I'm sorry for spamming this, but this is just too important a cause to be confined to a single category. Everyone, there is a man out in Vancouver who could deperately use your vote. His name is Rory Fitzpatrick, and if all things go as they should, he will be a 2007 NHL All-Star.

How could you not vote for this guy?

If you are asking yourself (and you probably are) why this man derserves your vote to go to the All Star Game, here is a list of his notable accomplishments.

~He has played for six teams in his 9 year career.

~He has played in such exotic locals as Rochester, Hamilton and Milwaukee.

~He was traded along with Pierre Turgeon and Craig Conroy for Shayne Corson and Murray Baron.

~He was also traded in seperate deals for Dan Kezcmer and future considerations.

~He has 27 points in 227 NHL games.

~He has 0 points in 14 games this season.

~He is currently on injured reserve.

~Most important of all, he is a hard-working, lunch pail defenceman, who will actually give his all in the game unlike most blaze (imagine the accent) top-notch players.

After reading all that, isn't it obvious why he should get your vote? As of now, he currently sits 5th in voting behind Niclas Lidstrom, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Dion Phaneuf. With your support, we can easily get him past them and into the game! Now what do you say, eh? Just click on this link right HERE, and you will be taken to the official "Vote for Rory" homepage, and from there, you can click on "Vote" and head over to the NHL ballot (or click HERE). From there, you can select him from the Western write-in list, and Bingo! You've supported the best possible candidate to start in the game! Just be sure not to vote for the D-men mentioned above, otherwise, you're not really helping! Now get out there, loyal Rory fans and remember:

You know I got up early today (which for me is 1PM), and after watching Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and getting a call from my girl J, I finally hit the internet, to check and see what was going on. I headed to my blog, and checked the comments when my big brother, FP, left a comment congratulating me on making the top 3 BOTD today. I had to check that twice, surely they would not have put little ole me up there, ahead of their own writers? But I checked and sure enough there I was. I was happy, and J was happy that I was happy. But after I bid my goodbyes to her and looked closer at the blogs, I became displeased.

You see, I was up there beside B2P and Socal (both writers who deserve every bit of kudos they get), and then it struck me. All three of us wrote posts yesterday that criticized the BOTD format. I bet if there were 4 spots, they would have put up J_Grace as well, seeing as how he came up with a brilliant solution to fix the problem. It seems that in an effort to curb our protest cries, FOX put all three of us up there so we wouldn't be able to moan about the BOTD, because the BOTD was us. This strikes me as a complete and total case of pandering, and it sickens me. Yes, I did want to be BOTD, but I wanted to get it for a cleverly written article about a topic I felt the need to talk about (say the upcoming NBA season), not for complaining about a system that favored its own. Now I cannot look back at my first BOTD with pride. I can only look at it with a sense of somewhat shame. This whole scenario leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

This will be the last time I (A) spam categories and (B) write about stuff I don't feel I should have to write about. I want to be a sportswriter, straight up. I want to talk about who is going to win the World Series. I want to talk about why Miami has failed so miserably this year. I want to talk about how they should fix the Flyers situation, although I will probably be talking to myself about that. So from now on, that is all I am going to do. If the FOX Gods want to put me back up on BOTD for my sportswriting skills, then they can go right ahead. But never again will I be up there for anything else, because that is not what this site is or should be about. If you want to hear from me again, I will be writing on Tuesday about that week that was and the results from Week 7 in the FlyingPIg Fantasy Football League (FPFFL). I hope you guys will see it and enjoy it. Thank you.

I really hate having to spam posts, but since what I'm complaining about covers writers who write about all sports, I guess this situation warrants it. There have been a lot of posts bemoaning the fact that FOX writer Jeff "No" Goodman's blog has gotten BOTD three days in a row, with the Football Outsiders creepy looking call guy occupying one of the other slots on both days as well. Even before Goodman's run, the FO had the top slot, swiping it from the previous true BOTD hold, our own ShooterB. Only Bafongu and FlyingPig have been able to break up the monopoly they had, but couldn't wrestle away that top slot.

Many of my fellow writers have already commented on this. Respected bloggers such as Socalsportsfan, Mustard Man, and Borntoplayin69. These fine men have made excellent points, and have blown apart FOX's system that rewards its own before its fans. Well, folks, I think there is a clear and present solution to this problem. Ignore it completely.

