Pussies

It's the 2nd inning of the last game of the season between two teams not going anywhere, and the Reds intentionally walk Pujols.

Oh, for crying out loud....grow a pair.

Shit You Cannot Make Up

So I checked what the Game Of The Week on FOX was here in SW Florida, naturally expecting to find a key playoff-determining game - probably the Twins/Royals since the former train here (and for that matter the Royals used to ). Silly me. I forgot the Yanks and BoSox were playing a meaningless game, which means they have to be on my TV. Fuck. 

I guess it turned out that the game was postponed and I have no idea what they ended up broadcasting because by that time I had unenthusiastically cued up the Arsenal/Hull City match that I had recorded. What a game. A 2-1 Hull upset at The Emirates no less where the Gunners haven't lost in forever and haven't conceded a goal this season. Geovanni's strike for the equalizer was nothing short of magnificent and will make the EPL's highlight reel for the season, as will Myhill's save in extra time to preserve the win. So MLB (aka Bud Selig) can once again kiss my hairy ass.

And fuck me if my Illini didn't just hold on defense and shove it up Penn State's ass on their first drive. 

Prediction: Notts County 2 - 0 Aldershot Town

This is the week the Pies get into the win column, and in an emphatic fashion. Notts legend Jimmy Sirrel passed away during the week, so I'm expecting a solid performace all the way round.

Or not. What do I know?

UPDATE:

Well, I guess I know something after all! It wasn't 2-0, and it was damn close, but Notts gets a goal from Richard Butcher in the last minute of injury time to pick up its first win of the season, 2-1.

Imagine

Jeremy Rutherford believes he has spied Blues combinations that result in three scoring lines:

Kariya-Berglund-Perron

This is a classic training camp line that could very well die a quick death once the games mean anything. Perron was on an extremely short leash last year, and I don't see Murray loosening up with Berglund. The talent on this line is eye popping, but if they are on the ice for a few goals against all you are going to hear about it is "defensive responsibilities."

Tkachuk-Oshie-Backes

Anybody who watched Oshie in college playing with Jonathan Toews can see where this is coming from...and it does make sense. TJ's work rate meshes well with players who can bang around the net. The question will be how Oshie deals with having less time and space to work with.

Stempniak-McDonald-Boyes

I like the idea of Stempniak getting to play with more offensive minded linemates. Last year Lee played himself off of a scoring line, but I have to think a bounceback is possible. Breaking up Kariya and Boyes seems like a bit of a gamble, but with all the kids playing you need to spread the vets around. Long term, this line is only viable as long as Boyes nets consistently. If he struggles, the impulse is gonna be to reunite him with Kariya, which will lead to the reinsertion of various 4th line players. Speaking of which...

King-McClement-Porter

The arrival of Berglund and Oshie has marked the end of the pretensions that McClement was a possible offensive threat. Now, he's the reincarnation of Ryan Johnson. That's fine. Have him center a line with the likes of King, Hinote, Janssen, and Stastny, and don't think too much about it anymore. Sound good?

These don't look so bad, but a problem looms. When people slump or get banged up, as they always do, who do you slide into the mix on the top three lines? Stastny or Hinote? Confidence is not the result. The Blues have some good pieces, but no depth to speak of offensively.

That is a detail that is gonna be a devil for this team.

Get The Fuck Out

So, I'm reading this Season Preview of the Blues on Puck Daddy when I come across the following:

AV Club (Media): The St. Louis Post Dispatch does a great job covering the Blues, offering a balanced if not scathing assessment of their team-building. Norm Sanders is another solid MSM option.

St. Louis Game Time is a great site for all-things Blues, with some comedy tossed in for good measure. (Get) A Sporting Life is a general blog with solid hockey coverage.

It's all very nice...but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. My blog is labelled as having "solid hockey coverage" when I've been shooting for "blog that will scream at you to 'get the hell off my lawn!'"

Ah...I'll take it.

Not Exactly What I Had In Mind

Hey! The Blues have signed a defenseman! Yep, they signed some 18 year old I've never heard of.

St. Louis Blues President John Davidson announced that the club has signed defenseman Mark Cundari.

Cundari, 18, a native of Woodbridge, Ontario, registered 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) last season with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The 5-10, 198-pound defenseman finished third on the Spitfires last season with 141 penalty minutes.

