NHL update

A quarter of the season has now been completed. After a fast start, the Colorado Avalanche have been playing like most hockey pundits predicted, garnering a 3-5-2 record in their last 10 games. This might be the first time in many seasons that the Detroit Red Wings are not occupying the upper echelon in the Western Conference. Their division rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks seems to have planted their own place there. With young superstars (Kane, Toews), solid defense (Keith) and good goaltending (Huet), the Blackhawks are 8-1-1 in their last 10. They are winning games in convincing fashion, usually by 4-5 goals. It's still early in the season but here's some teams to look for and others to tune out.

Teams to watch:
New Jersey Devils: Brodeur in net is always a recipe for success. Parise is proving that he is a Hart Trophy candidate.

Nashville Predators: 8-1-1 in their last 10 games even though no player is on pace to score more than 30 goals this season.

Struggling: 3-4-3 in their last 10 games and losing Ales Hemsky puts the Edmonton Oilers on this list. Don't expect to succeed when your first center has 8 assists and -8 +/- rating in 22 games.

Giving up a 3 goal third period lead is not considered too surprising for the Carolina Hurricanes who sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Leafs Watch: 5-4-3 in their last 10 games. Phil Kessel and Niklas Hagman are litting up the lamp post. Kudos to Kessel performing as well as he has.

Dominos!

Ponderings....

The internet is filled with so much information. I wonder if there is a program out there that could track my history and give me a weekly report on which websites I go to, how often and how much time I spend on them. It would be like Google Analytics except from a user stand point. As far as I can tell most of my direct inputs go to Facebook, Twitter, TSN, Blogger, Google, Youtube, Wikipedia, Daisy Owl and Surf the Channel. For those of you who don't know, Daisy Owl is an online comic strip about an Owl that raises two kids and has a bear friend named Steve. It's pretty awesome. Growing up I always dreamed about having a huge encyclopedia collection so I can learn a little bit about everything. That dream came true with the invention of Wikipedia. During the spring and summer, I spend all of my time outdoors enjoying the nice weather. The rest of the year I hermit behind the television and computer screen unless I have school, work or I'm out with friends . Walks in the city just aren't as pleasant when the sidewalks are flooded and its cold outside. This reminds me: I must finish knitting those scarves that I was working so hard on.

Worst Contracts in Sports

To meet the demands of a passionate fan base, professional sports team often sign big name players to big time contracts. Everyone wants to snap up the next Wayne Gretzky/ Michael Jordan before a competitor does. Sometimes, these deals go terribly wrong and end up on my top 10 worst contracts in sports list:


10. In 2000, the Texas Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a 10 year/$252 million dollar contract. He is a future hall of famer, unless voters aren't sympathetic towards his admission to drug use. His time in Texas was futile so he was eventually shipped off to the Yankees so they could deal with the mess. So how many world series championships did he bring his baseball teams? 1. I think he is a good player, maybe even great. The hardware is what matters and 1 world series title just isn't good enough.

9. David Beckham was given a 5 year/$250 million dollar contract to bring fans and legitimacy to the MLS. Yes he does have quite a bit of fan fare everywhere he goes but the dude was way past his prime.

8. Jerome James was given a 6 year/$30 million dollar contract by the New York Knicks following the 2004-2005. He was touted for his decent performance in the playoffs for the Supersonics (12.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg). Truth is, the fellow barely belonged in the league. He averaged 3.1 ppg and 2.1 rpg for the Knicks. The man was paid $5 million a year to score 3 points per game. Isiah Thomas for the win.

7. I was a University of Kentucky fan growing up and also a fan of their legendary coach, Rick Pitino. In 1997, the Celtics brought him to the NBA under a lucrative contract of $70 million over 10 seasons. That's a huge contract for a coach, that's Phil Jackson caliber figures. Sorry but coaches shouldn't be paid that much unless they have a few NBA rings (as coaches) in their trophy case. Sure enough, Pitino was a bust. The Celtics didn't return to their glory under his tutelage and he was fired in 2001. They didn't even make the playoffs.

6. The 1998 NFL Draft would future two of the games future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, but it didn't. The first overall pick, Peyton Manning will go down as one of the great quarterbacks of the NFL. The second overall pick, Ryan Leaf will go down as the biggest bust in NFL history. Leaf and his 4year/$32.5 million dollar contract will be enshrined in trivia questions for future generations.


5. Grant Hill was the face of Sprite because image is everything. In College, he was the man. To this day Hill is still remembered for his successes with Duke. Right from the get go, Hill was a superstar in the NBA. He was one of the best all around players in the game. With his talent he was destined to end up in Cooperstown. The Orlando Magic signed him to a 7 year/$93 million dollar contract. Big money for a future hall of famer seems justified right? Here's the but. Injuries hampered his career and Hill only played 47 games in his first four seasons with the Magic. He never regained his superstar status. Although, he still made some All-Star games solely based on his popularity.


4.3.2.1. The worst contract in sports history was awarded to a farmer boy from Gans, Oklahoma by the name of Bryant "Big Country" Reeves. He played for the woeful Grizzlies when they were in Vancouver and was given a lucrative $61.8 million dollar/ 6 year contract extension following two good seasons. He was an imposing physical presence with a decent mid range jumper. His next season (1997-1998) would be his best year, where he averaged 16.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 1.08 bpg. The big man had delivered for the franchise but only for that one season. He came into training camp overweight and the dream was over. Bryant Reeves would retire from the NBA in 2001-2002.

I read somewhere that Pavel Bure's 5 year/ $47.5 million dollar contract was a bad one. The man produced 58, 59 goals in his first two seasons and was still a point a game player the following three seasons. Knee injuries forced him to retire but Bure was still a great player. Florida wanted him to be the next great one, but there's only one and that's Gretzky.

The 50 Best Inventions of 2009

In 2009 there were many inventions that will one day change the world. The Electric Eye has the potential of bringing sight back into the lives of blind people. The $10 million lightbulb will greatly reduce our energy consumption by being a lot more efficient. The $20 knee will be the cheapest alternative to the $10000 prosthetic one that is available to amputees. The AIDS Vaccine will begin to stop this disease that's wreaked havoc since the 80s. If you are interested in reading about the rest of the Top 50 Inventions of 2009, check out the full story.

The Scoop

It's still early on, but the 10th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft is quickly turning heads. His name is Brandon Jennings and he plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. In 7 games this season he is averaging 25.4 pts/game including a 55 point performance today at the Golden State Warriors. Even if it is a once in the lifetime game for him, he sure put on a good show. If you are a fan of the NBA pay attention to this kid I think he has potential to be a good player. For trivia fanatics: He was the first player to skip college to play professional basketball in Europe to be drafted in the NBA. He was also the youngest player to score 50+ points in an NBA game taking that honour from Lebron James.

Lebron James: New York Bound.

Lebron James thinks that Michael Jordan's #23 should be retired league wide just like Gretzky's #99 in the NHL. He grew up idolizing MJ like many of us did and remembers him as the best player ever. Lebron pointed out that "if I shouldn't wear his number then no one else should." Sounds a bit pretentious of him but LBJ is a pretty darn good player himself. I have a feeling that LBJ is hinting that he won't be staying in Cleveland after this season. In my mind here's how's it's all going down. Tell the world to retire #23 and gain more fans. Sign a maximum contract with New York Knicks and change his number to #6. LBJ plays another decade in the NBA and one day will be known as the best NBA player ever.