Worth a Gamble?

With all eyes fixed on a Phoenix courtroom today, we thought why not write about something completely unrelated. Sure we’d be overjoyed to see the Coyotes move to Hamilton or anywhere else in Canada. Its just that this saga won’t end today and we’re tired of it. Once the courts get involved, the wheels turn slowly… oh so slowly…and the draggin’ is getting to us. Today will be a big day in the history of the franchise no doubt but a final solution will be far from decided today.
So we thought we’d share a story about one of our pastimes. Something that we use as a diversion.Online poker.

We started playing a year or so ago.  Got the hang of the rules etc.  Then we put it aside for awhile.  But since we got the netbook with the internet stick, its back with a vengeance.  Its a great time killer at our job and when waiting for everyday stuff to happen.  The internet stick is great so far.  Sure Canada’s “most reliable network” has its flaws and it drops its connection every so often but its a lot better than what South Africa has.  We wonder how the news of the upcoming World Cup will be delivered if a pigeon (wtg Winston!) is faster than the country’s number internet service.  The beautiful game will sure become a lot slower!

But we digress, the internet stick has made online poker very portable and convenient for us and the interaction with other players, and the drama of Hold ‘Em keeps us lightly interested/amused. We are far from experts at it and you can play for free.  The challenge to win is there and when you do win, its great.  When you lose, there’s always another hand. Not a bad game if we do say so ourselves.  If we ever get stuck somewhere with nothing to do, at least there is always poker.

If we were in a certain Phoenix courtroom today, we’d be playing it for sure.

Imagine

We just bought a lotto tix for tonight with one purpose.  Win and we’re off to Phoenix to bid tomorrow!  Its an auction is it not?  Just imagine…

To think its come to this.  A team that had passionate fans in Winnipeg is now being sold to the best bidder in a courtroom in the desert.  There’s only 2 bidders.  Only 2 groups in all the world who want this team and one is the league. As a fan, we’d just like to be there and make a bid, have a say and speak on the behalf of all the passionate hockey fans in North America and say “shame” on you NHL for letting this happen!  Just imagine…

PS: we’ll miss you on the pitch Danny!

One Season Ends, Another Begins

Well, we haven’t updated the bowling situation in awhile.  The summer league ended last Monday.  We finished 4th in the B division.  3 pins out of 3rd place.  If we do our math correctly, we finished 12th out of 32 teams.  Not bad for 3 guys first attempt at bowling seriously in a league of pros.  We recently had to ditch “harry” the yard sale bowling ball after scores were not getting any better and the shear size of him was a tad to much.

Armed (literally) with a new ball dubbed “woody”, we took to the playoffs by storm.  The 100 dollar investment paying off immediately on the lanes. We played over our average throughout the playoffs and that bodes well for the future.  Speaking of which, the team has signed on to play in the fall/winter league.

Side bets, beer and a great social and friendly competitive atmosphere make bowling a good time out for a weekday night.  A great idea that keeps getting better and we’d advise anyone out there to get into bowling if the chance comes up.  You won’t regret it!  Updates on the team forthcoming as they happen.

We still can’t believe they cancelled the Lebowski Fest in Toronto!  Woodpeck does not abide!

2 Curious Cases

2 things that are on our mind this week:

1. we were watching a NL baseball game last week on the telly that was a blowout.  late in the game, a reliever came up to the plate to bat and was facing another reliever on the hill.  this rarely happens as relievers will usually be pinch hit for in the batting lineup.  this rare occurrence prompted the announcers to begin a discussion on an “unwritten” rule of the bullpen. we suppose there are are many of these rules but this one in particular was “relievers will only throw fastballs to other relievers at the plate“.  which is exactly what happened.  we don’t know anything about this rule.  we had never heard of it and since it happened we’ve been searching the ‘net for more info and come up blank so far.  hence the “unwritten” rule label we gather.  but it certainly was a quirky thing to witness and made a lot of sense. the hitter in this situation is at the plate 99%  of the time in a blowout and deserves every chance to get a hit.  for the record, the hitter in this instance struck out.
2. been watching tennis of late.  the Rogers Cup event in Toronto got us watching a few games recently.  one was the Dinara Safina loss.  yesterday we watched the world #1 struggle again in her first round match at the US Open.  she barely won that match against a qualifier.  in both games, one thing become very obvious to us: her coach is a jerk.   he never smiled, gave any support whatsoever and was completely negative in both affairs.  there is tough love in sport but this goes WAAAAAY beyond that.  he is a jerk and doesn’t belong anywhere near any athlete.  Safina’s confidence is at an all time low and the role of the coach is to not only help with the physical aspect of the game but the mental as well.  we’ve never seen a tennis coach(or any coach of any sport) be such a downer, or not even lift a positive finger when their client is struggling. he even acted pissed when she won some crucial points late in her match. why this jerk is in her employ is beyond us but it makes for great drama!

