Return to Sender

The FedEx Cup begins today, the PGA Tour's attempt at a post-season, with The Barclays Tournament.  Does this mean, like with most other sports that the real excitment of the season has begun?  Is it like baseball, where the playoffs is what it's all about?  In one word, no.  That's right, I'm bitching about the PGA Tour again!

I like the idea of having a playoff on the PGA Tour.  As I've stated before, most tournaments have as much appeal as a hernia, and the Tour has been in desperate need of something more exciting.  This holds especially true at the end of the season, where in the past, Spetember was a time for players to battle it out for 125th on the money list in such star-dudded fields as the 84 Lumber or South Farm Bureau Classics, hoping to earn their exemption for the following seasoon.  The World Golf Championships were the Tour's first attempt at ending the boredom, but have failed miserably.  Nobody can claim they have any more interest in the CA Championship over the Memorial Tournament, they're both just run of the mill PGA Tour events.

But the FedEx Cup was going to do what other ideas have failed to do, create suspense at the end of the season, and crown a season champion.  A grand idea, but one that has fallen woefully short, and threatens to do the same for many years to come.

Where did it all go wrong?

Stevie Y for GM of the Year?

Is it too early to anoint Steve Yzerman as GM of the Year? Well of course it is. We haven’t even dropped the puck on the 2010-11 NHL season yet; hell, training camp hasn’t even opened yet. But that isn’t going to stop me from laying out what he’s done in his short time as GM, and how he has setup his team to excel long term.

When Stevie Y was named the GM of the Lightning in May 2010, he inherited an underperforming, overpaid team, with only a few gems, that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2007. Going into the off season, Yzerman had six forwards, six defensemen, and one NHL goalie under contract, totaling approximately 39 million dollars. With the team’s anticipated internal cap, set just above the league’s floor cap number, this wouldn’t leave very much room to improve the team’s performance for the upcoming year.

Yzerman had a difficult task in front of him.

The Great Wait: What is an NBA fan to do between August and November?

The off-season has reached its unofficial endpoint. With teams now jockeying for such big name free agent prizes like Earl Boykins; it can safely be said the winners of free agency have already came and conquered.


The winners of losers of the off-season will be covered but that is a task best left to the beginning of training camp. Today it is important to provide our readers with an answer to the question: “what does basketball have left to entertain me with this summer.”

Essentially we are now dealing with the “what if” fantasy rumours that we as a sports community eat up. By conjuring up our own drama we are able to fill the vacuum that August inevitably leaves us with.

However, these rumours often come at a price of integrity to the game. Here are a couple rumours that perhaps come at that price.

The Weekly Roundup

From Woods bashing, to Brett Favre and a little baby talk shuffled in between, here is another Roundup for y’all!
Giddy-up!

In the Spirit of Horses

• Remember when Stephen Ames (a.k.a. Horse Boy) came out and blasted Tiger Woods, saying he wasn’t that good and was beatable. Well, Ames was subsequently pulverized by Woods at the Accenture Match Play 9 & 8 the following week.
• Now awakes another challenger, yet this time a little younger. Northern Irelands Rory Mcilroy gave his best Ames impression by giving TW a few pot shots.
• "I'm sure we'll probably see (Woods) in Wales," says McIlroy. "I would love to face him. Unless (Woods') game rapidly improves in the next month or so, I think anyone in the European team would fancy his chances against him."

• Kind of like how Tiger fancied his chances with the waitress from Perkins.

Flames Add Depth in 'Office' Positions

With the addition Wednesday of Michel Goulet as their Western Professional Scout, the Calgary Flames have slowly surrounded Darryl Sutter with some much needed help for the upcoming season.

Sutter has been on the hot seat with many fans, including myself, since the end of the season due to the Flames disappointing finish in last years regular season. With the addition of Jay Feaster as an Assistant GM and now Goulet as one of their top professional scouts, the Flames have surrounded Sutter with not only good hockey people, but winners, in every sense of the word.

“You win, you always do!”

Goulet has been with the Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise for the better part of 25 years, both as a player and in the front office. He was being touted to take over as the Avalanche GM for many years now, but that rumour never came to pass. So now, his new address is north of the border; figuratively speaking as he still reports out of Denver. He was the Director of Player Personnel for the Avs. He helped stock the cupboards full in Colorado for their two cup victories in 1996 and 2001. He is a winner and knows good talent when he sees it. And although he is reporting directly to Feaster, hopefully he can persuade Darryl to look at something other than western farm boys and players that used to play for the Flames. It’s time to think outside the box.

