The Ultimate NBA Nightmare

Sports are very strange in a way. Playing sports is the only way you can fight without getting thrown in jail. There are a lot of things that you can do in sports that you can't do outside of the arena. When someone crosses that line, you know that person has done something extremely wrong.

The FBI is investigating that veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on basketball games over the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, including ones in which he officiated. Apparently Donaghy made calls during the game to effect the point spread of the games for him and his "mobster" friends.

Donaghy has a gambling issue in his life, but this is to far. To put into perspective on how devastating this is to the NBA, Scott Soshnick, a Bloomberg sports columnist said, "David Stern would rather have Shaquille O'Neal in the middle of a dog fighting scandal", referring to Micheal Vick. The law enforcement official said the bets involved thousands of dollars and were made on games during the 2005-'06 and 2006-'07 seasons.

''As we previously stated, we have been co-operating with the FBI in their investigation of allegations that a single NBA referee bet on NBA games that he officiated,'' commissioner David Stern said in a statement Friday afternoon.

''We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening again.''

It is safe to say that right now, everyone agrees with David Stern.

Yashin Goes Home

Russian native Alexei Yashin has signed a 1-year contract with Locomotiv (Yaroslavl) of the Russian League today. After 12 seasons in the NHL where he has underachieved and been hated, he has finally gone to a place where he will be appreciated.

The 33-year old had 50 points in 58 games last year, and looked like he would be a good number 2 centre for any team. He became an unrestricted free agent after the Islanders bought out the remaining four years of his 10-year contract.

"Alexei has a history with Yaroslavl, having played several games for them during the lockout," Todd Diamond, who represents Yashin along with Mark Gandler, told CP on Friday. "He feels comfortable with them, having a North American coach (Paul Gardner) and a former teammate, Randy Robitaille, being there as well next season."

"They came after him very strongly," said Diamond. "He's going to go there and have a great year. . We'll see where we are 10 months from now.

It seems that Alexei Yashin's NHL career may be over, and many people will remember him, for all of the wrong reasons.

Bonds Hits 2 Out To Break Slump

For the 1st time in the last 3 games, Barry Bonds was in the San Francisco Giants starting lineup yesterday. He did not disappoint breaking out of the slump that got him sidelined in the 1st place.

In the 2nd inning against Cub's starter Ted Lilly, Bonds swung at the 1st pitch he saw and pounded it out of the part for his 752nd home run of his career. In his 2nd at-bat, he drove in 2 runs with a bases loaded single. And then, in his 3rd at-bat, Barry came up with 2 men on. He whacked to centre field for his 753rd home run. But Bonds' 2 homer, 6 RBI effort was not enough for the Giants to win as the Cubs took this one 9-8.

"It's (feels) real now," Bonds said, swarmed by media in a makeshift dugout press conference at Wrigley Field. "I had to get over them switching those baseballs. Any time that happens, I kind of go into a slide. It's tough because you actually really realize something's going on and you don't really want to think about it. . But when they stop it for a second and switch baseballs, it's very hard to not know something's happening right in front of you."

Bonds next 3 games will be in Milwaukee, a perfect place to hit 756. Hank Aaron's last games where at Milwaukee, and Commissioner Bud Selig is a Milwaukee native. Selig still has not said he will try to attend the game when Barry breaks the MLB all-time home run record.

Accardo Blows It in 9th

Yankees Stadium can be overwhelming for some. With all the it's history and the great fans, it tough to concentrate. Jeremy Accardo found that out last night the hard way.

After both teams scored runs in the 1st, it turned into a pitching duel between Roy Halladay and Andy Pettitte. The 2 pitchers both threw 6 scoreless innings after the shaky 1st, but then they each got pulled. So in the top of the 8th, Kyle Farnsworth came in for the Yanks.

He struggled giving up a single to Howie Clark, and then later letting him get to 2nd. Aaron Hill then drove him in to give the Jays the lead going into the final innings of the game. Scott Downs shut out the Yankees in the 8th, and Brian Bruney did the same to the Jays in the top of 9th.

So it was up to Jeremy Accardo to get the save and the win for the Jays. Miguel Cairo got to 2nd as a pinch-runner for Andy Phillips, but was thrown out by Alex Rios when he went home after a Melky Cabrera single. But the Jays weren't out of it yet, as on the at-bat, Cabrera went all the way to 3rd off a steal. Then the unthinkable happened. The craziest thing that could happen in the MLB happened. Accardo balked in the tying run! He stepped off the mound during his windup, and balked. But he then got the 2nd and 3rd out to send it to extras.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Casey Janssen gave up a hit to the gap to Robinson Cano with a runner on 2nd. This ended up with the Yankees winning 3-2.

