Super Bowl is over; purple is back!

In other news, Anna Nicole Smith is dead, 2:1 odds says she OD'd on drugs.  Her 5-month-old daughter stands to earn a big payday. 

Let's recap:

- Anna works as a "pole dancer" in a Houston strip bar

- Anna becomes a Playmate

- Her 90-year-old husband she met in said strip bar croaks, leaving her just shy of $475M

- His offspring (led by his stepson) sue to block the award

- Anna has her own reality show, featuring an entourage of freaks including lawyer Howard K. Stern

- A court overturns the award

- 90-year-old dude's stepson croaks

- Anna discovers TrimSpa (TrimSpa, baby!), goes from supersized to anorexic within weeks.  TrimSpa is later found to be involved with stating false claims to market their product.  OK, so where did Anna's 80 lbs go?

- The U.S. Supreme Court rules Anna deserves another day in court

- Anna pops out a daughter, the father is said to be her "companion" Stern, but her ex-husband demands a paternity test to prove it

- Shortly thereafter, Anna's 20-year-old son from a previous marriage is found dead on vacation in a Bahaman hotel room

- Anna is found dead at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in FL after passing out, leaving her 5-month-old as her only survivor as far as I can tell

Oh, Anna, we hardly knew ye...

A Bears fan agreed to legally change his name to 'Peyton Manning' if the Bears lost.  Well, they did, and now he's going through with it.  Sad, I figure if a Bears fan is going to change their name to Payton, it's going to be to honor Sweetness.

The thing I want to know is, who did he wager against??  If he won the bet would Indy fans have to change their name to Rex Grossman??

OK, so the Kings traded Sean Avery yesterday to the Rangers, officially ending his "double secret probatino" with the team.  And while not the most expected move, it should really come as no surprise to anyone.  As mentioned before, the rumor was that the team would try to trade him for a 1st rounder, but even more likely that they would try to get some prospects in return.  The haul ended up being Rangers 3rd/4th line RW Jason Ward, and a strong prospect, though unsigned, in Marc-Andre Cliche (playing for Lewiston in the QMJHL), plus another named Jan Marek, who is averaging over a point a game in the Russian League.  They also gave up a weak prospect by the name of John Seymour, playing in the OHL.  The only thing surprising about this trade is that Avery, after his suspension from the team at the end of last season has shown a bit more scoring touch and exhibited that he can be more of a team player this season.  But hey, I don't mind if it makes us better in the long run and I'm sure his woman will end up loving it in NY just as much as LA:

  

So for him, I bet it's great - although one of my favorite hockey columnists, Kara Yorio, seems to think he brings a bit too much baggage.  I think it's evidence any player with an ounce of talent can bring quite a bit in return, if they can manage to keep their mouth shut long enough.

This follows last weeks' trade of Craig Conroy back to his old stomping grounds in Calgary (where he was actually team captain before playing for the Blows) in exchange for checking center Jamie Lundmark and some prized picks - a 2nd rounder in '07 and first rounder in '08.  Wow.  I liked Craig and he was definitely a "good guy" but he just wasn't getting it done (5 goals?!).  This helps the Kings stockpile early picks, and get a guy who's not much of a scorer but is not just a warm body to fill a jersey.  Not too much surprise that the Flames would end up being the highest bidder.

I also noticed that the Kings have had a trend so far in addition to getting younger, are mainly picking up guys with decent size who are good skaters and/or can really move on a pair of skates.  This can't really be a bad thing...though the bottom rungs on the depth chart are getting very crowded, at least for this season.

Expect more trades coming, though the team is expected to keep Rob Blake and a few other vets.  And yes, everyone expected them to do better, but it's not like the youth movement hadn't started before the season even began, when the team chose to depart with longtime center Eric Belanger and D Tim Gleason to Carolina for uberprospect and World Junior supastar D Jack Johnson, along with roster space filler Oleg Tverdovsky.

For another good writeup, go here.

Since I don't really have anything else productive to say, time to hand out my final Super Bowl XLI grades.  Here goes:

Bears

Defense:  B

Offense:  C+

Special Teams:  B+ (the Hester run was great, everything else was just solid)

Coaching:  B-

Overall:  B-

Indy

Defense:  B+ (their D wasn't really much better than the Bears', that were on the field 75% of the time.  But Chicago's offense just didn't show up nor have enough weapons, and enough Grossman misfires kept them in check).

Offense:  A-  (not dominating, but pretty darn good with all those short-medium passes and a few good runs)

Special Teams:  C (bad coverage puts them down 7 early, 2 missed kicks)

Coaching:  A-

Overall:  B+

CBS

Coverage:  D  (Coverage?  What Coverage?? a couple of foggy cameras?)