Alex Semin: The Great Debate

The Washington Capitals were far and away the best regular season team last year. The Caps scored 36 more goals than any other team in the league, with a home record of 30-5-6, winning the Eastern conference by over 15 points. In a conference that was considered “weak”, a team with those credentials should have, and was considered a favourite, to go very deep into the playoffs. Alas, it was not to be, as the Capitals were finished off by the underdog team that caught fire; the Montreal Canadiens.


Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are two budding superstars, and after Backstrom’s recent contract, these are players that Caps fans will be lucky enough to watch for years to come.

When higher seeded teams exit early from the playoffs, many point to the teams’ offensive superstars’ lack of potency. However, that can’t be said for the Caps and why they didn’t win the series; Ovechkin and Backstrom both had five goals with Ovechkin getting 10 points in the series, one better than Backstrom’s nine. Conversely, the teams’ other main offensive weapons, Mike Green and Alexander Semin, productivity was simply lacking throughout the entire series. They combined for zero goals, five assists and a +1 rating. Semin had 44 shots, 10 more than Alexander Ovechkin, but he simply couldn’t translate shots into goals. Hot goalies have won more than their share of playoff series over the years, but with Semin’s shot, speed, and hands he should have done better.

The Summer of the Quitter: The NBA’s Spiral Towards Senselessness

So August is drawing to its inevitable close, and for the rest of the world this means gearing up for busy work schedules and last second vacations. For the NBA this means getting acclimated with new team mates and participating in celebrity games that could hardly be considered basketball.

However, this August in particular has also been time for reflection for fans of professional basketball. A reflection upon a free agency period that has been in the making since a secret meeting in a locker room in Beijing when three young men planned the end of pride and loyalty in professional sports.

The Weekly Roundup

We are introducing a new segment to The Sports Roundup entitled ‘The Weekly Roundup,’ or TWR for short. These weekly briefings will ‘roundup’ the week that was in sports and break down any stories that interest our readers. Feel free to comment, suggest, bicker, or criticize any of our posts because we want to hear from you.

So without further ado, it’s time to roundup the wagons, the horses and all of your cattle because here we go!

Giddy-up!

Old Man River


• In Flames land this week, the Flames re-signed Craig Conroy to a two way contract. An insurance deal for the Flames, for a 38, soon to be 39, year old center who scored all of three goals last season. With Langkow injured and unlikely to start the season, the move gives the Flames a veteran presence at the pivot position. He is 9 games away from reaching 1000 career NHL games. This signing gives the Flames six natural centers - Langkow, Jokinen, Stajan, Conroy, Stone, and Backlund- under contract. Stone, Backlund and Conroy are all two way deals.

Rules of the Game

Martin Kaymer was crowned the champion of the 2010 PGA Championship this afternoon at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, beating Bubba Watson in a three hole playoff. Of course it wasn’t as easy as that, Dustin Johnson held a one stroke lead going into the 18th and final hole, but was assessed a two stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, subsequently took a triple bogey seven, and missed the playoff by two strokes.


After watching the footage a couple of times, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions. First off, I can’t argue with the penalty, as Johnson clearly grounded his club before hitting his approach shot and the players had all been told there were no waste areas; all sand would be paying as regular bunkers. However, that isn’t to say I don’t have a few problems with how this all went down.

30 for 30

If you haven't heard yet, ESPN has been airing a plethora of sports-themed movies in a series they are calling 30 for 30.  I first came across the show about three months ago, watching a film about Reggie called, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks.  The film was great, looking at Miller's interaction with Knicks fans and the City of New York in the spring of 1994 and 1995.  The series is the brainchild of ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons, whose idea was to have well-known directors develop short films about significant sporting events from the past 30 years. Hollywood was quick to get involved, and the line-up now features movies from such prominent directors as Barry Levinson (Rain Man), John Singleton (Boys n' the Hood), and Ron Shelton (Bull Durham).  I decided I would be sure to watch more of these movies and I'd keep my eyes open for more 30 for 30.  Of course, I didn't come across one for quite some time, as the show doesn't have a regularly scheduled broadcast here in Canada.  And while modern technology like PVR's and on screen schedules make it as easy as pie to find, I am quite lazy so I didn't set anything up to record.

