Marty Schottenheimer Fired

Everyone around the NFL knew it would happen. Marty Schottenheimer's relationship with San Diego GM A.J Smith just couldn't of lasted. On Monday, San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer was fired as head coach.

To me it is a surprise, even with Schottenheimer's bad relationship with San Diego GM A.J Smith. Schottenheimer led the Chargers to their 2nd division title in 3 years last season. The Chargers also had a 14 - 2 season. But maybe it was because of Schottenheimer's playoff record.

In the 14 years Schottenheimer has spent as a head coach and 17 including assistant coaching jobs together, he has only has a playoff record of 5 - 13. This mark gives him the NFL record for coaching wins never to lead a team to the Super Bowl. The San Diego Chargers don't want that type of coach. With L.T playing his best football of his career, and a young, confident QB in Philip Rivers, this is San Diego's time to make a move to the Super Bowl.

The Chargers franchise is now in deep trouble in terms of coaching. They've lost offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, defensive coordinator Wade Philips , linebackers coach Greg Manusky and tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski. It will be a tough offseason for GM A.J Smith. He will need a pretty big shovel and some breaks to dig himself out of this hole.

Sidney Crosby vs Wayne Gretzky

The comparisons have been made. The resemblance is amazing. Hockey fans around the world have seen both of these players go from prodigy to superstar. It is Sidney Crosby vs Wayne Gretzky.

This year, Sidney Crosby has made the transformation from future face of the NHL to just plain face of the NHL. And he hasn't done it easily. This year he has been attacked, harassed and abused more than anyone in the league. Even though he has been given the label, " whiner", he has fought through the tough times to get an amazing 14 point lead in the scoring race at just 19 years old. But someone dominating the league at 19 isn't unheard of. In the NHL season of 1979/1980, a kid named Wayne Gretzky emerged as a force in the league.

That year, Gretzky had 137 points in 79 games. This year, Sidney Crosby is on pace for 79 games played and 132 points. That's only a 5 point differential. The scary thing about Crosby is that no one is protecting him in Pittsburgh. To me, Crosby's job is to score and fight all for himself. With a young player like Crosby, you can't let him get into major physical stuff. Gretzky had a body guard wherever he went.

Another resemblance about these 2 is that they are not that much of a physical force. They both have to use their God given gifts such as their vision and uncanny ability to make something out of nothing.

It will be exciting to see if Crosby can match Gretzky's mark at 19. So lets just sit back and enjoy the ride that is Sidney Crosby

Saturday Night Hockey

Yesterday, Hockey Night In Canada took place with 5 out of 6 Canadian playing, but to the dismay of Canadian hockey fans, 3 out of those 5 lost.

In CBC's national game, the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the first period, each team had 7 shots, but for the Penguins, one of them went in with Jordan Stall getting his 21st in the final minute of the period. Then in the second period Stall scored again and so did Evgeni Malkin to put Pittsburgh up 3-0. Then the Leafs started the comeback. First Antropov put in his 9th, and after that Sundin scored his 22nd. The final goal of the comeback came with 55 seconds left in the period and was scored by Bates Battaglia. After the second came an exciting 3rd period. First McCabe scored a goal from the blueline. Then Ryan Malone scored to tie it up. After goals were exchanged the game went to O.T. At the 3.54 mark of the O.T period , Jordan Stall got the hatrick to win it for the Penguins. The Pens are tied with the Sens for 4th and the Leafs are still 9th, 1 point out of 8th.

The second game I'm going to recap is the Senators against the Habs.

It was no contest through out the game. In the first period, the Sens came out quick with goal by Comrie and Kelly. Then in the second the Habs made a comeback with Souray and Begin scoring, but before the period ended, Wade Redden fired one in to put the Sens up 3-2 going into the 3rd. In the 3rd the Sens put the game away with 2 more goals. Markov scored for the Habs, but it didn't matter as the Sens took this one just as I predicted. The Habs gave a chance to Samsonov putting him in the lineup, put he wasn't a factor.