After the game, all of the talk was about Accardo's balk. ''I caught a cleat and was going to step off. Dumbest thing I've ever done,'' Accardo said. ''I kind of let things get out of hand. I gave up the leadoff single and I started pressing. ''It's a mental mistake. You can't get beat by those. If you're going to get beat, get beat by the hitter,'' he added.

''I've seen some crazy stuff. I can't remember seeing that,'' Halladay said. ''It can be a tough place to play, and things like that happen from time to time.''

The Yankees have turned it on the past few games, and are looking like they might give the Red Sox a run for their money. ''We just seem to be playing with something in mind right now,'' manager Joe Torre said. ''I think we're at a point now, because good things have happened when we've come after people, that when we lose a game like this it's going to be a surprise.''

Lost in the excitment of the end of the game was the pitching performances. Both Andy Pettitte and Roy Halladay put together amazing 7 inning starts giving up just a run each. Halladay gave up one run and five hits. He struck out six and walked three.

''It's nice to win a close game, that's for sure,'' Pettitte said. ''I knew it was going to be a tough game. Roy was throwing as good as I've ever seen him.''

Pettitte fanned a season-best seven over seven innings, allowing seven hits and three walks. It was the left-hander's sixth no-decision when allowing no more than two earned runs. 'To me, Andy made it all possible, because the only way you're going to have a chance against Halladay is to match him and he certainly did that,'' Torre said.

The Jays will try to win the next 2 games of this series to salvage a split.

Sens Send Schaefer to Bruins

Peter Schaefer is now a Boston Bruin. Today the Ottawa Senators traded the 3-year old forward from Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan to the Bruins for former Calgary forward Shean Donovan. The move was made to clear up some cap room for some up-coming moves that must be made.

These moves are re-signing players for next year. Some of these players include starting goaltender Ray Emery, centre Chris Kelly and defenceman Christoph Schubert - all of whom are scheduled for salary arbitration. But the team also has three key players to try and re-sign after the 2007-08 season - winger Dany Heatley, centre Jason Spezza and veteran defenceman Wade Redden.

All these players are very valuable to the Senators, who haven't made any big free-agent signings in case these players to leave next year.

If the Sens can't sign the majority of these players, they may go from one of the NHL's top teams, to a bottom-feeder.

Penguins Ink Therrien

The NHL team with the brightest future has just inked a big part of the next few years to come.

Head Coach Michel Therrien has signed a contract extension through the '08-09 season. Therrien led the Penguins to the Atlantic Division title with 105 points last year and their 1st playoff berth since 2001 last year.

The Penguins GM Ray Shero announced the extension on Monday. “He had a year left, so he wasn’t going anywhere, nor did he want to go anywhere, but I really believe that showing faith in your coaching staff and head coach, especially after the year he had, gives some stability to the franchise, which is important. I think this is just another step in the right direction for us,” Shero said. “What I talked to him about was, if I came in last year and there wasn’t a coach in place and I had hired somebody, I would have hired him for three years. A three-year contract is pretty standard and he has two years left, so he was very agreeable to that. I am hopeful this is something that is going to turn into something more long-term. We’ll see how things go moving forward. It’s well deserved."

Therrien will try to improve on last years 1st round elimination, with young players like Sidney Crosby and Jordan Stall getting better.

Lights Out Litsch

With the Toronto Blue Jays finally healthy, they faced the Boston Red Sox yesterday in the last of 4 games in that series. With 35km/h winds going, it was a pitching duel out of all things.

The Jays drew 1st blood in this game, as Aaron Hill and Royce Clayton both drove in a run to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. Then after 3 scoreless innings, the Sox got a unearned run off Litsch. Alex Rios made an error in the outfield that let the eventual run get on base. The inning could of gone much worse, but Rios made up for his mistake by throwing David Ortiz out at home plate.

From then on it was a pitching duel. The Jays relievers did the job against the Sox big hitters and didn't give up another run. The Sox pitchers were also lights out, so the final score was 2-1.

This is the type of game that the Jays need more of. Games they shouldn't of won, but they win anyway. Those are the type of wins that good teams have. "That's the way the game works," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "You go out there and look at the way the flag was blowing today, you never would've expected it to be 2-1. He was great."

The wind also played a big part in the game. The outfield seemed to have the biggest trouble. With the Blue Jays leading, 2-0, in the sixth, Red Sox second baseman Alex Cora drilled an offering from Litsch (2-3) into center field. Wells turned and sprinted after the ball, but his jump was delayed just enough to allow it to fall over his outstretched glove for a leadoff double.

