Into the weekend: Ka-ching!

It's the Friday roundup. At last, with the holidays just ahead. The cash registers should be ringing with gusto the next couple of days. But enough about Vernon Wells' house.

We're down to the final couple hours in the Christmas auction for a set of NBA guides, and Bob Brown is in the lead, turning this into his own Santa Claus tradition (or, as my grandson simply calls him, "Claus!"). Nobody's topped Bob's $175 bid yet. Window closes at 3:30 pm.

One last read. James Mirtle had a good post Tuesday on exactly what is a .500 NHL team now, and whether the traditional term even is relevant (check out the comments too, for a solid bit of discussion). What exactly does .500 mean in the new NHL, with its OT and shootout losses counting for points in the standing?:

It's a decent question to ask, especially given that, heading into tonight's games, 13 of the 15 Eastern Conference teams had at least as many wins as losses (thereby earning the designation of being 'at .500' or better.) The thing is, however, if everyone can hit that mark, it's certainly not as valuable as it used to be back when .500 teams were those bound for the playoffs.

One more last read. Mike Wilbon, one of the best around, on the raging Phoenix Suns, stop No. 1 on the Raptors' upcoming road trip on Tuesday:

Even as Mike D'Antoni experiments and tinkers, the Suns' importance to the league has grown as Shaq has gotten older, as Iverson and Kevin Garnett have been marginalized, as the Lakers try to rebuild around Kobe in the post-Shaq era, as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony try to have as much success in the playoffs as they have on Madison Ave. The Suns, without an iconic player, might be the most important team in the league. And right now, as Riley suggested, they're playing like it.

No iconic player? Not even the reigning, two-time MVP?

DON HEUPEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

McCabe vs Briere: New NHL mismatch.

One last e-mail. Rick Akin noted in the latest Leafs penalty stats posted here that Bryan McCabe was bringing up the rear in penalties/penalties drawn +/-, and decribing himself as a "Leaf fan, without the blinders," goes off some on Mr McCabe:

His usual playoff meltdowns notwithstanding, the guy is having a classic McCabelike year. He does have some pizazz on the Leaf PP, as he shoots the puck pretty well. But after that, where's the beef??
There is very little that this player does at a high level, except get paid. Now, I am not saying he isn't an NHL calibre defenceman - he just isn't a top NHL defenceman, or even close. The NHL is now a pretty fast league, and McCabe's slowness of foot is really exposing him for what he is.
Did the Leafs have to give this guy the big money? Maybe so, it can be argued, and I was one of those who said, albeit reluctantly, go ahead and sign him for the big dough. Hindsight being mighty good stuff, though, would suggest the Leafs should have spent the five mil' on someone else - a good D man, a good forward, or maybe a goaltender. Any number of those Leaf kids who play defence, and can skate in today's NHL, would have been a better dollar value, and maybe, just maybe, have contributed more to the Leaf cause than McCabe.
Hey, it isnt Bryan McCabe's fault that he is Bryan McCabe, and will struggle mightily with the wide-open style the league has adopted. But, he will be in Hogtown for five very long years, and by then even the masses who insist on wearing the blinders will be giving him the Larry Murphy treatment. Perhaps some of those jeers should be directed elsewhere.

One last alert. The World Fishing Network sent along this Christmas morning programming note: The Festive Fish Tank - "It’s for those who’d rather watch the hypnotic, relaxing beauty of an aquarium instead of a burning log," the release says. Commercial free!

One last retrospective. The history of the Air Force. The shoe, that is.

One last funny. McSweeney's pitches 12 Contract bonuses for fantasy baseball players, including this one for incoming Blue Jay Royce Clayton:

If he finishes the season with a batting average above .220, the Blue Jays pay him an extra $1 million. Finishing between .221 and .230 gets Royce a handicapped sticker on his car and the key to every bathroom in the city. If he does the impossible and hits above .231, Royce gets to choose any three people, players or citizens, to get beaned by B.J. Ryan fastballs.

Sports around town. The Sam Ashaolu Charity Prep Showcase goes at York Memorial tonight (6:30 pm start) and tomorrow (12:30 pm start), including plans for a ceremonial dunk by the Duquesne basketballer from Toronto who was shot in the head three months ago but continues to make a remarkable recovery.

Not watching. Ski School, Monday, 3:30 a.m., Moviepix. I recall stumbling across this early-90s bit of CanCon crap a while back and watching in grim fascination for maybe three minutes. It was all I could stand. Now there's a weekend assignment for you: what's the worst sports film ever made? Can you top Ski School?

