2012 - Page 63 of 114 - Last Word On Sports

AC Milan Firesale Ushers in New Era of Star-less Serie A

Posted on July 15, 2012November 5, 2021 by Frank Giuliano

It was reported yesterday that AC Milan reached an agreement with Paris Saint-Germain for Thiago Silva who will soon be joined by teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a combined profit of €62 million (€42 million for the Brazilian defender and €20 million for the Swedish sensation). The French outfit had been after these two players for a while now but Silvio Berlusconi always rejected PSG’s offers.

It seemed that nothing would be done especially when Berlusconi pulled the plug on a deal earlier this summer worth €47million for the Brazilian international. He was labeled a hero knowing that his beloved Milan were in the red causing the former Prime Minister to close the club’s large deficit out of his own pocket. Now, the combination of an aging team (those many players who formed the victorious old guard such as Seedorf, Nesta, Gattuso who have all left the club), the duty to rejuvenate the side and with Italy’s economic crisis in full effect, it’s now time to sell some of Serie A’s stars in order to make ends meet. PSG had already stripped Serie A of talented youngsters such as Javier Pastore, Salvatore Sirigu, Sissoko (not that talented), as well as recently stealing Ezequiel Lavezzi away from Napoli.

My opinion: Ibra at the age of 31 is a good sale. The man will not be getting better at this age and it was the right move to make at the right time. Berlusconi can replace the powerful Swede with the likes of Manchester City strikers Edin Dzeko or Calos Tevez who was being linked with a move to the San Siro in January, or even the unproven Andy Carrol of Liverpool. Thiago silva, on the other hand, is irreplaceable. Currently dubbed as the world’s best central defender, it will be very tough for Milan to replace him for the price they will be willing to pay. I really hoped they could have held on to the 27 year old Thiago Silva for a few more years.

The news for the Rossoneri faithful isn’t getting any better as reports today suggest that even Robinho could also be on the chopping block. The Diavolo patron will consider giving away the Brazilian should an offer of at least €15million be tabled.

With the sales of Ibra and Thiago Silva, AC Milan will save €170 million on wages and transfer fees on these two players alone. The financial crisis in Italy has taken a toll on the Serie A as Italian club owners are struggling to compete with these sheiks who I believe do not understand soccer and spend their money like its candy.

The only positive coming out of this major issue is that maybe it’s time to use and develop young talent from the youth teams which will in turn help the national team stay competitive. This will inevitably cause Italian clubs to suffer in European competitions for some time but hopefully the Italians will be able to reap the benefits once these players are a little older (just like Barcelona did). But, this is a different issue for a different day.

Here are a few names that the Serie A has lost since the crisis began two years ago: Mario Balotelli, Ezeguiel Lavezzi, Thiago Motta, Domenico Criscito, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Samuel Eto’o, Javier Pastore, Alberto Aquiliani, young Italian international and Fabio Borini.

…and that’s the last word.

NFL's Dirty South: New Orleans Saints, Division Champs Try to Repeat Despite Offseason Turmoil

Posted on July 14, 2012November 5, 2021 by Ben Kerr

Breaking down the NFL …one team at a time. First up, the New Orleans Saints.

A while back I used to work with an NFL junkie. He was a big Bears fan but he was really interested in every team in the league. When a new season would roll around he would be happy to share his opinion on every team in the league and who was going to take down their division – except when it came to the NFC South.

This division, he said, was impossible to predict. He claimed that after watching the division for a few years he had learned to stay away, and he didn’t even bother with predictions for these teams. He even gave the division a nickname – the “Dirty South”, he called it.

With ten years of Dirty South play now in the history books it seems that his analysis was spot-on – it is the only division that has never had a back-to-back winner. They are also only one of three divisions that have had every team win the division title and the only one to have every team win at least twice.

Beyond that a team has gone worst-to-first in five of a possible nine seasons, since the first season since divisional realignment cannot count. And prior to the last three years when New Orleans (two division titles) and Atlanta (one) have emerged to take control of the division it was a team from the bottom two of the division the previous season that won the title the following year.

