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Last Word On Sports

Sports News Since 2011. Honestly.

Last Word On Sports Logo

Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Month: September 2011

43 KHL hockey players dead in plane crash!

Posted on by Michael Kovacs, ADMIN

Sorry to bring such bad news, but please read this from Canadian Press:

TUNOSHNA, Russia – A Russian jet carrying a top hockey team crashed while taking off Wednesday in western Russia, killing 43 people and leaving two critically injured, officials said.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 crashed immediately after taking off from an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow.

The ministry said the plane was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew. All but two were killed in the crash.

The ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team from Yaroslavl.

The team was heading to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dynamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League.

The KHL is an international club league that pits together teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is a leading force in Russian hockey and came third in the KHL last year. It’s coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon and includes several international stars in its ranks, such as Stefan Liv of Sweden and Czech Republic players Josef Vaicek and Jan Marek. Lokomotiv was a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002 and 2003 and took the bronze last season.

It wasn’t immediately clear which players were on board the Yak-42.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sent his transport minister to the site of the crash, 15 kilometres east of Yaroslavl.

Former Montreal Canadien Brent Sopel, who is now playing in Russia, tweeted shortly after the crash: “In shock. Prayers out to all of the KHL families.”

McCrimmon, 52, is a native of Saskatchewan. He played defence for six NHL teams — Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix from 1979-80 to 1996-97.

He played 1,222 regular season games in the NHL, collecting 81 goals, 322 assists and 1,416 penalty minutes.

McCrimmon was an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and Detroit Red Wings. He also served as head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades.

The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and dozens are still in service with Russian and other airlines.

In June, another Russian passenger jet crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. The crash of that Tu-134 plane has been blamed on pilot error.

President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year.

— With files from The Canadian Press.

Fantasy Football: Tight End Strategy

Posted on by Ben Kerr

This is an interesting year for fantasy Tight Ends.  Not only are there several candidates for the top TE to be drafted, but the depth at the position is unrivaled.  The number of prospects out there is enough to make me change my TE drafting strategy.  I think the fantasy monsters, Gates and Witten, are worth drafting very high.  But if I miss on getting one of those guys I feel like there is more value in waiting until near the end of the draft to grab one of the up and coming TE’s.  This means letting everyone else spend their mid-round picks on some good players like Dallas Clark, Vernon Davis and Jermichael Finley,  But instead of grabbing one of these guys I load up on RB and WR talent and grab one of these guys late:

Bradon Pettigrew (DET): Caught 70 balls last year and will only go up with Stafford back.

Rob Gronkowski (NE): A redzone threat for NE and sure to be incorporated more in the offense in his second year.

Jimmy Graham (NO):  The “sleeper” everyone knows about.  But I like him because he could be the best redzone threat on the team.

Aaron Hernandez (NE):  Being overlooked because he is the second TE on his team but in reality he is NE’s deep threat and I would gamble on him overtaking Gronkowski this year.

Lance Kendricks (STL): Not being drafted in most leagues but could become one of Bradford’s favorite targets.

What do you think of this strategy?

The Making Of a Canadian Hero?

Posted on by Grant Alexander

Holiday Monday left me with a few unanswered questions, and a sore thumb. Channel flipping like crazy, I was torn between a great, high scoring, Labour Day classic(ique) game, and a low scoring nail biter of a baseball game. The Labour Day game had me wondering, if the Cats, who exploded for 44 points, really are a legitimate contender. I pondered that question while I flipped channels, but as I watched Big Papi stroll up to the plate with a runner in scoring position in the top of the eight inning in a scoreless game, that query was only a distant memory.

Let me set it up for you.  My Red Sox were locked at zeros with the hometown Jays in the top of the eighth inning with two out.  Ortiz was up with a runner on second. The Jays, playing smart defensive ball, walked Papi to put the force on any bag and to pitch to the struggling Youkilis. After the Youkilis strike out, I realized that this was going to be the type of game that ended with a pinch runner and a sac fly. Either that, or a hero would emerge…enter Brett Lawrie.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 11th, And Lawrie was up with a 1 and 1 count, when he hit one that would never come back. He knew it was gone as soon as he hit it, and as I watched him jog the bases and dive into a sea of his teammates at home plate, I found myself wondering, is this guy the real deal?

