blogovich

Brian Burke's NHL draft record: Not good

Great analysis by Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star today on blowhard bully Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager Brian Burke's NHL drafting record.

Not pretty.

 

NHL: Bush league (but not beyond belief; it's hockey, after all)

Read this story, about how NHL VP Mike Murphy sought the counsel of an active team general manager, Brian Burke, and the only possible conclusion is: Bush league.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/canucks-fume-at-ruling/article2050943/

Simply appalling; the NHL's well-honed "inmates/former players win suits run the asylum" conflict-of-interest incestuous mentality run amok.

And a typically great analysis of the bush league by The Globe and Mail's Jeff Blair, one guy who definitely does not drink the Kool-Aid, as the expression goes.

 

 

 

 

Hockey's newest and already tired expression: "North-South"

You hear it multiple times every game now: Commentators talking about players going 'North-South."

Stop it.

Besides which, how do they know going end-to-end in a given rink is actually north-south? Are these guys carrying compasses?

Nadal beats Federer again, but . . .Nadal is probably right when saying Federer remains best ever in tennis. As for golf, nobody can touch Nicklaus

Rafael Nadal won another French Open today, again beating Roger Federer in a Grand Slam final.

Clearly, with a 17-8 record in their lifetime matchups, Nadal has Federer's number head-to-head, particularly on clay where Nadal is essentially invincible.

And here's a great analysis of today's match (and essentially, every Nadal-Federer match, by The Associated Press).

Nadal, like Federer a class act, continually says Federer is the best ever, despite his (Nadal's) dominance head-to-head, and while it often comes off as Nadal saying what he 'should' say (it truly does seem that these two do like and respect each other), closer inspection reveals Nadal is probably right.

Federer, though obvioiusly not as dominant as he once was - and quite possibly Nadal, now at 10 major titles to Federer's 16, could catch him - has been in a remarkable 23 Grand Slam finals, winning those 16.

It's a consistency akin to that of Jack Nicklaus in golf. Well, maybe not quite. But Federer's accomplishments are staggering.

As are Nicklaus's. Nicklaus won 18 major golf titles. But he was also second in majors a remarkable 19 times! So the Golden Bear could quite conceivably have won 37 (!) major golf titles; in any event he was in the top 2 that many times. Tiger Woods, for instance, has been second in a major just six times compared to 14 wins. Woods has famously and petulantly said "second sucks'' and that may be true, but nobody has displayed the consistency of major tournament contention that Nicklaus did - he finished second those 19 times, and third nine times. In all, Nicklaus posted 46 Top 3 finishes, 56 Top 5 finishes and 73 Top 10 finishes in major tournaments.

Best golfer ever, beyond question.

Golf is different than tennis in that there is no 'final' in a stroke-play tournament, it's each individual against the field, and there is some question as to whether Federer is the best tennis player ever, but his consistency, too, has been amazing.

All three players - Nicklaus, Federer, Nadal - are class-act credits to their games.