No pooch punts today. Gotta get out of here and put off the Christmas shopping for another weekend.

Update: Leafs penalty stats

It's that time again: updating the numbers, or, as I prefer to call this kind of tomfoolery around the Mansion, I've Got a DVR and I'm Gonna Use It. The Leafs penalty stats project rolls on with the latest numbers in who's taking penalties and who's drawing them.

When I first trotted these out through 19 games, the Leafs as a team were a plus-4 according to my (2-minute penalties committed)/(2-minute penalties drawn) figures. Now, through 32 games, and having gone through that miserable stretch of seven successive losses, they're a minus-5. I haven't broken out the numbers for the losing streak, but that dip surely has been a large part of their troubles of late.

For the rest of what the numbers tell us, take the jump . . .

Open thread: What's wrong (and right) with the Leafs (and Raptors)?

Okay, open thread time. The Leafs are free-falling, and the Raptors are tied for first place in their division. So the question is: How's the emotional ticker of your average Leafs/Raps fan reading today?

MIKE CASSESE/REUTERS

Thrashing around after another Atlanta goal.

I didn't watch the Leafs last night, but with the morning coffee this morning reviewed the DVR'd evidence, and it was pretty damning stuff. I'm not going to jump all over Andrew Raycroft. The Leafs teetered on the edge all night defensively, taking bad penalties and finally paying the price. The glaring lowlights that hit me, against a Thrashers team that boasts three top-flight snipers who were in full flow, came in the form of Paul Maurice's complaining, the continuing enigma that is Alex Steen and the defence pair of Hal Gill and Ian White, who had a brutal night.

As for the Raptors, note that Sam Mitchell has found a bit of a formula to get through the first month of the schedule ahead of schedule, after a halting start - and perhaps into January, when that schedule turns in their favour. The supersized Garbajosa-Bosh-Bargnani frontcourt, TJ Ford's continuing familiarization - all that remains is to put Morris Peterson back as a starter, a move that was strange from the start until the sore elbow provided partial cover. All Fred Jones has done so far is demonstrate why Indiana, a team that could sorely use his kind of hops, were able to say goodbye to him. But all in all, this is a group that looks like they've made strides since ditching the shot-happy approach.

Raptors up, Leafs down - and what a switch that is from a couple of weeks back. Your turn, now, on what's going on here.

Leafs and penalties: A different look

Off the top of the season I decided to start tracking the Leafs’ penalty stats in a little different way – not only who’s commiting the fouls, but who’s getting fouled themselves - given that the NHL doesn't compile the latter data (why? No one seems to know. It is something that shows up in the play-by-play running at ESPN.com, but not on the league's house version). As I said in an earlier post, it's a stat I'd like to see.

I’ll break these out if there’s interest later on in the season as well. Here’s the first helping, through 19 games.

The ground rules are simple: only two-minute minors count (no majors or misconducts included) and a double-minor (say, for high sticking with blood, or a simple double) counts as two fouls. I haven’t broken it down from there, into what kind of penalties they’re committing or attracting, this being about as close as I come to getting in touch with my inner geek. Got it? Let’s go then. Er, after the jump ...

Doubleheader Night, Part I: How to Coach a Hockey Game

Of all the moves that will guarantee an extension for John Ferguson, the removal of ossified Pat Quinn and the hiring of technocrat Paul Maurice is the one that will do it.
Wednesday night’s win over Tampa should be sealed in a vault, to be taken out and reviewed whenever you want to see a fine bit of string-pulling. Maurice simply outcoached a Stanley Cup winner on the opposite bench. Notes from a scorecard after the jump . . .

Into the weekend: From Pro-Line to No-Line

Time to wrap things up, looking ahead to the annual exercise in masochism known around JABS Mansion as Browns Weekend. It's even supposed to rain. Joy.

But first, with all this idiocy at Queen's Park about outlawing online gaming advertising, a word about the province-run sports lottery, which ought to be sued for false advertising after they played chicken (again) last Sunday, taking the Bengals game off the board. In other words, it's not such a bad weekend to be away after all.

On to the usual . . .

One last read. The New York Times' Vincent Mallozzi caught up with Joe Frazier in Philadelphia this week:

Ten pounds heavier, but millions of dollars lighter, according to Frazier and the marketing people who work with him. Over the years, Frazier has lost a fortune through a combination of his own generosity and naïveté, his carousing, failed business opportunities and a deep hatred for his former chief boxing rival, Muhammad Ali. The other headliners from his fighting days — Ali, George Foreman and Larry Holmes — are millionaires.
But while Ali has benefited from lucrative licensing agreements and remains one the world’s most recognized and celebrated athletes, Frazier lives alone in an apartment one staircase above the gym where he and others train young fighters in a run-down part of town.
“This is my primary residence,” he said. “Don’t matter much. I’m on the road most of the time, anyway.”