If you had followed the theory of the Dirty South over the past ten years you probably would have saved yourself a lot of headaches trying to foresee the next division winner. So with everything that has taken place this offseason does anyone believe that the New Orleans Saints are a lock to take the division crown again after a record-setting offense led them to a 13-3 record last season? We will take a look at each team in the division and see if anyone has what it takes to unseat the champs.

Champs: New Orleans Saints

Even before factoring in any off-field activity we have to look at the fact that it will be almost impossible for the Saints to be as good as they were last year. They went 13-3 last year, which not only means they were a spectacular team but like every 13-3 team they were fortunate to have a few bounces go their way, and dealt with few injuries. Beyond that the team the Saints return with in 2012 is missing some key players from the 2011 squad.

Carl Nicks, potentially the best guard in the NFL, has moved on to Tampa Bay. Cornerback Tracy Porter has signed with Denver – while he may not have had his best season he leaves the New Orleans secondary depth precariously thin. The offense took another hit when losing Robert Meachem to the Chargers. While not their most important offensive player he was a preferred target for a team that likes to spread it around. With the loss of Porter and the suspensions of Jonathan Vilma (season) and Will Smith (four games), you could argue the Saints will be without their three most important defensive players for atleast part of the season.

Who are the replacements for these losses? Ben Grubbs should be able to cover for Carl Nicks at guard without the line falling apart and Curtis Lofton lifted from Atlanta is a solid player who can fill in for Vilma. Beyond that the Saints have to make due with unheralded signings and in-house replacements. That job becomes even tougher when you factor in last year’s first round pick, defensive end Cameron Jordan, who recorded only one sack in 2011. Also consider that the Saints as a result of a previous trade as well as serving a penalty for the bounty scandal, did not make a selection until the 3rd round in this year’s entry draft.

So basically you are getting the 2011 Saints only a little bit worse.

Should be no problem, right? I wouldn’t say that. This is a team built upon offensive dominance. That dominance comes primarily from two sources: perennial MVP candidate Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton. The Saints wisely gave Brees the long-term contract he sought this weekend so only one of these gentlemen will have nothing to do with the franchise for the entire 2012 season. But Sean Payton has already developed the organization and the offensive philosophy, so it should be no problem for his assistants to keep it going for just one year, right? No, not so fast.

Every year in the NFL is a new one. The Saints were strong performers in 2010 and 2011 but they did not necessarily begin the season that way. In 2010 the Saints were 3-3 before going 7-2 down the stretch to earn a playoff birth. Last season the Saints started a respectable 5-3 and finished with a dominant 8-0. The fact is that no teams starts off the NFL season as finishes – teams morph and develop. You have to grow and adapt as the season goes along. For this task it is best to have an experienced, well-prepared head coach. The Saints had one of the best. Now they will be relying on an interim coach who only gets to be there for ten games since he happens to be suspended for the first six. This team also has to integrate a new defensive co-ordinator who excelled when he coached one of the best defensive lines in football history (2007 New York Giants – Strahan, Umenyora, Tuck) and did the opposite of excel when he coached elsewhere (2010-2011 Rams).

While the Saints may appear dominant after last season, their hold on the division is tenuous. The rest of the division has certainly improved and the #1 challenger is right on their heels. Over the last two year’s the Saints have a 3-1 advantage over Atlanta in head-to-head play but the contests have been the definition of close. Two games went to OT with a third being decided by three points. Only late in the season last year, when the Saints were truly rolling, were they able to earn a decisive victory. If you simply replace last year’s wins over Atlanta with two losses you have a different division champ without changing anything else. And for the Saints a lot has changed.

Check back tomorrow as we break down the NFC South’s #1 Contender…

Why Simon Whitfield is the Perfect Choice to Lead Canada to London

Posted on July 14, 2012November 5, 2021 by Greg Persson

A 1.5 kilometer swim, a 40 kilometer bike ride and a 10 kilometer run to the finish.

