever have an hour to kill, you should check it out.

I'm curious to see how Tyler Seguin does in Dallas this year.  Boston gave up on him because he was to small, not committed and not mature enough.  Those were the exact same reason they gave up on Phil Kessel, who turned out to be one of the best scorers in the league.

Watching the Mayweather/Canelo fight was very unsatisfying.   Mayweather is just so damn quick and impossible to hit.  It reminded me of the boxers at the end of Mike Tyson's Punchout who would turn sideways and were so hard to hit.

Cool top 10 on TSN about fans going on the field or ice, but they forgot this beauty...

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  But so was yesterday and you didn't do anything then did ya?

Leafs fans must be a little nervous watching David Clarkson so far.  Absolute bone-head play to jump the boards against Buffalo and has done more fighting than scoring.  I'm pretty sure that if Toronto wanted a tough guy to stick up for his teammates and get in the odd scrap they could have used any of the other 8 guys in the line up that only do that.  Clarkson may want to think about throwing up a few points or that 7 year $37 mil deal is gonna start to smell pretty bad (or worse than it already does).  He kinda reminds me of Darcy Tucker... who I think is still on the Leafs salary cap!

The Leafs brawl brought to light an interesting stat... In the past 16 seasons the Wings have won 4 Cups, 8 division titles, the President's Trophy 5 times and made the playoffs every year.  In that same span they have finished last or 2nd last in fights.  Their tough guy is their power play.  Here is a good article about it - No Goons.

Stick it in your ear:  Spoon by Cut Chemist

Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer ever - no question.  But his farewell tour and receiving gifts from every other team was selfish and unnecessary.  I will never understand why players need to announce that it will be their last season.  Let the Yankees do something and that's it - Having Jeter and Petite go out to get him was pretty cool.  Rivera doesn't seem like the type to need that kind of praise and attention.   Maybe I am mostly upset because the Jays gave him some stupid Native sculpture.  I wonder where in his garage he will put that thing?

Now Todd Helton knows how to go out in style.  In his last game for the Colorado Rockies they had a pregame ceremony where they gave him a horse!  Then he went out and hit a homerun.

I wrote a while ago that iTunes needed to be available in your car and it's getting closer to happening.  Apple has made a deal with Nissan to have iTunes Radio in their new vehicles and Pandora has made the same deal with Mazda.  It won't be long before your car stereo looks like your smartphone with your apps and music all built in.

These new "bridge" contracts in the NHL are nice to see.  Finally some sensible spending.  Prove that you're an all star and then get paid like one.  What a concept?!  The Oilers don't agree apparently and signed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a big 6 year deal.  Why risk all that money and term for a player who hasn't proven anything yet (other than he gets hurt easily)?  The "bridge" contract was out there and being used so why not take advantage of it and keep RNH under a reasonable contract.  I'll tell you why - because Craig MacTavish is a jackass.

Does anyone know how The PGA's attempt at playoffs, The FedEx Cup, actually works or why anyone is supposed to care about it?

It blows my mind how adults can act in children's tv shows.  How high do you have to be to dress up and dance around singing those kinds of songs?  I can't watch more than 5 minutes of it before I have to take back the remote or leave the room.

Not enough bands making good old rock and roll like this anymore....

 

A couple telling examples of the difference between an NBA superstar and an NHL superstar.... I had to stop following Lebron James on twitter because I couldn't understand what the hell he was talking about half the time.  Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews on the other hand, don't even have twitter accounts.   After Lebron won the NBA Championship he said the word "I" 18 times and "we" 0 times.  After Toews won the Cup he said "I" 0 times and "we" 13 times.

So, Rivera and Pettitte are retiring, Jeter maybe has 1 more year, Teixera, and Sabathia don't seem to be the same as they once were and A-Rod will be suspended next year and possibly for good.  I just feel so bad for them.