A Case 4 Head Cases

Marco Scutaro get beaned in last nights Jays vs. Red SOX game and sits out the rest of the game as a precaution. Early statements from the team indicate Marco has a bruise on his head but they are still optimistic he will play tonight.
We realize the team is only 21 games out of the pennant lead so to err on the side of caution here is not that wise…waitaminute!

HEY JAYS! get your head on straight!  Head injuries in sport are the hardest to diagnose so give the guy (no matter what he says) a day or the weekend off.  HIS HEAD IS FREAKIN’ BRUISED from a Beckett pitch!  As we just saw with Scott Rolen when he got beaned in Cinci that early on it looked like he’d be back right away but then was out for a few weeks.  Rolen even came back and played 2 games out of 4 (and even hitting a homer) after the beaning b4 going on the DL because of it.

The last thing we’d like to see is a guy at the plate with his head not straight!

Sure, we can identify with wanting to play and get back out there right away.  Just this past week we fell off a horse  and of course we got right back on that horse once we dusted off.  So Scoots wants to play right away again and we get that.  ERR on the side of caution here!  We’re sure this isn’t the first beaner he has gotten and it most likely won’t be the last.

Don’t mess with the head!  Sit Scutaro!

Our Lead Story is…

We will admit that if we lived in Calgary, the lure to see all of Canada’s best hockey players on the same sheet of ice would be too much for us to bear.  Especially for a mere 20 bucks!  Even if it was just a public scrimmage match.  The Red vs. White game would have been great to be there for but making it the lead story in print, radio and tv media today is beyond ridiculous.

We’ve never understood why a “practice” for a sport would ever be more important than results of a sport that was actually “played“. No matter how popular the sport, it was just a practice.  Great to witness in person.  Not lead story material.

Note to media:

Sports fans #1 need is for scores/results of actual games played.

Then everything else.  No matter what the news of the day is.

Even as we write this, Michael Vick’s return to a preseason “practice” game is ahead in the tv highlights shows this morning than actual “real” games played.  Great to see he can throw but where are the pennant race scores and higlights???

PS: kudos to Nick Green of the Boston Red Sox.  The shortstop pitched 2 scoreless innings in last nights game!  He didn’t even look out of place doing it!  We love it when things like this happen in games!  Why isn’t this the lead story???

That’s Right Shaggy!

Bobby Doooby LOUUUUU!!!!

Canucks are into the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs!

The 2nd, 3rd and OT periods of last night’s game 4 were some of the most exciting hockey we’ve seen this team play in ages.

• Alex Burrows continues to impress!
• As does the fact that we won 2 games against the Blues without Sundin.
• Luongo standing on his head was unbelievable.  He’s surely taken his game to the next level.
• Bernier, Raymond and even Shane O’Brien had fantastic moments during this first round.

Now we wait.  This is the part of the Stanley Cup playoffs we’ve never understood.  Why they don’t play on back2back nights when at the same venue is beyond us.  There is no sense to a long, drawn out playoffs.  It negates any advantage a team that sweeps gets.  The Playoffs should never run past May Long.  No scoobie snacks for you NHL sked makers!

