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Last Word On Sports

Sports News Since 2011. Honestly.

Last Word On Sports Logo

Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Year: 2012

Euro Football Weekend Rundown

Posted on by Luciano Giuliano

Now that the World Cup Qualifiers are over for this month, it’s back to Euro club soccer that matters most. Over the weekend, there were many very exciting match-ups and incidents that occurred. The following are the most important five events of the weekend. Enjoy!

5) Arsenal score 6 past Southampton

The Gunners absolutely thumped Southampton 6-1 as goals are really starting to flow for Arsene Wenger’s men. Surprised?

Arsenal currently boasts the EPL’s best goal differential with a +7 while Southampton is in dead last with a -9 GD. Furthermore, it’s the English Premier League and defence does not exist here. Arsenal is looking stronger these days, sitting comfortably in third with eight points, on par with Manchester City and just two points off top-seat Chelsea.

It was a very impressive victory indeed with Gervinho bagging a brace. Newcomer Lukas Podolski bent in a spectacular 25-yard free-kick before Theo Walcott nailed in the final goal from the Saints’ keeper’s rebound. Jos Hooiveld and Nathaniel Clyne certainly did not help the visitors as their names were added to the scoreboard for popping in an own-goal each in the 11th and 37th minute respectively.

Arsenal are set to take on Montpellier on Tuesday in the Champions League at the Stade La Mosson. If the Gooners can remain consistent throughout the season, they will be able to provide Chelsea, Man United and Man City with fierce competition for the title in May.

4) PSG on song! Man-of-the-Match Marco Verratti is Pirlo-esque

Carlo Ancelotti’s men are slowly climbing the ladder in France’s Ligue 1 after they cruise to a 2-0 victory past Toulouse. Italian International 19-year-old youngster was on fine form as he supplied the assists for Javier Pastore and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Verratti made some sublime passes and crucial recoveries and is already stealing the hearts of the faithful at the Stade Parc des Princes. Before leaving Italy, the Italian media appointed him as the heir to Pirlo’s throne and will replace the midfield mastermind once he retires from the Nazionale and will fully deserve it if he continues to play the Pirlo-style all Italians are hoping for. Ibra, who has never won a Champions League, states that the side’s main objective this season is to become les champions de la Ligue 1. PSG are currently in fourth with nine points, six off Marseille with 15.

3) QPR’s Anton Ferdinand snubs John Terry and Ashley Cole

It was a scrappy affair between Queen’s Park Rangers and Chelsea this past weekend, as both sides clashed. During the traditional pregame handshakes, Anton Ferdinand refused to shake Blues’ captain John Terry’s hand as well as that of Chelsea defender Ashley Cole. The snub stems from the former England captain’s race trial in which he was declared not guilty of using a racial slur against Ferdinand in this match-up last October whereas the QPR defender skipped past Cole after he defended his teammate. The handshakes were previously banned but have now resumed and after the game, QPR manager Mark Hughes called the handshake tradition ‘ridiculous’ and asked for the ban to be reinstated. Perhaps this is true, but regardless the match itself would still remain a fiery fixture.

2) AC Milan lose second straight home game

 Silvio Berlusconi’s side is looking more and more mush of late as AC Milan falls to its second consecutive defeat at the San Siro. The Italian giants welcomed regional-rivals Atalanta Calcio to town putting in a sluggish effort. One win and two home losses sets a new record for the Rossoneri as the worst start in 82 years. Coach Massimiliano Allegri says that he is not feeling the tension though as he states (and I quote), “It’s not so bad. We’ve got one more point than at this stage last season.” That may be true Mr. Allegri, but last year is not necessarily this year. There are far more competitive teams this Serie A season with Juventus, Napoli, Lazio, AS Roma, Inter and even Fiorentina and Sampdoria all capable of causing the Rossoneri grief. Although experiencing a slow start, you can’t trust the Diavoli as Milan almost always start slowly and pick up momentum toward the mid-season. The season is long and there is still the January transfer window where Adriano Galliani will look to possibly sign Fernando Llorente. Bumpy roads can be smoothened out.

