Your weekend beckons

I don't know how it happened, but we missed one this morning -- Martha Burk (remember her? Think hard now. Think, The Masters. Hootie. Ding! Now you got it). The chairwoman of NOW doesn't like the NHL's new ad campaign:

"The woman is dressed provocatively and when she asks the player if he's ready, it's a double-entendre in my view. She's in the ad as a groomer, a sex object."

I haven't seen the segment yet, and wasn't really planning on it, but I'm sure to now -- hope it's work-safe. But I've got a problem with the ad campaign already. It's that My NHL slogan. Surely we can come up with a better one before this weekend is up (from puckupdate, via Deadspin -- Thanks, folks).

And to join in my collection of bobbleheads, I so want this, Santa: A Wayne Rooney action figure.

There's a world championship going on in Vegas this weekend (Maybe it's just me, but I'll rent the movie instead).

And just in case the Presidents Cup has you all revved up, here's some domestic minigolf for you.

We're watching: It's the weekend so it's PIP time. Tonight, it's the Jays at the hated Yankees (7 p.m., Sportsnet), cutting into and leading to Argos at the Green Riders (9 P.M., TSN) -- actually, they're the only Riders now. Saturday it's the Leafs in Montreal (7 p.m., Leafs TV) and the unbeaten B.C. Lions at Edmonton (7 p.m., CBC; still trying to figure out the soundtrack for this one -- suggestions?). Sunday, we'll hold our breath and hope that one of those 4 p.m. NFL games (Patriots at Steelers; Randy Moss at T.O.) actually holds our attention. 

We're not watching: 2003 World Series of Poker (ESPN Classic, Saturday, 7 p.m.). I love this station because you never know what you're going to get -- the 1984 Samoan Crab Wrestling Finals, say, or a Brian Bosworth retrospective. I'm a sucker for those old Sports Hot Seat shows, too, with Pat, Wilbur, John Wells and the late, great Jack Donohue on a set that looks like it's going to fall over if anyone breathes too hard. Now that's CLASSIC. But poker? From 2003?   

Comments

[denial]

did you know that the chairwoman of NOW made those remarks while lathering herself up in a jacuzzi with a bottle of Oil Of OH YEAH?

But she probably has a point. She'll have to connect with that hunk bettman to sort it out, and if you ask me, polyester is gonna fly. hope she's packin some dentyne fire, because i see some compromising in the near future.

hmmm new NHL slogan? how about "Why Not NHL?"

Worked for the red sox.

Good luck with your wayne roonie action figure. i'd like a jason allison action figure, except i'd like mine to be life sized and play into January. I think you have a better chance of getting your wish.

For some reason, I don't think that the Oak/Philly game is going to be a massive matchup of wide receivers. Football these days seems to be about deception (all hail billichek). I think that there'll be tons of decoying out to both RM and TO, and some passes to keep them from going on hunger strikes after the game, but I think secondary receivers are going to have a field day. The best thing that RM and TO do, by far, isn't that they catch the ball; catching the ball isn't that hard for someone who's been trained to be a WR for 20 years. It's that they maul the defense by stretching it out so wide. So that opens up a lot of planes for other players.

the lure of poker on TV is chilling. some of those guys make squiggy from laverne and shirley look like a clean cut harvard man. we're talking slimy, shady characters. men who you wouldn't leave your kids to, even in an emergency, because by the time you picked them up, they'd have nicknames and know how to make a Manhattan.

a month or so ago the Fan had a call in about why poker was so hot on TV. I have no idea why this is. it's not like its strip poker (sorry NOW, but at least that would explain ratings...I mean, if they played with people other than guys who haven't seen sunlight, or a bar of soap, since the reagan years).

I figure that it has a lot to do with the coming together of a few factors, including:

1. you need the attention span of robin williams to tolerate something like poker, with its short games and quick conclusions. most people have clinical ADHD and so i figure poker fits nicely into that.

2. it's fun to see people unable to smile when they win wads of cash, because you know they'll have their knees 'broke' after the show if they pour it on too thick. the majority of us would be doing breakin 2, electric boogaloo moves on the poker table if we won a free bag of doritos.

3. the camera angels and the announcers are so smooth, that this they make the production seem like something out of "magician secrets revealed". that constant flow of hushed commentary is extremely artistic. now THAT'S where they should have stuck dennis miller. if they put him on commentary for Monday Night Poker, I'm there every week and leaving the remote in the kitchen.

4. it's easy to get engaged in poker and buy into there drama, thereby blissfully forgetting about one's own problems, such as, well, finding oneself and so on blah blah blah

Would it have killed MLSE to put pre-season games on TSN?

[bferg]

A Stumpython?!? Now, we're talking! And, I thought my day at work was gonna suck. Ok, I think for those of us who were there, Game 5 of the 2000 series vs. Ottawa has to be the ultimate Stumpy-Leaf moment. With the series tied, and all hope fading, he scores the tying goal with 4 mins to go, then nets the OT winner to erase any Ottawa hope of winning the series. I've been to dozens of Leaf playoff games and (this might be a sad comment actually?!?) that OT has to rank up there with the most exciting moments in the short history of the ACC.