the max

My god, Dwayne Roloson was an embarassment. I had the game on both channels at the same time, and the difference between the coverage was night and day. Games 1 and 2 were on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively. The coverage for game 1 started at 7 with "Sportscenter at the Stanley Cup" featuring Melrose, Berman, and Pang. In other words, it was NFL countdown, as Berman did his "hilarious" nicknames while hockey fans nationwide wonder why he has a job. Melrose makes such scouting insights as "Tampa's offense relies heavily on Martin St. Louis" and "Miikka Kiprusoff is a big key for Calgary," while making three different pronunciations of Calgary. Personally, I wish that I got CBC's coverage. They treat the game as an event. ESPN treats it as just another game. With their move to NBC, I hope that Brian Engblom, Darren Pang, Ray Ferraro and Bill Clement are kept for analysis. CBC's analysis is far superior, but I couldn't really see the problems with it.

The "it's too fast" argument is the one that I hear the most from people when I suggest that they check out a game. Most complain that they "can't follow the puck." And it was on ABC, during primetime, which may have helped.

It was the Colorado DA that investigated the cases, and found, of the 9 accusations, that there wasn't sufficient evidence to form a case. 0-9. I don't think that the coach can be held responsible for babysitting his players 24 hours a day. Somewhere, the school has to take responsibility for its own actions, and stop putting blame on the coach for this.

http://tsn.ca/news_story.asp?ID=85290&hubName=main Hooray. Martin is a good hire for the team, but is Keenan qualified enough as a GM?

Nobody could live up to that hype though.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip

My only gripe with Keenan is that he wasn't getting through to the Panthers. Jokinen wasn't responding to Keenan, and repeatedly was in the 'doghouse'. Does that mean that they trade one of their biggest offensive weapons? Stephen Weiss saw time in the 'doghouse', and as a result saw games where he dressed, but never played. Nathan Horton was the same way. I understand that Keenan is a drill sergeant in that he respects the players that respect him, but having a guy at the helm that is quick to pull the trigger on a trade because he doesn't like someone doesn't exactly make me jump for joy. I realize that's why he brought Martin with him, and that will certainly help the cause, however, Martin's rep preceeds him. He's soft. He's EXCELLENT with younger players, as we've seen in watching Hossa and Alfredsson develop into stars. But once those stars need a push to get into the elite status in the league (cough*ROBERTOLUONGO*hack) he can't provide that push (Martin). Keenan can, but Luongo never responded to Keenan either. Does that mean that they trade arguably the best young goaltender in the league? This move has the very good potential to be the turning point of the Panthers franchise, but I'm still questionable about it.

I hate the Simpsons *runs from nl5* Anywho, Season 3 is when the goodness started, 4, 5, 6, 7 are excellent too.

Sports Night

I never liked ATH. Kellerman is annoying, but Stat Boy isn't much better. Mariotti is an idiot, Paige is senile, Plaschke is whipped, etc. The only one I remember even remotely liking was Cowlishaw.

Because the panelists are all know-nothing, blubbering fools. ATH is a joke, as I can't think of anyone who knows dick enough about hockey in order to positively be able to criticize the finals. FFS, none of them were going to watch anyway. PTI is a laugher now, as they only cover hockey when everyone else does. (Bertuzzi incident, incident in Columbus a few years ago, etc.) and even that ends up not being talked about for the full alloted time. Kornheiser, I don't even think watches sports anymore, and Wilbon should be jacked that Iginla is 'representin'' in the SCF.

Haven't seen anything about it, but I chalk that up to not watching ESPN hockey coverage anymore. I'm surprised Melrose isn't nominating Brodeur for the Conn Smythe.

Peter Forsberg with someone who never gets injured, so we can see how good Forsberg's numbers would be without all the injuries.

Writer, specifically for ESPN or SI.

NHL (current): Ilya Kovalchuk. Simply one of the most fun players to watch, especially when he scores a goal. Every goal is a 5OT winner for Ilya Kovalchuk. NHL (all-time): (forward) Wayne Gretzky. Greatness personified. (defense) Raymond Bourque. Great player, great man. (goaltender) Patrick Roy. The fact that I was able to see arguably the greatest goaltender ever on a semi-regular basis is awesome. MLB (current): Manny Ramirez. Sure, he's in his own world for most of the time, but when he's on, he's as close to unstoppable as you can get. MLB (all-time): (offense) Ken Griffey Jnr. He was my favorite player when I was younger. (pitcher) late-90's Pedro Martinez. That's when you knew that everytime he took the mound, the Red Sox would win. Period. I'll never forget his 'Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn' impersonation in the postseason against the Indians, coming in and completely shutting them down.

Tampa is deep, yes, but Calgary has beaten three very good teams by exposing their flaws. Vancouver: Goaltending Detroit: Team Speed Sharks: Intangibles (mostly a killer instinct) The Bolts are lacking on the PK, so Calgary will make the most out of their opportunities. Calgary will beat Tampa on the wall, and use cycling better than Philadelphia.

I know. That's why I worded it as

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/ballparks/skydome.html

I'll go with Flames in 7, just because I want a game 7 to really enjoy. If it doesn't go 7, I still like the Flames, and I'd love to see them win in 6 to see them celebrate on home ice.

I don't remember them advertising themselves as the 'man's network'...

So even if if Calgary beats Philadelphia, Primeau still gets it over Iginla or Kiprusoff? This isn't like Giguere, where he came in goaltending for the #7 team and swept Detroit, won the 5OT game with Dallas, swept Minnesota allowing one goal, and dragged New Jersey to 7 games. That was a feat that deserved the Conn Smythe. The Flyers would have to win the Cup for Primeau to deserve it over either Flames guy. Oh and Martin Gelinas too, forgot about him. He's a contender. Craig Conroy deserves some thought as well. I didn't include him the other night, but he's still been a big piece of the Calgary puzzle.

A perfect game is retiring all 27 batters without a hit, error, or walk. A no-hitter is not allowing a hit, but allowing a runner to reach base in another way (walk, error, hit batsman)

My three who would have a shot for each team would be Flames; Iginla, Kiprusoff, Gelinas. Flyers; Primeau, Esche, Kapanen. Lightning; LeCavalier, St. Louis, Khabibulin. And I do not think that you should be able to win the Conn Smythe if you do not play in the Finals. Conn Smythe is the MVP of the playoffs. If you aren't valuable to bring your team to the next level, you don't deserve consideration for it. Plus, how would they reward it? Your Stanley Cup is coming, Calgary, first, the Conn Smythe winner...Keith Primeau!! He played well for three rounds, but Philadelphia didn't advance *Primeau comes on the ice in street clothes*

Very true. He's been awesome so far, I'll give him credit, but in the past, he's been invisible when his team needed him the most.

Aren't those games blacked out due to local coverage? I know that normally when the Bruins are given an ESPN game (maybe once a year, if that much) that we normally still get the piss-poor NESN coverage. Well, my two teams are from Ottawa and Boston, so I haven't gotten blacked out before.