1) The Merengues are dropping down the standings in a flash

While Barcelona was again squashing Getafe to a bloody pulp 4-1 with goals from Adriano, two from the Messiah Messi, and a goal from David Villa, Real Madrid was busy losing their second straight game this season to Sevilla, 1-0. Jose Mourinho’s Los Blancos looked short of answers as Piotr Trochowski lashed home a stunner in the opening minutes. This consequently led to boiling blood in the Madrid camp as frustration and desperation began to set in. Gonzalo Higuain was very fortunate to escape a straight red card for kicking out at Fernando Navarro a minute after the opener. Madrid dominated the encounter with 61% possession and numerous chances, but were unable to find the equalizer. Real Madrid are currently in 12th place with four points from as many games, eight points behind league leaders Barcelona with a perfect 100% record. If Madrid don’t turn their season around soon, Jose Mourinho might want to consider taking medication for extreme blood pressure. Cristiano Ronaldo’s depression mood isn’t helping either. Someone slap him back into it!

…and that’s the last word.

Should the English Premier League Abandon Handshakes?

Posted on by Mitchell Tierney

When Romeo Dallaire penned his classic book Shake Hands with the Devil it is highly doubtful that he ever suspected the title would relate to the English Premier League. However, nine years after it was published it may be the perfect way to title an ongoing saga at the forefront of media attention. It is not one that looks favorably upon the league and one that will continue to exist unless some unforeseen developments take place in the relationships of certain individuals. The aforementioned saga consists of players from opposite teams choosing not to shake hands as is the custom before a Premier League match because of poor sportsmanship. For the good of the league it must come to a conclusion, and fast.

The first highly scrutinized modern day example of the missed hand shake was between former Chelsea and England teammates John Terry and Wayne Bridge. For those unfamiliar with the incident John Terry had an extra-marital affair with Wayne Bridge’s ex-girfriend and it caused volcanic tension between the two resulting in Bridge neglecting to shake Terry’s hand when the two met for the first time in a Premier League fixture. Returning to the aforementioned I am sure on that day that Bridge would have rather shaken hands with the devil himself then a former teammate who had shamed him so publicly.

Not only was John Terry the first to cause a no handshake in recent football but he was also the most recent. After the Bridge incident controversy could only allude the Chelsea defender for so long. This time rather then extra-marital affairs it would be a racial scandal that would once again pen Terry into the front page print. Without delving into the issue extensively it essentially consisted of Anton Ferdinand of QPR reported that during a match Terry called him a “f–king black c–t”, words that are certain to stir up media attention of several different levels. The entire debacle came down to whether or not Terry stated or asked these words and he ended up getting off with a warning. Again the result of the first time these two met in a Premier League match was Ferdinand avoiding the outstretched hand of John Terry as well as that of Ashley Cole who was supportive of Terry during the entire process.

The gesture once again made international news and sparked some questions out of the media. After watching the latest clip of an avoided handshake Sportsnet analyst Craig Forrest asked simply, “Is this handshake thing a good thing? It’s talked about respect but in the end you are losing respect by doing it.” So should the Premier League continue to have handshakes before each fixture? While it does not seem to be a noticeable event unless their is some sort of controversy associated with it. Therefore the answer is yes. It looks far more professional and sportsmen-like to have the two teams acknowledge each other before an often fierce match. Plus, 99.9% of the time everything goes as planned and the handshakes are beneficial not detrimental to the league’s reputation. With that in mind the 0.1% percent of the time when a handshake does become an issue it becomes an avoidable press catastrophe for the league. The Premier League, nor any other professional football league on to the planet, will ever be able to fully avoid issues. This would always be the case when so many egos are brought together to play on one football pitch. However, by the simple gesture of not shaking your opponents hand before a match the original story and fallout that was originally experienced returns to the forefront of media coverage. Events that the league would look to be done with become front page material once again. While at the moment it is not the right decision to keep handshakes before Premier League matches – if this sort of thing continues opinions will be swayed. Should players opting out of handshakes become more frequent the league will certainly have to look into changes, especially if the reasoning for the gesture is something more petty then the recent versions.