The third game I'm going to recap is the Atlanta Thrashers against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks came out with intensity, scoring just 1.44 in to the game. Brendan Morrison scored his 13th. In the second, Markus Naslund potted his 19th to put the Canucks up by 2 . Then in the third, Morrison put in another to clinch the game . The Thrashers had to late goals, but the Canucks won with production from their big players. The Canucks are now tied with Calgary for the division lead, but the Flames have played 1 less game than the Canucks.



The final game I'm going to recap is the Calgary Flames against the Buffalo Sabres.The speedy Sabres took the game in a shootout.

After a scoreless 1st, Kristian Huselius opened up the scoring 3.45 into the 2nd. Then, Tomas Vanek scored his 29th of the year to tie up the game. In the 3rd, David Moss scored his 6th of the year to give Calgary the lead. But then with 3 minutes left, Daniel Briere scored to send the game to overtime.

After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout. After the first 2 players missed, Kotalik scored on a backhand. After a missed shot by both teams, it came down to Kristian Huselius to tie it in the shootout. Huselius took a wristshot and got denied by Miller for the Sabres to win it. Here are the rest of the scores and whether I predicted right or wrong.

Dallas vs Anaheim- 1 - 0 Prediction was wrong N.Y Islanders vs Boston- 3 - 4 Prediction was right

S.T Louis vs Philadelphia- 3 - 4 Prediction was wrong N.Y Rangers vs Washington- 5 - 2 Prediction was right

Phoenix vs Florida- 2 - 5 Prediction was wrong Los Angeles vs Nashville- 4 - 1 Prediction was wrong

Carolina vs Minnesota- 4 - 5 Prediction was wrong

Pro Bowl

Yesterday, the Pro Bowl was played in Honolulu, Hawaii. Many deserving players were selected to start, except for one thing. None of them showed up!

The Pro Bowl has been one of the worst all star games in sports history. With a game with such a high injury risk, all the all stars can not afford to play with intensity. Before these big contracts, it was an honour to be chosen to the Pro Bowl because you could take your family to Hawaii for a couple of days. But now players can take their family's anywhere, anytime. An example of the high injury factor was shown last night.

New Orleans Q.B Drew Breesdislocated his non throwing elbow in the 1st quarter. Even with the lack of intensity he received an injury. That shows me that the NFL should change the All Star Game to something more exciting, and with an injury factor almost at nothing. The NFL should be relieved that the Pro Bowl isn't during the season, because either some amazing player will break his arm, or no one will play. These are the sort of games that turn people away from a sport.

No matter how bad the game was, I'm still going to recap it.

After entire quarter of no scoring, the NFC scored early in the second quarter. Then the AFC came back and tied it up on the next drive. But then the NFC scored on the next drive to reclaim the lead. At the half, the NFC was up 14-7. To start the second half, the AFC got the ball. They put together a 5.24 minute drive to tie it up. The rest of the 3rd was scoreless. To start the 4th the a AFC had the ball and put together a 71 yard drive to take the lead. But then near the end NFC All Stars scored 2 touchdowns to clinch the game. The AFC All Stars made a field goal near the end, but the NFC still took it 31-28. Hopefully I will never have to do a post about the Pro Bowl ever again that doesn't involve the words, "The Pro Bowl has been canceled forever"

Saturday Night Hockey Preview

Tonight, 5 out of the 6 Canadian teams will play. Her are my predictions for each game.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are flying high winning 5 out of their last 6 games. But they are playing the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that beat the Leafs 8-2 5 weeks ago. Both teams want this game a lot. The Leafs can take advantage of a Tampa Bay loss yesterday and can tie the Lightning for 8th tonight, and Pittsburgh is in 4th place, but only 5 points away from being 9th!

I think the Leafs are going to come out with some intensity and show that last time they faced the Penguins, the score was a fluke. It should be an exciting game with all of Pittsburgh's young guns playing. So if you are looking for something to watch tonight then I suggest you watch this game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The second game I'm going to preview is the Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens.

Only a few weeks ago, the Habs were flying high and had a healthy cushion in 4th place in the Conference. But now, the Canadiens have lost 4th place and only 4 points out of 9th. The Senators however are the opposite of the Canadiens. After a slow start to the season the Sens have been great, but have always had their troubles with the Habs.