Ben Affleck is starring in the next Batman movie.  Can't wait to hear Batman say "This Bat Cah is wicked awesome!"



Cheers!
Bonesminded

A scary thing

A terrible and scary thing happened to me recently.  I was watching the Leafs game and I cheered when they scored.  I covered my mouth and looked around the room nervously.  Luckily nobody saw me, but I felt a piece of my soul die.

Twitter:  making people worldwide think they are comedians.

How much rope does Brett Lawrie get?  Worst batting average on the team and a whiner at the plate to boot.  He's great in the field, but it's been over 30 games now and he is still hitting under 200.  I think his ankle injury is the baseball gods way of punishing him for being a hoser.

So Wings coach Mike Babcock has never even been nominated for the Jack Adams award, yet he is already the consensus pick to coach Canada at next year's Olympics.  He was the best coach in 2010 apparently and now 4 years later he is still the best but can't get nominated.  Makes sense.

Ever notice that people driving too slow are idiots and people who pass you are maniacs?

Kick-ass slide guitar instrumental song by some Russian dude:

Masai Ujiri eh?  Can he can do anything better/different than what Colangelo did?  He's in a terrible position to start with considering the Raps have no draft picks this year, are in poor salary cap position, possess a non-playoff caliber roster, have very difficult players to trade in Bargnani, Linas Kleiza, Landry Fields (I could go on), as well as being a difficult place to attract free agents to play (even if they had cap room).  If he doesn't like what he has to work with and can't pull off a miracle trade with Bargnani, then he will have to go the rebuilding route and then his plan rests entirely on draft picks and young players to pan out, which is not only a gamble, but a long term plan.  This is somewhat similar to what Colangelo inherited when he signed on in 2006.  It seems as though drafting hasn't been the primary downfall of the Raps - there is an impressive list of players T.O. has drafted, including Damon Stoudemire, Marcus Camby, Tracey McGrady, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Roy Hibbert, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas (I realize there is also a list of terrible draft picks they've made as well, but that is true for just about any team).  The bigger obstacle seems to be surrounding these good draft picks with other stars and a solid supporting cast - and you can't do it solely through the draft.  So, is Toronto's situation caused by poor moves made by the GM or lack of quality options available to the GM - whoever he may be?

Here is a suggestion for the Toronto Raptors: Fold for 2 years.  Re-start with a new name, logo, jerseys and team.  Most people in Canada wouldn't notice anyway and the ones that would, would be happy with a fresh start.

At one time, when he was just a talented, young musician, Canada was proud of Justin Beiber.  Yeah, not so much anymore.  What a little tool.

See ya later John Tortorella.  I have no sympathy for a guy who treats the media and players like he does but has no problem signing the fat contract that they help generate.  How about you only get paid $100 and then you don't have to do any media at all?  If you are going to coach that way you should never be surprised when you get canned.    I think Tortorella and Babcock are complete opposites.

An excellent band to listen to if your brain is in slow motion is Six Parts Seven.

The Fan590 or TSN1050 radio should have a 2nd station that is strictly scores and updates.  It would also read sports tweets as well.

What's the deal with NBA players trying to see who can dress the most ridiculous after games?

Remember the band Cake?  They do a cool version of "I Will Survive".  Cool guitar solo in the middle.

Tough end for the Wings this year.  Even though losing to the Hawks in 7 games is nothing to be ashamed of, it still stings to lose after being up 3-1.  I was actually disappointed in Datsyuk in this series.  He played ok and did some things well, but not to the standards Wings fans are accustomed to.  Not only did he not produce offensively, but he seemed to let Toews up off the mat once Chicago moved him away from Zetterberg, who had Toews completely off his game.

Speaking of Towes, I was surprised to see how poorly in control he was in that series.  From his penalties to complaining to the refs and then complaining about the refs to the media, it was not what I expected or am used to from him.  I always think of him as a reserved, calm and level-headed leader, but he showed very little of that against Detroit.