One idea would be to simply have the captains from both sides shake hands before the game as is done prior to International matches. Though you would have to hope that the captains of both sides would not have some sort of spat between each other. Either way, the quicker the Premier League can put a stop to handshake shenanigans the better. In the end handshakes are like referees; if things go well they never get mentioned, it is only when things go poorly that everyone notices.

Escobar Incident is a Black Eye for Baseball

Posted on by Max Warner

Earlier today it was revealed that Yunel Escobar played the full nine innings in Toronto’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday with eye black that displayed Spanish wording which translated into a homophobic slur.  The Blue Jays have since acknowledged what happened, but have tried to distance themselves from Escobar’s display.

Prior to this incident, and despite Escobar’s terrible 2012, I was willing to argue that the enigmatic shortstop should be given another chance to turn things around in Toronto.  Escobar has posted a disappointing .642 OPS in 2012, but his RF/9 of 4.772 is fourth best in the Majors and shows just how valuable he is in the field.  Escobar has been in the top six in this category in four of the past five seasons.  Despite a strong season in 2011, Escobar is still dogged by rumours that he was a “clubhouse cancer” when he was with the Atlanta Braves, and he has displayed a noted lack of intensity and a dour attitude this season with the Blue Jays.  This latest incident is perhaps more evidence that the young baseball player has a troublesome mindset.

It’s difficult to argue that Escobar had no knowledge of what he was wearing under his eyes, although it is possible that a teammate or someone else placed the message on Escobar’s face after Escobar left the clubhouse and had an opportunity to look in the mirror.  If that is the case, then whoever is responsible for placing the wording on Escobar’s face must immediately be suspended by the Blue Jays and MLB for the rest of the season.  There is simply no reason, no excuse, for a player at the highest level of baseball in the world to display or encourage the display of bigoted and homophobic messages.

What is even more damning is that Escobar’s teammates and members of the Red Sox, several of whom are fluent in Spanish, said and did nothing when they surely must have noticed the writing on his face during the game.  How many times did Escobar walk past teammates in the dugout during the course of the game?  How many times did Escobar congratulate teammates both on the field and in the dugout?  How many face-to-face conversations did Escobar have with other players during the course of the game?  Make no mistake about it, the blood is not just on the hands of Escobar, as there are others who must share some responsibility for this incident.

There are other modern examples of shockingly obscene behaviour in baseball.  In 1996 during a game in Toronto, former Blue Jay Roberto Alomar spat on umpire John Hirshbeck allegedly as the result of Hirshbeck using a racial slur towards Alomar.  Hirshbeck was not disciplined, but Alomar was suspended for five games and is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  In 1989, former Oriole Billy Ripken had his baseball card picture taken while holding a bat with a profane message scrawled across the bottom.  Ripken claimed to have used the bat by mistake, but the photographer failed to notice and Fleer printed the card and created an instant collectible.  And who can forget Atlanta reliever John Rocker making a host of bigoted and offensive statements in 2000, in which he disparaged minorities and homosexuals, amongst others.  Rocker was suspended for fourteen games.

The Escobar incident is at least as serious as John Rocker’s statement because both incidents clearly involve an element of planning and deliberation to target a specific group of people with an offensive message.  In Escobar’s case, eye black is not sold with pre-written, ready to use statements of bigotry.  Somebody had to take the time to write the message on Escobar’s face, knowing what it said and knowing that it would be publicly displayed.

