As a San Jose Sharks hockey fan, I am in deep mourning. The great whites have once again stepped down after the second round. They played hard, and had a nice almost comeback from being down 3 games to none in round two against Dallas. But they did not get past that. Again.

This team shows time and time again they have the guys who can play - speed, size, youth (for the most part), and experience - but they fail to win the big one. They have shown they can have a great power play, and a great penalty kill, but cannot seem to do both at the same time. When the Sharks play aggressively, they win. But they spend more time waiting for things to come to them defensively. Or they try to make the cheesy pass instead of putting the puck to the net, and pound the crease for the rebound / tip in.

Many experts have picked them to win THE Cup the last couple of years, but no. Is it due to Wilson's system? Is it due to how he gets along (or does not) with his players? Is it due to the constant line changes? Unfortunately, that proved extremely invaluable in Game 6 when Milan Michalek went out at the end of the third period, and they played three plus overtime periods one man short on the bench.

I believe that Ron Wilson definitely has to go. Four plus seasons to the second or third round (Conference Finals the first full year, then three straight years only getting to the second round) is impressive. But they have hit the wall, and can get no further. And we have seen many reasons why they do not.

Tim Hunter or Rob Zettler can keep the good parts of what they do going, and improve on what they don't. Maybe even add Roenick as the 3rd coach next season (or even player/coach, provided he does retire as planned) and move Hunter or Zettler to head coach. Sorry, but Ron Wilson must go as head coach. 

Why is it that NASCAR is so bogged down by this Cingular / A####mp;T issue? NASCAR entered a sponsoring agreement with Nextel for the Nextel Cup. Now, you see it referred to as Sprint Nextel all over the place. Everywhere, except when referring to the actual Cup - Nextel Cup. If Sprint Nextel can do that under their sponsorship contract, why can't Cingular / A####mp;T do the same on Jeff Burton's 31? Cingular was a sponsor there a while before Sprint Nextel came along. Even before just Nextel came along. So, it's just right to be the Richard Childress Racing #31 A####mp;T Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton. Period.

(And Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - make a careful but excellent choice, like your father before you, and your grandfather before him. Shame you had to leave home to make it big - the company was yours, all except for the title of owner. And it should be yours forever. You'll show them they made the mistake.)