Detroit's season - The Good:

1.  The kids are alright.  Young players Brendan Smith, Danny DeKesyer, Gustav Nyquist and Damien Brunner all got progressively better this year and look to be good building blocks for the Wings going forward.  It wasn't always a smooth process, especially since Wings fans are used to prospects going through growing pains in the AHL not the NHL, but there are several players who look like they should be good pieces for Detroit's future.

2.  Howard is the real deal.  He signed a big 6 year extension this season and showed without a doubt that he deserves it.  He was their MVP during the season and right up there with Zetterberg during the playoffs as well.  He was drafted in '03 and, as always, the Wings did the right thing and let him develop in the AHL until he was ready.

3. The future is bright.  On top of the first two points, Detroit has a few good prospects in the minors and is in good shape with the salary cap going into this summer.

The Bad:

1. Wasted money.  Last summer they signed Jordin Tootoo, Mike Samuelsson, Jonas Gustaffson and Carlo Coliacovo.  Tootoo was a healthy scratch for all but 1 playoff game, Samuelsson didn't play 1 second in the playoffs (he barely played all year because of injuries) and Coliacovo was hurt most of the season (big surprise) and played the least of Detroit's 6 D-men in the playoffs.  He might not have played at all if Danny DeKeyser didn't get hurt in the 1st round.  Gustaffson rarely played and wasn't overly impressive when he did.

2.  The end for Big Bert?  Bertuzzi was injured most of the season and couldn't play his way on to the roster when he came back at playoff time.  His contract runs through next season and at age 38 you have to wonder how much, if at all, he will play next year.

3.  Darren Helm's bad back.  Darren Helm is like a Kris Draper part 2 except with more physical play to his game.  He is one of Babcock's favourite players and was a big loss for the team this year as he sat out the entire season with a bad back.  At this point they still don't know if he will be ready for training camp next season.

The Ugly:

1.  Ugly rumors.  There were reports that Datsyuk would retire after next season to play in Russia and Babcock would leave to coach the University of Michigan.  Both have denied these rumors and say they plan to stay with the Wings.

I'm convinced that decks were primarily invented to drink beer on.

Watching Roy Hibbert play in the playoffs for the Pacers and thinking about how Toronto traded him for Jermaine O'Neil was a tough pill to swallow.  But watching Hibbert lumber up and down the court on his chop stick legs, both of which already have braces on them, makes me think he will be done or pretty much useless in about 5 years.

Anyone else worried that at some point we are going to find out that Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers is taking PED's?

Poolside or beachside?

Enough already with the "end of the world" movies.  Do we have to wait until every actor has done one before we can move on to a new concept?

One guy who has one of these coming out is Will Smith.  Can't dislike the Fresh Prince though...

I also like how Bradley Cooper knew better than to throw out his white-guy dance during the song.

Searching For Sugar Man is a cool documentary and worth watching.  Made me download a few of the songs already.

I couldn't agree more with Don Cherry's take on head coach Alain Vigneault being fired in Vancouver.  That mess is 100% GM Mike Gillis' fault.  He should have been fired for the Luongo debacle alone.  If things don't turn around quickly and smoothly for the Canucks then the blame now has to include ownership for letting Gillis continue to drive the bus there.

Trying to catch up on Breaking Bad on Netflix and wondering why I wasn't watching it on TV from the beginning.

"Greatest thing since sliced bread"?  Really?  Is sliced bread that impressive?  Kinda feels like we are setting the bar pretty low.


Cheers,
Bonesminded

Heavenly stats

I assume when you go to heaven you get to know the statistics of your life, like how many beers in total you drank, who you drank the most with, how many times you said the word 'fuck'.  You know, the important stuff.

Damn Leafs not trading for Luongo.  I miss John Ferguson Jr.

Following Damion Cox on twitter makes me feel sorry for him.  How can someone can be so negative and condescending all the time?  Lighten up, man!  There is a positive side to sports as well ya know.