I, NeoAC, am not going to look at, comment about or on any fox writers blog, and I am urging all others in the community and random people who just happened to read this to do the same. If the gracious heads at FOX wish to put an actual blogger on the top, then that blogger will get my full praise for ending the Goodman dominance.

The FOX writers already have their own places to write. Its called their columns. This single, solitary blog is all us average schmos got. Let us utilize it to let other people know how we feel about the World Series, week in footballl, or the first month of NHL action (yeah right), without having to worry about being upstaged by a guy who actually gets paid for this #### Thank you.

If you support this movement, please leave a comment on the bottom of the page.

A big "What's Up?" to everyone out there in blogger land today. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, but NeoAC finally attended his first ever professional sporting event last Monday as he hopped a train and headed to Toronto to catch the opener of the three game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Oakland Athletics. I was sure it would be much more exciting than my only other "professional" sporting event, a March game between the Halifax Mooseheads and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but the travel time would take a bit more time than the hour's drive to Halifax. It was a very long ride, taking well over a day to complete as I travelled through exotic locations such as Charlo, New Brunswick and Matapedia, Quebec.

Just two of the many train stations I saw on my journey (in Amherst, NS and Drummondville, PQ).

Long after the iPod battery had worn out while I was sleeping, I finally arrived in Montreal to connect for another 6 hour train ride to T.O.

And to think somewhere out there, Olympic Stadium is falling apart.

After listening to a fellow rider refer to Tom Glavine as "that pitcher the Dodgers just acquired," and resisting every urge in my body to correct this stranger, I stumbled into my aunt, uncle and two cousins in Toronto's train station about 15 minutes and two phone calls after I arrived. A quick detour through the currently vacant Air Canada Centre and a supper at Jack Astor's and we were set to go to the Skyd.....I mean, the Rogers Centre.

Or Renassance Hotel, if you believe the sign, or are able to actually read it.

The seats were what you expected to get for $20.83. And I had to forget my binoculars in the car.

A familiar sight as the game progressed: A couple of Athletics on base.

As for the game itself, we were feeling pretty good after Toronto raced to an 8-0 lead after two innings, but our cheers quickly turned to jeers after Ted Lilly gave up almost the entire lead in the 3rd. Now from my point of view, I could actually see into the Blue Jays dugout, but sadly due to the distance between said dugout and my seat, I could not catch a glimpse as to what was happening in that narrow corridor after Lilly was pulled. I can only speculate like everyone else as to what went on in there. Anyway, back to the game story, in the 6th Brandon League entered from the pen, and did what Blue Jays pitchers seem to do best this year, blow the lead. A four run inning was capped by a Milton Bradley home run which prompted a shout of "Go back to Montreal!" from yours truly.

My cousin, who is one of the top junior golfers in Ontario, and is somehow able to put up with me, shouting various derogatory comments at opposing players for three hours.

As for the lone A's fan sitting in the area, he was ecstatic. A picture is unavailable of him, because I was too busy plotting out who the Jays should sign in the off-season to plug up the leaky pen. A late rally by the Jays fell short, and a Jay Payton HR in the 9th proved to be the nail in the coffin. I shudder to think how big the defecit might have gotten if not for some masterful double plays turned by John McDonald. So the Jays lose, and I head to Peterborough with a bottle of Cherry Vanilla Coke to try and drown my sorrows away.

As for why this post is coming a week after the actual game was played, here's what happened: Tuesday-Was still in Peterborough visiting the family, Wednesday/Thursday-Was still travelling via train on the way back. I attempted to snag photos of Montreal's Bell Centre from the train, but I failed miserably.

My failed attempts to get a picture of an NHL arena from a moving train.

My succesful attempt to capture a QMJHL arena from a moving train, as this is the home of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Friday-Took my girlfriend J to the NS Provincial Exhibition for the day, Saturday-Working all day selling junk nobody wanted, Sunday-Final Sunday party at my friends before I head off to university. So simply put, I didn't have any time to put this post up recently. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So to summarize, first game was awesome except that the Jays lost, Ontario drivers drive A LOT faster than other Canadians, and train food is horribly expensive. Now seeing as how J is currently sitting right beside me and is probably sick of watching me type random sports stuff into the computer, I'm going to get off now. Thanks for listening folks, and leave any comments you wish.