Brett Lawrie, born in Langley, British Columbia, is 21 years old, and has just finished his first month of playing in the Major Leagues. In his first month he has been explosive. Not only does he have the ability to be a clutch player (as we witnessed on Monday afternoon), but he currently holds a batting average of .318 which is tops on his team. To go along with that batting average, he has 34 hits, 21 RBIs, and 8 HR’s in just 30 games! As well as a Slugging Percentage better than his all-star, home run leading teammate, Jose Bautista. I know it’s easy to ride a hot streak, and almost impossible to keep a torrid pace like that for an entire season, but it begs the question; Is he the real deal?  Or, is he going to fade away like so many hot rookies of seasons past?  Either way, it is sure to be a fun ride.

What a Shame… Concussions and the new look NHL?

Posted on by ScottyJ

What a shame it is that we won’t see Marc Savard play in the NHL this season. What a shame it is that he may never play in the league again.

Savard was at the top of his game when Matt Cooke delivered a blind side, open ice hit to his head. He had played 5 years in a row with well over a point per game average, and missed only 8 games in the 4 seasons prior to the year in which the hit occurred. Marc was one of the best.

Since then the news is all bad. He was on the IR for the rest of the 2009-2010 season. Last year Savard missed the first 23 games to post concussion syndrome. He returned to play in only 25 before suffering another concussion against Colorado on January 22nd of this year. He hasn’t played a single game since.

It sucks that we might see this guy join the likes of Eric Lindros, Pat Lafontaine, Paul Kariya and countless others who have had their careers shortened by a split second in time where a back was turned or a head was down.

Gary Bettman has responded with a plan to hopefully ensure better player safety. It includes alterations to equipment, the glass around the rink, and player\trainer protocol immediately after suspecting a concussion or brain trauma. Also expect more accountability to both the player and franchise should an illegal hit occur.

Sports and concussions go hand in hand, we know that will never change. Hopefully the NHL has found ways to minimize how often they happen. Maybe the equipment is too hard. Maybe the fines need to be stiffer. All I know is I have my fingers crossed for Marc. If he can’t recover from his post concussion issues then Marc Savard, and the game of hockey, will have suffered a huge loss.

Labour day Classique?

Posted on by Michael Kovacs, ADMIN

Hey, just a quick update.

I am off for the annual Labour Day Classic at Ivor Wynne. But, can it be called a “classic” with such a glaring problem with the bill? For more about the travesty please scoll down and read Carl’s article about how the CFL dropped the ball on Hamilton, pardon the pun.

Anyway, I will turn the other cheek on the error and do what I do best…have a blast watching Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat up on someone, and in this case, the Alouettes. Oh yeah, and tailgating.

For those who don’t know, tailgating is an important part of the gameday experience…duh! If you live south of the border it is a way of life passed from father to son (okay, mothers and daughters, too). Here, not so much, but we at L and L Tailgating (hit me up in a pm for details) are doing what we can to change that.

So, whether the double blue or blue and red come out of the opposing tunnel, I will cheer nonetheless.

Oh yeah, fix this CFL! I won’t take it next year!

And that is the last word!

Ducks, Tigers and Gators! Are you ready for some football???

Posted on by Michael Kovacs, ADMIN

Everyone who was supposed to win, won. Almost.

With Oklahoma at home to Tulsa and Kent traveling to the not so friendly confines of the Crimson Tide, everyone expected one-two to stay unchanged. The difficulty was in predicting how Oregon (3) would do in the bayou of LSU (4) in what was easily the game of the week, with the biggest implications. The Tigers didn’t disappoint (unfortunately for me… a Gators fan. More on them later). LSU is never an easy place to play. Even with the powerful Gator teams over the past decade always had trouble with the Tigers. Anyway, back to Oregon. Oregon’s offence has struggled against ranked teams. While 27 points is not terrible, they did not produce when they needed drives down the stretch. So, LSU remains as a real threat for BCS. Final score, 40-27 LSU over Oregon.

Much to the disappointment of our own B.Kerr, the Irish lost a stunner at home to South Florida. Acutally, South Florida are not a bad program. Still, with a national rank of 16, and the score being very close (23-20) it must be classified as an upset. Yes, the weather was a factor, and in fact there were several postponements, but it works both ways.

And then there are the Gators. Not an exciting game, and most of you won’t care that they destroyed Florida Atlantic 41-3. With Charlie Weiss at the offensive helm, Muschamps (from Texas) as head coach, and with arguably the two fastest football players in the world in the backfield (Demps and Rainey), I am cautiously optimistic.

And that is the last word.

Has golf lost its lustre?

Posted on by Michael Kovacs, ADMIN

I was never a big fan of golf when I was growing up. I remember my father really getting into the sport and kinda wondering what it was all about, but I was content playing street hockey, football and soccer at the park or basketball at the neighbour’s house. While I did play a few rounds, everything changed in April, 1997.