Halftime Show

Prince:  B- (Did better than most people expected, but still not for everyone.  Foo Fighters cover tune left a lot of folks scratching their heads.  it was a downpour, and everyone knew it was going to be.  Purple Rain probably couldn't have been more apropos)

Other

Commercials:  C+ (a few laughs, but nothing to write home about.  mostly went with the slapstick comedy angle.  I liked CareerBuilder and a few others best)

until next year...buuurp.

Bears take it, 37-24!!

Let's see how right I am..... Go Bears!!!

With so many Kings players potentially on the trading block, and nowhere to go but up, the Kings rumor mill has begun churning and will soon be in full force. 

Rumors we've heard so far:  D -Brad Stuart rumored to be traded to LA, or 3-4 other teams.  This would help their defensive corps immensely.  Other rumors spotted on Yahoo, I will post later.

They're also saying Sean Avery could be traded for a 1st rounder.  We'll see, I think the team has enough picks and would like more, but Lombardi would likely pursue some prospect he likes.

 

Shortly after my last blog post railing against Bettman's "leadership" of the NHL, I came across a great article expanding on the point even further (and how we got to this point to begin with).  Great read, if this doesn't sum up the problem, I don't know what does.

And now another article I come across today, describing yet another STUPID idea supposedly "fixing" the game.  Yes I think most of us that follow hockey have already been hearing about this one, but it's just retarded.  There are just enough goals to make sure games don't get boring on one hand, and seem ridiculous on the other hand.  4' x 6' is plenty of net and a perfect size.  Last time I checked, MLB wasn't considering making the basepaths 89' 6" apart during a dead-ball era.  Sure they've tweaked the mound in the past but the NHL has done more than enough tweaking in the last 6-8 years for a lifetime.  CUT IT OUT!

NHL All Star Game ratings plunge 76 percent - Link

Now, I am not going to sit here and pretend that the All-Star game is the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I've also heard those say among sports All-Star games, the NHL's is the worst because there's no defense, but using this exact reasoning, the NBA's is easily worse.  For god's sake it's 2007 not 1985, do we really need another slam dunk contest?  The next time I see a team score 200 points will be the last time I watch another basketball game.  The only thing compelling about the NBA All-Star 2007 is it's taking place in Las Vegas, which if you think about it isn't really important unless you're there.  Oh and to see how many players show up bleary-eyed for the game, or maybe the between-action segments of the guys hanging out with strippers.  Then again, I commend them on the Vegas All-Star Dance team.

But I digress.  The bottom line is, when done right the NHL game serves as a showcase for talent and the unbelievable amount of skill these guys demonstrate using thin blades of steel on ice, night in and night out.  Now, I know selling the game post-lockout is not easy especially with the Super Bowl a week away.  But there are suddenly an incredible number of young players who have broken into the league with ridiculous talent and superior long-term potential to gain more interest from sports fans everywhere, namely guys like Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Anze Kopitar, in addition to future Hall of Famers like Martin Brodeur. 

However for starters, the rosters left a lot to be desired, looking like a hodge podge of dominant stars sprinked with some useless stiffs.  Where the heck was Alexander Frolov?  When someone 24 years old and the 2nd leading scorer among left wings in his conference, he needs to be on the team.  Instead we get a winner like Yanic Perreault.  Part of the problem is the roster size.  Twenty-one players is not nearly enough, expand the rosters to twenty-four and these three players should be added based on statistics and future potential.  Two selections can come from those twenty-five or younger that are not already appearing in the Young Stars game the day before, with another at-large selection for an overlooked player.

Now comes the even more unbelievable part:  the All-Star game this year was aired on a weeknight (last Wednesday), started while those on the west coast were still getting off work (5pm PST), and aired on a nearly unwatchable cable network that nobody can even remember the name of, let alone what number it is on their set top.  The league has a deal with NBC, why was this not used as it was in years past?  Figure skating aired on NBC that evening, instead.  Inexcusable!!!  The game has to be part of the network contract in future years.

Even worse, the Young Stars game aired at 4:30 PST on the same unnamed network, followed by the Skills Competition live against the President's 2007 State of the Union Address.  Pure genius.  Ironically perhaps, the AS Game this year was held in Dallas, and of course as we all know Mr. Bush is from Texas.  And, since this was the first All-Star exhibition held since 2004, they basically had three years to prepare for it.  It's even been nearly two years since the lockout ended and this is the best they could come up with?

Another botched job from the Bettman The Rat era, but even this surprises me how badly this one went.  Just what naked photos of the NHL Board of Governors does this guy possess?  And of course, then there's the scheduling problems, which I'll save for my next post.