This has been, in my humble opinion, the toughest assignment yet in the five weeks this contest has been going on. It seemed simple enough, create a Top Ten list on any category you pleased, except I couldn't come up with anything to write about! I tried various tricks (even though I was still out of my most potent thinking weapon, the ever-popular marshamllow banana). I tried potato chips, playing video games, I even had a brainstorming pow-wow with a fellow budding sports journalist in New Brunswick. Nothing worked. So I merely turned to the spectre of my country's independence day that loomed ominously close on July 1st and came up with......

NeoAC's Top 10 Canadian Athletes of His Time!!!

Now since this is a Canadian list, It would be so simple and quick for me to just pluck the Top Ten NHL players of today and use that as my list, by that would be taking the much easier way out. So, as a test of my researching skills, I have limited myself to one athlete per sport. Now gaze in awe of the best athletes the Land of Snow, Beavers and Maple Syrup have produced in the past 17 years!!!

#10. Daniel Negreanu

Now, you might be asking yourselves, "NeoAC, I thought you said these were Canadian athletes! What's a poker player doing here?" If you look under the "More" category on the FOXSports toolbar at the top of your screen, you will noticed that poker is indeed present on that list, beside such other well respected sports as beach volleyball, rodeo, and of course, fishing. So ipso facto, he is available to be included on this list. However, I do have more respect for other sports than I do for poker, so the Toronto native sits at the bottom of my Top 10. But, hey, if 8.2 million dollars in career earnings puts you at the bottom of this list, I would not be complaining.

#9. Tomasz Radzinski

The first and certainly not the last foreign-born Canuck to grace this list, Radzinski originally hails from Poznan, Poland, and did not come to Canada until he was a teenager. That still makes him the best soccer player Canada has produced, what with our mighty team currently ranked 82nd in the world sandwiched between Oman and Jordan. Radzinski set the Canadian transfer record when English side Everton paid 4.5 million pounds to Belgian powerhouse Anderlecht to acquire his services. Sure, he was sold for much less to fellow English club Fulham, but he is still a starter there, alongside well-known American striker Brian McBride. He has made 27 appearances for the Canadian National Team, scoring 7 goals.

#8. Lennox Lewis

Okay, time for some more explaining. Yes, Lewis was born in West Ham, England, and is in actually, a British citizen. but for twelve years, from 1977 to 1989, he lived in Kitchener, Ontario and actually won a gold medal for Canada in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul before turning pro and moving back to England afterwards. He held the heavyweight title belt on three seperate occasions, and is considered one of the greatest boxers of our day. He also considerably more well-known and more successful then my next highest rated Canuck boxer, Montreal's Arturo Gatti.

#7. Jacques Villeneuve

Finally, my first undisputeable Cannadian athlete. Granted some people don't believe that race car drivers should be considered athletes, but I do consider them as such. Villeneuve is a native of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec and was born into a proud racing pedigree, with his father, Gilles, having driven Formula 1 cars with aplomb for 5 years before fatally crashing during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, when Jacques was 11. He was so popular that the track where the Canadian Grand Prix was held was renamed in his honor shortly after death. Much like Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s task of living up to his father's name, Jacques had to do likewise. And he did indeed deliver, winning the 1997 Formula 1 championship in only his second season, collecting 7 wins along the way. He has yet to duplicate those results, bouncing from Williams to BAR to Renault and landing now with Sauber, yet he is still picking up points ever so intermittently on the circuit.

#6. Cindy Klassen

Klassen is Canada's most decorated Winter Olympian, and given our history in games on smow and ice, that takes some doing. Klassen picked up five medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver, and 2 Bronze) at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. She suffered a horrific accident in 2003 when she collided with another skater during training and hit his skate, slicing 12 tendons in her right forearm. As a result, she missed the entire 2003-04 season. However she bounced back, becoming World Champion in the 1,500m and 3,000m distances during the 04-05 season and then capping it off with her performance in Turin. The Winnipeg, Manitoba born skater then signed the largest ever endorsement deal for an ameteur athlete, with MTS, a local telephone company, worth 1 million dollars.