In September of 2000 in Sydney, Australia, in 30+ degree temperatures, one of the most grueling events in the history of sport made its Olympic debut: The Triathlon. It was Day 3 and with the women’s race completed the day before it was time for the men to hit the water. After a relatively uneventful swim the athletes took to the bikes and a 14-man crash soon ensued claiming among others a skinny, 5’10, 25-year old Canadian by the name of Simon Whitfield.

Whitfield had represented Canada proudly at the Pan-American games in Winnipeg taking a bronze medal the year before and was expected to place well in the inaugural Olympic race. A crash of this magnitude, however, seemed to be an insurmountable setback. Simon knew that though he was down, there was still a lot of race left to run and his running, in particular, was very strong so up he got to begin the chase.

By the start of the 10 km run Simon was 24^th, but still well-within striking distance. As the run progressed, Whitfield chased down the competition one-by-one as favorite after favorite began to succumb to the Sydney sun. With 200 meters left in the race, Simon was in medal position and began to make his final move on the powerful German, Stephan Vuckovic. A spectacular sprint saw Simon leave Vuckovic in the dust on the home stretch and become the first man to break the tape at an Olympic triathlon. At 1 hour, 48 minutes and 24.2 seconds, Whitfield to this day has the fastest triathlon time ever recorded at the Olympics. He was honored as the official Canadian flag bearer at the closing ceremonies in Sydney.

In 2008 in Beijing, Simon returned to the Olympics after placing 11^th in 2004. At 32, Whitfield was not considered one of the favorites and many would say that the 2000 Olympic gold medal would be sufficient for his Olympic legacy. However, Simon came into Beijing on a mission. He would have to brave some of the hottest temperatures and poorest air conditions in order to succeed.

Whitfield again was fairly far back going into the run, but just as in 2000 he reeled in his competition slowly but surely, and going into the final stretch he found himself in 4^th place, only 10 meters behind the top three. It was time for Simon to go into his trademark sprint finish. He threw his hat aside as if he was releasing a 50 pound weight from his back and began to charge. He managed to overcome two of his three competitors but fell just short of Germany’s Jan Frodeno and wound up capturing the silver medal to add to his gold from eight years prior. I would recommend to anyone who has not seen Whitfield’s 2008 finish, to check it out as it is one of the finest Olympic performances you will see.

As the most decorated athlete in one of the toughest sports at the Olympics, Simon Whitfield as a representative for Canada, demonstrates the kind of “down, but not out” spirit that every Canadian can be proud of. For that reason, he was chosen to carry the Maple Leaf into London 2012, which will likely be his final Olympics. In my opinion, he is one of the greatest athletes our nation has produced and it will be wonderful to see him compete in London and attempt to reach the podium for a third time. Though I would love to see him earn a second gold, completing the set with a bronze would be a fitting way to cap his Olympic career off as well.

However he finishes, he will carry Canada’s flag proudly into the Olympic Stadium as one of our finest athletes and hopefully pass the torch to future generations of strong, tough and classy Canadian ironmen and women.

…and that is the Last Word.

What is Jermain Defoe's Worth?

Posted on July 14, 2012November 5, 2021 by Michael Kovacs, ADMIN

Morning, all. Admittedly I feel a little rushed with so much to get done today, I hope I do this story some justice. I am off in just a while to coach my three-year old’s football match. Watching the little tykes play brings back so many memories… Right, well, stay with me for a bit.

In today’s rather mundane news (in comparison to the soap opera surrounding that Chelsea centerback “what’s his face” finally concluding), Jermain Defoe has been slapped with an £8 price tag according to the bigwigs at Spurs. As painful as it is to admit that anything the Spurs do is in any way positive, actually I think they got it pretty close to a proper asking price. Surprised? I am.

