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.

Really ready - really, they were

The mourning links, draped in blue, white and black:

No random thoughts out of this one, an equal opportunity loss, the Leafs' faults on display from the GM to the coach on down -- a long list. As for the good: Darcy Tucker did dive well, and Ben Ondrus dropped the gloves in the final seconds in one of those it's all over but let's fight and everyone will talk about what a gamer I am moments. Did I miss anything?
One last pep talk from the ever locquacious captain, his game shrinking as fast as his team: "I thought we were really ready to play the game."

Oh, and the Thrashers continued to score goals, come back and win, beating the Devils in OT, so here's your latest look at the taffy pull:

8 Atlanta 76
9 Montreal 75
10 Ithoughtwewerereallyready 70
11 Florida 69
12 Islanders 68

In the bigger picture, it's not nearly so bad this morning. I mean, Duke is out (and LSU is in, especially Tyrus Thomas, the freshman's dunk and followup block at the other end the no mas moment).

Meanwhile, I saw the ad, Ben Johnson's latest brainwave endorsement, earlier in the week -- it was right after Don Cherry interviewed Dick Pound on drug testing on HNIC, so how's that for an ironic convergence? -- and it was like driving by an accident. Here's the morning assignment (besides finding a YouTube version of the ad, which I haven't managed to do this morning) -- come up with Ben's next product placement.

Oh, and you're stuck in office while the footy's on from the old country? Next season, you may be in luck as the Premier League is ready to okay webcasts of live games.

13 Reasons for a Canadian to Love the Madness

This is a busy day around here, hence the lack of morning links (hands up everyone who wants the morning links to stay, seriously -- I'm inclined to ditch 'em, unless there's something worth riffing on).

But e-mailer Dave Wells is carrying the mail with this e-mail, topical and a blessed relief from all the Leafs-Habs stuff floating around the newsroom and the city (Remember JABS' No. 1 rule of pro sports: the bigger the game -- and in Toronto, there is no stage bigger than the Leafs when they're not conceding anything, and not fooling around anymore -- the safer you are to ignore the blizzard of hype).

AP PHOTO

It's Pittsnogle of the Mountaineers. Seriously.

Take it away, Dave:

"Here are the Top 13 Reasons a Canadian Hoops Fan must go to March Madness at least once before they die. Based loosely on my trip to the Palace at Auburn Hills with the boys for the opening two rounds of the Oakland bracket.

"13. Americanstan's combination of patriotism & religious fervour makes for crazed fans. It's so cool to sit with people cheering their college. For them, the tournament is 64 mini Stanley Cup finals.

"12. You might see a team from the middle of nowhere Louisiana (NSU) upset a powerhouse from Iowa on a buzzer beater. Unbridled joy and the agony of defeat, all in under 5 seconds.

"11. Making fun of funny named players. Insert your own Kevin Pittsnogle joke here. Kansas also has a player named Sasha Kaun, which sounds a lot like Chaka Kahn.

"10. College bands can make any song sound great. My favourites from this weekend were Van McCoy's "The Hustle" and Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend".

"9. Cheerleaders. Not what you're thinking lads. But rather, having a group of unfailingly optimistic people to applaud your every success and brighten up every failure. Wouldn't work be a lot more enjoyable if there cheerleaders around to chant "Fight - Fight - Fight" when you've got that key presentation to make before the boss?

"8. You might see #13 Bradley completely outplay #4 Kansas. Cinderella is going out on the town tonight!

"7. Walking into the Troy Community Centre and representing the C-A, N-A, D-A on the hardwood. Surprisingly, the calibre of play was equal or below Toronto pickup games.

"6. America is a consumer's paradise. More like a giant mall with people living in it than a country. New Reebok kicks $40, new leather Wilson NCAA ball $20 and Sebastian Telfair documentary (director's cut) $15.

"5. Finding a roadhouse that serves enormous portions. And has a Deerhunters special that includes a gallon of chili. Only in America.