I bet his family is proud. (No, really...I'll lay money they are.)

For your edification here is Cundari beating the crap out of someone as a 16 year old.



Sweet.

Scary Things

A warning for the faint of heart. You may want to skip this one.

So, in the wake of the season ending injury to Erik Johnson the Blues are thinking about bringing in another defenseman. Well, of they want to go the route of free agency the pickings are mighty slim. At this point it is populated mainly by the old, the lame, and the damned.

For example, these strike me as the best of the available Free Agents:

1. Keith Carney - He's 38, but he was a plus player for Minnesota last year. He's in training camp with the Blackhawks right now. Would cost around $2m.

2. Alexi Zhitnik - He's 35, and his best hockey was played last century. He played 61 games last year for Atlanta and didn't disgrace himself. On the other hand he'd probably be closer to $2.5m to $3m.

3. Marek Malik - Shhhh... If Marek knows you are looking at him he falls over, gets injured, and sits for a week. This china doll will set you back $2m at most.

4. Richard Matvichuk - Didn't play in the NHL last year. Presently at camp with the Blue Jackets. Cost you around $1m.

After that you are only left with people that even if you signed you would pray to almighty God that you never needed to put them into an NHL game. Still, if you felt you had to buy something you could bring home a Brad Ference, a Mathieu Biron, or a (God forbid) Ian Moran.

Given these options I think I would wait for folks to hit the waiver wire.

Ah, the joys of bottom feeding.

Alright...This Isn't Good, But The World Isn't Ending

From STLToday:

Blues defenseman Erik Johnson has a torn ACL in his right knee and will undergo surgery in a couple of weeks, a source has told the Post-Dispatch.

Johnson, 20, is expected to be sidelined six to nine months after injuring his knee in a golf-cart incident last week at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Obviously, this sucks. But, the Blues were not gonna make a serious run at the playoffs based largely upon contributions from Johnson. We have depth on defense, and Johnson was gonna get injured like this sooner or later. I'd rather have it happen now when he's not the main cog on the blueline than in three years when we are poised for a deep playoff run.

Who knows, maybe Johnson being sidelined will allow a player like Junland to make the team. I mean, we already know Johnson's gonna be a stud in this league, if we get a couple more promising young players to step up life will only get better.

Bad News, Good News

Notts County has played seven games this season and hasn't won any of them.

Notts County has played seven games this season and has only lost one of them.

Good Lord, I guess this could go either way. The good thing is they are still 18 points away from the relegation zone. (You read that right...Rotherham, Bournemouth and Luton all had points deducted at season's start...for what exactly I don't know. Luton is still sitting at -20 points.)

It's Not Just Me!

Just saw this from Steve Goff's blog:

What was worse: United's collective defending, the officiating crew or the high-pitched squealing that serves as the Beckham soundtrack? Tough call. (Just don't let Terry Vaughn make it.)

A-fucking-men.

Here is what Goff wrote for the Washington Post:

United was certainly willing to dwell on the officiating by referee Terry Vaughn and linesmen C.J. Morgante and Sean Hurd, who appeared to miss several offside calls. The most devastating decision was made by Vaughn, who ejected Marc Burch for a sideline challenge on Beckham, leaving resurgent United a man short for the final 27 minutes.

Burch certainly made contact, contributing to Beckham's tumble into a sign board, but it was hardly a malicious tackle. After the match, Beckham said he had told Vaughn at the time that the ejection was not warranted. "The momentum took me over the line and I lost my balance," he said.

"I swung for the ball and hit the back of his leg," said Burch, who must sit out Sunday's game at Dallas. "I guess that comes with bringing him to the league."

When Vaughn showed the red card, "the Galaxy [coaching] staff looked at me and had no answers; it's just a soft card. It was terrible," United Coach Tom Soehn said. "We all saw it: It was an absolute travesty."

This isn't a story on some dipshit's blog (hey!), but in the Washington Post. If MLS isn't embarrassed by it than the league office is more screwed up then even I think.

The St. Louis Blues: Fashionistas

Alright. I admit it. I think the new third jersey looks fabulous!

Not that there is anything wrong with that....

Ruining The Game

Look, I don't think DC United should have won this game, but when you look at the highlights it becomes clear that the referees completely ruined what should have been a barn burner of a game.