Remember when you used to have Push It by Salt N Peppa on a mixed tape in grade 5?  Check out this cool 1-man version:

I watched some NBA analysts discuss how some teams are setting themselves up to have lots of cap space after next year when Lebron, Wade, Bosh and Kobe all are eligible to become free agents.  Would any of the Heat's big 3 really leave for more money elsewhere and break up this master plan of winning titles every year?  It also got me thinking that the Raptors probably don't even consider this option since there is likely 0% chance any of those guys would choose to go to Toronto.  Doomed.  Raps might as well start planning on how to get Andrew Wiggins.

Speaking of Bosh, it's funny to me that Raps fans still boo him when he comes to town.  He was an all star every year in Toronto, he re-signed with Toronto after his rookie contract was up and management never gave him anything to work with.  Then, when his last deal was up he had the option to re-sign with Toronto or sign with Miami and play with Lebron and Wade.  Who in their right mind would pick Toronto?  This isn't the same as Vince Carter who cried his way out and quit on the team in pathetic fashion.  If fans want to be upset they should be pissed at management for failing to see the writing on the wall (again) and not trading Bosh .... or Carter.... or McGrady or any other star player the Raps let walk for nothing when it was obvious they wouldn't be coming back.

Is it wrong that the very first hint of warm weather in the spring makes me want to drink outside.  Anywhere. At any time of the day.  No, of course it isn't.

Another Paddyfest in the books and possibly one of the better ones in quite a while. I managed to make it out to the Saturday night dance for this first time in probably 10 years.  Still bummed that I missed Jim N Tonic last year but the Trews put on a hell of a show and The Barstools were good as well.  The Saturday afternoon is still the best part and it always seems to go by too fast.  The Legion stop-over is now a staple of the day as well and it doesn't last near long enough either.

Wolfmother frontman, Andrew Stockdale, has decided to abandon the Wolfmother band name and is going to release his new album under his own name.  The album is available for free streaming here: https://soundcloud.com/#official-wolfmother/sets/record .

Here is a fun thought... after this season Justin Morneau and Robinson Cano are both free agents.   Depending on how Lind does this year (he's been hitting the lights out in spring training for whatever that's worth), the Jays could be in the market for a 1st baseman (Encarnacion and Morneau could trade off as 1B and DH).  Morneau is a Canadian boy ("The Canadian Corners" with Brett Lawrie??!!) and maybe he would like to represent - especially when T.O. is a contender. He is also a power lefty which the Jays don't have.  Cano is much more of a pipe dream since he will likely get paid more than Jesus on his next deal and I can't imagine the Yanks would let him go, but maybe the chance to play with "Team DominiCanada" and a legit contender would entice him to sign on.  Imagine: Reyes, Cano, Bautista, Encarnacion, Cabrera, Morneau, Lawrie, Arencibia, Rasmus/Gose.  I know, I know and maybe Justin Verlander and David Price will get traded to the Jays for a Bobby Kielty baseball card too right?

Stick it in your ear: Show Me the Light by Stonerider.

Three things grabbed my attention from the World Baseball Classic:  #1 The Brawl.  Canada and Mexico duking it out was fun to watch.  My favourite quote after it was over was from Manager Ernie Whitt when he was asked if any of the Canadians were hurt and his response was "Hurt?  We're Canadian.  You can't hurt us Canadians".  #2  Watching the US lose.  Doesn't matter what sport it is, it's always fun to watch the mighty Americans go down.  #3  Seeing Blue Jays' Reyes, Encarnacion and Sierra win and play very well for the Dominican Republic.

How lazy/anxious are people who post a tweet that is missing an entire word?  It can only be 140 characters!  How long does that take to read over before sending?  ($5 says the next tweet I post is missing a word now)

I think the delay in the Iginla trade was Pens GM, Ray Shero having to read over the deal 25 times because he couldn't believe what Calgary was agreeing to.