Conroy is back...unfortunately

The Flames signed Craig Conroy to a two-way contract today. He will make the league minimum $500,000 if he plays in the NHL.
He is 38 years old and in the twilight of his career.

He scored all of THREE goals last season in 63 appearances.

Now, I don’t mind that the Flames stay loyal to someone, but stay loyal to him by making him a coach or a consultant or something, maybe a man-leader (that’s a man cheerleader for those confused).

The only thing he was good for last year was face-offs and I think that was the reason we traded for Matt Stajan in the first place. Plus, if you need extra help on the dot, your Captain is pretty darn good at winning the puck duels.

This just creates even less room for any young prospects vying for a spot on this roster. I personally hoped they signed him just for some veteran presence in Abbotsford, but I am probably dead wrong.

Wouldn’t anyone rather see Brett Sutter, Mitch Wahl, Greg Nemisz, Bryan Cameron, John Armstrong or Mikael Backlund get more ice time than see CC get any? I know he is a lovable guy, but at some point you have to want to see some skill on the ice.

Just please don’t come out and tell me they signed him for another solid veteran presence in the locker room. That’s the apparent reason for trading for Staios last season; a player that no one, outside of Sutter, thinks should be playing the NHL. The Flames have Iginla, Bouwmeester, Regehr, Sarich, Langkow, Jokinen and even Hagman who is 30 years old.

This was a pointless deal and I hope, for the Flames sake, that Conroy spends half the season in minors and then realizes he is better suited doing colour commentary or being the teams’ media coach (i.e. showing everyone else how to make interviews more interesting. His first student should be Jay “I am more boring than Dion Phaneuf" Bouwmeester).

If Conroy does play for the Flames this year, you can just count another prospects potential stunted due to Sutter inserting useless slow veterans into an already elderly laden squad.

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Flames TV

The Flames and Roger’s Sportsnet just announced a deal on Tuesday that would see cable outlet broadcast Flames games until the year 2020. They will broadcast at least 58 Flames games every year and be the clubs Official Television Broadcaster and digitial service provider. It was also announced that fans won’t have to “rely” on Flames Pay-per view for games not broadcast on Sportsnet West; hopefully meaning RSN took up the PPV games, so the team doesn’t have to rip fans off by making them pay $15.99 to watch ONE game on television.

The front page headline on the Flames website read: “NEW DEAL, MORE FLAMES ON TV.” Now doesn’t this sound odd, “MORE FLAMES ON TV.” The fact that every game isn’t broadcast on some local network is kind of a joke, isn’t it?

I am not saying every game on a single channel but every season, including the season that begins in October, there are one, two or three mid week, or god forbid Saturday night games, that are either blacked out in the city or unable to get it on local television.

I understand the CBC has some law in place forbidding any other Canadian team to have a broadcast on Saturday night, which is an ancient rule from a faltering Hockey provider in my mind, but I digress.
Doesn’t it seem like your back in the 80’s when you ask your buddy if he saw the game last night, and his response was, “No, it wasn’t on TV.”

Isn’t that insane??

We live in the most digital, information crazed, need it this second or I’m going to lose my freaking mind kind of world right now and local television can not fit it into their agenda to have all 82 regular season games broadcast in the city in which the team resides in.

I understand for teams south of the border where hockey isn’t the end all be all for most of its citizens and it wouldn’t make logical sense, but for the majority of CALGARIANS hockey is the tops, la crème de la crème, the bees knees, the cat’s meow of Sports popularity. Sure the CFL pulls some weight and the NFL, NBA and MLB have their days, heck even the NLL gets a bit of play, but Hockey is King in this city and it always will be.

I believe the only two cities in the NHL that broadcast every game are Toronto (LeafsTV) and Montreal (RDS), but I could be wrong. They are big markets with huge audiences and a lot of money, but how are Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa and Edmonton so different when it comes to loving hockey. Calgary is so hockey crazed it's ridiculous. When a WHL team (Calgary Hitmen) can draw an average of almost 10,000 fans to a game in a city in which an NHL team plays, it says something about the cities thirst for hockey.

The desire to have every single game locally broadcasted is surely evident in this city and it’s about time that the NHL, the Flames and the television networks figure out a way to make sure that all games can be viewed from the comfort of one’s own home.

