Friday Incompletions

The NHL does not need new a new franchise in Canada. Based on many different indicators, it needs three. Or four. How this $2.3 billion a year industry has managed to become badmouthed across the continent has much to do with the fact there is so little enthusiasm in so many markets for anything but the local team. That is very, very different from all six Canadian cities. . .Maybe Anaheim will pull this off, and California will have an NHL champion for the first time since first putting down roots in that state 40 years ago. . .When I suggested that the San Jose Sharks might be a candidate for a Lou Lamoriello-like, late season firing of coach Ron Wilson, people scoffed. But if GM Doug Wilson were allowed a do-over, there's a pretty good chance he'd dump Wilson, the coach. . .Jesse Palmer must be one lousy quarterback. He's been rinsed out of the CFL without even having thrown a pass. Shouldn't somebody - how about that new commissioner, what's-his-name? - have lifted a finger and told the Alouettes that if they weren't going to give Palmer a chance, then let some other team if only to see if Palmer might add a little prime-time appeal to the league?. . .Okay, Jeremy Accardo. I'm impressed. . .Got all excited because NBC was airing a few final, leftover episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, starting Thursday night. I shouldn't have been, particularly since the show's two stars, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, seem to have been mysteriously airbrushed out of the show. . .If you're wondering why so many Cinncinnati Bengals are running afoul of the law, eventually you have to at least look at the coaching adminstration of Marvin Lewis, don't you? This week, in an interview on ESPN radio, Lewis suggested police profilling is at the root of the problem, not the decisions of his players. He later retracted the remarks. . .There is no outrage in Nashville today over the state of the Predators, only the quiet assertion that the city, if it wants, can force the Preds to stay by buying lots of tickets. Hardly the beginnings of a "Save the Jets" campaign. . .I know that I'm supposed to embrace the Memorial Cup - never, ever add the credit card sponsor's name as a prefix - like the flag, but doesn't having two of the final four competitors based in the U.S. kind of kill the patriotic angle? Seeing Plymouth beat Lewiston in the tiebreaker is like watching Baltimore win the Grey Cup. . .Cohon, yes, I'm pretty sure that's the new CFL commish's name. But I could be wrong. Weird how there wasn't even a puff of smoke from the commissioner's office when  Bill Palmer pulled the plug on the latest bid to put a team back in Ottawa. .They won't get nearly enough credit for it, but the Toronto Argonauts ownership team of Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon and B.C. Lions owner David Braley recently made enormous contributions to Canadian hospitals. Congratulations, gentlemen. . .Leaf fans better hope Nikolai Kulemin isn't a 2007 version of Alexei Kudashov. . .Brian Leetch was worth the price of admission on many nights during his NHL career. That he was a graceful, classy man just makes it sad it's all over, but we were lucky to have him in Toronto for even a brief time. . .Believe it or not, Kudashov and Leetch once shared the same rink. Both were part of their team's rosters - Kudashov with the Leafs, Leetch with the Rangers - when those two teams met in September, 1993 at Wembley Arena for a two-game joust to claim the French's Mustard Cup. Don't remember much more about it other than Bill Berg and Adam Graves had once heck of a boxing match at centre ice and the press box was located in the first row behind the Leaf bench.

Comments

[Booey Driad]

Hey, don't you remember that "highlight reel" goal by Wendel in the Wembley Arena series in '93 where he came down the right side and did that dipsy-doodle backhand-it-behind-himself thing to get around the D-man? (I doubt that particular D-man was Leetch.) That's the only thing I can remember from the footage I saw on the sportscasts that week. I had no idea that series was known as the prestigious French's Mustard Cup. If the Leafs actually won that series, shouldn't all these "Leafs haven't won nuttin' since 1967" naysayers have shut up?? Does anyone recall who the Grey Poupon three stars of each game were?
Did the Queen or Prince Charles show up at the game(s) wearing replica Todd Gill jerseys?

[Vava]

Thanks for jinxing Jeremy Accardo! Please don't make any predictions on Federer for the French Open, but thanks for picking Ottawa in the Stanley Cup on your regular radio "insider" phone in. Go Ducks Go! Ans lastly, Jesse Palmer looks like he's more interested in TV face time than throwing a football anyway, which is most likely why Montreal cut him loose. His best asset may not be his spiral.