Start of Scorepics blogging:
Friday, September 23:
How in thunder does a team score seven power play goals and lose a hockey game? No question opponents will be gunning for the OHL London Knights this season. It may be time to pay the piper for stacking up last year. But a championship after 40 years of disappointment is well worth it for Knights' supporters.
Saturday, September 24:
What a strange day in soccer, junior hockey and football:
First mighty Manchester United goes down at home to Blackburn Rovers for the first time in about four decades.
The Memorial Cup chamnpion London Knights give up their second touchdown in as many nights to fall to 0-2.
And the Michigan Wolverines lay an egg in Wisconsin. Pre-season #3 my foot. Early college football polls are a waste of time. Mandy the Wonder Pooch could draw up an August top-25 just as accurately.
Sunday, September 25:
PREDICTION, NFL: Bye Week 26, Detroit Lions 3.
Monday, September 26:
So I see Martha Burk's latest target is the NHL, or more specifically, ads that will soon be shown on NBC, promoting the upcoming season. Seems she has her bowels in an uproar over commercials that show a scantily-dressed woman helping a player don his shoulder pads for an upcoming game. Sounds innocent enough, but I haven't seen the ads so I can't comment on whether she has a point or not. If you've seen them, let me know what you think!
Got a glimpse of the OHL Guelph Storm's third jerseys yesterday on TV. Generally, I'm getting tired of the diagonal script trend on alternate jerseys (Saginaw, London, etc.) but I liked these for some reason. I hope to see them in person soon.
Tuesday, September 27:
Tempting as it was to bail at halftime, last night's Tennessee-LSU game was US college football at its finest. The Volunteers had no business being as close as 21 down at halftime, yet rallied to win in overtime in arguably the toughest stadium in college football for a visiting team (to say nothing of an emotional home team and fans dealing with the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the beleaguered state of Louisiana). Just another example of why US college football is my favourite sport.
I'm not sure why Canada needs a Governor General in this day and age, but if we do then I think Michaelle Jean will be a good one, based on her swearing-in speech. Just a hunch, but I think she'll be a wonderful ambassador for our country.
Wednesday, September 28:
I'd love to buy a round for the guy or gal who drew up the major league baseball schedule this season. How's this for a closing weekend: New York Yankees at Boston and Chicago White Sox at Cleveland. As of this morning, the Yanks, Bosox and Indians have identical records, with the Chisox two games up on the Tribe. Four teams battling for three spots. How great is that?
Thursday, September 29:
Wow. And just like that, most of the drama about this weekend's White Sox-Indians series is gone. It still matters to Cleveland of course, but Chicago is now officially in the playoffs with their win at Detroit today. Wonder if the Sox will pull back on the intensity a bit, now that they're in, which wouldn't be good news for the Red Sox or Yankees, depending on which team survives the upcoming Boston wars. Frankly, I was hoping to see the White Sox fold right out of the playoffs. Would have liked to have heard "Hawk" Harrelson put that one "on the board." BTW, kudos to the Toronto Blue Jays and Tigers for playing hard in the spoiler role this week.
Friday, September 30:
What's this garbage about the NHL bringing in specific streamlined jerseys for goaltenders? With a different design than the standard player jersey, no less. This has marketing written all over it. No doubt some bright bulb in the NHL's ivory tower checked out a soccer web site and discovered that teams in Europe sell a) home jerseys, b) away jerseys, c) third jerseys AND d) goalies jerseys!! Hey, I've got no problem with making goalies wear a streamlined sweater but this isn't soccer. What's next? Different duds for quarterbacks, point guards and pitchers? Grrr.