I miss the days when it was the Wings making all of these wicked deals to make their 1st place team even better.

What the hell is going on in Calgary?  The Flames might be bigger morons than the Leafs.  They were in the same lousy position again this year trying to sneak in as the 8th seed for the playoffs and refusing to trade Iginla or Kiprusoff.  People have been screaming for these changes for years and the problem for Calgary is that now the return they got for Iggy is far less than what it would have been even a year ago.  And now Kipper says he won't go anywhere so they get exactly sweet f*ck all for him.  So they finally pull the trigger on Iginla and start the rebuild and now they won't have Iginla anymore and they can't move Kipper AND they won't have great young pieces to start over with.  Nice work.

If you could time-warp yourself back in time to watch one concert, would it be Zeppelin, Hendrix or the Beatles?  Any other choices would be ridiculous.

Poor Logan Couture.....

So good it deserves a little more...

These new Buck n Doe rules are just plain stupid.  A guest list?  Get real.  The whole purpose of a B&D is to raise money for young couples about to spend a dumb amount of money on their wedding.  If those rules don't get relaxed people will just stop having traditional B&D's and go back to having big parties of their own.

If you have ever considered Netflix vs the Bell movie channel package - do yourself a favour and make the switch. Netflix is way better and less than half the price. But I know what you're really wondering and the answer is no, there is no porn on Netflix.

Go Jays go!

Cheers,
Bonesminded

All down hill now

It might be all down hill for me from here on in..... A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to play a couple pick-up hockey games at Joe Louis Arena.  This dream-come-true trip started with box seats (The Bud Light Suite no less!) to the Wings/Flames game where Chris Chelios and Tomas Holmstrom stopped by to take pictures, sign autographs and have a couple beers, which were free by the way.  Next was the pick up games the next morning where we got to use the visitors dressing room and basically have a free pass anywhere in the arena other than the Wings dressing room.  We had two guest coaches - Chris Osgood and Kirk Maltby, who joined us for lunch up in one of the suites after our games.  Ozzy and Maltby were great guys and very down to earth.  The Wings practiced while we had lunch so we got to watch that as well.  Oh, did I mention that Ted Lindsay was there hanging out and telling stories as well?  It was by far the coolest thing I have ever taken part of.

The Leafs should fire Carlyle and trade Kadri.  This Leafs team so far is not the team I have enjoyed watching over the past 10 years... all this winning and nobody to really dislike?  This is no fun.

Wouldn't it be great if just once one of the nominees for an award didn't applaud when they lost and got pissed off?  That would be entertaining.

Russel Martin, a mid-level MLB catcher, backs out on Team Canada 2 weeks before the World Baseball Classic because they won't let him play short stop, despite the fact that he has never played SS ever in his career.  Enjoy Pittsburgh, Russel... and don't wait by the phone for your next invitation from Team Canada.

This goat stuff is pretty funny.  I might have to get a goat and I might listen to this kind of music if it was done like this...

Enjoyed Seth McFarlane at the Oscars.  Not sure why anyone would have expected much different from him.

I previously wrote that I hoped Dwight Howard would get hurt and the Lakers would win without him this season.  Well, part 1 has happened but part 2 of my plan ain't going so well.  What a disaster of a season and with no clear signs of turning things around I wonder if Nash is second-guessing the contract he signed.  Nash was offered a 3 year deal by the Raps in the offseason, which would have made little sense for him at the time other then the bonus of retiring in Canada, but now with the addition of Gay what would the Raps look like if Nash was on board?

Whether this new proposed version of the NHL re-alignment holds up or not, it looks like the Wings are headed back to the East, which is great news.