It is no secret that Spurs are trying make Emmanuel Adebayor a permanent fixture at White Hart Lane. Therefore, Defoe has reason to believe he will be second fiddle to the lanky loan player from Manchester (City). The 29-year old is seeking more playing time, and with a valid reason. As a player reaches his late-20’s, he is looking for his final “big” pay-day as this is most likely time to sign a long-term deal worth the most money. It isn’t always the case as there are certainly players who sign for big money in their mid-20’s and also in their early-mid 30’s, but let’s just stay with the odds, shall we? And the odds are that a player at Defoe’s age has one more shot at a big pay-day. Therefore, if he rides the bench all season behind E.A., then how can he improve his own worth? That’s rhetorical.

Apparently both QPR and Reading, both of whom have a firm grip on 17th through 20th spot all but sealed, are hoping to woo Mr. Defoe from his home in North London. Well, it’s not Defoe they have to convince, but you get the idea. Going back and forth between the two, I think QPR the more likely stop for J.D. I think they have the desire to add a player of Defoe’s experience, yet believe he is young enough to contribute starting minutes – which, by the way, would suit Defoe just fine, thank you very much!

Right,I did tell you I am pressed for time – sorry ’bout that.

…until tomorrow, lads.

Two Left Cleats is a blog that follows England’s National Team players throughout the Premier League season

NHL CBA: League's first offer to the Player's is an Insult

Posted on July 13, 2012November 4, 2021 by Ben Kerr

Renaud Lavoie of RDS has reported on the league’s initial offer to the players in CBA negotiations (link is in French). Now I realize that negotiation is a process, and you start out asking for the moon and settle somewhere in the middle. However this 5 part offer is quite frankly an insulting one. If the NHL takes a hardline stance on these issues, we can expect another long and protracted lockout and that clearly won’t be good for the game. Lets examine this 5 part proposal and what it would mean.

1) The Players share of revenues reduced to 46% from 57%.

This would lead to a a 19.29% drop in player salaries immediately. Very similar to the 24% rollback the players took in the 2006 agreement. While the players probably wont stay at 57% after seeing the NFL and NBA CBAs reach agreements that are much closer to 50%, such a drastic move is out of line and unnecessary IMO. This is a league whose revenues have nearly doubled since the last CBA was signed. With all these revenues coming in, I have a hard time believing the League’s claims that teams are in such financial trouble. In a multi billion dollar business with player costs set at 57% there is no reason that they can not create a healthy economic environment for every team. If certain teams can not survive in this climate, perhaps they are in the wrong markets, or perhaps the league should institute better revenue sharing from the big market clubs to the small market ones.

I have a hard time believing that the small market teams cannot survive when we see the Minnesota Wild drop 196 million on two players just a couple weeks ago. Or last summer watching the Buffalo Sabres spending spree. Or the Columbus Blue Jackets last summer. Or watching the Devils drop a mega contract on Kovalchuk. Or the Tampa Bay Lightning’s spending spree in 2009. Or Florida’s last season. Or Carolina having both Staal brothers on massive deals. And on and on and on. These owners are smart business men, no one is holding a gun to their head with these contracts, and yet

We see big market teams like the Leafs paying Jeff Finger in the minors, or New York paying Wade Redden in the minors, or the Blackhawks paying Cristobal Huet in Europe, or the Capitals paying Michael Nylander in Europe. All moves that were made during the lockout. All moves that were made to clear cap space so these teams could go out and spend even more money.

To illustrate how big of a move this is. It would result in the NHL’s salary cap dropping from 70.2 million, to a number in the 58 million dollar range. Such a huge drop would put the new cap barely above the current NHL salary floor.

Update: Larry Brooks of the New York Post is suggesting that there would also be major changes to what is included in Hockey Related Revenue. With such major changes, this could mean that the net effect is even greater than a 19.29% hit to the players. Without knowing the exact details the numbers are unknown at this time.

However this isn’t the biggest issue. The next two issues are the big ones.

2) Players would need 10 years of service to become Unrestricted Free Agents.
3) Arbitration would be eliminated
4) ELCs to be 5 years instead of 3 years in length.

Basically these three moves in tandem would seriously depress salaries of guys under the age of 30.

Extending the ELC would mean that young players would be getting around 1 million dollars in base salary for a lot longer.