One of society’s biggest mistakes is its insistence on viewing celebrities and athletes as role models or even heroes in our lives.  I have never looked to the Major Leagues or the NHL for guidance on political or social issues or for examples as to how to conduct myself in everyday life.  Athletes provide entertainment and relief from the drudgery of daily life, and the vast majority are far from exemplary human beings.  Nevertheless, athletes must still comply with the basic moral standards and code of ethics which we, as a society, expect each citizen to follow in his or her daily life.  Escobar and possibly several of his teammates blatantly violated those moral standards on Saturday, in a very hurtful way.

Although the Rocker incident provides a general guideline for any potential suspension levied by the League, the Blue Jays are free to suspend Escobar as they see fit.  If he is the man primarily responsible for this disgraceful incident, the Blue Jays should suspend him for the rest of the season and trade him in the off-season.  The Blue Jays must continue to distance themselves from this disgraceful incident, and there would be too much baggage and too much of a distraction going forward to allow the Blue Jays to justify bringing back Escobar and his mediocre hitting next season.

…and that’s the Last Word.

Follow me on Twitter: @MaxWarnerMLB

NFL Gamechangers: Big Plays you won't see on the highlights

Posted on by Ben Kerr

Momentum is huge in football, and often effects the outcome of games. There are key plays that change momentum that are very subtle and may not make the highlight package on your favorite sports show. Sure, these shows do a great job of showing incredible catches, hits, and runs, or of showing you the scoring plays in a game, but do they really tell the whole story?

While a drive might end in a 5-yard TD pass or a 10-yard TD run, is that really the key play in a 7, 8, 9 or 10 play drive? Would the scoring play even be possible without the key completion on third and long earlier in the drive? Or that receiver who made a key block freeing up the running back to get to the outside to pick up a first down?

The purpose of this column is to highlight some key plays that greatly effected the outcome of their games, yet they might not have made highlight reels. This isn’t to take away from the importance of a big scoring play or turnover, but without these plays the highlight reel play would not have happened.

Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers (Green Bay gets 7 Sacks of Jay Cutler): I know, I know, I’m cheating a little bit with the Thursday night game. But consider this, the story on Thursday night was turnovers; the four interceptions that the Packers defense caused were certainly big plays and certainly helped to change the game.

However, there is more to the story than just those four plays. The fact is that the pressure put on Jay Cutler by the Packers front seven throughout the game was the true game changer. They were in his face all night and the Bears Offensive Line looked like they couldn’t block a high school football team. With this much pressure, as shown in seven QB sacks on the night, it is no surprise that Cutler started to rush his passes and some inaccuracy occurred.

If the Bears want to be a true threat in the NFC they will need to solve this long-term problem they have had protecting the quarterback.

Kansas City at Buffalo (Matt Cassel stopped at the 1-yard line): The Bills dominated the Chiefs early, jumping out to a 21-0 lead.  It looked like the Chiefs might cut into that lead before the half as they drove down the field.  On a 3rd and 7 play at the Buffalo 22-yard line, with about 1 minute left in the half, Cassel scrambled, found a huge opening and looked to be headed in for a touchdown.  However, the Bills defence quickly converged and stopped Cassel at the 1-yard line.

It seemed like a pointless stop though – 1st and goal at the 1 yard line with KC being a good running team.  Sure, touchdown and it’s a 21-7 halftime lead for the Bills, right?  WRONG!  Peyton Hillis fumbled at the one, the Bills recovered the ball in the endzone and Kansas City’s opportunity to make this into a football game was lost.  This is an example where the Bills easily could have given up and let Cassel score at the end of the half, but the effort in keeping him out of the endzone was rewarded.

Minnesota Vikings at Indianapolis Colts (Minnesota 3 and Out):  At the end of the first half, Andrew Luck took over the ball with 1:11 to go, and drove the Colts down the field for a last second touchdown right before half time.  The big play we’ll see on the highlights is a 30-yard pass to Reggie Wayne with just 8 seconds to go before half time.  What you won’t see though is the Indianapolis defensive series that made it all possible.

