InGameNow

Sean Avery Video of Elisha Cuthbert, Dion Phaneuf

December 2nd, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in NHL

This is the video that got ‘bad-boy’ Sean Avery suspended indefinitely… he surged to one of the most sought after Google queries after his ridiculous comments about Elisha Cuthbert being the NHL’s “sloppy seconds”:

“Uh, I’m really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada.

“And I just want to comment on how it’s become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don’t know what that’s about.

“Enjoy the game tonight.”

The jab, of course, is directed at Calgary Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf, who is dating Avery’s ex-girlfriend, Elisha Cuthbert. The actress, reportedly, also dated Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens.

The 25-second clip - in its entirety; he refused to answer answer questions - got a rise out of some of his younger teammates. “He said what?” shrieked one. Many of them cackled, in fact.

Does One Game Really Make A Difference?

November 2nd, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in MLB, MMA, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, NFL, NHL, Uncategorized

What do the numbers 12, 16, 82, and 162 mean? Well, simply put, they are the number of games played in college football, professional football, basketball, and baseball.  While the numbers are all different, the end result that each team wants from those numbers is the same. Of the number of games they play, they want more of those games to end up as wins instead of losses, so they can continue on into the playoffs and hopefully walk away as a champion.

The other night while on the InGameNow site, someone mentioned how big it was the Knicks beat the Heat, in the first game of the season, and that it will completely define the Knicks season.  I find that hard to believe with 81 more games still on the schedule. But it got me thinking, how important is every game for our major sports, and so we’re going to break this one down.

College Football

College Football is the most unique of the major sports, in that your ranking, based on polls, determines your success in the postseason.  Now, in order to actually qualify for a bowl, only six wins are needed, so as long as a team can get themselves there, they are in good shape.  For the more prestigious programs with bigger trophies on the mind, six is a gimme number to them. Their success is defined by ten or more wins, and for some of the top tier programs, it has to be a perfect season. One loss can easily lower them from the polls and remove all semblance of hope of a national championship.

While it may be a flawed system most (myself included), no other sport highlights the fact that no matchup is guaranteed, and taking a day off to rest is just not part of the picture. Each game matters, and the teams perform up to those standards day in and day out.

Professional Football

Next up is the NFL, with 16 games in 17 weeks, and with only four playoff spots between the 16 teams in the conference, competition is tight. However, there are those teams that end up head and shoulders above the rest, and as the playoffs creep closer, upon clinching themselves a spot in the playoffs (usually, if its early enough, they’re also adding in home field advantage and maybe a bye week as well), choose to rest their weary starters and save their legs and strength for the post-season run.  For those good teams, they usually begin to do this around week 15, become extremely more prevalent during week 17.  However, I think this trend is going to start being bucked pretty soon.  Teams like the Indianapolis Colts, who since 2002 have been a playoff fixture, have had the habit of resting their starters around week 16 and 17, as well as the bye week, and what did they get for it? From 2002-2005, the Colts could not make the Super Bowl, and on three occasions from 2000-2007, they have been knocked out in their first appearance.

Now, during this past season the New York Giants had the opportunity to rest in the last week, but, due to the nature of the game (vs. Patriots in regular season finale, who were undefeated at this point), they chose to play their starters not just for a half, but for the entire football game. Sure, some got hurt, but what came of it? They kept their motivation and camrederie up through three straight road wins on their way to defeating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. It is that hope that we begin to see 17 straight weeks of challenging football, and not the current 15 and a month’s worth of rest for our better teams.

Basketball

Now, for some teams, winning every game matters (see Chicago Bulls 72-10 record), but for others, it’s not bad to sit a starter or two after a long road trip swing. Then you have the playoff factor.  Teams like the Spurs are extremely conservative during the regular season, banking on the fact that they will do enough in their division to earn a top four seed, while teams that have already been eliminated decide to use that opportunity to showcase players no one has ever heard of, and rest weary starters to save them in the hopes of making a playoff run next year.  For example, the Miami Heat, clearly eliminated last year, decided to place Dwyane Wade on the injured list, to let him heal up for a shot this year, and give the team a greater chance at a good draft pick.

