Lacrosse game Jan 27, 2007

After spending the day at my wife's run in the cold, it was time to heat things up at night at one of the most unrated and probably most unknown sports around. But a little piece of info for ya.........it is probably older than hockey, the Mann cup is older than the Stanley Cup. yes I'm talkin about Lacrosse. The Mann cup is played for by the Western Lacrosse League and the Ontario League. But last night we went to see our city's NLL team play here. I tell you Lacrosse is by far the best dollar for dollar value as compare to Hockey. Its cheap and exciting for the fans and very entertaining. Imagine the NHL 10-20 years ago when Bob Probert was around and Tim Hunter and Dave Semenko, protecting guys like Wayne Gretzky, and Haakan Loob. with lots of body checking to boot as well. Well thats what Lacrosse is like today, full of bigtime bodychecks and the odd scrap and lots of scoring. and see Mr Bettman they did all this without changin silly rules and having huge nets like you wanna do. Maybe the NHL should take a pge from the NLL and see what its got going right for them and follow suit.

The Drill Crew
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NHL notes:
Well it is no surpris that 95 per cent of NHL fans polled last night on Hockey Night in Canada think the NHL missed the boat on the decision to alter the schedule back the way it was before the lockout. So as it stands you have to wait three years to see your favorite team(s) (if you don't cheer for your home team) and some of today's rising stars like OVECHKIN and CROSBY. Don't forget Cariolia has one of the Staal brothers who is never seen by many. Three years to see your favorite stars! In one year careers have been eneded, in two years Sydney Crosby could be injured and never play again therefore more than half the leagues fans would neevr have gotten to see him live and he would just fade into history as just another fairytale hero you read about in the papers.

The Great Debate...........Plasma or LCD?

Nascar Report

Well The Daytona 500 is on a few weeks away and I need a bigger TV to watch it on. Well I don't need one but it would be nice. so what is better LCD or Plasma? I like the Plasma I think they look better, and the price are about the same for both but which is really better I don't know.
Hell I'm gonna need a bigger TV to seeall the cars on the track cause there are so many diferent driver changes especially in the Busch series, new cars, new drivers who has a program.
A couple of blown tires today led to some crashes in Busch series testing, one upside down but all was safe. And the series is coming to Canada.........COOL! Nextel Cup here soon I hope.
And what's up with a new change to the Chase for the Cup points sytem? 10 points for a win, top 12 driver make the chase and no "within 400 points" anymore. I guess it's cool. NASCAR knows what it is doing.
Point of note. The NHRA has adapted a similiar sytem for the 2007 season.

NHL

The allstar game is this week and Reebok is using it to display their 130 million dollar investment to dress all players in the NHL with these new jerseys for the 2007/2008 season. They will be worn in the 2007 Allstar game in Dallas this week. All I can say is they look like they revised them from the ones they had during the olympics, and the ones they were gonna force them to wear.....They looked like ski suits.

First Rant on........ the NHL

Now being a hockey purist that I am or like to think I am, there has to be more of you that agree with me out there on this. Has the quality of the NHL gone downhill? Way to many penalties, the trap is running rampant and all this talk of making more goals, not to mention the stupid schedule they have now that allows you to see your favorite team live once every three years and a crappy team in your own division 8 times!.
So well the NHL board of governors tried to take the trap away by eliminating the two line pass, they now have every team in the league guarding against the two line pass via the trap. Yes every team now traps whether you know it or not, watch one live and see. And with all these penalty calls, marginal hooking and holding -which in my mind shoudn't be a penalty unless you actually prevent someone from his stride or advancing on the puck but just touching him with your stick, come on- some teams can't score unless they are on a power play. So trap, dump the puck in, trap some more, dump the puck in, oh here we go a penalty call (only a matter of seconds) now we have the best power play in the league we can score now. Anyone else sense that sort of flow in the game these days. When teams are -23 on 5 on 5 play then have the #1 power play what do you think is gonna happen. Anyway my theory is let up on the hooking calls a bit (20 calls in one game is a little too much)and holding, call it if it actually DOES obstruct someone's progression, and let the flow of the game go to be entertaining. As it stands now there is no flow to half the games. I sure hope they can figure this out before the playoffs start. And my hero Don Cherry must feel the same way I do, I know the CBC Hockey Night in Canada announcers feel this way cause they mention it every game now.
So my suggestions to the NHL are as follows:

• Let up on the penalty calls unless it is really obvious
• Rearrange the schedule like it was a few years ago so everyone plays each other twice (once in each home town)
• Make the delay of game for clearing the puck over the boards a ref discretionary call
• Forget all this silly talk about making nets bigger to allow more goals cause your refs are doing that single handedly by calling 25 penalties a game anyway and allowing poer plays to strive.
  
• Give up on trying to get stupid jerseys for everyone when there are teams who who have empty buildings and noone will see the silly new jerseys anyway.
  

Personally I would rather see a 1-1 game with no penalties and lots of scoring chances and a fast flowing game like it used to be in the 70's and 80's. These days they have taken the flow away from the game and hitting is almost a lost art for fear of getting a penalty.
This is only my opinion but I'm sure there must be other purists out there who feel similiar to the way I do.

Has anyone ever seen a professional Lacrosse game(NLL), it's the way hockey used to be played.

Nascar loses two

In the last week NASCAR lost two people to cancer. Bobby Hamilton and Benny Parsons. Benny the first to reach 200 mph and 1975 Winston Cup champion went on to become a broadcaster of Winston/Nextel cup races.
Bobby Hamilton the 2004 Craftsman Truck series Champion had success in Winston Cup as well as the Truck series.
My condolences to the families of these drivers.
Benny Parsons
Bobby Hamilton Racing

See my webpage for Tributes to fallen drivers
Dale Earnhardt Tribute by me

Wassup with the HABS

January 17, 2007 •
What is going on habs? Another beatin by Vancouver? I remember the days when Vancouver coudnt even score a goal on the mighty habs, how the Montreal Forum gods
have turned.

Habs Need to play better

January 15, 2007 •
Wholy crap the habs played like crap tonite! No jump, no effort, what is going on? The after Xmas slide in the points standings is starting to happen and they will struggle to make the playoffs once again. I’ve seen this picture before, being a life long Hab fan that I am. And what is going on with Samsonov…..no points on the road?!

My first Blog entry ever!

January 14, 2007 •
Well here I am joining the rest of the world’s bloggers so hopefully I can find some people who have the same interests I do which my favorites are NASCAR, NHRA, and NHL hockey. Of course I like to watch the local races and WHL hockey as well. Also there is nothing better tham going to an outdoor car show in a park on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon. The wife and I even got married in Seattle at the NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONAl in 1998. Yes, she is into racing (NHRA only) as well! And for all you Canadian hockey fans. I am proud HAB fan as well.

GO HABS GO!

Yes they did get their butts handed to them in a sling yesterday on hockey day in Canada but hopefully Guy Carbonneau can pick up the pieces and get the team rollin again.
Well looking forward to blogging with other sports minded gearheads as well.