3 Games in 4 nights = No Playtime 4 Canucks

… and beyond is a 4 game week long West-East Canada Roadtrip!  Its clutch time for the Canucks! The standings are super tight and we need the wins!

Watch tonight for Alex Burrows to be on the top line with the Sedins vs the Coyotes.  Hopefully that will spark them into some offense.  Did the twins even play against the Blues the other night?  Really though, if the trade off is a pointless night from the twins and a lot of secondary scoring that equals a win, we’ll take the win in a heartbeat!  Keep the other team’s shutdown line busy out there and good things will happen for the team. Don`t worry twins, the points will come.

Though we like the move, generally speaking AV’s constant line juggling is getting annoying.  But in this case its actually needed. We predict a 4-3 Canucks victory in OT.  The Coyotes are coming off an impressive 1-0 win over the Red Hot Dallas Stars.  We doubt that they’ve got that type of game 2 nights in a row. Ilya Bryzgalov can’t stop ‘em all. We’d like to see Roberto Luongo have a stellar game at the other end.  Its been awhile and we need the reassurance all is well in net!

And lastly, Mats Sundin.  What can we say about a 3 point effort vs. the Blackhawks and a followup 2 goal game!  He’s come into form and hopefully that continues and the opposition keeps getting confused about what really is the top line on the Canucks.  Now off to watch, drink and be merry!

PS: did you know the Canucks have a prospect page that they update… we didn`t either!

PPS: on a completely different note… the EPL flexes its muscle and gets this top-notch soccer site to rid itself of its logos.  all in the name of dollars and non-$en$e! and again its the fans that suffer!  BOO!

Close? U Want Close? Try the EPL!

Often we hear about how the NHL and other major North American leagues have close races in the standings as the playoffs near.  Just read our previous post and take note that at the time we wrote that, the NHL Western Conference’s 6-10th spots were only separated by a couple of points.

But if you want a close race, tune into the standings for the English Premier League!

Now the top of the table is starting to take shape as the top 5 is getting more solid as the games go by.  Just what where the teams involved will end up at is the big question.  THE EVEN BIGGER QUESTION is the rest of the standings.  7th-20th (last spot) are only separated by 11 points.  That is less than 3 wins between 13 teams.  ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.  The free spending Manchester City could fall into the relegation zone as well as the recently injury prone Newcastle.  Now wouldn’t both of those “storied” teams being sent down be a massive event!  This is nuts! We don’t know where to begin with so many teams in the mix so we’re gonna wait to see what unfolds this weekend b4 we make any bold predictions.  But for starters, the Bolton Wanderers are going to need to start playing some D in order to stay up.  The recent poor 2nd half display that ended up giving up a 2 goal lead to the Blackburn Rovers was pathetic!  There’s sitting on a lead and then there’s just letting the other team play while you watch…

Lesson #1 Four Two Day

Just a quick post to give mad props to this post:

How To Be a Canadian Premiership Fan

FANTASTIC! Woodpeck returns to write more in 10 hours!

This Week in Under 300 Words

Well, we’ve been busy at Nowpublic.com trying to kick start some sports debate on their site. Whether or not that happens, time will tell. Check out what we’ve been saying here and join in on the debate.  Just one word of advice.  Make sure you are using Firefox since IE seems to bog down on their site.  Firefox will avoid any lags and a ton of frustration.  We’ve even attempted a debate on fighting in hockey!  We must be nuts!

In other news:

• Sundin’s Debut was a bit of a bore.  At least he didn’t suffer the ever popular “groin” injury that most vets attain when they rush back info action!  I’m sure he’ll tally something by the end of the weekend.
• We’re trying to get to Montreal’s QV match in February.  More news on that in the weeks ahead.
• Road trip already planned for some Vancouver games in February! YAY!
• Can you  imagine getting a lashing from your coach in front of your fans?  Hull can.  Hope it helps their season and proves to be an effective one-off for the manager.  Talk about last resorts!  Didn’t Paul Maurice do that just b4 he was canned by the Leafs last year?
• Canada gets a D for fitness.  C’mon and get off the couch!  Who cares if its cold out?
• NFL pîcks this weekend are Giants, Carolina, Tennessee, Pittsburgh.  Yeah, its a bit of a stretch!
• and finally… somehow we were asleep at the wheel when this first came out but damn, the irony that …
  

  Steve Francis is a Grizzly again!

is beyond just being slightly funny! LOL!