Make it so.

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Major Let Down

President Obama recently spoke about the BP oil spill in the gulf and said, “I am furious at this entire situation, because this is an example where somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions." I share these sentiments and would like to borrow his exact words for my feelings over something equally as tragic; PGA Tour television broadcasts. If you don't mind, I would like to rant.

For the past several years, I've pretty much restricted all of my golf viewing to the four major championships. Many a week have gone by where someone would ask me if I had seen that shot on the weekend, referring to some nobody's miracle shot in some run-of-the-mill tournament like the John Deere 'Classic' or the Greater Wherever Open. My standard response has been, "No, I don't really watch golf outside of the majors." Of course they always ask why, and after catching some of this week's "Bridgestone World Golf Championship brought to you by Office Depot from the Firestone Golf Club, a Presentation of the Conglomeration that Brings you godaddy.com and Ford Motors," I remembered why.

When you're watching the four majors, you are blessed with two things; the best golfers in the world and the fewest commercial interruptions. The average golf tournament on the other hand has become completely unwatchable. I turned on the TV yesterday morning and came across the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, and while this tournament may have a similarly strong field to the four majors, it is such a contrived, corporate event, it's impossible to pique much interest.

To begin with, the four majors exist for a reason. The Masters was designed to simply host the best golf tournament in the world, featuring the world’s best golfers (mission accomplished). The US and British Opens are National Championships, while the PGA is the golfers' own Championship. The Zurich Classic in New Orleans, (which isn't a classic in the same vein as, say, Led Zeppelin’s music), is held because a company called Zurich wanted some ad time and the City of New Orleans was looking for some economic stimulus, while the PGA Tour was looking for a raison d’être. While that's inspirational, it doesn't really have the same cache as a National Championship and it never will.

The second problem with most PGA Tour events, and by far the most annoying problem is the saturation of corporate name dropping. It's absolutely unbelievable. The gold standard for a golf broadcast is of course, the Masters, which boats only four minutes of commercials per hour of coverage. Yes, that means they’re restricted to covering the tournament, which means I get to watch almost every shot without suffering through an endless parade of commercials (which are no longer necessary for bathroom breaks or beer runs thanks to the PVR). While the other three majors have more commercials than the Masters, they have far less than the average tournament, which can average over twenty-five minutes of commercial time per hour! However, corporate name dropping doesn’t end with commercials.

First there’s the leaderboard, which during most tournaments is brought to you by somebody. "And now let's take a look at The Honda Classic leaderboard, brought to you by the good people at Invesco...leaders in the world of investing." Wow that's clever, they 'brought' us the leaderboard, and they're leaders themselves! Brilliant! I'm thankful for the good folks at Invesco for doing us this favour, or we might never know who was actually in the lead. Then there are the little side segments, which are supposed to be of interest to a golfer, but really only to throw in a few sponsor names and avoid showing additional golf coverage. By these, I mean things like the "Know the Rules with washed up pro 'xyz', brought to you by Goodyear," segments, where Roger Maltbie or David Feherty explain to us how to drop a ball from a hazard without receiving any further penalties. That's fascinating, as I only hit it into five or six hazards each round, and am completely unfamiliar with this process. Not only does the segment bore me to death, it also usually ends with, "While we were away, Phil and Tiger both holed out for double-eagle, then dropped the gloves to determine who's shot was better. Now let’s take a look at the leaderboard brought us by…"

So yesterday morning, I turned the TV on around 10 in the morning and saw that Tiger had already finished and the leaders had not yet teed off. This meant there wasn't really anything to show, so the cameras decided to glue themselves to such dynamic personalities as Jim Furyk and Ben Curtis (the Statue of Liberty, who has more personality than ol' loopy, hadn't teed off yet). Spellbinding television to say the least. Everything was going fine, I was maintaining my sanity for the most part, until the clock struck 10:28 in the morning, and I was broad-sided with a fancy graphic announcing the golfnow.com Shot of the Day! Let me set the record straight; there were still 20 golfers who hadn't even teed off yet and Jim Furyk, who hit the SHOT OF THE DAY on the 2nd hole, was now on the 3rd hole. By my rough count, the field still had 500 holes left to play! 500! How, or rather why, do you determine the shot of the day at 10:30 in the morning, when half the goddamn field isn't even on the golf course yet!?