#5. Mike Weir

Now we are getting into some more familiar sports for all my American readers. Weir is Canada's best ever golfer, his biggest victory coming at the 2003 Masters, where he edged out Chris DiMarco in a playoff. With that win, he became the first Canadian to win a major, as well as only the second left-handed golfer to win a major title. He has notched 7 career victories on the PGA Tour, but only one has come since his historic triumph at Augusta, when he defended his title at the 2004 Nissan Open. The Bright's Grove, ON native was ranked in the top 10 in the world for a period of time within those two years but has since fallen back within the pack. He has shown signs of ending that streak recently, with an impressive 6th place finish at the U.S. Open.

#4. Donovan Bailey

Let me spin a little yarn if I may. When I was but a little child at the age of the 7, I traveled with my father on one of his trucking excursions around the Northeastern US and Eastern Canada. At a pit stop just outside of Toronto, he was talking with some of his trucking buddies. I was bored when one of his friends offered to let me watch TV in his truck. Now, I was still relatively new to sports following, but the fates smiled down upon me, and sat me down on that sweaty, leather-covered seat just in time to watch the 100m dash. A couple of false starts did nothing to relieve my boredom, but when the race finally got underway and finished, I was thrilled to see that not only had a Canadian won the race, he had set a world record in the process. I became a Donovan Bailey fan right then and there, and since then, I always tuned in to watch as many Olympic events as I could. Yes, he is another foreign Canadian on this list, having been born in Manchester, Jamaica, but he is still one of our country's greatest sports heroes.

#3. Larry Walker

Larry Walker was the greatest Canadian position player of all time, and probably second greatest overall Canadian baseball player of all time, behind Fergie Jenkins. The Maple Ridge, British Columbia native was a star outfielder during the Montreal Expos glory days (Yes, they did have glory days) playing right field from 1989-94. He then joined the mass exodus out of Olympic Stadium, signing with the Colorado Rockies in the off-season. He became a member of the infamous Blake Street Bombers, with Andres Galarraga, Dante Bichette, Ellis Burks and Vinny Castilla. He even won the 1997 National League MVP award, after hitting .336 with 49 home runs and 130 RBIs. He played in Colorado for nine and a half seasons, before rounding out his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, retiring in 2005. He is also the reason for my childhood allegiance to said Rockies, lasting right up until 2003.

#2. Steve Nash

Much to a certain nameless blogger's dismay, the runner-up slot on my list belongs to Steve Nash, the 2 time winner of the NBA's MVP award, and longtime mainstay of our Canadian National Basketball Team, mainly because South Africa's team is not that good. Nash was born in Johannesburg, but his parents moved to Victoria, BC when Steve was 2, to avoid apartheid. Nash actual grew up playing soccer, which was a big part of his family's lives, but focused solely on basketball when he reached his teens. He didn't attract many collegate offers, choosing to attend tiny Santa Clara in the WCC, but he made sure everyone knew about his talents, especially after leading the Broncos to an unpresented upset of #2 Arizona in the 1993 NCAA Tournament. Since then he has become the premier passer in the league today, finishing with 10.5 assists per game last to accompany 18.8 points per game.

#1. Wayne Gretzky

What, you expected the number one Canadian athlete to be someone other than a hockey player? Shame on you. You should know us Canucks better than that. Anyways, Number One belongs to Gretzky, who didn't really do much in his career. Just completely rewrite the history books with permanent marker and then drag hockey into mainstream culture in America. Nothing special.

That is my list, and it took me close to three hours to write and acquire pictures for. And there are still a lot more topics to cover in this contest! I better stock up on those chocolate-covered coffee beans. Feel free to add comments if you so desire.

This post would have been up sooner, if not for unforseen circumstances involving a certain popular online game, that has the youngest member of my household entirely within its evil grasp:

These games are creations of the devil, much like the PSP is a creation of God.

So, because of this delay, my post is coming in the wee hours of Friday morning (aka 10AM), and because this has been enough stalling, lets get right to it.