"4. Seeing sports sober. There are many hoops fans who, like me, can only make it through a dreadful, midseason Raptors vs. Hawks game in a self-medicated, ACC draft haze. But there's no beer served at March Madness, which makes for a totally different and more enjoyable experience.

"3. Duty free on your way into the States.

"2. Seeing Bradley knock off #5 Pitt. Watching their fans go insane. And deciding that at least three of their players must be drafted by the Raptors.

"1. March Madness is the most drama packed hoops event around. The suspense of the one-and-one. Every game is do or die. Every player, coach, fan and mascot cares so much. It is unlike any other sporting event in North America. It must be experienced first hand to be understood."

All-time dysfunctionals

It hit me last night, while Stephon Marbury was driving the basket then turning away, his disinterest kicking in just in the nick of time, or while Steve Francis pounded the ball as if trying to bore a hole to China, then charged head down to nowhere and threw it away, or Maurice Taylor doing anything, or Channing Frye limping out of the season, or Isiah Thomas staring as if trapped in a burning car, or Larry Brown trying to figure out what to say after this one.

On dysfunction scale, can Knicks match Jacksons?

These New York Knicks are not pretty. They are barely watchable, given that you're hiding your eyes most of the time. But they are historic, perhaps. We won't see their likes again for some time, I reckon -- or at least till next year.

The question now, with less than a month until the Knicks pack up the tent and wait for the dry ice to settle on their lottery ball: In terms of all-time dysfunctional bunches, where do they rank? The definition covers not teams that are bad or even mediocre, which are a dime a dozen. More to the point, they must be composed of mismatched parts whose dysfunction rises in direct proportion to the salaries paid and the flop in terms of results achieved.

Chris Clarke at End of the Bench has already decided, it seems:

"This is the most any collection of players on one team has made since, say, ever. They are the most overpaid team in history at this point. I can’t think of the appropriate joke, but when did any group of people get paid so much to do such a terrible job?"

From one Chris to another and on to you, it's time to find out.

The most obvious corollary from today's landscape is Real Madrid, the galacticos trophyless for the past three years despite fielding the most glittering array of star power in the game, and a payroll. The New York Rangers of recent pre-lockout vintage were particularly dysfunctional.

Dipping back way into the past in these parts, the Argos of the early 1970s consistently signed high-priced talent (from Theismann to Anthony Davis to Terry Metcalf) and failed miserably, sometimes spectacularly.

Moving outside sports, how 'bout those Jacksons? Napoleon's Grand Armee?

Even Real, those Argos and the Jacksons look good next to the Knicks, whose record of 19 and 47 is but a game ahead of bottomest, second-year Charlotte in the league standing, and whose payroll of $124 million makes Mark Cuban's Mavericks ($97 mil.) look like pikers. And that payroll actually rises next year! So perhaps they're not done yet, these dysfunctional-for-the-ages Knicks.

I do think it's going to take something to catch them. Your candidates, please, for the Most Dysfunctional Teams in History. (And to start it off, nothing like a good Googlefight.)

UPDATE: That Skeets guy, he's back.

We're not kidding around anymore!

The morning links, a real steam of consciousness today:

AP PHOTO

Oh, those cold chillin' Knicks.

"We're not kidding around anymore, we really want this playoff spot", says Mikael Tellqvist, and yes, that was a nice bit of energy, hustle and power play goals last night as the Leafs beat the 'Canes 3-2 -- but does that mean y'all were kidding around before, Mikey? It sure looked that way, sometimes.
They better be strapped in, because this midway ride has just begun. Last night was glorious for channel changers, with the Raptors over there and a full set of hockey at the Centre Ice package, including Atlanta's comeback shootout win over Boston. A few random thoughts:

The kids: Although Suglobov looked like Mr. Frick out there, Brendan Bell was fine, playing a disciplined, heady game. He can come back to my team any time.
Hands up everyone out there who misses Ed Belfour. Tie Domi?
Outside of Jason Allison, I thought Chad Kilger was the Leafs' best forward. Actually, he's played pretty well the past few nights.
Jeff O'Neill returned with two assists, which was a heartening development. But assists are among the lamest stat in sports, Wellwood's screen on the Leafs' second goal and his spadework on the first going uncredited on the scoresheet.
The Thrashers can score when they have to. At least against the Bruins. And apart from a shootout, where it took 'em seven tries to put away Boston and gain a very important point -- which really shouldn't be called a point. Question for the day: What term should be applied to points gained via shootouts? I prefer "cheez", but I'm sure you can come up with better.
Highlight of the night: It had to be the Edie Falco interview from the Garden, where we learned: a/they never talk basketball on the set; b/It's a real drama with the Knicks this season; c/The Sopranos has great writers. Hey, it was EDIE FALCO! She coulda pulled out the Manhattan phone book and started reading it, and that would have been fine with me. Nice catch, Norma.

Here's your update on the eastern conference taffy pull:

7 New Jersey 76
8 Atlanta 74
9 Montreal 73
10 Werenotkiddingaroundanymore 70
11 Islanders 68
12 Florida 67

Elsewhere:

NHL: Canucks and Sharks win -- yes, the Canucks won, go to the link, I'm not kidding (although it's reg. req'd; try this one too)! -- and so the west's accordion of a playoff chase wheezes merrily on. Oh, and the Kings fire their coach.

NBA: A day after his farewell Toronto speech, Mike James puts his moneyball where his mouth is and drops 37 on the Knicks, Chris Bosh handling the chores in the fourth quarter while Marbury passes up shots and Francis watches and Larry Brown slaps his forehead. And Sam Mitchell gets a pat on the back from the new GM.

NFL: Colts pick up Adam Vinatieri.

CFL: As the Renegades turn.

FA Cup quarterfinals: Liverpool wins 7-0.

World Cup: CNN.com interviews Juergen Klinsmann and man, perhaps it's the translation, but he does ramble on some -- a little punctuation would have been nice:

Q: I guess that some of the criticism wouldn't have been quite so harsh if you had been based in Germany, do you have any regrets about being based in California and having to commute backwards and forwards?
A: No I think it is one of the reasons I am pretty sure I am doing a very good job with my team is that I fly back and forth is that I can kind of reflect and look at things from outside the box it is very untypical and unusual for Germans and with traditional thinking people you will always face some problems but it is a huge advantage it is an advantage to be in a different country and look at things differently, to balance things out, the communication is the same I call the players on the phone I email or whatever communications tools you use is the same would be the same if I was here in Germany but they can't grab you physically the media can't grab you physically they say that tomorrow you might be in Munich so we want to see we want to be part of his daily life you can't be part of my daily life because I have a job that I have to get done so at the end of the day I'm not going to waste my time with you.

Mike James, bitch!

I held off this morning on Mike James' soliloquy in the papers this morning, saving it for lunchtime. Roughly translated -- and keep in mind, this is a boiling down of an excerpt highlighted by reporters out of a 30-minute conversation, so a fair amount of editing is going on -- James is basically saying 'I want mine':

ALAN DIAZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mike James: Money player.

"The money that I make — the multi-year deal or whatever you guys want to call it — just give me what I deserve," he explained. "Don't underpay me.
I'm tired of being called an underachiever. I'm tired of being underpaid. And I've been underpaid since I've been in this game. Now it's time for me to get what I deserve.
The money don't motivate me. The money don't motivate me at all.
But the thing is, maybe I do want to wake up one morning and say, 'Baby, let's go to the Bahamas. Today.' That costs money. So what if I want to do that? Why shouldn't I have the ability to do that if for six, seven, eight months I give you my heart on the basketball court?"

So that's what he wants. If I'm Bryan Colangelo, I'm thinking another thing: Get it somewhere else.

I quite like watching James play, even if he drives me nuts. He has a fierce desire, he's not afraid and he's been a better teammate than the less mature, more volcanic Rafer Alston, for whom he was traded at the beginning of the season. The flip side of all that is he has no conscience with the ball in his hands, and tends to forget there are other players on the floor with him, including a certain cornerstone frontcourt player heading into a critical season in terms of his future here.

