smh810

Love the sarcasm but here's a comment thats not sarcastic... you're a moron.

The putt in 2001 was a much trickier putt than it looked on TV and he killed in the playoff. In 02 he was tied for the lead (big difference in psychology from having an outright lead) with Tiger. And at the US Open he just didnt have his game on Sunday, doesnt necessarilly mean he choked. This leads me to a larger point, golfers rarely choke. It is such a fickle game where you can be completely in sync one minute and out of sorts the next. Goosen just didnt have it at Pinehurst it doesnt mean he choked. Hell I would say that Norman at the 96 Masters wasnt a choke. He had to change strategies in the middle round because Faldo got hot and thats virtually impossible for a golfer to do mid-round unless your Tiger Woods. It is such an overused cliche that really gets up my ass when people say *said golfer* choked. Now true chokes do happen (Van De Velde) but its few and far between.

I've watched Arnott play many times and please maybe he didnt meet your expectations but Stephane Richer he's not.

Its not like he's won 2 US Open's or anything.

Yes he was dissapointing in Edmonton after his rookie year but since then he's been a model of consistency. How could you say otherwise other than your own false perceptions.

Huh??? The guy was an awesome player with the Devils. The A Line was the most feared line in hockey in the 2000-01 season. Plus how can you rip on a guy who produces 20+ goals and 55-60 points every year and compare him with Chris Gratton. (even though I am no Gratton hater he was pretty much ruined in Philly and his 2nd stint here even though he's become a solid checker)

I agree that female reporters sleeping with their bosses or prospective bosses to get jobs is a relatively rare occurence. However, I do think female reporters hooking up with athletes happens much more often than a lot of us realize. Maybe not every day but it goes on. Who knows whether it would be for a scoop, an interview, or just for personal pleasure but to take that its a rare occurence is nieve in my opinion.

Nl5 you know how the media works and true quality of work is the last thing you need to get a big break. Its a) who you know b) how telegenic you are (how you look), and c) personality thats how you make it on ESPN or any other televised media. Thats not saying that they cant be good as well. While I dont like sideline reporters in general I happen to think Bernstein's one of the better ones but if you dont think that female reporters dont hook up in order to get scoops and/or interviews youre kidding yourself.

I tend to suspect that this isnt so uncommon (athletes having sex with female reporters) as some would believe. I've heard that Bonnie Bernstein and Melissa Stark have been "linked" to athletes in the past.

No one is debating whether concussions are serious or not. What I am questioning is the credibility of the Lindros family. The local afternoon drive host down here is EXTREMELY connected in NHL circles among well amost every facet of many organizations around the league including the Flyers. The concussions around 2000 and subsequent holdout were part of a scheme to rob the Flyers organization and try to get a massive settlement like they did for his brother. To sum it up they were extorting the Flyers. There also questions how legitamate Brett Lindros's concussions were as well. You can choose to believe this or not but again the Lindros family (as some inside Canada will tell you and mentioned in this thread) are very sleazy and are always looking for a moneygrabbing oppurtunity.

Youre missing my point entirely, most of those concussions are fabricated as in not real. This isnt Steve Young or Troy Aikman here, youre talking about a family and a player with a very shady history for reasons I talked about above. The whole Lindros gets a concussion every time he breathes perception while good for comedy and a punchline (no pun intended...I think) is pretty much a misnomer.

I've heard that one too nl5 but I cant confirm or deny that rumor but yes I am aware of it and hey it makes a for a good story.

Read my last post again. No one is gonna say that more than half of his concussions were fabricated publicly. However, its a dirty secret around the NHL that "Dr. Kelly" was paid off by the Lindros family to diagnose him with concussions in order to try and grab money just like they did for Brett Lindros. A lot of those "concussions" could not and would not be confirmed by either the Flyers doctors or other physicans and were confirmed by Dr. Kelly on a third or fourth opinion. The bottom line the family is sneaky and dirty. Perhaps they moved past trying to rip NHL teams off now but it doesnt change that Eric Lindros is one of the most legendary problem children ever.

Concussions are not the issue with Lindros. He's had 2-3 AT THE MOST in his career (the 2000 hit by Stevens being one of them). The problem with him is that well he never learned to be an adult. For example, off the record some of his teammates have cited more than several incidents of his parents calling the locker room complaining aabout the line the coach was putting him on. Most of the concussions were confirmed by a doctor with a less than credible record and the family tried to leverage that into a settlement like they did for his brother. Perhaps they're past that point now but I hope for Lindros's sake he's grown up.

Eh most of his concussions are fake anyway... but this still wont end well.

Damn, this is the one guy I didnt wanna see the Lightning sign. I mean he's an okay goalie but the last time the guy did anything in the playoffs I was approximately 5 years old. I'm really hoping Grahamer can step up at this point.

Well we re-signed Boyle and Afanasenkov and also signed a nice checking winger (and original Lightning player) in Rob Dimaio, all in all not a bad day. However, the speculation is that we may bring in Sean Burke to compete with Grahame... God I hope not!

Good news on both fronts but I have faith in Feaster to get it together overall. Wouldnt be surprised to herar news on Vinny and MSL soon.

I'd be wary of the so-called " consensus worst teams in the league" cause in the end they're not as bad as you think. (ie. 02 Ravens, 04 Chargers). I dont think Cleveland is as bad as everybody says either and if the AFC wasnt so damn strong I'd almost consider them a playoff contender. Trent Dilfer (as much as I hate to admit it) has the potential and ability to become another Gannon/Buerlein and if Lee Suggs can stay healthy their running game is pretty good. Their defense still needs a lot of work and will keep them from being a serious factor. However, theyre a young team that I can see winning 6-7 games and being very competitive in a lot of games.

Its official Wayne Gretzky will coach the Coyotes.

Youre close Olympic Slam, he didnt get benched because of a spat with Torts but because of poor play particularly in the NJ series. His benching however did cause a summer-long feud between Khabibulin and Torts. It also caused rampant speculation that the No.1 goalie job was open for the 03-04 season since Grahame played very well in a 3OT loss against the Devils. Grahame also almost won the starting job in the middle of the following season because of Khabibulin's inconsistency. Obviously, Bulin won when it counted so it didnt matter in the end. I dont think he left though because of a feud with Torts. Nikolai has always been a money-grabber first and I think that was the case here. With respect to your comment about the pad restrictions, I dont Grahame would be affected by that caue he wasn't a cheater when it comes to that stuff and has good movement and positioning.

I never called him an elite goalie but theres a couple of things to keep in mind. The Flyers defense was good but it wasnt like Brodeur in some of his best years. Esche still had to make 4-5 tough saves a night. Also with the parity that will likely exist this year in the NHL you may not have to be an elite goalie to win the cup, just get the job done. Anything over 91% is very good and I see Esche's style translating well to the opened up game since he has solid lateral movement. Fair enough. Wrong. You still need a goalie to come up big in key situations and steal games by himself. Based on what I've seen Esche can do that, he may not be an "elite goalie" but the guy can win in the playoffs he showed that last year.

I dont know how many times you actually saw him play but I watched Esche very closely for 7 games (Conference Finals) and caught him sporadically throught the rest of the season. The guy is very good and the best goalie Philly has had in a while and can see him (as much as I hate to admit it) carry the Flyers to at least the Finals.

Paul Kariya has just signed a deal with... the Nashville Predators

I think Robert Esche is a damn good goalie. Also, Jay Feaster was just on local radio down here and pretty much said that while they will bring in another goalie, he implied that its John Grahame's job to lose.