Montreal's big guns have gone dry with the Habs getting to the low point of their season waiving Sergei Samsonov. I still think the Habs have a few games to get rejuvenated, and the Senators have all their big players back, so I'm choosing the Senators to take this one.

The third game I'm going to preview is the Calgary Flames vs Buffalo Sabres

After having a hip injury, Jarome Iginla hasn't missed a beat tallying point after point. But no matter how much how much individual talent a team has, they will always have a tough time with Eastern Conference leading Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo is only 1 point out of 1st place in the league and is facing a tough, gritty team in the Flames. It is tough to tell how this one will turn out because these 2 teams play completely different styles of hockey, but I will pick speedy over gritty in the Buffalo Sabres.

The final game I'm going to preview is the Vancouver Canucks vs Atlanta Thrashers.

The Canucks are trying to take the division lead back from the Flames and will have a tough test in Atlanta. The Thrashers are 3rd in the Eastern Conference and have their division's lead. But they enter this game in a slump.

They've lost 3 out of their last 6 but are coming of a 6-3 win in Colorado. I predict the Thrashers young guns will produce and the Thrashers will win against Vancouver.

Here are the rest of my predictions:
Anaheim vs Dallas: Anaheim
NY Islanders vs Boston: Boston
St.Louis vs Philadelphia: St. Louis
NY Rangers vs Washington: NY Rangers
Phoenix vs Florida: Phoenix
Los Angeles vs Nashville: Nashville
Carolina vs Minnesota: Minnesota

Second Semester Report Card

The second semester report cards came out a couple days ago, and to the surprise of many reporters and broadcasters, there was only 1 A in the Eastern Conference and that team is the Toronto Raptors.

Since a 2-8 start in the first month of the season the Raptors have been on a tare rising to a 27-23 record and first place in the Atlantic Division. The Raptors aren't just a team a team that plays in a bad division proving that by beating the Lakers on February 9th. The team is being led by all star Chris Bosh and clutch play by the Raptors bench. The scary thing about the Raptors is that most of their best players aren't even 25! Chris Bosh is 22, Andrea Bargnani is 21, P.J Tucker is 22 and T.J Ford is 24, so all of these players will only get better. So I believe in future years this A will turn into an A+!

On the other end of the league in the Western Conference, there were 2 teams with an A+!

The first team is the Phoenix Suns. Led by all star, MVP candidate and Canadian Steve Nash the Suns are having another great year. They are 39-11 and are going to fight with the #1 seeded Mavericks for 1st place. Right now Nash is injured but should be back for the Suns next game. A cool theory is that if these grades predict the Finals by some crazy series of events, Nash will be able to play in Canada for at least 2 games. Watch out for these Suns, because they'll be a threat.

Finally, the last team with an A+ is the Dallas Mavericks. They've been led by MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki who is having another great year. They are first in their conference and look to fight of the Suns to keep that seed. After a Finals loss to the Miami Heat last year, they are hungry for a title. They have a team that can go into any stadium in North America and know that they can get a win there. Look for the Suns an Mavs to be in the Conference Finals.

Here are the rest of the grades:New Jersey- D
New York- C
Philadelphia- D+
Boston- C-

Detroit- B
Cleveland- C
Chicago- B
Indiana- C
Milwaukee- D

Washington- B+
Orlando- B-
Miami- C-
Atlanta- C-
Charlotte- C-

San Antonio- B-
Houston- A-
New Orleans/Oklahoma- B
Memphis- F+

Utah- A-
Denver- Incomplete
Minnesota- C-
Portland- B-
Seattle- D+

L.A.Lakers- A-
L.A. Clippers- C
Golden State- C
Sacramento- D

Raptors Win Against Lakers

As a follow-up to my last post, the Toronto Raptors beat the L.A Lakers.

The game had a lot of hype coming into it as fellow all stars Kobe Bryant and Chris Bosh faced each other for the 2nd time this year. The last time they played the Lakers won 107-100, but it was a different story this time around.