1. World Cup, Stanley Cup, or NBA Finals?

In a strange way, however, my little brother's affliction with online game syndrome was beneficial. For if I had posted this on Wednesday, as I planned, I would have certainly named the World Cup as the most exciting of the three. However, on Wednesday night, the game I had rented decided to start freezing more often than a Floridian in Newfoundland, so I turned off my game system in disgust and flipped around the tube for something sports related. I could only find game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals in progress. I spotted a score of 2-1 for Carolina and figured "Well, its over for the Canuck boys." Then I realized that they were actually still in the first period. So I continued watching, and it was entertaining! Better than that, it actually had me sitting upright!

As Michael Peca scored to put Edmonton up just before the end of the third period. I was cheering with enthusiasm not seen since, well, 2 years ago when Calgary was in the Cup Finals. After Eric Staal tied it in the second, I could not bear to look away from that screen for more than a microsecond, in fear that I might miss anything that happened. When third period closed with the score still tied. I was panicing. After Staios hooked up Mark Recchi to bring another Hurricane power play, I was almost crying, thinking "This is it right here." About 25 seconds later, I was crying. But it was tears of joy instead.

Mama mia! That's a ####y wrister!

Fernando Pisani, the Italian-Canadian and Edmonton native, swiped Cory Stillman's errant pass and went top corner on a helpless Cam Ward, bringing joy to the fans of Edmonton, and anger to my mother, who was jolted out of bed at 12AM to the sounds of my joyous cheering. And to think, if that stupid game had not gone haywire, I wouldn't have gone haywire over this game. Even those I already made plans to leave this house on Saturday night, when I return, I plan on flipping back to NBC, cooking up some popcorn, and enjoying some more action, from the fastest game on Earth.

2. Make an All-Star Team from any sport.

Well, the consensus seens to be to make a baseball line-up, with a soccer lineup or two sprinkled in. So I will go in a different direction and make a full hockey line-up using only players that were on each specified line on their team, only the second use of hockey for this second question. Here we go!

Line #                   Left Wing                                   Center                                   Right Wing

1                           Ryan Smyth, EDM                    Joe Thornton, SJ                Jaromir Jagr, NYR

Thornton and Jagr were the two highest scoring players this year. Smyth is the perfect complement, a player who will do all the dirty work, screening the goalie, going in to the corners, and delivering hits when needed. He will be the captain on my squad.

2.                          Martin Havlat, OTT                  Henrik Sedin, VAN                Fernando Pisani, EDM

The Sedins finally broke out this year, so Henrik will earn their slot. Havlat was suspended earlier this year, but he was still a lethal second option in Ottawa, after the Pizza line. And after last night's performance, how can I not include the Oilers little sparkplug?

3.                         Sergei Brylin, NJ                      Kris Draper, DET                   Dan Hinote, COL

The penultimate checking line. Brylin has been a solid foot soldier for Devils for years, and knows how to execute his role, Draper's checking work has been so good, he has earned slots on Canada's Olympic team for them, and Hinote is another one of the loyal soldiers you like to have on a team like this. He has honed his skills in Colorado for 7 years, and was the one who finally solved Ilya Bryzgalov earlier in the post-season.

4.                        Jody Shelley, CMB                    Kevyn Adams. CAR             Craig Adams, CAR

Both Adams, no relation by the way, have been monster shutdown forwards for Carolina in the playoffs, helping the Canes get to where they are right now. And Shelley is my team's designated tough guy. A fellow Nova Scotian, who played his junior hockey in Halifax, there is no other guy I would want keeping my opponent's tough guys in check.

Defense Line                                Left                                              
     Right

1.                                            Sergei Gonchar, PIT                           Chris Pronger, EDM

Gonchar handles the offense, Pronger handles the defense.

2.                                           Mike Commodore, CAR                     Jay McKee, BUF

The shaggy-maned Commodore has gone from being a spare part in Calgary's run two years ago, to being another main part in Carolina's run. He has been able to neutralize some of the leagues top forwards this post season, something every team needs. McKee has been at the top of the NHL's blocked shots list every year since that stat has been kept track of. These two will combine to make a perfect wall for my goalies.