Look, I know whether to keep James or not when he walks this summer is best left to the pros. And I find it hard not to like the guy because of that fire he brings to the floor on a team that often appears a bit too cool for its own good. But the nucleus here is the duo of Bosh and Villanueva, and James' tying himself to Bosh's future, as if the two are connected, is a bit of a fallacy. If the Raptors can get the 30-year-old James at a price that suits them, fine -- and for a little insight on that, Doug Smith's latest Internet column tells us. And if not, if the meter on James' taxi runs over, thanks for stopping by.

In the meantime, I really don't want to listen to another athlete talking about what they "deserve". Mike James is making $3.4 million this season. He's made good money, even if it's not NBA good money, and he's had a good year, even if he's putting up numbers on a bad team -- always a bit chancey, those kind of figures.

What he's due is a matter for the NBA market to decide this summer. And however that works out, I have a feeling that waking up one morning and deciding to go to the Bahamas is going to be quite possible -- although I'd recommend Montserrat. It's a little more exclusive, befitting a legend in your own mind. And they have parasailing.

Oh, and with the Raptors heading into New York and Boston tonight and tomorrow, here's a little pregame show for ya.

Related: Scott Carefoot at Raptorblog: "I can't predict whether or not Mike James will re-sign with the Raptors after this season or the amount of money he'll sign for. But I am sure of one thing: it will be less than he thinks he's worth. And who among us honestly believes we get paid what we deserve? See, Mike James is just like us after all."

UPDATE: Dig deep, everybody!

The WBC in T.O.

A quick tour thru the morning links today, after last night's WBC final went on so long they coulda fit a World Series game inside of it:

Yes, Japan wins the WBC, scoring four times in the first and four in the ninth to beat Cuba 10-6. I've become a believer in this thing, after an admittedly crabby start. How to make it better? Yesterday, Rich Griffin took his run at it, and here's my shortlist. First, the umpiring has to improve, after being a major sideshow. Second, drop the pitching limits, which serve only to reinforce the notion that this is essentially a major-league preseason series, and not a truly open, planet-baseball competition. The timing is fine, there's nothing wrong with March -- move it up a little bit, says Dominican manager Stan Javier, and that'd be fine with me too -- but what about putting some games in a northern city (or cities) with a dome? Like Toronto, just to offer an example -- you knew that was coming, didn't you? -- where the community is multicultural enough to go for it in a big way (and where this time of year is pretty much free of any serious sporting competition, outside of the races for 10th place)?

On the subject of baseball and the world, check out this link to a post on the 1956 Dodgers commemorating the victims of the Hiroshima bombing with a plaque that now sits alongside the hot dog condiments in Vero Beach: "We dedicate this visit in memory of those baseball fans and others who here died by atomic action on Aug. 6, 1945. May their souls rest in peace and with God's help and man's resolution peace will prevail forever, amen." (via Robot Wisdom)

In the NHL, Montreal and Atlanta win, and so the east is not quite so tight at the bottom of the playoff grid. No such thing out west, where Anaheim scores twice in the third period to beat Dallas and leapfrog into a playoff spot, at least for now.

Right after Terrell Owens signs with the Cowboys (and wasn't it strange and a little ominous that Bill Parcells was nowhere to be seen during all that hugging?), Paul Tagliabue announces he's retiring from the NFL commissioner job in July. Coincidence?

Sid Lowe, whose coverage of La Liga in the Guardian is always worth a look, has a good one on the strange saga of two Spanish soccer plays who failed drug tests, one of them nearly four years ago -- but their cases drag on:

Four different bodies, plus the government sports minister, and UEFA, have been involved without reaching a conclusion and the Competition Committee resigned en masse, complaining of outside pressures. The new committee announced Gurpegui's guilt the next day, only for it later to emerge that they had not had time to read the reports properly. And, amidst it all, the World Anti-Doping Agency, accepting that this was a grey area, removed 19-Nandrosterona from its list of banned substances. Four years on there is no solution in sight.