One last e-mail. Monday's Notes from a Weekend post wondering where the hell all the hats were when Mats Sundin completed his hat trick brought this one to raise hopes that there is some life in the old ACC-mausoleum-on-Leaf-nights after all, from Aunt Wendy:

My two nephews, Steven, 19, and Matt, 23, were at the game, sitting in the Gold section (I might add that this was a once in a lifetime ticket for them, to celebrate a 19th birthday) behind the Flames bench and when Mats scored his 500th and third of the game in overtime, both of them, along with several others, threw their hats on the ice!
Steven, the 19 year old, had just bought his hat a couple of weeks before (camaflouged Leafs hat, of course!!) and hesitated for only a second in throwing it, sure that he would be able to buy another one after the game, only to be disappointed in finding out that particular hat was no longer available!
So there's at least one hat in a pile of them, that truly was thrown in the best of moments, with no regrets afterward, although a little disappointment.

One last salute. To Eric McErlain, whose Off Wing Opinion is one of the best hockey-centric sports blogs around. Eric has been picked up by NBC Sports, so check him out.

One last view. Joe (Jellybean) Bryant, otherwise known as Kobe's dad, dunks on Kareem (thanks to the TBJ's J.E. Skeets).

Sports around town.  The Pattison Canadian International has a field of 10 at Woodbine on Sunday, along with the E.P. Taylor as good as it gets for major-league thoroughbred racing in these parts - although according to Jennifer Morrison, the heavy rain of this week isn't exactly what International favourite Go Deputy likes.

Watching. Well, whatever comes up in front of me - I'm away, right? But Real Madrid-Barcelona is one of those matchups that carries some potential for fireworks, Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. on GOLTV.

Pooch punts. Jinks the Viszla went 0-5 last week. Which is, frankly, amazing. I mean, 2-3 or 1-4 is just crappy. But 0-5? That's perfection. This weekend he's scarfing down: KANSAS CITY +5, Denver -4 1/2 (BAD Dawg!), New England -5 1/2, HOUSTON +9 1/2 and the NY JETS -3 1/2.

Notes from a weekend

Around the world in a post, even if I haven't had much time to link anywhere but the most nearby places:

The Raptors are invisible no more. This may or may not be good news, depending on how you view preseason games on triple-digit TV - or if you view them or that region of the binary universe at all. The Raptors added yesterday's preseason game (boxscore), while advertising their final two home preseason games -- against Maccabi on Thursday, and against the Cleveland LeBron's on Sunday night. It's the scoreboard feed, mind you, but it is the local team, Chuck and Jack and Norma and the rest. An improvement, that, on the dark screens in the offing last week.

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Bosh, Nesterovic: Just add Bargnani and serve hot, Sam.

As for yesterday, a couple of little items from said broadcast. Anthony Parker looks like a poor (and slightly smaller) man's Shane Battier. And Andrea Bargnani does have a lovely shooting stroke, as Jack Armstrong noted between fouls, and wasn't shy to go down in the post and demand the ball - this kid just oozes hoops class. Otherwise, no real surprises, to me, anyway. One thing I'd love to see before this exhibition season is out, as a preview to what we should be seeing later on: Mitchell to give a frontline of Nesterovic, Bosh and Bargnani some minutes together.

Other stuff:

Mats Sundin's tour de force Saturday night was the latest display of shoot-first, ask-later excellence from the revitalized captain. But correct me if I'm wrong here - I didn't see a single hat on the ice after Sundin's game-winner. If any hat trick deserved it, this one was it. Are we too cool for that, too, Toronto? Best pressure performance of the night, though, may have been the relief pitching of Cassie Campbell, stepping in for snowbound Harry Neale on Hockey Night in Canada and handling it pretty smoothly.

Argos DB Byron Parker had another superb afternoon on Saturday and is putting together a pretty remarkable stretch of football -- seven interceptions in nine games, and four of them returned for TDs, since signing on Aug. 6.

Petr Cech is still in hospital after that awful collision Saturday, with a fractured skull. The accident, and an ensuing injury to backup Carlo Cudicini, has touched off a debate about goalkeepers' vulnerability.

Blog fave Neate Sager weighs in on How Detroit Built their Miracle Team. Not even knowing who they're going to play in the World Series, the books already have them favoured pretty handily.