With 1:46 to play Christian Ponder and the Minnesota Vikings took over the ball at their own 19-yard line.  The Vikings went into their two-minute offence and Ponder dropped back to pass three times.  After a four yard pass to Michael Jenkins, the Colts would lock down on the next two plays forcing two incomplete passes, giving Luck enough time remaining to engineer the touchdown drive.  This was a major miscalculation by the Vikings.

If you get the ball with 2 minutes remaining deep in your own end of the field, you must move the ball.  You cannot afford the worse case scenario “three and out”, with two incomplete passes (plays that stop the clock), in that situation.  If you can’t get a first down and score points, you must run time off the clock and prevent your opponent from scoring.  Giving Luck a shot to put up another 7 points before half time was a key reason why the Wayne play was even possible.

Arizona Cardinals @ New England Patriots (5 yard False Start Penalty, Patriots): In the biggest upset of the week, the Patriots were beaten in their home opener by the Arizona Cardinals.  While many highlight shows will no doubt repeat the 42-yard Field Goal miss and point to it as the reason the Patriots were unable to complete the comeback, I want to look at a penalty the Patriots took just three plays earlier.

Down two points, with 46 seconds left the Patriots had the ball, first and ten, at the Arizona 18-yard line.  Tom Brady dropped back looking like he was going to throw a pass, but in a bit of misdirection it was really a draw play to Danny Woodhead.  The play call was brilliant, the blocking perfect, and the run by Woodhead was superb as he took it to the endzone.  It appeared that the Patriots had scored a touchdown and once again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, but wait just a second.  The play was called back on a false start by the Pats o-line.  This penalty not only nullified the touchdown, but also caused Gostkowski’s attempt to be five yards further away, and that much harder to make.  A dramatic example of how undisciplined play, and bad penalties cost teams football games, and was a mistake we rarely see the Patriots make. Belichick will be fuming.

New York Jets @ Pittsburgh Steelers (Incorrect Challenge with 6:27 to play):  With 6:27 to play in the fourth quarter and the Steelers up 20-10, Isaac Redman took a handoff from Ben Roethlisberger, narrowly avoided being tackled for a loss, and took the football on a first down run.  Jeremiah Bell of the Jets attempted to strip the ball the from Redman, and eventually got it out of his hands, but it was obvious to everyone watching the replay that Redman was on the ground and that no fumble had occurred.  Obvious to everyone except Rex Ryan who threw a challenge flag trying to overturn the call.  After a quick look in the replay booth the call on the field was confirmed and the Jets lost a timeout.  That timeout might have been valuable to the Jets in a comeback attempt, but it was not to be, and the Steelers rolled to an easy victory.

There you have a collection of plays that might not be on tomorrow’s highlight reel, but ultimately decided their respective games.  I’ll see you next Monday for more NFL Gamechangers.

Follow me on Twitter – @LastWordBKerr

Announcement: Last Word Radio Launch

Posted on by Ben Kerr

The team at LastWordOnSports is pleased to announce that we have expanded to include a series of radio shows.

These sport-specific shows will be slowly introduced in the coming weeks.  Each show will be hosted by one of our staff, and we are excited about the guests we have already lined-up for you.

Tonight Mike Kovacs and Ben Kerr launched the first ever Last Word radio program with a look at the day’s action in the NFL.    For those who missed it, you can hear a replay of our first show; “Last Word on the NFL” which was broadcast earlier tonight by clicking here.

And that’s the Last Word…..

Chael Sonnen: The Recipe for Success

Posted on by Mark Modeski

Chael Sonnen. Over the last few years he has been one of the most talked about fighters in the UFC, and generally not for all the right reasons. Chael has developed into a top-level fighter in the UFC, but what has stood out as a more interesting component of his game is his ability to talk up a fight. He has gone from being “gate-keeper” at best, to one of the top talents in two different divisions (one of which he has yet to even fight at).