Funniest tweets I have read lately:
-Fun Fact: 100% of people don't know what to do with a dirty dish at someone else's house.
-What kind of emotional tailspin causes people to "like" Lysol on Facebook?
-Just whispered to a 6-year-old, "I can eat cookies whenever the fuck I want" when his mom wasn't looking. Small victories in life
-Sometimes, when I talk to a woman I'll say things like, "that makes sense" or "interesting." But I know the truth
-My kid asked me if I "do the sex." I asked how long he's been talking like a Russian immigrant. Then we stared at each other for a while

I like these Harlem Shake videos and here is the Miami Heat version:

My hockey season ends soon and I am already starting to get the golf itch.

Finally went to see the Tragically Hip for the first time and it was as good as I hoped it would be.  I knew Gordie was nuts, but he was far more bizarre then I expected.  He was singing to his hand for quite a while and was also barking at one point.  I loved it.  I guess after playing New Orleans is Sinking every night for over 20 years you would start to go a little goofy.

I have to admit that I wasn't 100% sold on Rudy Gay when the Raps made the trade.  I thought the same as what the Grizzlies did - that he was just an 18pt, 6 rebound kind of guy who couldn't make that next step.  It's still early, but so far I have been wrong - and very happy about it.  He seems very capable of being a perennial all-star and a bona fide closer.  Possibly best of all is that he seems to have his head on straight and isn't an ego maniac like the majority of NBA stars.


Stick it in your ear:  "When My Train Pulls In" by Gary Clark Jr:

The electric version is pretty cool as well.  You Tube it.

It has been weird to watch the Wings play this year.  They have been very inconsistent and definitely not as deep as they once were.  They have some promising young players on their way but none of them are impact players yet.  Damien Brunner has been excellent and Zetterberg has been as good as ever.  Their D is much worse and coupled with injuries it has looked really poor at times.  Brendan Smith should be really good and now that he is back from injury it will be interesting to see how he does the rest of the season.  Howard has been playing well and with Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Kronwall and now Brunner they should have enough to be a playoff team but it's not the sure thing that I am used to.

Facebook: 2% useful/interesting, 98% useless/annoying.

If the Jays had a chance to trade for Roy Halliday, do you think they would?

They can stop jumping over people at the NBA dunk contest any time now.  You guys can jump high, we get it.

There is a rumor that the Raptors can/could have had Carlos Boozer in exchange for Andrea Bargnani any time they want(ed) to pull the trigger.  I do this deal in a heartbeat.  I'm done with Bargnani and to be honest I am surprised there is even an offer this good available.  The downside is that Boozer has a heavy contract (2 more years at $16 mil/yr) and after acquiring Gay, the Raps would be in tight with the cap to do this.  Depth is obviously important but TO would not be the first and only team to have the majority of their salary soaked up by a small % of the roster (Heat, Spurs, Knicks, Nets).  Plus, Boozer and Amir Johnson - neither of whom needs to have the ball to be effective - would be a great frontcourt to compliment the perimeter guys of Gay, DeRozan and Lowry.  The trick would be to unload some anchors from the payroll and Bargnani's would be a good start with Kleiza and Fields next to get the boot.  I'd also like to see the Raps bring Calderon back in the offseason as a free agent if he can be had at a better deal than his last contract.

Nazem Kadri has played very well for the Leafs this season and many, notably Don Cherry, are suggesting the Leafs should have had him up with the big cub all along rather than down with the Marlies.  From watching the Wings system for years, I say it's because he was down there grinding it out with the Marlies that he is playing the way he is now.  Rushing and ruining prospects is the Leafs way though.

No matter where you are, if a kid hands you a toy phone you're gonna answer it.