Opening night puck notes

Opening night reviews are in. And in movies as in hockey, it's the same notes being pounded over and over. A few blurbs:

"The Leafs put up numbers before the game but couldn't do it on the ice." Paul Hunter

JON GARDINER/REUTERS

Briere: Lovely finish.

"Mats, poor Mats. On pace for an 82-goal season. Unfortunately, so is his team." Rosie DiManno

"The Mats Sundin-needs-a-winger crowd was silent until the first three minutes or so." Bruce Arthur

"How many times am I going to hear "who's going to score on this team?" before I start clenching my jaw and talking back to the little voices in my head. I get it. We all get it." Bitter Leaf Fan

You get the idea. The preseason book on the Leafs - other than Sundin, where are the goals going to come from? - was the pounding. And to think, only 81 more nights of this. Bring on the NBA, please. If there's one thing I like better than watered-down leagues and overhyped teams, it's lots of it.

Thanks to the Centre Ice package, there was heavy PiP action between Leafs-Sens and Sabres-'Canes at the JABS Grotto. Here's what the Sabres did that the Leafs didn't/couldn't do: surprise the goalie, in this case Cam Ward. Two goals on redirected shots, and a lovely finish from Daniel Briere - deke to backhand, top shelf - for the shootout winner. It's not exactly fitting to compare the "Work in Progress" Leafs with the Cup-contending Sabres and yes, Martin Gerber was good for Ottawa, but as Dave Shoalts noted in the Globe, they did make it awfully easy for him at times: too many pucks "obligingly fired ... into Gerber's stomach."

Bigger story this morning is Jim Balsillie buying the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the same fellow, recall, who recently put out $50,000 to extend exclusive rights to NHL hockey at the Copps Coliseum.

Question of the day: A new name, for if (when?) the Pens move (just don't count on Hamilton being the destination). Penguins in Motion, say.

Fergie's blog

The Leafs are preaching accessibility this year. And blogs.

Longtime broadcaster Joe Bowen has a blog. Former Sun columnist Mike Ulmer, too. Even John Ferguson Jr. And get this -- the latter blog is not bad at all, and as these house-organ offerings go pretty glowing.

Ferguson has never been good at articulating the vision thing. But even if this is not my full definition of a blog -- there are no links or comments, just to name a couple essentials on that list -- it was actually helpful to call it up and read JFJ's attempt to "explain our thinking" on the Leafs' latest round of cuts, especially 2006 first-rounder Jiri Tlusty:

Our first-rounder from last year Jiri Tlusty really impressed us. We were confident when we drafted him, but for him to come into an NHL camp and play the way he did was a real boost. He has good offensive skills, he plays with purpose, he blocks shots. Hockey people said he was a terrific all-around player and that’s exactly what we saw.
We are still considering the best place for Jiri to play this season. He can play junior in Sault Ste. Marie or with the Marlies. It’s probably rarer for a player to play in the AHL as an 18-year-old than it is in NHL. We have been talking to the people in the Soo who are very anxious to have him. Craig Hartsburg, the coach of the Canadian National Team coaches in the Soo. Wherever he plays he’ll develop well.

Other stuff gleaned from JFJ concerns Robbie Earl (not ready for the NHL) and Kris Newbury ("made an improved commitment ... to be in the best possible condition").

This is not exactly hard-hitting stuff, but it is an "improved commitment", and actually Ferguson has been posting more regularly than the other two I mentioned (which means that he is fulfilling another essential of blogdom -- post often). It'll be interesting to see how it goes through the season, when the inevitable tempests arise.

With the season started next week, the NHL preview bloggers' roundtable debuts on Monday, running three parts. John Ferguson Jr., the invitation to join is in the e-mail.

Related: After a fine rookie season, A Foot in the Crease is back with their weekly Leafs/NHL podcasts. Check 'em out.

Domi retires

This comes as no surprise if you spent any time watching the Leafs last season, but Tie Domi will make it official this afternoon and retire from the NHL.

I can't remember a Toronto player who divided the fan community (or the dressing room, according to the rumblings) more than Domi. Minimally talented, a knack for self-promotion, a little guy who took on everyone and never backed down, businessman and philanthropist, a cheap shot artist, a political operator, Don Cherry's binkie, an actor -- and one of the longest-lasting hockey enforcers around, a species now on the endangered list, if not graduated on to at risk of extinction.

A few Youtube and other links to refresh your memory:

A young Domi takes on Bob Probert in 1992.

Domi in Philly, 2001.

Goonblog pulls one out from the time capsule, a 1993 ranking of the best fighters in the game.