The Sox are losing to the lowly Jays. I am not pleased by this turn of events. In happier news, Burke decided to rob Nashville yesterday, stealing Cody Franson, taking on the contract of the unfortunately broken Matthew Lombardi (one of my favourite players in NHL 11) and fooling the Predators into taking the profoundly useless Brett Lebda. In even happier news, the other NHL team I follow, the Sharks, has freed themselves from Dany Hate... err.. Heatley, getting Martin Havlat in return. If we learned one thing from Wimbledon, it is that Tsonga must win a slam. Most entertaining player in the world right now.
Being somewhat partial to the Wild, I was sorry to see them give up Havlat, whom I've admired since his days on the Blackhawks.
Heatley can help the Wild- for all his failings, he has an incredible shot. Won't help much in the playoffs, but he can help them get there. If he's still healthy in April, Havlat usually plays his best in the playoffs, which makes him just what the Sharks need. I'm a bit surprised by the trade though as, especially after trading Burns, the Wild need more help on defense than up front.
Well, so much for that at-home thing. We started off 6-1 after our first grand slam since last June (yeah, I know), and self-destructed the rest of the game. DBacks 8, Crew 6.
The fights were entertaining, but Leben and Cruz winning sucks. Especially if it's the end of Wanderlai Silva Tito Ortiz knocking Bader down with a punch and then submitting him might be the most shocking result of the year so far. Couldn't stop laughing when it happened, easily my favourite result of the night. There were a lot of knockouts- always nice to see a flying knee and Melvin Guillard looks like he may finally have things figured out. I want Leben to fight Anderson Silva next so that the champ can embarass him again. Condit/GSP will probably be next after Diaz is beaten, but I don't think Condit has anything for GSP either.
I was disappointed that the Cruz fight got fight of the night. Really? It wasn't a bad fight, but it wasn't very exciting...I thought the Siver fight should have won that. Tito's win was hilarious. Joel said as the fight started "I'm going to cry if Tito wins." Then his friend said "oh, that's not going to happen. He'd have to get a really good hit in and then submit him." Like ten seconds later...they were both very upset. As for Condit vs GSP, I don't think Condit will stand a chance. Honestly, I don't think anyone right now really has a shot against GSP...but I'm kind of in love with him, so I could be a little bit biased there.
Some people were comparing Cruz/Faber to Maynard/Edgar II, but I don't see it. In spite (okay, because) of the draw result, that's still my fight of the year. GSP can outstrike Condit, or negate his subs on the ground. Condit is dangerous enough he could catch him but it's not likely. It probably takes a WW version of Edgar to beat GSP- someone with great boxing combined with world class wrestling. And even then they'd need to land their takedowns before GSP. Even though I'm a Wiman fan, I thought the Siver fight was spectacular. Disappointed in the result, but it was the right one. Maybe Wiman would have won under Pride rules. But under Pride rules GSP could knee grounded opponents, so we'd never here of him being a 'boring decision fighter.' I guess what I'm saying is that it's time to bring back Pride rules, in honour of the fall of all the Pride fighters.
Wiman...he's the one who got mad when he didn't win and stormed out of the ring, isn't he? I thought he was great up until that point...but I like fighters with good attitudes more than I like fighters with lots of skill. That was really disappointing. As far as UFC rules vs Pride rules...I really don't know much about the rules, so I probably wouldn't even notice if they changed them. I just watch the fights and make dirty jokes about them.
Speaking as a Rangers fan, having seen Scott Gomez up close and personal, I think it is safe to say that there is no way Les Habs are going to win the Cup as long as Gomez is on their roster, soaking up all that cap space. I'm also not convinced that Price can go the distance.
He's gone. An initial £2.3m from Norwich, rising to £2.8m. A Norwich fan has created a compilation of some of his goals from last season here. Watching it made me well up. Though I will say that he'll be an England international within the year, if he returns from his injury. Message to Town: let's go out and buy someone that'll make the division crap themselves at the prospect of facing us. Someone with pace and power and attitude. A winner. Money no object (so long as it's under £1.5m). Let's blow the club's transfer record and finally get out of this division. Edit: I got the fee wrong. The fee is a club record - initial fee £2.8m+. With add-ons. Wouldn't surprise me if it's £3.5m or more. Now we need to smash the other one - currently the club record paid is £1.2m for Marcus Stewart in July 1996. How nice it would be for that fee to become £1.5m for player as yet unnamed in July 2011?
I can't wait until Derek Jeter gets his bloody 3,000th hit so they can go back to concentrating on winning games.
Actually, Jeter himself is handling it quite well, I think, but then he always does. Very classy guy. It's everyone else who's going nuts. And my favorites are the geniuses who bring flash cameras in the hope of getting a shot of "the hit", so that, at the precise moment Jeter is trying to hit a 95 mph fastball, or a 92 mph slider, his peripheral vision is blasted with all these flashes that aren't even necessary because of the stadium lighting.
I think he's handling it quite well too, and when he gets that hit, it'll be quite the achievement for quite the player. And the Brewers actually managed to hold on to the lead. Crew 5, Reds 4.
England lose on penalties. Why do we bother actually taking pens, why don't we just shake hands and concede? Less painful. (Yes, I have bothered with the Women's World Cup - I need my England misery fix during the summer). Meanwhile, back in England, Town started the pre-season fixtures with a 1-0 win over Gateshead. Lee Novak returned to score the only goal against his former club.
I've spent the last few weeks depressed after Anthony Pilkington's transfer request (and subsequent multi-million pound departure to Norwich), Lee Peltier's departure and the underwhelming signings. However, if the transfer mooted by the Bolton News comes off I'll be bouncing off the ceiling. Danny Ward from Bolton for under a million! Teenage winger, pace to burn, hammer of a left foot, six foot plus, just the signing Town need to get people buzzing about the season.
Went to see the NY Red Bulls last night against arch-rivals, DC United. I confess I haven't been following them closely this season, but I was shocked at the way Henry was playing. Granted, they were missing a key member of the midfield, and granted that Balouchey is not impressive, but the answer was not for Henry to play most of the night running back into the central midfield. Not surprisingly, they didn't score a goal.