In what can only be described as Krakatoa-style rage, I turn the TV off, vowing never to tune into another professional golf broadcast until the next major (which happens to be Thursday's first round of the PGA, but after that not until April!). Fuming, I head out to run a few errands. Returning to the house around 3:30, I turned the TV on (my usual bodily function upon getting home), which was still on the same channel as before, and still showing golf. Now I'm not making up what I'm about to describe, this is what actually happened. As I prepared to change channels, and maintain my vow of avoiding non-major golf, it was announced it was time for the Prudential SHOT OF THE DAY! This golf coverage has been so riveting, it needed two shots of the day! I threw up a little. Whoever came up with having two of those should get a promotion. "Let's have two shots of the day. The coverage is so mundane, nobody could possible watch for six hours; nobody will ever know."

I understand that the four majors have much stronger TV audiences than any other tournament, so the need for additional sponsorship isn't as large. But perhaps these other tournaments would be a little easier to watch if they weren't so laden with commercials, little blurbs about nothing, and constant looks back at last year’s event.

Absolutely flabbergasted, I changed the channel, and fired up the PVR to sooth myself with some footage of this year's Masters Tournament. Ahhh.....green jackets and a sponsorless leaderboard. Hello friends...and welcome to another golf tournament you can actually watch without poking your eyes out.

/end rant.



- TheRev

twitter.com/TheRevBW

Back to the Future?

Marty: "Oh, this is heavy, Doc. I mean, it's like I was just here yesterday."



Doc: "You were here yesterday, Marty, you were."

Remember this? When Marty and the Doc were forced to go back to 1955 to steal back the ‘Grey’s Sports Almanac’ from young Biff so that he wouldn’t become rich and powerful and eventually kill Marty’s Dad George and marry Marty’s Mom Lorraine. Marty was experiencing a bit of deja-vu as he was back re-living November 12th, 1955 but, this time, from a different angle.

Well I have this sneaking suspicion that Olli Jokinen will probably have a very similar reaction when he touches down in Calgary for training camp in September. A guy that was, for all intensive purposes, booed out of this city for not living up to his potential has been brought back for another kick at the can.

Deja-vu? It sure feels like it.

This time though, he has a ‘no trade clause’ and is signed for two years at $3 million, not the $5.25 million he was making previously. What can we expect from him this year or better yet what SHOULD we expect of him this year?

His point totals have been falling, and falling fast since his 91 point total in 2006-07 (71 in 08’, 57 in 09’, and 50 last season).

So, should we be happy if he gets 15 goals or should we be angry until he scores 30? He scored only 15 last year, which was pretty much half of what he had the previous year. He is set to be centering the number one line again with Iginla and Tanguay, yet he does posses front line talent anymore.

He has gone from being a guy who was counted on every night to be ‘The Guy’ in south Florida to being a second rate centerman with the Flames; a team laden with second rate centermen.

They have Stajan and Langkow who are not number one guys.

Backlund is quite possibly the Flames only hope for a number one center, barring any trade that would bring one to the city.

On a side note, putting Backlund up there with the big boys might be risky, but then again it might be a way bigger risk to stick him into a 3rd line checker role where his development would sputter. Just like Boyd, just like Lombardi, just like Kobasew, we could be on the verge of watching another potential star in the Flames system get blockaded behind older washed up stars who Sutter thinks will save the franchise from yet another disappointing and frustrating season.
In the end I realize that this topic has been bandied about more times than Brett Favre has retired, yet I just still can’t believe it’s a reality.

I just feel like I am about to watch the same Olli Jokinen stick handle up the ice like a 10 year tyke player, out of control and no sense direction, and fire the puck wide or lose it in the corner.
Same Olli Jokinen. Just a slightly different angle.

This is heavy Doc.

Maybe it has something to do with the earth’s gravitational pull?


NOTE: Away from the whole Jokinen debate I would like to point out the three players at the Heritage Classic gala last Wednesday; Staios, Sarich and Glencross. Sarich has been talked about as a potential trade target given his large contract. Staios will have a tough time making this team and might be pushed into the minors. Glencross is the only player who I see actually being on the team come mid February. Maybe this is a signal from the team instilling confidence in these specific players. Then again, I am probably over thinking a very meaningless press conference where these players were simply the most accessible.

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