The extension of RFA years, coupled with the elimination of salary arbitration would create a huge number of RFAs while at the same time completely eliminating the bargaining power of those RFA players. We all know that the league’s GMs loathe offer sheets and just do not use them. The removal of arbitration rights would take away almost all the bargaining power of an RFA. If a team lowballs an RFA, he will be stuck with three options… 1) Hold out for a better deal, 2) see what you can get in Europe 3) sign the lowball offer.

These clauses are quite simply things the players cannot possibly even consider accepting.

Which brings us to the 5th Request of the NHL

5) A five year max contract length

While I certainly think that something will be done to limit the long term contracts we are seeing in the NHL, I think this is going a little too far. 5 year contract limits are just another limit on the bargaining power of players under the CBA. I’m of the belief that if a GM is willing to take the risk with a long term deal, no one should be able to stop him. And if a star player is willing to commit to spend the rest of his career in one city, he should also be able to do so.

Update: Larry Brooks is also stating that all contracts must be for the same amount in every year. They can not be front-loaded or backloaded in any way… even if its just something done for tax reasons.

Now sure, we don’t want the players and teams circumventing the cap with long term deals that feature low salaries in the final years where players retire and never play them out, but there is an easier way to deal with this. Quite simply set up a system that works in a similar way to a buyout, where even if a player retires, his entire cap hit does not disappear, but the team must make up for a portion of the deal.

What do I have in mind?

Lets say a player has the following contract… 7 years, 49 million (7 million dollar per year cap hit).
It is structured as follows. 10 million 10 million 9 million, 9 million, 5 million, 4 million, 2 million.

If a player retires before year 7, his team has saved 5 million in cap hits during the first 6 years due to the structure of the contract… (Ie they paid out 47 million in salary, but only took 42 million in cap hits in those 6 years). As a result in year 7, they take on a 5 million dollar cap hit if the player retires.

This would be a deterrent to the mega contracts with clear “retirement years” at the end and would allow teams to still be able to lock up a good young player for the rest of his career.

Overall this proposal is one I see the players being adamantly opposed to, and I see it being rejected. Like I said earlier, yes its an opening proposal, and the league is asking for more than they will end up settling for. However this opening position is so far out there, it is such a ridiculous request that it carries with it real danger of creating animosity in the process. I feel that while the league obviously should be opening here with an offer that is in its favour, it should also be a realistic offer. Something that creates some starting points and areas where movement would be meaningful towards a resolution. This is such a lowball offer that it doesn’t provide for that.

Now I know what many will say. The players are overpaid, and that they are playing a game, and they don’t deserve this money. But lets remember a few things. This is a battle of billionaires, and hundred millionaires owners vs the Players. This is not a battle of the common fan vs the players. The last lockout should have proved to everyone that even if player salaries drop, ticket prices will not follow. In fact one of the reasons the cap keeps growing is the continued inflation of ticket prices. So even if the owners get lower salaries, they will still continue to raise prices and it will just mean more money in their pocket.

What do you think about this? Feel free to leave your comments and follow me on twitter @LastWordBKerr.

Penn State Failed In Every Way Possible

Posted on July 13, 2012November 5, 2021 by Lindsay Higgins

Growing up, I figure skated competitively. While I was in college, I became good friends with “M” and “K”. They were pairs skaters. M was my age; he and I shared a bizarre sense of humor and became close friends very quickly. K was five years younger, but the three of us hung around together a lot and had a lot of fun. Their coach, “R”, liked me and thought I was a good influence on them. I knew he had been accused of inappropriate behavior with a couple of students at his previous two coaching stops (at the time the previous one took place, I had actually been skating and working at the same rink), but figure skating is very, very gossipy – I took rumors like that with a huge grain of salt.