Remember, in basketball, the team with the worst record gets the greatest number of chances at the top draft pick.  So, the top teams can take a day or two off during the season, and the bottom of the rankings give up as soon as they can. Doesn’t leave too many games the fans will see actual action, unless you’re a middle of the road team. Those are your daily grinders in the NBA.

Baseball

We save the longest for last (much like this blog), and let’s be perfectly honest, there is no way each team is going to put 100% effort for all 162 games. It is extremely common to see a team take some days off throughout the year because some personnel have to rest. The number of games combined with some west coast road swings can make a huge difference, and unless you’re closer to the playoff run at the end of the season, when you have your September call ups around anyways, how much are you going to care about losing a random game in June and in August. Sure, it has the potential to bite you in the butt at the end, but the teams are going to concern themselves with the present, especially if they know they will need the freshest bodies for a playoff run.  Finally, add into the fact that once again, your guaranteed teams are going to use September to rest the weary and give new faces a shot at making their case for next year, and its painfully obvious baseball is not a sport where every game matters every day.

So there you have it, four sports, and the importance of each game every day in their respective league.  Makes it a little more obvious why some sports are bigger during the regular season than the playoffs, and others fans don’t really pay attention to until it’s postseason time.

Athletes are underpaid and I DO feel sorry for Paul Peirce

November 1st, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in InGameNow, MLB, MMA, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, NFL, NHL

If there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s the winy sports fan. And the biggest wine of them all is the ridiculous beef that 90% of sports radio callers have and that’s the professional athletes are overpaid.

Well get ready to wine I think they should be paid more!

This nerve got struck again most recently after I read Bob Ryan’s Wednesday morning column where he called Paul Peirce’s Championship acceptance speech rambling, embarrassing, [and] self-indulgent. Not incredibly out of line, especially for this town, but when a few Boston radio hosts came to the defense of Peirce, saying that it was in no way embarrassing, especially after all that Pierce has had to go through with this team, both personally and professionally, all hell broke loose.

There is obviously going to be a lot of hate thrown at any athlete who cries on national television. It’s just sports for Pete’s sake! Grown men should only cry in bars watching sports or at home by themselves watching Rudy or Field of Dreams. Peirce was obviously going to get it for that, but after the Ryan comment along with the subsequent defense, out came the crazies. The common thread of the the argument came: Why am I supposed to feel bad for a guy making MILLIONS of dollars to play a SPORT??

Well you had no problem throwing every other emotion their way throughout their playing careers. You love them, you DESPISE them. You call them a superstar, a bum, a god, a cancer on the locker room, but you never call them human. To you, the salary makes them immune to pain, suffering, or any sympathy for hardships big (being stabbed within an inch of your life) or small (countless mediocre seasons). You don’t owe them anything because they have EVERYTHING.

This is often the battle cry of the very people that spend all day listening to sports radio at work, then come home to watch ESPN, go to the computer to check their fantasy lineup, before heading off to the arena to spend 5 times what they spend at the grocery store to watch sports. Apparently there are no mirrors in crazy sports fan town because you are your own worst enemy. I continually appalled by the lack of self-awareness it takes to call up a SPORTS radio station and complain that it’s just a game. If it were just a game to you, then you wouldn’t be listening to people talk about games. It’s okay to admit that you think sports are important. You’re not the only one.

Which brings me to my next point: the money. I guess I can understand why a guy who’s making pennies on the dollar to do hard labor can get pissed off seeing a guy complain about not feeding his family on multi-million dollar deals, but it’s not like they are asking for anything out of the means of the owners. Sports are a multi-billion dollar industry and the players are not the only people who feed their families off of its profits. Although they are the most crucial aspect of the cash cow that is professional sports. For example, Major League Baseball took in $6.075 billion in 2007 while only paying out just over $2 billion to the players. That leaves 2/3 of the profits to go to non players, who make up a considerably smaller portion of the overall MLB payroll. Is there any great injustice over how much money Jerry Jones or Al Davis or George Steinbrenner make? I mean is what they do any less of a game than the players?