On March 26th 2008, Chael Sonnen was coming off a less than inspiring win over WEC contender, Bryan Baker. It was a fight that would position the winner for a title shot at middleweight champ Paul Filho. Fliho was considered by many to be the future of the middleweight division, and the man who could beat the invincible Anderson Silva. To everyone’s surprise, Sonnen pulled off an upset victory over Filho, who seemed very distracted (“paranoid/delusional” comes to mind) throughout the fight. The impact of Sonnen’s win was marginalized as a result, as Filho appeared to have lost his mind during the fight.

So, when the WEC merged with the UFC and Sonnen entered the middleweight division, no one really gave him much of chance of being a high-level contender.

His first match-ups in the UFC lent credence to this point. In his first contest in the post-WEC era, he was set to match-up against up and comer Dan Miller. After a slow and boring fight, he managed to grind out the decision. In his next fight, he was given perennial contender Yushin Okami, and the result was much the same – slow, uneventful, but a win for Sonnen nonetheless. It was his next fight that would garner him some attention.

On February 6th, 2010 Sonnen was set to face Nate Marquardt – the winner would get a shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The fight was meant to set-up a re-match between Silva and Marquardt – but, again, Sonnen did not comply and pushed forward, winning the decision. It was the result very few wanted, yet for Sonnen, he had his title shot.

Little interest surrounded the main event at UFC 117. Sonnen’s fights had been less than inspiring, and recent Anderson Silva fights had been some of his least exciting to watch. UFC 117, however, ended up becoming legendary! Why? It all came from one side of the main event – Chael Sonnen’s.

Before a single punch or takedown had even taken place, a hype machine around UFC 117 had run away with the card. Sonnen did what very few fighters at the time had done effectively – he trashed his opponent and started to sound like he was convinced he had the recipe for success against the Spider. Of course he was mostly alone as few game him any chance to beat Silva before the fight was announced, but his full-court press on the media was starting to turn doubters into believers.

Many wanted to tune into the fight just to see Sonnen knocked out by Silva. Strangely, the complete opposite happened – Sonnen dominated the fight for four-and-a-half rounds! It wasn’t until a late fourth round triangle choke by the champ that we had a winner, but take nothing away from Chael – he backed his hype!  Creating pre-match hype is important in the UFC, but it’s irrelevant if you got and get a your ass handed to you.

Many fighters have followed Sonnen’s hype-machine style, but failed miserably. Why? Sonnen is not only quick on his feet, but he is so over-the-top and ridiculous, that people just want to see what he will say next. In his last fight he actually seemed to get under the cool, calm demenour of Anderson Silva – this combined with near victory in his last fight, made the event absolutely enormous (in terms of pay-per-view buys).

And that’s been his recipe – pushing every limit on what he will say, combined with results. Sounds simple? It’s not, and that’s why so many has failed. Trash-talking in of itself is a fine art (as any WWE fan will tell you), but being able to produce against a fighter like Anderson Silva, who many consider to be the best in the sport, is a whole new level of “wow”.

This is also part of the reason that Sonnen was given the opportunity to take on light heavyweight champ Jon Jones in a fill-in position against Dan Henderson. Dana White knew that Sonnen could step-up in a hurry, hype up the fight in a few weeks to levels that had yet to be seen with that card and still put on an impressive performance against Jones.

Love him or hate him, every time you will tune in to watch him. Not only because you love to hate him, but because you know that he actually has a legitimate chance of putting together a victory against any fighter he is given. If he can beat, well almost beat, Silva, he can probably almost beat pretty much anyone!

… and that is the last word.

The Biggest Surprises of the 2012 MLB Season – AL Edition

Posted on by Mark Modeski

I’ve been watching baseball for a lot of years, and I have to say of all the seasons that I have been privileged enough to follow, this one is classified as one of the more surprising ones – on many different levels.

Below is my rundown of some of the more shocking moments of the season in the American League thus far:

1.  The Baltimore Orioles: For all intents and purposes on paper this team should be in the bottom two within their division. There is a lot of steady talent on the team, but there isn’t a lot of superstar talent. As it stands right now, they are battling it out for the New York Yankees (the team with the highest payroll in the league), for the first place in the AL East.