M and K moved several states away to train in 2005. About a year later, there was a blurb in our local paper saying that K and another of R’s students, a girl I had known for years, had filed sexual harassment charges against R. My immediate reaction? Guilt. I was a girl, I was older, I was with them every day – how I had I not known what was going on? I remembered a couple of odd verbal exchanges between K and R that I had chalked up to K being a teenage girl, and a strange incident with a video camera on the ice. I thought, “I should have known”. I carried that guilt for a long time.

At nearly 31 years old, I’m easier on myself. I know that pedophiles go out of their way to appear normal and likeable in front of others. I’m sure the true harassment occurred in locker rooms, at competitions, and other times when M and I weren’t around. I assume now that the times R went out of his way to be nice to me – giving me coaching advice, not letting me pay for ice time, praising how hard I worked – were his way of making sure that I wouldn’t believe K if she said anything to me. I also know that, while I thought I was an adult at 20 years old, I wasn’t. I still wish I had known what was happening, or that I had at least been suspicious enough to ask K if everything was all right, but it wasn’t unreasonable of me not to when I was barely more than a teenager myself.

The people named in the Penn State report, however, are not teenagers. They are adults who are supposed to protect children, and they chose instead to protect themselves and their institution. The timeline in the Freeh report makes it clear how many times various university officials dropped the ball with regards to preventing future inappropriate behavior by Jerry Sandusky.

” Before May 1998: Several staff members and football coaches regularly observed Sandusky showering with young boys… none of the individuals notified their superiors of this behavior.”

Really? No one thought this completely inappropriate? It is an incredible violation in itself.

The mother of one of Sandusky’s victims reported to the Department of Public Welfare that he was assaulted on May 3, 1998.

“Spanier, Schultz, Paterno, and Curley did not even speak to Sandusky about his conduct May 3, 1998.” So no one even thought it was important to ask Sandusky if he did it? And even if he denied it, still no one thought to mention that showering with minors was a bad idea?

“…Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley still took no action to limit Sandusky’s access to Penn State facilities or took any measures to protect children on their campuses.”

I’m starting to see a pattern here.

“On… February 9, 2001, University graduate assistant Michael McQueary observed Sandusky involved in sexual activity with a boy in the coaches’ shower room… McQueary met with and reported the incident to Paterno (the next day). Paterno did not immediately report what McQueary told him, explaining that he did not want to interfere with anybody’s weekend. ”

I honestly have nothing to even add to that. Stupidity stands by itself in this situation.

It took another month before Tim Curley FINALLY realized that Jerry Sandusky probably should not be allowed to have children on campus with him. Sandusky somehow gets the idea that this prohibition only applies to locker rooms.

I could go on, but I hope I don’t need to. How is it that I beat myself up for not intuiting as a 20-year-old that my friend was being abused, while these adults repeatedly turned a blind eye to evidence right under their noses and failed to so much as tell this man that he was not to shower with 10-year-olds?

It’s high time the NCAA comes up with rules and regulations regarding interaction with minors on campus, including during summer camps. If they have those rules, they’re not stringent enough. Priority number one: anyone working with children on campus MUST read and sign a copy of that state’s mandatory reporter law. If there are states out there without such a law (and I hope that’s not the case), the university needs to have as its policy that failure to report abuse or suspected abuse of a child is grounds for termination.

On the topic of rules, regulations, and the NCAA, I am in favor of Penn State receiving the death penalty from the NCAA, though I’m not at all convinced it will happen. I don’t know that any NCAA rules were broken. I believe the PSU players should be allowed to transfer without sitting out a season as is usually required when changing schools, because in this instance it’s not the players who failed to live up to moral and legal obligations. It’s the so-called “adults”.

*The Clery Act basically states that any school receiving federal funding is required to make timely and accurate reports of any crimes on campus so that accurate crime statistics can be compiled. It’s on page 112 of the Freeh report if you’d like to read the whole thing.

The Finnish Flash is Back Again

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Ben Kerr

Teemu Selanne has signed on to play at least one more year for the Anaheim Ducks. He agreed to a one year contract worth $4.5 million. This is great news not just for Ducks fans, but for all hockey fans.