The 2014 Winter Olympics are only a year away, so when Stevie Y calls me for advice, this is what I'm gonna tell him:

Forwards:
1. Sidney Crosby
2. Claude Giroux
3. Jonathan Toews
4. Steven Stamkos
5. Martin St Louis
6. Rick Nash
7. John Tavares
8. James Neal
9. Patrice Bergeron
10. Patrick Sharp
11. Ryan Getzlaf
12. Jason Spezza
13. Jordan Eberle
*It's in Russia on the bigger ice so I went with a smaller group but still think there is enough size with Nash, Neal, Getzlaf and Spezza.  St Louis (37) and Sharp (31) are the only guys over 30 but there is still enough experience with 6 Cup winners among the group and plenty of leadership in Crosby, Toews and St Louis.  On the bubble: Perry. Iginila, Lucic, E. Staal, Skinner, Thornton, Marleau, Seguin, E. Kane, Duchene, Benn, Ryan, M. Richards, B. Richards, Huberdeau.  That's 15 guys on the bubble that could easily make a gold medal team on their own.

Defense:
1. Shea Weber
2. Duncan Keith
3. Alex Pietrangelo
4. Drew Doughty
5. Marc Staal
6. Kris Letang
7. Dan Boyle
*There are some good young d-men coming up but the Olympics is a pretty big stage and it's hard to expect repeat performances like what Doughty did in 2010.  On the bubble: Hamilton, Schultz, Hamhuis, Brewer, Girardi, Green.

Goalies:
1. Carey Price
2. Roberto Luongo
3. Cam Ward
*Who the hell knows?  I'm not 100% on any of these guys and if, say Corey Crawford or Mike Smith were lights out going in next year, I wouldn't have a problem taking one of them instead of any of these guys.  I guess Fleury should be in the mix but he scares the hell out of me.  This is the most worrisome position for Canada in my opinion.

This list was fun to make and I'm sure I will change it 5 times before the Olympics, but right now this would be my group.

Winter is like that guy at the party that hangs around too long and won't go home. Beat it already!



Cheers,
Bonesminded

Has baseball started yet?

So the NHL is back and I am hearing many people say they could care less and would be happy if they just scrapped the entire season.  I am not one of these people.  I love watching hockey and did miss it the last few months.  Daily highlights, Hockey Night in Canada and all the crazy stories that come with every season are something I love.

The only downside to the lockout ending was that I had to come back to the realization that Lidstrom is still retired.... and that the Wings replaced him with Carlo Coliaccovo.

Zetterberg is the new captain of the Wings.  I'd say having been groomed for the position by Steve Yzerman and then Nick Lidstrom is a pretty good way to learn the ropes.

I'm not having much luck so far this year with sporting events.  My tickets for game 5 of the Tigers/Yankees ALCS got washed away (almost literally) when game 4 was rained out and cancelled, delaying game 5... and then the Tigers swept them anyway.  Plans for an NFL roadtrip were put on hold for the ball game and have since fallen through, and my tickets and hotel room for the NHL Winter Classic ended up having as much value as an apple on Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, there was a report that a kid in London found a razor blade in a candy.  Once they find the guy who did it they should hand him over to the kid's father, with no time-line or consequences for the father.

Egg nog and clamato juice... no use for either of them without booze being involved.

A good waste of a few minutes each day is the "Top Shelf" on www.mandatory.com.  Pretty funny stuff.

I watched The Hunger Games and it was good, but I still don't understand how a weird movie like that had such huge mainstream success.  Maybe there are more nerds out there than we think.

I was at 2 Christmas parties that had that stupid fireplace tv channel playing ..... the tv's were on the wall ... above a real fireplace.

I like this commercial with Tiger and Rory....

 

But I think I like this one with Jordan and Bird better.... mostly because of MJ's shirt....

So the Raps signed DeRozan to a 4 year extension earlier this season.  I think he's a good player and he has improved every year with the team, but is he the answer as the "scoring wingman"?  If he's not your all star and the go-to guy at the end of the game, then that means Bargnani has to be and that might not work out so well.

Breakfast Pitas might be the best food on earth... and one helluva great hangover meal.

New Year's Eve party was a lot of fun, but I could have cared less for the actual countdown at midnight.  It just seemed to interrupt every one's conversation and forced lots of unnecessary handshakes and hugs.  Also, Times Square in New York seems like my worst nightmare.