Spring loaded

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, got morning links here, and David Ortiz:

We had Ortiz, anyway. His silver hoop earring and matching necklace ensemble went a-jingling out of the WBC Saturday, which was heartening, the jewelry he and his Dominican Rep. teammates wore enough to pay a year's salary for the Cuban team that defeated them. So it's Cuba vs Japan in tonight's final.

Leafs continue not to concede, eking out a 1-0 win in Pittsburgh on a penalty shot winner by Chad Kilger (really, it was), two power outages (and chants of "new arena") adding an element of mickey-mouse. Meantime, here's some odds on making the playoffs and the latest update from the east's taffy pull:

8 Montreal 71
9 Atlanta 70
10 We'renotconcedinganything 68
11 Islanders 66

Carlton wins hoops title (and Osvaldo Jeanty wins MVP) No. 4 on the trot, Quebec wins the Brier and at the NCAAs, North Carolina is out.

Chelsea lose, fans storm on to the field, Jose blames the referees.

Atlanta's Joe Johnson (40 points) get Line o' the Night mention in the NBA, while over in the NHL it's none other than Mikael Tellqvist, Leafs' shutout hero.

This post = $168.21 in lost productivity

Time to clear off the desk, visions of bouncing basketballs, baseballs and hockey pucks dancing in my head. Of all the weekends on the calendar, this one looks like the heaviest for us armchair athletes -- until the next one, that is.

One last read. You know those studies you read about this time, quoting the billions and billions of dollars lost in productivity from office workers watching the NCAA tournament, say, or playing Snood? They're all full of it.

One last look. Steven Colbert's Hiphopketball: a Jazzebration (thanks to True Hoop).

One last listen. The Argos have started podcasting (QuickTime).

Breaking news. The UEFA Cup draw is in ... and oh, that bomb scare at the NCAA's yesterday? Never mind.

Sports Around Town: Belleville at Brampton, Sunday, 2 p.m. Outside of the London Knights, no one is hotter in the OHL than the Battalion, moving into the national junior rankings for the first time at 10th and on a franchise-record 12-game win streak.

This Week on The Sopranos: The Book.

Junior moves into Green Grove ... 2-to-1
With Tony on the DL, Vito comes out of the closet and makes a play at becoming the boss ... 20-1
"I'm just the Lawn Mower guy" returns with the Russian, takes out Paulie ... 999-1

Watching. Whew. You really want to know? Let's start at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon with Cuba vs. the Dominican Republic in baseball on Sportsnet. Switch over at 5:30 for the CIS men's semifinals from Halifax (it's on the Score, so I'm packing Viseine). Then at 10 p.m., it's back to baseball and Korea vs. Japan on Sportsnet. With cut-ins to the NCAA's wall to wall coverage starting at 1 p.m. (CBS). And oh, I forgot about the curling (1 pm, CBC and 4:30 p.m., TSN), and Barcelona's on at 2 p.m. (GOL TV) ...

Not watching: The best hockey game of the month isn't on in these parts (Buffalo-Ottawa on Saturday night) and with all that other stuff going, why waste time on the Leafs and Rangers?

 

The e-mailbag cometh

So here we are again, a week's worth of e-mails going into the hopper for your consumption and comment.

Start with John Richardson, his interest piqued by the Dec. 12, 1938 Star sports page (pdf file) I linked to in the Red Storey post:

Read the Pages of the Past article on the game plus other articles on the page, including an account of a Leafs/Hawks game. When did this style of writing fade out? Post war? Fifties? If you've seen Good Night and Good Luck, you see how formal (and what seems stilted now) TV news broadcasts were.

