The Drive of Shame

Driving home from Buffalo last night I realized something, the Sabres
still haven't played their best hockey. They played worse last night
than I had seen them play all year and yet they still gave the Senators
a run for their money. Here's something else I realized, they're
running out of time to remember how to play. Playing poor to mediocre
hockey allowed them to beat the Islanders in 5, the Rangers in 6, but
Ottawa is just too good. Other than one defensive lapse by Corvo and Preissing that led to Lydman's goal, the Sens played a flawless game. The Kalinin/Numminen pair was just awful, slow to the puck in the corners, an inability to hold the offensive zone and countless giveaways. I'll be back in Buffalo on Saturday with DWS, hoping for a better result. Pretty much every game is a must win from here on out.

I also had the pleasure of turning on the Fan on the way home and hearing that not only did Roy Halladay get shelled but that BJ Ryan will be out for at least 12 months recovering from Tommy John surgery. To quote The Simpsons, "This is a black day for baseball."

I'm as Mad as Hell and I'm Not Going to Take This Anymore!

Thanks Howard Beale!

After being at Lil' Rodge for two straight horrible losses at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, I think it's time I take a break. It's just too frustrating to watch the season slip away so early, especially when the Blue Jays faithful allow the opposing fans to walk all over us.

While I remain cautiously optimistic, both Chump and DWS maintain that it would take more than a miracle for us to be in any semblance of a playoff race come September. Our pitching stinks, our hitting is grossly under-performing and our manager and general manager seem to have fallen out of favour with a high percentage of the fans.

Shea Hillenbrand may have been a little early in his judgement, but this is certainly a sinking ship.

Wednesday's Link 'o the Day

Didn't read anything too interesting today. Scott Burnside of ESPN had an decent piece on the Conn Smythe Trophy race.

Linky

Tuesday's Link o' the Day

Thanks to Ben for this great article by David Naylor about the attitudes of the cities of Buffalo and Ottawa.
A Tale of Two Cities

In Praise of Older Men

Mondays & Fridays 5pm-7pm. That's when I hang loose and get crazy with the boys. Of course, I'm speaking of Bob McCown and his panel of pundits on the Fan590. Not that I'm not a Prime Times Sports junkie Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...but the carefree anything goes attitude that envelops the Round Table really gets me going. Like the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s, Prime Times Sports provides countless hours of entertainment.

Let's talk about some of the faces that are undeniably made for radio. As Chuck Swirsky will tell you, Bob McCown is the franchise player at the Fan590. He's the leader and the face and voice of the show. But let me extrapolate on my earlier analogy; The 1990 Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup after Wayne Gretzky had been traded to Los Angeles thanks to the leadership of Mark Messier. And that's where Stephen Brunt comes in. Brunt is a brilliant writer, a great speaker and seems
to know everything. He obviously does a huge amount of preparation before every show and is always there to answer a tough question. If Bob's sick or on a three-week vacation then Brunt (with the help of Kelley,Ormsby, Faulds or whoever happens to be on the panel that week) will fill in admirably. The panel is usually comprised of hard-nosed journalists, all with their own unique view. They are always
interesting, informative and are rarely guilty of toeing the party line.

The topics discussed on PTS range from your sports-talk standards to race relations, problems with Quebec and pea-less whistles. Credit to Bobcat and his producers for always spending the right amount of time on each subject. When something is getting stale they move right along, but if it seems to be rolling they'll continue on with it for two or three segments.

Those who already listen know exactly what I'm talking about. But those who don't or those who are turned-off by Bob McCown's arrogance or his long, radio-unfriendly pregnant pauses, should take fifteen minutes and listen to the best sports analysis and insight that this country has to offer...I guarantee you'll be hooked.

Link o' the Day

Great article from the Bill Simmons archive regarding Roger Clemens:
Is Clemens the Anti-Christ?

The Week Ahead

Welcome to the first full week of Stories from Lil' Rodge. Those first few days were a nice little test run. I'm ironing out the kinks, trying to establish a style and hoping to have the other writers contribute a little more. I've even learned about something called "proof-reading".


Monday
The Blue Jays have a much needed day off today after being swept on the road by both the Indians and the Rangers. Luckily we have ace surgery patient Victor Zambrano on the mound to help get us out of the slump. It's really a medical miracle, he had Tommy John surgery and in less than twelve months he went from an average pitcher to a below average pitcher.

Canada takes on the US in the "Our teams didn't make the playoffs" tournament. That can be seen on TSN at noon. I would love to see the ratings for this tournament. Was it worth them pre-empting the Sabres/Rangers game? Luckily NBC, who's doing a great job with their coverage, started the game on time. HOWEVER, I was very much looking forward to NBC's telecast because I'd finally get a respite from the blow-hardary (new word!) of Pierre McGuire, but they hired him too! I never thought I'd miss having to watch Barry Melrose, Darren Pang, Mike Emmrick, Gary Thorne and John Buccigross on ESPN but TSN's sub-standard broadcasts makes me long for the days of being reminded three times a period what colour jersey the teams were wearing.

Also on TSN, Red Wings vs Sharks. I just want this series to be over so the NHL can announce the schedule for the Sabres/Senators series. Is it Thursday and Saturday or Friday and Sunday? I want to know! Regardless, the Ducks are going to pummel whoever they face. I would love to see Hasek injured though, that's all I can hope for.

Tuesday
The aforementioned Victor Zambrano (0-1) takes the mound against Josh Beckett (6-0!!!) as the Red Sox and Blue Jays kick off a three game series at Lil' Rodge. It'll be a crowded house the next two nights as it's a $2 Tuesday (a promotion they should keep all season) followed by...

Wednesday
...the return of Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-2). The pride of Tokyo faces-off against Tomo Ohka (2-3), the shame of Kyoto.

Thursday
If the Sabres/Sens series starts on Thursday, then I'll be in Buffalo. If not I'll be back at Lil' Rodge for the third day in a row watching Roy Halladay (4-1) take on knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (3-3).

Friday
The other potential start date for the Sabres/Sens series. I've got to keep my schedule open. This should really be an amazing series and if Buffalo ends up beating Ottawa then I'm sure I'll be saying "Oh yeah, we've always owned the Sens in the playoffs. The Sens are chokers. etc" But as of right now the Sens look like the better team and I'm terrified of them.
This picture will help ease my mind.