"The weird thing was, Coco Crisp hit me a ball the inning before the same height as Cora's," said Wells, referring to an inning-ending catch he made in the fifth. "Cora's took off and Coco's stayed there. It's good to get out of here. It was totally unpredictable."

Another incident was when Alex Rios seemed to be tracking the ball, but then had to dive for it and ended up losing it. "We were both going that way and I took a look at him," Wells explained. "I saw him kind of go up with his glove. So, I was like, 'OK, he has it.' I went to back him up, and all of a sudden he's diving for it. It's one of those things. In this park, you never know what's going to happen."

The Jays will now play the Yankees today. Toronto will try to cut down Boston's lead in the division, which is the greatest on a 2nd place team in the MLB.

Remembering John Ferguson Sr.

John Ferguson Sr., one of the 1st real enforcers in the NHL died yesterday in his home in Windsor, Ontario.

The 68 year-old defended all of the great Canadiens of the 1960's. He got in his 1st fight just 12 seconds into his 1st game in the NHL! ''He was tough, he wanted the best for his teams, his teammates and his players, and his country, and would stop at nothing to try to help them win. His fight against cancer was every bit as fierce as his competitive drive on and off the ice.''

But he was more than just an enforcer. He scored 20 goals 2 times in his career. He scored 145 goals and 303 points in his career while tailing up 1,214 penalty minutes. He won 5 Stanley Cups in his playing career.

After retiring from playing hockey in 1971, Ferguson pursued his coaching career. It didn't take him long to get a job, as he was an assistant coach on the famous 1972 Canada team. He then spent a short time as the head coach of the New York Rangers, and then became the GM of that same Rangers team. He later was GM of the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association and, starting in 1979, the National Hockey League. Later, he worked for the Ottawa Senators in the early 1990s and was a Special Consultant to the General Manager of the San Jose Sharks.

His son, John Ferguson Jr. followed in his dad's footsteps becoming the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. ''My father battled cancer with the same spirit in which he played the game of hockey,'' Ferguson Jr., said in a release. ''He showed courage, strength, class and tremendous character. He had deep appreciation for the support he'd received from so many people beginning with his initial diagnosis."

A beast on the ice, but nothing short of a gentleman off it, Ferguson died at 68. A 2nd battle with prostate cancer took his life.

John Ferguson Sr. (1938-2007) ''My father's spirit will continue to live on in all of us whose lives he touched.'' - Ferguson Jr.

What Can You Do?

It's seems things can't get any worse for the Montreal Canadiens . After missing the playoffs for the 1st time in 2 years, the Habs looked to get better offensively and get a substitute for Sheldon Souray during the NHL free-agent signing period. But that plan is very quickly falling a part for Bob Gainey and the Montreal Canadiens.

After the 1st day of July was done (which was the 1st day of free-agency), almost all of the big names in the free-agent market were gone. Daniel Briere signed an 8-year, $52 million with Philadelphia, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez both signed on with the Rangers, Ryan Smyth went to the Avalanche and Jason Blake signed on with Toronto. Other notable signings include Paul Kariya going to the Blues and Brian Rafalski to the Red Wings.

But where you might ask are the Canadiens in this signing frenzy? Your 1st reaction might be that they didn't try for anyone, or at least didn't make a very good try at anyone. But this is where we get to the problem. The Canadiens did try for some of players, and they made good offers as well. So good, that they offered more money to Ryan Smyth, Paul Kariya and Quebec boy Daniel Briere than they signed for.


These players all signed lucrative contracts, and to think that the Habs offered more money is mind boggling. So what is the Habs answer to this problem, that players don't want to play in Montreal? Well, to the dismay of Habs fans everywhere, there isn't one. The Canadiens can't help it, if players don't want to learn french. The Canadiens can't help it, if free-agents sign for less money, than what they offered.


So the Habs plan to upgrade their offense is gone, but what about their defence? Well the Habs where so caught up in trying to sign offence, they missed out on all of the big defence men. Rafalski as I already told you went to Detroit, Matthieu Schneider went to the Ducks and Scott Hannan signed with Colorado. So the Canadiens solution to Sheldon Souray's is..., Roman Hamrlik? Yes the defence man who was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, and then never developed signed with the Habs for 4 years and $22 million! It was quite evident to the world that they Habs signed him for to much, but what happened next was a shocking blow too Montreal.

Sheldon Souray, who was supposed to sign for $6-7 million in either the free-agent market or in a contract extension with the Habs ended up going to Edmonton for 5 years and $27 million! Do the math and Hamrlik, a liability offensively and not much better on defence will make $100,000 more than Souray!

Now, Montreal couldn't of seen the massive under payment of Souray coming. But really, the Habs free-agent troubles are getting embarrassing.