For those of you who didn’t catch Peirce’s speech (as most of the sports radio callers admitted they hadn’t before they called to complain), you can listen to it here. And yes, it is self indulgent and he does ramble a little bit longer than he probably should, but that’s why I loved it and why I thought it was the furthest thing from embarrassing. Because I have been a Celtics fan from Peirce’s drafting up until now and I did feel bad for this guy. He was and is a superstar, one of the best in the league and he could have gone elsewhere and probably made more money, but he didn’t. He stuck through it even after a local rap group tried to kill him. He stuck through it as the organization continued to make horrible moves and trade away top commodities for mediocre talent. He stuck through terrible stretches of bad play with young, unproven teammates. The bad play did not, however, hurt the Celtics organization as fans, like myself, stuck by the team even through a 22 year championship drought for the League’s most storied franchise.

I felt bad for Paul, not out of sympathy, but because I went through it with him and it is sweeter because of the hard times. I know that if I had been up there, I would have rambled just as much and talked about how my father taught me to be a Celtics fan and how I idolized Larry Bird even though I don’t remember him ever winning a championship or how Red Auerbach is an honorary member of my family although he’s never met any of us. I got a little choked up watching him because I think he does understand that we went through it all with him. That’s why the fans continued to cheer throughout the rambling because we got it.

I hate to say it, but I felt a tinge of this same feeling last week as I watched my beloved Red Sox fall to the Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays. I have little to no respect for the Tampa fan base with their ridiculous cowbells and F-List celebrities and horrendous stadium, but as I watched in horror as they piled ontop of David Price, the TBS broadcast cut to Carl Crawford running in from left field. He did not make a straight B-Line to the mound, but rather sort of galloped in sideways, jumping up and down like a freakshow towards the fans. If he had not been Carl Crawford, a player I greatly admire and have often wondered why he remained with such a terrible organization, I would have rolled my eyes and turned off the television, but I know that that stupid, self-indulgent slapping of his chest was genuine and it wasn’t embarrassing as Mr. Ryan would probably suggest. It was what sports is all about. The player and the fans living in the moment. And they both got it.

The Life of the Tampa Bay Sports Fan: The Pleasure Within the Pain

October 24th, 2008 | By David Chu Posted in MLB, NFL, NHL

As a native to the Tampa Bay area, I often wonder if the years spent following its sports teams will shorten my life or make me stronger. Could it be that my associations with losing strengthened my appreciation for winning? Could pain really be the ultimate prelude to pleasure? I declare myself the ultimate case study, with first hand exposure to the 30 years of attrition and elation that is Tampa sports.

Beyond the conventional dangers of traffic, crowds, high ticket prices, and sunburns there was always the drama associated with extremely poor teams, playing in watercolor uniforms, in front of sparse crowds at sterile venues. For years, our teams’ respective seasons ended months before the others within their league. It wasn’t until recently that I found out about this October Baseball thing that the rest of MLB had been hiding from us. I’m usually glued to The Gators’ or Bucs’ by now and the Baseball season had been put to bed months previous (I know…I saw it go!) For years the question begged to be asked:”If a tree fell in a Tampa area sports venue and there was nobody around for miles, did it make a noise?”

I remember as a 12 year old, laughing with the other neighborhood kids that we could all get our parents arrested for child abuse based on the fact they were Bucs’ season ticket holders and they took us every Sunday. Losing was the way it went every week, with little or no respect from our NFC Central brethren in frozen places such as Green Bay, Minnesota, and Chicago. But then, as things often do, they got better! The Bucs called Queer Eye for the Football Guy and were advised to finish the creamsicle pop, throw away the stick, and polish up with some Pewter and Crimson. Ay! The Bucs rip off several playoff seasons and a Super Bowl title in 2002. The Buccaneers Defense, with no small help from a wardrobe change, becomes a dynasty in and of itself, setting the standard for future playbooks and spreading defensive coaches like seeds throughout the NFL. Not bad for a team that didn’t win a game for it’s first two seasons and played to throngs of fans with bags on their heads (Bagganeers!)