On a tiny television I watched as he, Tiger of course, massacred the field with a sizzling -18, smashing many Master’s records. I was in awe…and I was hooked.

For the next few years I played quite often, and watched even more on television. I went from someone only mildly interested in the game to someone completely enamored.

In the past few years my interest has dwindled. Perhaps it’s because I now have a family and other commitments that have become priority…for the price of some greens fees I could feed a small village in a developing country for a month (really, I chid not). No, that’s not it. Maybe I realized I just wasn’t very good and thought of keeping to sports which I was better at. Nope, again.

As I sit looking at the Deutschebank leaderboard, I just am not really hooked in the same way I was in the “Tiger Era” (has that officially ended?). Is it the players? Do we not have a “Tiger” (or Nicklaus, Snead, Palmer, etc)?

There are many great golfers around who are really fantastic players and people. Luke Donald and Lee Westwood of course (being #’s one and two in world rankings…also coincidentally both being from merry ole England), Stricker, Johnson, Kaymer and McIlroy round out the top six. Really, aside from the press McIlroy has been getting, and rightfully so, is there any really storylines there? Maybe I’m too far removed, or perhaps too uninterested to dig deep, but I just can’t rally behind anyone in particular. Okay, McIlroy maybe, but only because I’m searching for something and will grasp at anything at this point.

Note to PGA: Find me another Tiger! Someone to dominate and revolutionize, so I can become interested again.

And that is the last word.

 

UFC Deal with Fox: Good or Bad?

Posted on by Mark Modeski

The biggest news in MMA, or more specifically the UFC, as of late has been related to the deal between the UFC and Fox. This now moves the UFC away from its longtime partnership with Spike TV, and into the mainstream onto one of the major networks. So the question becomes, was this a smart move or is it bad?

The general consensus is that it was the best decision not only for the UFC, but also for MMA. Greater mainstream visibility, means that the sport and the organization have nowhere to go, but up. With more eyeballs on the sport, Dana White will undoubtedly want to put on bigger fights for Fight Nights, to showcase the excitement and allure of the sport. For people like me this is an exciting proposition for the sport; not only does it make for better viewing, but it also moves the sport into a realm of increased legitimacy.

So what could be the possible drawback? Moving into the mainstream, means that the UFC could possibly lose its niche appeal – maybe a small sacrifice. The larger concern could be related to “too much too fast” – the UFC could go the way of other (let’s say) “sports organizations” that moved into the mainstream and burnt out like a white dwarf. It could potentially go from “fastest growing sport in the world” to “oh yeah, I remember the UFC – whatever happened to them?”

The question I put out there is: “Too much too fast?” or “I’m finally excited to see the UFC move into the mainstream – the sports only going to keep growing from here!”

Let me know your thoughts…

Will the Jets Fly High in Winnipeg?

Posted on by ScottyJ

Yes, the return trip is complete. Departing for Phoenix after the 95\96 season, the Jets made the indirect flight home with a stopover in Atlanta this off season. Congrats to Gary Bettman and the NHL for finally realizing that if a team down south can’t afford the arena’s air conditioning then maybe it’s time to move north.

No, it is not the same franchise that left in 96, but either way, the Coyotes or Thrashers, it really doesn’t matter….neither are necessarily a strong team. So while Winnipeg is rightfully excited and proud to once again have an NHL franchise, let’s not ruin things by expecting an amazing season from a mediocre team at best. And if history repeats itself then all the more reason to keep our expectations low.

Winnipeg did not have the best track record as a franchise in the past; actually it is pretty dismal, and that’s being kind. As an NHL team from 1979-1996 the jets had no division championships, no President’s trophies, never won the cup, never made the cup finals or even the conference final. But they did have a few gems over the years like Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne both of whom won Rookie of the Year wearing a jets uniform.

It is much the same news when we look at the Atlanta Thrashers short stay in the league. In the team’s entire existence from 1999-2011 Atlanta made the playoffs only once… and never won a game losing 4-0 in a series with the New York Rangers. Once again there were a few diamonds in the rough, Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk shared the spotlight as rookies together, Dany winning the Calder trophy and was later traded for superstar Marian Hossa. But today as the Jets we don’t see anyone who plays to the same standards of the previously mentioned hockey greats.

So Canada’s lucky number 7? I think not, but that doesn’t mean that the fans in Winnipeg shouldn’t cheer. Having the team back in blue and white at home is reason enough, and remember when your Jets return home from a division rivalry on the sandy beaches of Florida, they will be coming home to a packed house full of fans who will support them win or lose. And that’s the last word.