The bag runneth over

Latest Friday tradition round here: Emptying the week's e-mail bag.

First, this from Jlo, who lives in Montreal:

RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR

Honey, let's blow this sports bar and get some poutine.

So I sat in Cage Aux Sports with my Leafs cap on, groaning most of the evening. Actually, it was 3-0 by the time we got there, so it wasn't so much downhill all the way as starting from the deepest valley. Being a mountain runner doesn't help when the mountains are called Belak and Berg.

So just imagine: you're a Leafs fan, trapped in Montreal, wandering late into the sports bar with the cap on and you check the scoreboard and it's 3-0, and you know that everyone in the bar is snickering. You turn to your date and say:

a/ "Maybe there's a late movie we can see -- I haven't seen Pink Panther yet, have you?"

b/ "Y'know, I'm starving. Let's go grab some poutine."

c/ "Here, put this on ... Did I ever tell you how hot you look in that Leafs cap?"

d/ "Oh hell, that's my ex over there. Let's get out of here!"

Submissions, please.

Moving right along, there's mounds of sympathy in Ottawa from Neate Sager:

"If you think a team could sink even lower after making Radek Bonk look fast, then you just don't know the Leafs." 

Oh, I know the Leafs all right, Neate. I also know the media, which means that the Strip-Mats-of-the-C train should arrive right on time on Sunday, the Fire-JFJ and the Goodbye-Eddie having vacated the station, and the Pat's Gone already reaching its destination long ago.

Regular John Richardson is back (and as a fellow who became the recent owner of an autographed Mikael Tellqvist Tre Kronor jersey, I can relate):

Well, to quote our friend T.S, "This is the way the world ends...."
After my namesake Luke got traded back to the Leafs, Deb thought it would be cool to get his jersey. Right. So I could hang it up beside my Aki "The Finnish Bobby Orr" Berg jersey.
Turned that train wreck off after the first period and watched the London Knights dismantle the Soo and St. Mikes lose to Barrie in OT on a goal that Savage would love to have back.
And is Tony gonna wake up from this dream on Sunday?

Thanks for that much-needed perspective, J-Rich, but I'm saving my Sopranos stuff and Junior Hockey heads-up for the Friday afternoon roundup. Oh all right -- let's just say Tony better wake up from that dream. Gandolfini playing Chauncy Gardner isn't exactly what I'm tuning in for, know what I mean?

Over to Brian Webb, who switches gears and zeroes in on Mike James, Bitch!:

I am not a huge basketball fan but I do follow the Raptors a bit. I have a question for you.
Am I the only one that seems bothered with Mike James' me-me attitude?
#1 When Rafer Alston was here,he was sometimes slammed for being a shoot-first guard as opposed to a pass-first player. I have never heard the same thing said about James,and yet he seems to be the exact same type of player.
#2 I want Bosh signed, I want lots of money, I want this kind of a contract, etc. Now, there is nothing wrong with trying to get what you can, but his attitude just seems to reek of me-first.
#3 What kind of an organization would allow a player to do all the types of things he wants to do in the off-season if they are paying him the kind of money he wants?
#4 8-10 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is he on crack or is he really worth that much, and are the Raptors dumb enough to pay him that kind of money??

You asked, Brian, I'll try and answer, and no, you're not the only one:

#1 If you go to basketball-reference.com and look up "Mike James" and check the players he's most similar to -- yup, there's Rafer (UPDATE -- not any more, thanks to those ever-changing similarity scores). Here's their 2005-06 stats, head to head:

Player.........Min/gm.FGA/gm..FG%...Ast....T'over...Pts
Rafer...........38.1......11.0.......38.3.....6.6....2.5.....11.5
James..........36.1......14.8.......47.6....3.9.....2.4....19.3

#2 What's the question again?

#3 You'd be surprised.

#4 Wait and see. You never know.

And finally, I like a blogger who owns up: Joe Clark, with a new twist on an old post:

I guessed wrong: Height/weight is a stronger predictor of wymmynz size compatibility in men's hockey, not body-mass index (BMI), at least for the Turin Olympics.

For Joe's latest, go here. And thanks to all for the submissions.

Comments

[Jlo]

Just for the record: I was with two women, both Habs fans, neither with any romantic connection to me. I was too depressed for that sort of thing anyway...

[cy]

J, I was just riffing. I do go out of control sometimes, especially when it's springtime out and another season has come and gone.