Selanne is one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best goal scorers of all-time. I still remember when in 1992-93, he was a rookie who took the NHL by storm. He scored 76 goals and 132 points that year easily winning the Calder Trophy and shattering the existing records for rookie goals and rookie points in a season. When Selanne scored his 54th goal that season, breaking the rookie record of 53 that was previously held by Mike Bossy, he threw his glove into the air and shot it down machine gun style. The celebration was one of the most memorable in NHL history. I’ve included a youtube video of it below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0kXZaGl7v0

Selanne has followed that up with an outstanding career, and is a first ballot hall of famer. He has 4 seasons of over 100 points, and 3 seasons of over 50 goals, while playing the prime years of his career in the dead puck era. He is 12th all-time with 663 career goals, and 19th all time with 1406 career points. Selanne has already passed Jari Kurri’s career points and goals totals and is the highest scoring Finnish born player in NHL history.

There are two big targets that should be in Selanne’s sights as he enters the 2012-13 season. Teemu is just 5 goals behind Luc Robitaille for 10th all time in goal scoring (and 2 behind the also returning Jaromir Jagr). A strong season could also get Selanne into the top 15 all time in points, as he is just 19 points behind Bryan Trottier who holds that spot (with Dale Hawerchuk, Doug Gilmour, and Adam Oates bunched together at 18, 17, and 16th respectively).

Selanne seems to be aging like a Fine Wine, and his production is not slowing down. Last season Selanne scored 66 points, the 2nd most ever by a 41 year old player. Only Gordie Howe ever scored more points at the same age.

Teemu Selanne returns to the Ducks, a team he has played for in 13 seasons of his 20 year NHL career. He was a key leader of the 2007 Ducks squad that won the Stanley Cup, and is Anaheim’s most recognizable and marketable star. It is a big boost to the Ducks both on and off the ice to get Selanne back. It is expected that Selanne will once again anchor the Ducks second line, and play with good friend and countryman Saku Koivu.

We all know that Selanne won’t play forever, but we as hockey fans should be grateful we get to watch Selanne for one more year. He’s a special player, and one that I’m sure I’ll be telling my grandchildren about one day.

Feel free to leave your comments below and follow me on twitter @LastWordBKerr

The Prince of Wales Stakes 2012 Edition

Posted on July 13, 2012January 8, 2021 by Dwayne Edwards

Sunday, July 15th, is the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie Race Track. This event brings thousands of people to the border oval and the top three-year-old racehorses in Canada. Ron Turcotte was on hand for the draw on Wednesday and the post positions for the race were determined as follows:

Post / Horse / Trainer / Jockey M/L / Odds

1 Classic Bryce, Darwin Banach, Todd Kabel 12-1
2 Ultimate Destiny, Mike Keogh, Steven Bahen 8-1
3 Dead On, Malcolm Pierce, Emma-Jayne Wilson 10-1
4 Dixie Strike, Mark Casse, Patrick Husbands 3-1
5 Menlo Castle, Ralph Biamonte, Omar Moreno 15-1
6 Irish Mission, Mark Frostad, Alex Solis 5-2
7 Run in Aruba, Ralph Biamonte, Jermaine Bridgmohan 20-1
8 Quaesitor, Ian Howard, Slade Callaghan 8-1
9 Colleen’s Sailor, Roger Attfield, Corey Nakatani 4-1

This year’s POW has a new look to it – from the fillies’ view! Dance Smartly won this race en route to the triple crown in 1991, but never to the best of my memory has the top-two choices both been girls. Irish Mission and Dixie Strike top the morning line choices in this year’s POW and both are fillies.

With the Queen’s Plate winner, Strait of Dover, choosing not to make the trip back to the dirt course, which is probably smart seeing as he has had zero success so far, leaves a wide-open race. Inconsistent horses and the two favorites being fillies lead me to believe that we could have a good payout.