What has been the key ingredient for their success? I think there are a lot of factors that come into play, but my sense is that Buck Showalter is a key ingredient to the success of this team. A strong coach can make all the difference, and Buck has a tendency to turn teams around into solid division contenders (as he has done with both the Yankees and Diamondbacks in the past.) Next season will be truly telling as to whether or not he can maintain this momentum, or if it was a flash in the pan.

2. Mike Trout: Has been nothing short of spectacular all season, and I think this fact has been overlooked by many watchers and pros alike. For a new player to come into the league and feel so comfortable – especially on a team that is stacked with superstars. Trout seems poised to bring home both the MVP award and Rookie of the Year honour in the same season – a feat that hasn’t been achieved in its truest sense since Fred Lynn in 1975 (Ichiro Suzuki did accomplish this, but he already came in to the majors an experienced player).

3. Wrong Blue Jay in the Home Run Race: At the beginning of the season, it was pretty much assumed that Jose Bautista would be near the top of the pack for the AL home run tally; and after a bit of a slow start, this seemed to be holding true. After Bautista suffered a wrist injury, Edwin Encarnacion (who was having a great season in his own right), stepped in as the team slugger. As it stands right now, Encarnacion is second in the league for home runs (with 40) only two behind stalwart Josh Hamilton. Where did this guy come from?

4. The Oakland A’s(wesome)! Much like Baltimore, many baseball aficionados didn’t give the A’s much of a chance this season going into April. However, the A’s have been taking down all the big boys in the league, and in a division that was to be owned by Texas or Anaheim, Oakland has been maintaining a comfortable playoff spot for most of the season – flip-flopping with Texas for the division league, or staying atop the Wild Card rankings.

5. Ichiro Suzuki a Yankee: If there is any one team that has the ire of non-fans in major league baseball, it’s the New York Yankees. For year George Steinbrunner made it his mission to spend as much as possible to build an impossible to beat baseball machine. To-date the Yankees have had one of the most bolstered roster’s in the league. Every time there is a big name free agent on the market, it’s a guarantee that the Yank’s are going to make a strong bid. So, while it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Yankees would make a run at Ichiro, what is more surprising is that the Mariners would give up one of their franchise and fan favourite players – it would be like when the Oilers traded Gretzky, total blind side.

And there you have it for the American League to date.  I’m sure we’ll get some more surprising and exciting stories in the weeks to come as we head towards the playoffs, but in the meantime, I’ll take a look at some of the more surprising National League stories later in the week.

… and that is the last word.

What We Learned In College, Week 3

Posted on by Lindsay Higgins

As expected, things got much more interesting in NCAA football this week. The handful of dud games were easily overlooked in favor of several exciting matchups and upsets. My Sunday morning thoughts:

-Nice job on the picks this week, me. Way to overrate the Spartans’ D and underrate Notre Dame completely. Ugh.

-What the hell is going on with Arkansas? I thought they had an outside shot at winning the SEC West, and I know I wasn’t alone in that. Don’t get me wrong, losing to Alabama isn’t anything to be ashamed of, and I know the Hogs were missing some starters. But 52-0?

-Speaking of the SEC West, after upsetting Arkansas last week, Louisiana-Monroe nearly made in two in a row against arguably the toughest division in college football. Auburn needed an OT field goal to avoid starting the season 0-3. Louisiana-Monroe plays in the non-BCS Sun Belt Conference. It’s been that kind of season.

-Tennessee lost to Florida, but they hung in there and played a good game through three quarters. After a handful of disasterous seasons, I think the Vols are on their way back to respectability and relevance.

-Stanford doesn’t seem to be missing what’s-his-face, that Andrew guy, too much. Is USC still in the national championship picture?

-Some major scares this week: Wisconsin nearly went down to Utah State, which would have resulted in a 1-2 start for the Badgers; Ohio State played a game against Cal that was probably way too close for comfort for the Buckeye faithful (Ohio State won by a TD), and of couse there was the aforementioned Auburn OT win. Fun stuff, as long as it’s not your favored team being threatened with a loss.