   But alas, apparently I'm not the only one noticing.

So, as promised I would be catching up on the past week of sports as I got my blog up and running this week.  The particular is one that makes me very proud to write about. 

I made it out to Staples on Saturday (early, even) to see our beloved but lowly Los Angeles Kings retire the 5th jersey in team history by hanging the #20 Robitaille jersey high in the rafters.  It was great to see the highlights o####uy who skated up and down the wing with as much determination as any in his NINETEEN seasons, and recognized by the team that drafted him in the 9th Round in 1984, and he started and finished his career with, as well as playing in a full fourteen of those seasons.  However, for all his accomplishments and glory, including one Stanley Cup ring with Detroit (booooooooooooooooooooooooooo), and finishing as the highest scoring wing of ALL TIME, the guy is largely unheralded.  Heck, Steve Yzerman's retirement ceremony was broadcast live on CBC in Canada, but you didn't see them do anything close to that for Luc.  Yzerman was a great player, mind you, but Luc's lack of appreciation in the hockey world may be perhaps the most amazing fact of all, though he will easily be a first ballot hall of famer three years from now.  Oh yeah, and did I mention he's also the highest scoring player in franchise history, having surpassed not only Wayno but another all-time great, Marcel Dionne himself in his final season.  Yes, I went to that game too.

The ceremony was great, and actually lasted more than twice as long as I expected, a full hour instead of 30 minutes.  This doesn't even include the 15-20 minutes of setup and another 10-15 for tear-down time.  I also attended Wayne Gretzky's jersey retirement by the Kings back at the start of the 2002-03 season, and it was nice, but nowhere near this robust.  Wayne was there of course, and not just as coach of the Desert Mutts.  They showed a video of him and other former players before the ceremony, giving their best wishes to Luc.  The rumors during their playing days were always that Luc and Wayne didn't get along that great, but Wayne's statement was incredibly humble and definitely came across as heartfelt.  I think it was done this way so Wayne could focus on coaching his players rather than giving some speech, and he with all the former players stood in a half-rectangle on the perimeter of a special stage set up for him, all in their old jerseys except Gretz in his game suit.  The only other folks that got to go on stage to speak were broadcasters Bob Miller, Jim Fox, and yes Barry Melrose.  Not only was I astonished at the rousing cheers that Melrose received when he walked out, but he even told the best story!  A near tear-jerker. 

The game was almost an afterthought, one you would have really liked to see the team win for Luc (and they almost did, had another goaltender not broken down during the game; that now makes the team's top 5 that are unavailable). 

Oh yeah, Luc was also bestowed with some really nice gifts (a truck with 2 snowmobiles, and a commissioned painting) and his whole family was there including his 89 year old dad, who slipped and went down on the ice but was unhurt and damn quick to get up!  He gave a good talk about how he came to the team, his achievements on the ice, and gave a quick anecdote about every one of the former players that was there and he played with.  Even mentioned freakin' Sean O'Donnell who was in the STANDS!  Talk about a greatful guy.  His two sons then unfurled his jersey and it was hoisted to the rafters mechanically.  A beautiful sight to behold, and the only one actually "hanging" from the rafters as opposed to the previous four players who never played in the Staples Center / purple and silver era and simply hang on the wall.  

Luc is living in Park City, Utah these days, working for AEG and the Kings as an assistant governor, and he promised the crowd they wouldn't be disappointed in years to come because the franchise is doing everything they can.  I, for one, totally believe him.  How can anybody not believe in this guy?

All I have left to say is Luc Robitaille for President 2008... I think he could smoke Hillary, and I don't even care if he is Canadian.  And it's always great to chant "Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuc!!!" one more time, no matter what the occassion is.

Turns out Fenway will be upgraded for 2007, meaning they've increased their maximum attendance to 13,500 (up from 12,000 when they added the "Green Monster" seats).

This count only includes human visitors - with the rats, I'm sure it's nearly double.

Linky

 

It's Wednesday and finally time to catch up on the week in sports.  Look for my first real blog entries tonight.  Some color changes will also be happening, as I'll be keeping orange and blue as the color scheme until at least Super Bowl XLI is over (go Bears!!).  The normal blog colors (theme) will still remain purple & white.

In the meantime, I'm having a hell of a time uploading an avatar image.  It just times out every single time, and I've been trying for at least 2 days.  Strange.

Welcome to my brand-spankin-new Fox Sports Blog and I hope to have fun with it.  Check back soon for my first update.

Planning to keep it updated regularly.  In the meantime, Go Bears!