This Team is Showing Flashes of Brilliance

We were late arriving to the EPL scene but once there, it was love at first sight. Once upon a time, the BLUES were the team of choice.  Always in the title hunt but never the bride.  But the Russian era changed all that in a heartbeat. Zola-era Chelsea were something we’ll always remember fondly of.  The cash-inspired and seemly heartless Blues of today are not something we ever could get behind so we went our separate ways.

Nowadays the gloryhunting has gone the way of the Gunners. It seems by chance that it has gone that way personally. From meeting fellow fans in the oddest places to seeing numerous games on the telly and finding jerseys on sale, it just came to us one day that we’d become an Arsenal fans. Arsenal seems to follow what we like best in football and therein lies the reason to join the gloryhunting fray for better or worse.  Its just worked out that way.  One day recently we woke up to realize that we’d become part of the Arsenal family as unlikely and crazy as it may have one time seemed.

With that said, the Arsenal victory over the aforementioned Chelsea last weekend marked the start of a special season.  No one could have predicted this team with so few changes during the last transfer window would have been in the title mix.  Last weekend marked the end of the up and down season for the team and now is the time to come out and finally admit….

WE ARE FANS! GO GUNNERS GO!

and now onto victory against Wigan.

This Team is Searching to Find its Identity

Here’s a list of our mid-week fantasy sports moves:

• In EPL yahoo, we switched our team format from a 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2.  Dropped Adebayor (Arsenal) and picked up Lampard (Chelsea).  Just trying a different config to jump start some points and Chelsea is hot and the Gunners are having issues on and off the field.  After missing the first week (so we started with no points while every1 got some), our EPL team is finally within distance of getting out of the basement and into the fray of the league.
• In NBA Yahoo, we dropped PG Anthony Carter (Nuggets) for SG Raja Bell (Suns).  Starting tonight, Carter won’t see much time on the court now that Chauncey Billups is the starter in Denver.
• In NHL Fantasy, we’ve been waiting for Daniel Carcillo to heat up but the wait is over.  We were at least countin’ on him for some decent PiM’s but even that dept. has been a huge disappointment.  Picked up Nik Hagman in a tight roster league that only allows for 2 bench spots. 

It’s Easy to be a Tuesday Morning Quarterback

Nothing beats a good cliche to start the day:

• A good varied roundup of takes on Freddie Ljungberg’s signing with Major League Soccer & Seattle Sounders FC.
• Beckham could leave the MLS after 09 due to an opt out clause and he also has an option to buy a MLS team when he leaves?  Whoa!  His deal just keeps getting better! 
• A good midwest US take on what is wrong with hockey and what can be done to fix it.  We thought it to be ESSENTIAL READING. 
• Attention MLB teams!  K-Rod will be an overpaid five year flop if you pay him what is rumoured to be his asking price.  5 years for 75 million?  We realized he is only 26 but he’s logged a lot of innings and critical work during his tenure with the Angels.  Anything beyond half of his asking price/terms is taking a massive risk.  We give K-Rod 2 more good years until he sputters.  Of course, ppl said the same thing about Yankee Closer Mariano Rivera and he’s proven us wrong to date.  We think he’s one of a kind and the exception to the rule. 
• Kudos to the NBA for still doing trades involving stars.  In a cap ridden professional sports world these types of trades are too few and far between.  Good on both teams for taking a risk, shaking things up and making things interesting for the fans.  If only more teams would do this… (insert your fave team here).  This blog predicted and gave decent reasons for an IA trade way back in May!
• The Pressures of Youth Football (soccer) is a good post but the comments are what we found to be most interesting.  You can substitute “football” to any sport/arts/performance your child is enrolled in and make it applicable.  Parents take note!