3.                                            Brent Burns, MIN                                Joey DiPenta, ANA

DiPenta, antoher former Moosehead, has finally found a home in the NHL, as his speed and size make him a perfect fit. Burns is my version of a utility man. He is listed as a defenceman, but he actually came into the league as a forward. So, I will be able to spring him wherever I want. Plus if the injury bnug bites, I can send him to forward and have my 7th defenceman, Carolina's Oleg Tverdovsky, come in to play with DiPenta.

Goalies                                     Starter                                                     Backup

                                           Miikka Kiprusoff, CAL                                Alex Auld, VAN

Kiprusoff has been the best goalie in the league over the past two seasons. This year, even with all the rule changes designed to increase scoring, Kipper posted a GAA of 2.07, best in the league. Auld ggets to be the back-up, because of the nice job he did filling for Dan Cloutier, almost carrying the Cauncks into the playoffs, before his offense failed him. He was even good enough to get a slot on Canada's World Championship entry this year.

Wow, the post was a lot longer than I intended it to be. I need to get me some breakfast, so I'm out of here, and Cheers for reading.

Once again, some tough questions are posed by the contest's host, Detroitsports. They are so tough, I couldn't even come up with a good intro this week, because I had to concentrate on the questions! Anywho, here are my responses.

1. Who is the athlete I idolize the most?

I had to think for a few minutes for this one. I had to think way, way back to when I was first discovering sports. When I was little, I didn't know exactly what sports were. All I saw were the names of cities in the paper, and I wondered, "Why do they have all those weird numbers besides them?" Then I saw my first game of hockey. It was beautiful. But I could never try to be a hockey player. Although naturally as a Canadian, hockey is in my blood, it didn't seem to be in my hands or feet. Then I watched my first basketball game, and I saw the strangest thing. A person who was really short (like I was at the time), but was making the other players look foolish with his crisp passes, and stifling defense. Plus, unlike the other basketball players, he looked like me! His name.........

This is the guy that gave me Hoop Dreams.

was John Stockton. And it was right then, that I decided I wanted to be an NBA Basketball player.  I believed I could make it, and I tried to pattern my game after this man. Of course later in life, I found out that I couldn't really dribble for beans, and had a very inaccurate shot, which doomed all chances of playing in the NBA, but by then I was so far into sports that I decided to write about them instead of playing them. So in a way, he is still influencing me towards my future career. I still idolize his unselfish attitude, and his poise on and off the court, and hope that I can exhibit those same traits in my life.

2. If I could only live with one sport, what would it be?

Another tough questiion, but I figured, if there can only be one sport, it should be a sport for the majority of people to enjoy. And once I figured that out, there was only one natural choice.....

Does this make soccer any more interesting???

Yes that is right. I choose soccer, not just for the finesse, and skill that the players exude while on the pitch, but for what the game has done for the world. Soccer is truly the global game, and a powerful force not to be fooled with. Soccer can turn truly ordinary, hard-working Englishmen or Poles, Aussies or Koreans, into screaming hoardes of futbol-obsessed fans, who will ruin their voiceboxes, eardrums, and potentially their fists, all for the sake of supporting their respective countries as they do battle for 90+ minutes on a field that at ground level can seem as long as time itself. Soccer has the power to both begin wars (The 1969 war between El Salvador and Honduras was ignited by a questionable penalty call in the box against Honduras that allowed El Salvador to qualify for the 1970 World Cup) and end wars (The civil war in Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), was ended so both sides could enjoy their country's first World Cup appearance). Didier Drogba could actually make a case for the Nobel Peace Prize, because his goal-scoring skills helped lead the Elephants to the promised land! Soccer can fill a man with so much passion that he will actually bite the nuts of another player, while celebrating a goal that the bitee has scored (Sevilla, 2003)! Can you imagine the riots that would occur if soccer were to magically disappear from the Earth? It would not be as bad as any of the other sports, I tell you that much for sure!

3. Who had the greater impact on their sport: Gretzky, Aaron, Montana of Jordan?

Who's it gonna be, America? Cast your vote by text messaging or on the internet!