When The NHL announced the expansion of The Tampa Bay Lightning in the early 90’s, bay area residents went straight for their dictionaries…”A game played on ice!?!” they thought as they checked their freezer trays. Needless to say, the first few years of this ‘newfangled’ sports team left Central Floridians a little cold. Aside from beating the famed Chicago Blackhawks in their first game, the inaugural season featured uninspired hockey at…of all places…The Florida State Fairgrounds. 30 wins would be the high watermark for the first three campaigns. Things started turning around when they moved into their new home, The Florida Suncoast Dome – now known as Tropicana Field – and a playoff trip ensued. Maybe this Ice Hockey thing was more than just the punch-line to a northerner’s joke. They later found their way back across the bay to another building which has had multiple names, and in 2004, despite the humorous confusion that comes with arena naming rights, Lord Stanley found us anyway and let us babysit his glorious cup while he went to the beach. Tah-Dah…Hockey Town! (On a side note, I like to say that The Stanley Cup stayed in Tampa for two years if you include the 2004-05 lockout season as I like to do!)

I remember thinking when they named the team The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, that in all my seagoing encounters, I never came across such a thing (If I had I would’ve vigorously shuffled my feet!) Look…I could turn this blog into a psychoanalysis with all the pain and heartache I’ve endured at ‘Devil’ Rays games, but for the sake of closure, Ill list a few: Former Rays Pitcher Esteban Yan stepping off the mound to collect himself after being heckled…from one fan in the third level! Cheering after multiple losses, Bobble head nights for players sent back to the minors, announcing a ‘winning streak’ after two in a row, having the only position player in MLB history to have never hit a home run at any level of his career – and yes, Jason Tyner started! Urrgh, Enough!

But as is the trend here in the Bay Area…eventually things got better.

Turns out, The Tampa Bay team I was watching was a carnival act compared to the one being assembled in Durham. All in all, at least 14 players including Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Evan Longoria, and B.J. Upton have spent their careers within this organization and that was a main theme for the 2008 team. The turnaround this season has been monumental and the stats and side notes of this team will keep Baseball minds busy for years crunching all the data…win or lose!

The truth is, The Tampa Bay area, for all of its lack of respect within the national sports community, has really repaired its image as a whole. New stadiums and Identities have done wonders, and now we have the rare chance of hosting The World Series and The Super Bowl in a span of 3 months. It’s this kind of exposure, along with the increase of success on our respective fields, which allows me to forget about all the games we didn’t win whenever somebody says “You can’t win them all!” As I get older, I find myself galvanized to these teams more and more, feeding of the special moments and seeking therapy for the bad!

We are a humble – but proud – fan base who is used to being outnumbered at home, used to not being recognized when we mention the name, used to losing an argument when ‘history’ is called into play, and used to the constant morphing of the core fan group due to disgruntled snow birds ditching their native teams and then jumping on the bandwagon. All of these things are the reality of Tampa Bay sports…and maybe its pleasure I’m experiencing…not pain!

Views from Section 216: San Jose Sharks take one in OT from the Philadelphia Flyers

October 19th, 2008 | By Dan Winter Posted in InGameNow, NHL

Evgeni Nabokov did not have one of his best games, but because of the explosive Sharks’ offense he still managed to pull off his 4th win of the season (5th for the Sharks total). Nabokov allowed 4 goals in 61:25 off of just 17 shots. This is a little worrisome, however, a win is a win, and Evgeni has a 0.911 career save percentage, so we will just throw out this 0.765 game.

Tell you what, though, to start out the game, I thought I was watching UFC 89 with my buddies! In the first period, there were a handful of fights including a 5 on 5 brawl surrounding the Philadelphia net. If the Flyers thought that the Sharks were a finesse team, they were clearly mistaken with even Rob Blake getting into a little scuffle with Steve Downie of the Flyers. And a note to the ushers at HP Pavilion, “MOVE OUT OF THE WAY IF THERE IS A FIGHT! The puck may not be on the ice, but DON’T BLOCK THE VIEW!”  Total the game had 42 minutes of penalties.