-Then there was an actual upset: Western Kentucky using some “trickeration” on a two-point conversion to beat Kentucky. That red blob thing that is Western Kentucky’s mascot must have been happy.

-Another upset: Pitt- which lost to FCS Youngstown State in Week 1- beat #13 Virginia Tech. Go figure.

-One other notable loss, albeit not on the scoreboard: South Carolina QB Connor Shaw re-injured his shoulder in a rout of Alabama-Birmingham. With SEC play starting next week, that’s a situation to keep an eye on.

Feel free to add your thoughts below and follow me on twitter @LastWordLindsay

NHL Last Minute Signings: Hypocrisy or Smart Business?

Posted on by Ben Kerr

As the clock clicks down towards an NHL lockout, we have seen a number of big money last minute NHL signings and contract extensions.  NHL Owners have thrown around money like its going out of style, and with given the owner’s offers in these CBA negotiations perhaps they are.

We’ve heard Gary Bettman say over and over again how the NHL owners need the players to take less money.  He has repeatedly said that the league is paying out too much in salary, and that we are headed for this lockout because we need a reset.  The financial instability of small market teams, and the overpayment of players has been his repeated talking points.

Big money contracts are being handed out to players all over the league.  Alex Semin got 7 million per season from the Carolina Hurricanes.  John Carlson, Kari Lehtonen, Milan Lucic, and Alex Burrows all signed long term big money deals in just the last two days.  Even depth players like Carlo Coliacovo, and Justin Abdelkader are getting paid.  Heck, Greg Jamieson has still not officially bought the Phoenix Coyotes, they are owned by the league as of today, and yet yesterday we saw them hand a 4 year, $21.2 million contract to Shane Doan.   Overall we’ve seen close to a billion dollars in salary commitments made to NHL players this summer.

Bettman and the owners have also harped on long term contracts, and have stated that they would like a five year contract limit on future deals.  Yet since July 1st eleven teams, or over one-third of the league, have signed 16 players to contracts or contract extensions of 6 or more years.  And its not just big market clubs, we see small market owners like Craig Leipold in Minnesota (Zach Parise, Ryan Suter) giving out crazy contracts; we have seen the Nashville Predators match an offer sheet to Shea Weber, we have seen the Carolina Hurricanes give long term deals to Jeff Skinner and Jordan Staal.  Even the owners who are known as “hawks” and are the most visible and most vocal in their desire to break the union and reduce player salaries have gotten involved.  Traditional hardliners like Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers (Wayne Simmonds, Scott Hartnell) and Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins (Tyler Seguin) have handed out multiple 6 year deals in recent weeks.

Another target of NHL owners has been the three year Entry Level Contract system.  And yet we’ve seen the great majority of first round draft picks from the 2012 draft sign their ELCs this summer.  Teams easily could have had their prospects wait and sign ELCs under the new CBA and the new system, whatever that will be.  This is one area where surely the owners will be able to restrict players rights, and ELCs will be more favorable to teams.  Its always the way in labour negotiations, whether it be the last NHL lockout, the MLB negotiation, the NBA’s recent lockout and the NFL’s recent lockout, the rules for signing newly drafted players are almost always restricted.  Its one rule change that can benefit owners and that doesn’t effect any voting members of the Players Association, and so it is easy for the players to give it up in order to get concessions from the owners in other areas.  Yet despite the fact that we will surely see more favorable ELC rules in the new CBA, teams are signing their prospects now.

I guess the question has to be asked, if this system is so bad for the owners.  If this system is broken and contracts under it are causing the owners to lose so much money why are the same owners (including the small market owners, the hawks, and the league itself) so quick to keep signing up these players under this same CBA.  Why not wait a few months for the new system?  Is this a sign of owner dissension? Is it a sign of owner hypocrisy?  Or is it just good business to get these contracts done now while they still can?

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