1) The red card to Burch was a joke; a complete steaming pile of a call that no one who actually likes the game could support. If MLS turns Beckham into even more of a prissy boy, how is that helping the league exactly?

2) Donovan's last goal is offside by a country mile. It is so not close it beggars belief that it could have been an honest mistake.

Look, almost every league has shitty refs. The problem with MLS is the refs are beyond shitty. My God, what I wouldn't give for garden variety incompetence.

I've Seen This Movie Before

"Bet on Logan."
"I would, Butch, but who'd bet on you."

So Adam Kennedy wants to be traded. Sounds fine, but remind me again what the market is for a banjo-hitting part-timer with massive upper cut swing and a $3 million-plus salary?

Fall Training: Skaters & Goalies Report!

Good:

Training camp officially opens on Friday morning with player physicals. After the physicals are completed, the team will go through on-ice and off-ice testing. The Blues’ website lists practices at 10:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. at the Mills on Friday . . . they are open to the public but keep in mind they will be testing sessions and not scrimmages.

I just wish I was in St. Louis, but I don't think I could sell the university that they would be better off with me down there instead of in the classroom here.

Damn them all to hell.

Jeezus

Courage Blues fans:

Blues defenseman Erik Johnson injured his right knee in a golf-related incident on Wednesday and will miss the start of training camp, which begins Friday.

He will be re-evaluated before Tuesday's preseason game against Dallas, according to team president John Davidson.

"This is a hard one to believe, but it's the God's honest truth . . . he was playing golf and he pulled the golf cart up to where his ball was," Davidson said. "And he took his left leg and put it on the ground and the right leg, he sort of reached back and put it on the brake. A lot of us do it . . . I do it all the time myself. As he pushed the brake, he missed a little bit, his leg got caught under there and he slipped and that wrenched his knee.

". . . There's swelling there. We're not going to speculate on this thing because we don't know. And we're going to have everything hopefully cleared up by Tuesday as to what it is and if there's a length of time or not."

I guess I should be happy his leg dosn't need to be amputated.

Still, I liked this response from a reader over at STL Today:

Was he playing golf with Vince Coleman?

Morons

Following a Cards club that was quit after a season long glut of injuries and dashed hopes is bad enough...but at least I'm not a Brewers fan:

The Milwaukee Brewers fired manager Ned Yost on Monday in the midst of a late-season slump that has jeopardized the team's chances of making the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

Third-base coach Dale Sveum will become interim manager for the remainder of the season. Bench coach Ted Simmons was reassigned to an advisory role.

"This was a very difficult move to make, and we appreciate all of the work that Ned has done to develop this team into a contender," general manager Doug Melvin said. "In the end, this was a collaborative decision made to put our club in the best position for the final two weeks of the season."

The Brewers share the NL wild-card lead with Philadelphia despite losing 11 of 14 in September, including seven of their last eight. Milwaukee was idle Monday.

Whatever the problems with the Brewers were, Yost wasn't one of them. (Is Doug Melvin the problem? Probably, but the success of the Sabathia deal is his "get out of jail free" card, at least temporarily.) I cannot imagine how such a shakeup at such a point in the season will lead to positive results, and I would certainly be happy today were I a Phillies or Astros fan.

There will be no joy in Mader's this season. (Unless you order the schnitzel.)

Our Enthusiasm?

You know things are bad when even last night, watching the Cards come back and beat the Cubs in the bottom of the ninth, isn't enough to get the competitive juices flowing. (Which are nothing like "vaginal juices" BTW.)

I'm seriously in need of a hockey infusion. An open ice hit that sends some sorry dipshit flying ass over tea kettle should get me in a proper frame of mind. (Not that I wouldn't accept a sweep of the Cubs too.)

Uh...Timing Is Everything

There is a time and a place to say just about everything, the key is picking the right time. This isn't a good example of that maxim:

England captain John Terry says that the players are underperforming because of a lack of confidence.

...

Terry said: "There's a fear of failure, speaking honestly. It's been like that for the last couple of years.

"I don't think we will be able to go out there and completely change it overnight. At club level, the lads feel free and can express themselves."

Maybe a good and important thing to say. But is it really what you want to say today? Really?

He will lead his nation in a World Cup qualifier with Andorra in the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona on Saturday.

"Fear of failure" and "England v. Andorra" are two phrases you dont want to read in the same story.