In the first quarter, there were 17 points scored by the Lakers and 16 by the Raptors. The first 6 minutes of the quarter had some very flat-footed, sloppy play by both teams with at one point the Lakers being only 1 for 8 in shooting. As the second quarter ended the Raptors and Lakers played more like a NBA team with the Raptors having the lead by 3 points at the half. After a 3rd quarter that saw the Raptors increased their lead to 8 points an exciting 4th quarter began. With the score 86-75 for the Raptors, the Lakers came back with a layup and 3, 3 pointers to tie it up. Skip to the final seconds of the game, Kobe Bryant tried to tie up the game with a long 3, but came up short for the Raptors to win 96-92.

The sellout crowd at the ACC watched as Chris Bosh, Anthony Parker, Kobe Bryant and Lemar Odam put on a show as each put up big numbers. The real key in the game though was the bench points for team. The Raptors had 35 bench points and the Lakers had 30 points from the bench. Key 3 pointers from bench player Andrea Bargnani helped the Raptors to a 4 point win. Number one pick Bargnani has been clutch in the key moments of the last few games.

The Raptors continued their dominance at home using the crowd as inspiration and feed of the Lakers bad play on the road. The Raptors defence held MVP candidate Kobe Bryant to 25 points and most of those points came in the 4th quarter. Kobe also missed a potential tying 3-point shoot in the final seconds of the game. With the Raptors playing this good, they should pose a threat to the Pistons tomorrow.

Toronto Raptors vs L.A Lakers

Tonight, the Toronto Raptors face the Los Angeles Lakers and the Raptors will try to extend their longest .home-winning streak in 5 years

The Raptors are one of the hottest teams in the NBA winning 8 out of their last 9 with their only loss coming against the Indiana Pacers. With a win tonight they can go 4 games over 500% and can possibly go 4.5 games ahead of second place New Jersey.

The Raptors last game was against Orlando at home. They won 113-103 behind a career high 41 points from Chris Bosh. At home it looks like no one can stop the Raptors with a record of 16-6 at the Air Canada Centre. All Star Chris Bosh has become the leader of this young Raptor team at the age of 22. After his performance on Wednesday, Chris Bosh seems to have brought his game to MVP type status. He has been the biggest contributor to the Raptors turn around season. He will lead the Raptors to a high seeded playoff birth.


On the other end, the Lakers are coming of a loss to the Pistons in the Palace.

The last time these 2 teams met, Toronto was in the middle of a 6 game losing streak and lost 107-100 to the Lakers. Kobe Bryant continued his dominance against the Raptors as he had 31 points and 11 rebounds to beat Toronto.

The Lakers look to stop their losing ways on the road against one of the best home teams in the NBA. In the past years, it has either been Kobe preforms and the Lakers play well, but if Kobe doesn't play well, than the Lakers don't show. The Raptors hope it is the bad Kobe that shows because the Lakers are deadly with Kobe playing well. The Lakers can prove that the Raptors are just a team that plays in a bad division with a win tonight.

The Lakers are 6th in their conference, but if they were in the Eastern Conference, they would be second in the conference and only 1 game out of 1st, so the Lakers can send a message that they're a force in this league.

Younger, Faster, Better

Yesterday, the World Pond Hockey Championships started in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick. There are 120 teams this year and they all played under the lights last night.My reporter Dell had an exclusive at one of the games.

The Shannon Shamrocks lost their opening game by a blowout. This team has attended 4 Pond Hockey Championships since it started. The team consists of 4 brothers from Canada. This team has been through a lot, especially in 2005. That year, some of the teams equipment got lost on a flight, so they had to get a local to fill in for the games. They still got an interview with TSN live on T.V though. Even with the local playing, the Shamrocks made it to the playoffs. Another bright spot was that the teams equipment was coming in so that the entire team could play. But then, at a party the night before the playoffs, a person pointed out that the plus/minus was all wrong. There is a mercy rule that says a game can't be won by more than 10 goals. So all the teams with high plus/minuses had to be brought down to plus 50 which put the Shamrocks out of the playoffs( the funny thing about that is that according to my reporter Dell, the person who pointed out the plus/minus problem was drunk).

After the game my reporter spoke to one of the members of the Shamrocks. He said, "The team we faced was younger, faster and better".

It really doesn't matter whether you win or lose here, just have some fun and play some good hockey.

Note: the team in the picture is not the Shamrocks