Good question. I haven't seen that movie yet, but my guess would be that very television played a role in changing sportswriting (all of a sudden you could see what these guys were writing about, and painting word pictures wasn't quite so paramount, and even seemed silly and overdone). That, and Ernest Hemingway:

"My prose style. You bastards have stolen my prose style. Every shithead sportswriter in America has stolen my style and then gone and fucked it up so bad that I can't even use it anymore without becoming sick to my stomach."
"Put down the pistol, Papa. I've been writing that way all my life and you know it." (Philip Roth, The Great American Novel)

The a-bomb probably had a role too (I'm serious. Just check out Don DeLillo's Pafko at the Wall novella, which became the prologue to Underworld.)

But there's more from John. To add to the stories sent in by Karim and Les Couchie in the comments from that post, he begins with a memory of taking his son to an oldtimers game refereed by Storey and it leads to this gem:

Speaking of old timers, one of my favorite possessions is a bio of The Rocket by former Tely writer Andy O'Brien. It was published in '59 or 60 and I got it for Christmas that year -- I was 10 or 11.
At the time my best friend Roddy McLeod's dad was President of the Burlington Minor Hockey Association and was organizing the year-end banquet. I came home from school one day and my mom said, "Phone Roddy. He says it's important".
So I phoned Roddy and he says, "Guess who's in my living room? Rocket Richard. Wanna come down and meet him?"
For some reason I grabbed my book, tore down the street, walked in the front door (no one knocked back then) and there he was. God was in front of me.
I mean, I was dumbstruck. He was wearing a suit and tie and his hair was slicked back of course. He looked at me (geez, I still remember this), and said, "What position do you play?" When I said, "Goalie", he stared at me with those eyes and said, "Oh you guys give me all sorts of trouble". And then he signed, in meticulous handwriting, "To John, Best Wishes, Maurice "Rocket" Richard."
The book has survived numerous moves, two marriages, and is still one of my prized possessions--and this coming from a guy who has signed first editions of Atwood, Davies, John Irving, Alice Munro, et al.
Sorry to ramble. That Red Storey piece was a Proustian moment.

Proustian moments are all right by me, John. The world needs more of 'em.

*Tissue break*

Moving right along from that beginning, Chris Flynn weighed in on the Awards We'll Never See. He wasn't alone, but he happened to have the most articulate response (as opposed to the "You idiot!" variety, that is):

JFJ is the league's worst GM? I do not think so. Milbury gets the lifetime achievement award, and maybe Kevin Lowe, thinking that Roloson is a number one guy.
Why has Quinn coached game #1,300? Because, if you may have forgot, he is a great regular season coach, and I think I might have seen you cheering along the last 6 years in a row we have been in the playoffs. I am not defending him much, because he hasn't won us a Cup, but let's not forget the good times, and take them with the bad.
I think we both know, or at least I do, that you do not judge a defensive defenceman like Richardson and Berg on points. Judge Berg on his giveaways, but don't say he doesn't score enough, that isn't his job. And, lastly, I assume that the link about the strange timing of Eddie's back (that did not work for me) is ... just the Toronto media making stuff up to cause conflict.  Whatever the Leafs do, it is never good enough for the Toronto media.  It would be nice if there was some support in the papers for this team.

Agreed on the D-men, but as for "support in the papers" and "cheering along the last six year" I believe former e-mailbagger Roger Wilcox put it best last week: Golf Leafs Golf!

Here's another view from one Bocro, who lives somewhere well outside the 416-905 axis -- at least, that's my wild guess:

It is getting downright embarrassing. What would the Leafs do without the plethora of on ice officials coming from Southern Ontario? It is so obvious now that whenever they get behind in a game or are floundering as they tend to do, they are suddenly awarded with a 5 on 3 situation. It happened against Boston yesterday & recent games against Tampa Bay & Montreal were no exception.

Finally, the folks up at York University media relations send this one in to finish off this week's edition (for the full release, click here):

All those early mornings at the rink or the gymnasium won’t necessarily benefit your child in the long run, says a new study by a York University researcher.
The study found that athletes who train in one area as kids don’t necessarily get a jump-start on a long life of physical activity – in fact, it’s just the opposite.