After the first two very tough questions, a relatively simpler one (for me anyway), comes up. Out of the four men pictured above, the one who had the greatest impact on his sports would have to be Wayne Gretzky. Baseball and Football were already well established by the times Aaron and Montana came around, so they are out. So that will leave The Great One and His Airness. They both led their respective sports into the mainstream in the USA, and both can be considered the best scorers of all time. So for the deciding factor, we turn to the supporting cast, the other players who helped #99 and #23 (or #45, if you're looking at the photo), get their sports out there.

Michael's support: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isiah Thomas

Wayne's support: Mario Lemieux

So there you have it. Due to the fact that he only had Super Mario to halp him lift his sport to the echelons of the Big 4, Gretzky gets my nod as the player who had the most impact on his sport.

Now seeing as it has just struck midnight AST, and I have to get up for school tomorrow, I best end this now. So good night, and Cheers for reading.

A lot of things to think about with this assignment, it took me a whole bag full of marshmallow bananas to conjure up ideas for this post. 

Ah! The almighty thinking bean!

And here they are:

1. If I could eliminate any sport..........

If I could eliminate any sport in the world, any sport, it would have to be figure skating. Figure skating only causes problems for everyone. First off, there are the judges. Aside from the occasional bribe money coming in from the Russian mafia, there aren't many perks to it, especially since your name will never be know to anyone watching, unless you screw up royally (That's why I know the name Marie-Reine La Gougne). For the skater, they have to wear those frilly outfits, that make Elton John's clothes look likeoff the rack duds from Walmart. They don't get paid money when they are famous for being in the Olympics, because they are amateurs, and when they turn pro to make money, no one gives an Enron share about them, because they aren't in the Olympics anymore. Finally, they are the curse of any man watching the Olympics, because just as the hockey game or the downhill skiing events, or even if you are not an Olympic fan, when the NBA game is starting,  the lady of the house, says "Ooohh! Its the mens finals in figure skating! Change it now!!! That Johnny Weir is a dreamboat!", forcing anyone with testosterone in their body to turn away from the horrible events about to occur. For all the trouble and suffering this sport has caused, including the spawning of a Disney movie staring the chick from Euro Trip, it would be better off if it triple-axeled its way off the sports pages.

What is this man's appeal????? His outfit looks like it got stuck in a                                                   
   Niagara Falls  in mid-January!

2. If I could meet with anyone from the past, I would meet.........

If I got the chance to meet anyone from the past, I would want to meet Jimi Hendrix.

This man had true passion, and his music is still brilliant after                                                             
   nearly 40 years.

Jimi Hendrix was a true master of his craft. He could conjure up some breathtaking strings of chords and notes, and really touch you deep down. I am not a guitar player, nor do I ever plan on learning how to play an instrument (mostly due to the fact that my huge hands would hamper all attempt to play), I just sit back and enjoy the sounds of the flow of the sounds coming when I listen to songs like All Along The Watchtower, Stone Free, Voodoo Child, Purple Haze, and so many more. I would love to have the chance to thank him for everything he has given to this world he left behind way too soon. I would also ask him to burning question on everyone's minds; what did he really drink; Pepsi or Coke?

Which one is it?????

3. If I played in any sport, which position would I play?

I know exactly what I would want to be. I want the job currently held by Brian Boucher;

Meet the luckiest man in sports today.

Boucher gets one of the most comfy jobs in all sports. He is the back-up goalkeeper. But he doesn't just back up any keeper. He backs up THE premier goalie in the league right now, Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames. Kiprusoff played the most minutes out of any goalie this year, with 4,380 of them. Brian Boucher only had to play in 3 games for Calgary this season, for 182 minutes. Granted he did play a few for Phoenix before the Flames acquired him, but do you know how much Boucher got paid this year?

$900,000 American!

So how much time did Boucher actually play this season to earn said money? A grand total of 693 minutes! So Brian Boucher earned $1298.70 per minute played, and he didn't even play that often! All he had to do is sit and look pretty on the bench, while Kipper made all the necessary saves to get the Flames into the playoffs! A goat ccould have done the same amount of work. Heck, I could do the same amount of work! And I'll only demand $750,000! A chance to earn a boatload of cash, be a pro athlete, and get a chance to wave to all the pretty girls in the arena, in the hopes of finding the next Elsa Benitez? Yes, I will take that in a second thank you.

Thanks for putting up with my late night ramblings, and Cheers for reading.
 