3 Things We Didn’t Know About Til’ We Looked Them Up

Sometimes you hear of stuff that makes you wonder and then you figure one of these days you’ll HAVE TO look it up on the internet to see if its true or not.  Here’s 3 recent examples that we’d like to share with y’all:

1. Craig MacTavish, former NHL’er and quite possibly former Oilers coach (after missing the playoffs last night, who knows how long he’ll be around for…), is a killer!  MacTavish missed the 1984-85 season after being convicted of vehicular homicide, having struck and killed a young woman while he was driving under the influence of alcohol. MacTavish pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol in an accident the night of January 25, 1984 in Peabody, Massachusetts. Kim Radley, 26, of West Newfield, Maine, died four days later of injuries sustained in the crash.  MacTavish spent a year in jail as punishment for this offence.  Woodpeck had no idea!
2. Martin Brodeur recently became the winningest goalie in NHL history.  Recently he also got divorced and is currently paying his ex a whoppin’ Half A Million a year til’ 2020!  Why?  We had heard that Brodeur had cheated on his wife with her sister.  Not entirely true!  It was with his brother-in-law’s sister (or sister in law ) whom he has now wed. 
3. Olympic Rider Jessica Ruppel, who spent months recovering from a broken back suffered in a riding accident last year is now finally get back into top form.  Recently though, her training took a nasty turn as she and her horse got hit by a truck.  Truely a sad and horrific thing to happen!  Woodpeck can’t believe that people like the ones that hit her and horse exist.  Sadly, they do.

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!

Ultimate Becks?

After listening to the FAN 590’s poor attempt to discuss soccer during their flagship show, Woodpeck realized once again that it does sport no good when egos get in the way.  T’was supposed to be a round table discussion of how to fix soccer in North America and they blah, blah, blah’d about nonsense mostly pertaining to themselves and never even got to the point of it all.  It was so good (or bad cuz we think so) that its not even available as a podcast.  What a wasted opportunity.  Which leads us to discuss David Beckham’s situation…

He’s got to go back to Europe.  It makes way too much $en$e for everyone involved.  The fact that yesterday the MLS put up a deadline for a deal is also key.  Now that Kaka is hurt, AC Milan not only would like to have Becks on their roster moving fwd, they NEED to have him.  Beck’s worth will never be higher than it is today and the MLS knows it.  He’s playing some of his best soccer of the last 5 years and by putting up a deadline, the MLS is saying buy now or never just to drive the price to its highest level.  Which makes heaps of sense from their point of view.  If by chance Becks were to stay in the MLS, they need to know soon so they can gear up their marketing machine for 2009 with him included.  That marketing machine will be starting up shortly so they need to know if their centrepiece will be a part of it or not. They also know that Beckham could get hurt at any moment.  With every passing game he plays, the risk of injury grows.   So the sooner the deal happens for MLS, the sooner they can breathe easier.

The deal will get done though.  Consider these factors.  Due to the financial downturn we’re pretty darn sure the MLS needs the money.  The LA Galaxy sure could use the money.  AC Milan needs Beckham. Beckham needs AC Milan.  Beckham needs AC Milan for soccer and promotion reasons and vice versa.  Posh needs Fashion Italy.  For all these reasons, the deal will get done.  Maybe not by tomorrow but it will soon.  The perfect storm has brewed for the MLS and as much as they will come out and put on a brave face, they need this deal too.  Beckham can walk away from the MLS at the end of this season.  For nothing.  Weigh one season of Beck’s current market worth in North America against the offer from AC Milan.  He’s already been the league’s poster boy for 2 seasons.  His market worth over here is fading and no matter if he’s a part of the MLS or not, the 2009 MLS season is gonna be a tough sell. Without much entertainment dollars out there in the general public, Beckham might not have enough clout to fill that many venues.  Therefore, its pretty much a no brainer.  Just agreeing on the right price for both sides is the only stumbling block.  Here’s to hoping every1 comes out smelling like roses and the egos don’t get in the way!

Some Becks Links of Interest from both sides of the pond from the last week or so:

• Beck’s “I want out of MLS“
• Beck’s Career in the MLS an epic failure
• Brits wrong on Becks
• Beckham was Never the Saviour
• LA Galaxy have rejected a reported $10 million bid
• Beck’s Letter to America
• The best Beck’s resource on the net!  So far…