I can't believe I'm about to say this but I think Phil Kessel and Brian Burke get a raw deal.  Why do people hate Phil Kessel so much?  It's because he's dumb right?  If you are expecting him to be Johnathan Toews or Pavel Datsyuk you are in trouble, but if you expect him to be what he is - a consistent 30+ goal scorer (at the age of 26), then what's the problem?  Tell me how many players scored at least 30 goals in 4 of their first 6 seasons?  I don't know either but it's a short list.  As for Burke, I think people forget how badly buggered up the Leafs system was when he took over from JFJ.  NO prospects, draft picks, cap room, decent roster players.  Nothing.  That takes time to fix.  Not every move Burke made was great, but he did make quite a few good ones (including a couple that involved getting rid of some of the bad moves - see Francois Beauchemin), not to mention their farm system is in good shape now and they have lots of cap room.  I guess all of that was trumped by being a big jerk-bag.

Stick it in your ear: Eddie's Rush by Ultimate Spinach.

You gotta love Duck Dynasty.  I know it's mostly scripted or staged but it's still funny.  I can't help but talk like them after watching it for a while.  Hey, it's just good stuff, Jack!

I think you should be allowed to throw people out of your way when you are Christmas shopping.

What's next Anthopolous?  Gonna slash beer prices at the Dome 50% this season too?  Wow, what an offseason!  I mentioned a year ago that the Jays needed to make a big move to take advantage of the MVP type seasons that Bautista has been having.  Well they have definitely done that and I really like how they made it happen.  Yes, it sucks to give up d'Arnaud and even Syndegaard, but well worth the risk in my opinion.  Those guys are great prospects - but they are still just prospects.  There was a time when it would have seemed crazy to trade Alex Rios, Travis Snider, Brett Cecil, Dustin McGowan and even Russ Adams when they were all top gems in the Jays farm system.  The point is prospects are risks as well and the timing and price for acquiring Dickey is well worth it in my opinion.  If they had hung on to all of their prospects and waited for them to turn into stars, then the window for Bautista and other veterans would have closed.  With all the change to the Jays lineup, what does it do to guys like Romero, Lawrie, Arencibia and Rasmus now that they basically have no pressure to carry the load?  Either way, I can't wait for the season to start.

A cool app to get for your iphone or ipod is Songza.  It's free and offers tons of playlists to stream for any occasion, mood or music style.  Looks like a lot of fun to play with and I have already found a couple new tunes with it.

How many people woke up January 1st and decided to postpone their New Year's resolutions until at least January 2nd?

Too bad the World Jr's were in Russia this year.  I love watching that tournament every year, but you're drunk if you think I was gonna get up at 4am to watch any of the round-robin games... unless I'm still up at 4am, but then I would be the drunk one.

Once Canada got smoked by the US and had to play for Bronze it might as well have been for 10th place.

Why is it called a "round-robin" anyway?  Who is robin?

I have always been up before the kids on Christmas morning and had to wait for them.  Well my kids took care of that streak in fine fashion this year... 1st one in at 4am, 2nd one at 5am and then we finally gave in at 6:30am.

"Hey, that not-winter, but not-nice weather was great!" - signed nobody.

I wonder if people are ready to give up on Colby Rasmus because they don't believe he has the talent or because he's weird?

This Zeppelin interview on Letterman is really cool, but I have no interest in the new Celebration Day box set.  Every song on there is one I have already heard an older live version of and from the original album, so to pay just to hear how they sound at age 63 doesn't seem very enticing.

Did anyone else think Dave Nonis looked like he just $hit his pants when he was being introduced as the Leafs new GM?

Here is something I haven't been able to say in almost 20 years:  The Jays may have just as good of a chance to make the playoffs as the Red Wings.

Ugly sweater parties are underrated and funny.


Cheers,
Bonesminded