My long-shot pick in here is going to be dead on – I hope. Conveniently the horse I am going with is the aptly-named Dead On. Seems fitting, no? Dead On, trained by Malcolm Pierce, wintered in Florida where he ran a nice second in an Allowance race, which was obviously not for Ontario-breds. The Fairgrounds is a dirt racecourse similar to Fort Erie that has very stiff competition for American Bred horses, which makes me believe he is able to run against the tougher competition on the dirt than the Polytrack.

Rounding out my top three picks are Irish Mission, who has been blazing a storm on the dirt training track in the morning, and Quaesitor, which I’m hoping Stein comes down to ride.

It will be an exciting day at the races with fancy hats, lots of people, big purses, and as always that dream of hitting big at the mutuals. Best of luck to those who decide to make the races “interesting”.

Cam Janssen: Douchebag Extraordinaire (Rant and Foul Language Warning)

Posted on July 12, 2012November 5, 2021 by Ben Kerr

Cam Janssen did a radio show today and showed what a vile, despicable, disgusting human being he really is. The man is lucky he is able to skate and fight, and he really does neither of those well. Want proof? He was a regular healthy scratch for the Devils in the playoffs, and as a fighter had only two wins in nine fights last season. Moron.

Let’s examine what he said on the show in question (which is vile and disgusting and we at LWOS won’t give publicity to by mentioning its name) and critique two of Janssen’s quotes.

Janssen told the hosts that he intentionally tries to hurt opponents with body checks, specifically by targeting an opponents head when he sees them skating with his head down. In fact here is the exact quote:

“But you wanna be scary. You wanna put the fear of f***in’ God in people’s eyes, and not just, ‘Oh, I’m gonna beat you up’ — no, ‘I’m gonna catch you with your f***in’ head down and hurt you because you’re not gonna know I’m comin’ because I know how to hit.’ Fighting guys is one thing because I know, ‘Oh, I won’t fight you. I’ll just turtle.’ Whatever. But if you have the puck and you know how to hit and you can hurt guys with hits like I know how to do, that’s what puts the fear of God into people.”‘

With all we know about concussions, and the effects they have not only on players’ careers, but on their lives post-hockey, Cam Janssen goes out there and attempts to injure other players and cause concussions. In an era where we’ve discussed ad nausea the dangers of headshots, he openly admits that one of his goals on the ice is to dish them out. That and that he’s trying to end guy’s careers and effect their quality of life.

Is he throwing body checks to separate an opponent from the puck? No, he is openly going out there and attempting to “hurt guys with hits” like he knows how to do. Never mind the fact that the headshots he is referring to are not clean hits, but are now illegal under the NHL rules, as is the blatant intent to injure that he is admitting to.

I ask the question, how is this attitude different from the New Orleans Saints “Bounty-gate”? It ins’t. Janssen’s open admission that he attempts to injure opponents should be dealt with harshly and severely by NHL Disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan and even Commissioner Bettman. Just like the Saints, it’s a black eye on the game, and should be dealt with harshly.

Now as bad as that was, Janssen upped things one step further.

In obvious reference to the great You Can Play Project that is doing fantastic work advancing the cause of gay athletes in all sports, the hosts asked Janssen how he would feel if he learned of a gay athlete in the NHL? The following is Janssen’s quote. It is disturbing, it is graphic, it is not suitable for children and it may not be safe for work. You have been warned:

“Oh, if he’s suckin’ c**k, he’s gettin’ his ass kicked.”

Janssen follows up this blatantly homophobic comment, one that could only be uttered by a Neanderthal, by slapping the table and laughing about it.

It’s attitudes like this that need to be removed from not just hockey, and not just sports, but from the very face of the planet. The idea that someone deserves to have their ass kicked because of their sexual orientation is repugnant and should be to all human beings. I hope that one day I can live in a society where these types of attitudes disappear entirely from the earth. In a society where a radio host would immediately chastise Janssen for making such a ridiculous statement and shame him into understanding and learning about the severity of his actions – but no, these hosts cheered along with him.

There is no room in hockey for attitudes like this, and the sooner players like Janssen disappear the better. Now how big are Bettman’s gonads.

… and that is the Last Word.

Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Year: 2012