From the start of the 2nd period, the game opened up with the Flyers adding to Daniel Briere’s first goal of the season (in the 1st period), with a goal each from Braydon Coburn and Jeff Carter. The Sharks came back with 2 goals of their own from Christian Ehrhoff and Jonathan Cheechoo, who finally took advantage of the Sharks’ power plays. In fact, the Sharks were just 1 for 7 with the advantage, and even allowed a short-handed goal (Carter).

The third was much of the same, with Joe Pavelski scoring a break-away goal off his own rebound. But then Daniel Briere came in for his second goal of the game and the season to put Philadelphia back on top. Flyers fans: He couldn’t have done this a few games ago? He was seriously stressing me out! But at least Mike Richards couldn’t get one past Nabokov. Devin Setoguchi came in to be non-hospitable with 4:44 left in regulation with a goal to tie the game at 4.

Dan Boyle then proved to be the star of the game with a point-blank shot 1:25 into overtime off the pass of Joe Thornton. Boyle is has played just 6 games for San Jose, after playing the last 5 and a half years for the Lightning. As a defenseman, he has 1 goal and 4 assists so far this season. Good start, now let’s keep it going!

With the Sharks 4-1, after beating the Flyers 5-4 in overtime, San Jose is still rolling! Look for our commentary during the games and the “Views from Section 216? blog after the October 28th game against Crosby, Malkin and the rest of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Views from Section 216: San Jose Sharks dominate Los Angeles Kings

October 12th, 2008 | By Dan Winter Posted in InGameNow, NHL

Yes, I realize the 3-1 score does not quite qualify for “domination,” however, that score does not tell the story. In a night where the Sharks faced one of our rival Kings, it took a perfect one-timer by Alexander Frolov to even allow Los Angeles to get on the scoreboard. Michal Handzus made the pass the just slipped out of the reach of the Sharks defense and left Evgeni Nabokov to try a desperation move to make the save. However, the true story is told by the fact that this goal was one of Kings’ 13 shots all game. The Sharks defense was even stingier in the 3rd Period, allowing 0 shots on goal.

And speaking of rivalries, I have made comments since coming to Colorado that fans in Northern Calfornia need to be more vocal and support their teams. This is not a problem with Sharks fans! Of course, the Sharks are the only Bay Area team with a history of winning (except for the playoffs) in recent years. With cheers of “Beat LA! Beat LA!” resounding around HP Pavilion and an occassional all arena chant of “Kings… Suck!” the spirit at these games are great! This includes the occasional comedic moment, when a 10-year old girl behind us asks her dad during the “Kings…Suck!” chant, “Why are they chanting ‘Piz-za!’” As her dad tried to pretend that he did not hear her, and I tried to figure out how she got “Piz-za!” out of “Kings…Suck!” the Section got a good laugh.

So, back to the game. While the Sharks D was stifling for the Kings offense, the Sharks offense put the pressure on Kings’ goalie Jason LaBarbera with 41 shots. Now to give LaBarbera credit, he did make 38 saves! The Kings goals were all hard-fought with people blocking views in front of the next and picking up the rebounds. Devin Setoguchi got one of these rebounds in the 2nd, and put it into the next to tie up the game. Towards the end of the 2nd period, Joe Thornton was called for hooking (the replay did unfortunately agree) that wiped out a Sharks power play. However, Tomas Plihal apparently didn’t get the memo that you are supposed to run time in a penalty kill and decided to score the Sharks winning goal. Joe Pavelski then sealed the game with a goal 1 minute into the 3rd Period.

With the Sharks 2-0, after beating the Kings 3-1, the season is looking like it is off to a good start! Look for our commentary during and “Views from Section 216″ blog after next Saturday’s game against the Flyers! I hear the guy next to me is bringing some old friends from Philadelphia: it should be a blast!

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