As I have said before, I had not posted an actual post in a little over month, due to the school monitoring board deeming my blog as "unsuitable material" and promptly denying access to it. I figured it was due to my previous title's use of the word "Damn" and promptly changed it during yesterday's two posts in two nights deal. I assumed that would fix it.

Today, while checking in during lunch, I attempt to get on my blog. It failed. I was starting to curse, when I uncovered an alternate path into my blog, which will not be reavealed because you never know who and what the government is tapping nowadays.

Then, just now I made a new discovery. I attempted to access The Dan's main blog, after going via one of his posts and was met with the same Access Denied page, that has tormented me this past year. And I realized something. The only two blogs out of all the blogs I have accessed from these premises, where I met up with the Access Denied page were The Dan's and my own. And you know what the link between those two blogs are?

They are run by Canadians!!!!!!!!!!!

While The Dan is operating is out of the power hub of Canada, Toronto, I type out of the tiny town of Truro, Nova Scotia. And who sets my school's blocking controls? An American company!!!!!

It is obvious that this unknown company is keeping us Canucks down! Details are sketchy about which company does the actual blocking, and their motives are unknown, but once I find out who that company is, they are going to pay. I will post later with updates! They may block my site, but they'll never block my mouth!!!!! (Unless they know where I live and come to my house armed with duct tape. Then they will probably be able to do that.)

Let's face it. Athletes are going to get most of the hottest women in the world. They've usually got a lot more muscles, without reaching putting on so many muscles that their veins constantly pop out of their skin, while I am so skinny I am mistaken for a mop. They have a lot of money, they are instanly recognizable at almost any place they walk into, and they get to retire at age 35. I am currently broke, am not rcognized by my own mother at times, and will probably be working until I am 88. So all I can do is oggle the lucky atlethes who get their picks of the litter.

 And what a litter! You can have your choice of Eva Longoria (Tony Parker), Elle Nordgren (Tiger Woods), Anna Benson (Kris Benson), Cynthia Rodriguez (Alex Rodriguez), Veronica Varekova (Petr Nedved), Heather Mitts (A.J. Feeley) and now even Paris Hilton is joining the fold, having supposedly latched on to Mr. Arizona, Matt Leinart. If you like to go a little older, you can choose Kristi Yamaguchi (Bret Hedican), Joumana Kidd (Jason Kidd), Shaune Bagwell (Jeff Bagwell), who once actually sold ad space on her breast, and Big Mac's Big Squeeze, Stephanie McGwire.You can have other athletes such as Mia Hamm (Nomar Garciaparra), Jennie Fitch (Casey Daigle), or Misty May (Matt Treanor). But there is only one choice for me if I could switch lives and wives with one athlete and that would be this man:

Do you recognize this man? You shouldn't because he hasn't done anything newsworthy in a long time. That man is the first ever draft pick of the Miami Heat, a Mr. Rony Seikaly. Why would I choose to make a switch with this man? Who's NBA career lasted 5 seasons, and was eventually run out of the league? Because every night, Mr. Seikaly gets to go to bed with this woman:

 

That is Mexican supermodel Elsa Benitez, and she is mighty fine. She has beautiful bronze skin, long flowing brown hair, and a affinity for animals. Plus, she is obviously more than willing to strut around a busy street wearing nothing but a bikini. How can you say no to that? She is my pick for the hottest athlete(ex-athlete) wife. And if you disagree, well, I guess that's your own opinion. It may be the wrong opinion but it is your opinion.

As for the second part of this contest, I think the above article should prove evidence enough.

I spent three hours working on finding suitable choices to give honorable mentions to for this article before finally coming to a decision. I give that same kind of time and effort to all my articles, even though I have not been able to write many as of late because of certain circumstances (lousy sibling). Anyway, even though I am young, and Canadian, I follow professional sports with an unbridled passion. I speak my mind on whatever topic I come across, and I try to do it in a way that may get a laugh or two. I give it my best, because that is all I can give. I take it one article at a time, I type with both hands like everyone else does, and I have a book of 1001 Sports Cliches. If I advance into the next round, I can continue to show why I deserve to be mentioned as one of the better writers on this site.

Thank you for giving me this oppertunity, and Cheers for reading.