roger clemens book excerpt

Found this on the CNNSI website. It's a piece from an upcoming book about Clemens' steroid usage. I just finished a similar book called "The Rocket That Fell to Earth",

Excerpted from AMERICAN ICON: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime, by Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Michael O'Keeffe and Christian Red. Copyright © by Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Michael O'Keeffe and Christian Red. To be published May 12, 2009, by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
In their reporting for American Icon, the book from which this article was adapted, the New York Daily News investigative team of Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Michael O'Keeffe and Christian Red reviewed thousands of pages of court documents, congressional depositions, police reports, medical files and transcripts of secretly recorded phone calls. They interviewed MLB players and executives, players' association officials, U.S. congressional leaders, law enforcement agents, attorneys, steroid suppliers, trainers, doctors and doping experts. Their repeated requests to speak to Roger Clemens were refused. The team's original reporting for the Daily News won the Associated Press Sports Editors award for Best Investigative Reporting in 2008.
Even to a former New York City cop, the question was jarring. "Can you help me?" Roger Clemens asked. "I can't inject in my booty."
This is how Brian McNamee, then the Toronto Blue Jays' new strength and conditioning coordinator, remembers it all starting. He glanced up at Clemens, whose broad frame blocked most of McNamee's view of the rest of the SkyDome clubhouse. A few other players milled about the room, preparing for the upcoming series against the Baltimore Orioles. Toronto designated hitter and occasional outfielder Jose Canseco was picking through his stall nearby, his back to Clemens and McNamee.
The trainer, who had come to baseball from the NYPD, was slumped in his own stall. Why, he wondered, was arguably the greatest pitcher of his era asking for help in sticking a hypodermic needle in his ass?
Clemens handed McNamee a small, white, opaque container resembling an aspirin bottle without a label. "What do you think of these?" Clemens asked. McNamee took the container and poured some white pills into his hand. They looked like oral testosterone, a substance he had only recently researched. "That looks like Anadrol-50," said Canseco, suddenly barging into the conversation. Before McNamee or Clemens could object, the burly Canseco took a couple of the pills and shoved them into his mouth.
McNamee wheeled around to face Clemens. "Don't take that," he told the pitcher. "That's really bad for you." Clemens then gave McNamee a bag filled with 50 to 100 glassine bottles and told him to get rid of them. McNamee later suspected that the bottles contained cypionate or enanthate: straight testosterone.
At 35, Clemens was Toronto's staff ace and highest-paid player, pulling in a cool $8.55 million. Two-and-a-half months into the 1998 season, however, his record was a pedestrian 6-6. He was less than a year removed from going 21-7 and winning his fourth Cy Young Award, but something was off, and his club was suffering as a result. Toronto was fading fast in the American League East standings.
During spring training McNamee had taken stock of Clemens's flabby physique. He didn't think the pitcher would continue to be successful without a change in his conditioning routine, even though Clemens maintained that his workout regimen was unequaled in professional sports. Now the Rocket wanted someone to help him with needle injections?
Clemens was aware of the recent strains in McNamee's personal life. At the end of spring training, a family emergency had called the trainer home to Queens. His one-year-old son, Brian Jr., was diabetic. McNamee and his wife, Eileen, spent the better part of a week being taught how to prick their infant's finger for a drop of blood, test it for hyperglycemia and then inject him with the appropriate doses of short-acting and long-acting insulin. McNamee learned to mix the insulin and draw it into needles for subcutaneous shots. It was a delicate process, getting the exact amount of the hormone into a pinch of fat so it could be released gradually into the bloodstream. The Toronto players and staff felt sympathy for McNamee. Clemens was among those who had expressed concern for Brian Jr., but now his motives seemed decidedly personal.
McNamee looked back at Clemens. "Yeah," the trainer said. "I think I can handle that."
"All right," Clemens said. "I'll let you know."
One of the perks of playing for Toronto was living in the luxury hotel attached to the stadium. Only five minutes after a hard game, an exhausted player could crash in one of the 70 rooms beyond the outfield. When the team was at home, Clemens lived in a SkyDome apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the diamond.
Shortly after their clubhouse conversation that day in June, Clemens summoned McNamee to the apartment, and by the time the trainer arrived, the pitcher had already laid out some clear glass vials containing a cloudy white liquid. The labels identified the substance as Winstrol, an anabolic steroid. There were some large needles, too, and sterilizing alcohol.
There was one problem. McNamee had experience only with the small-bore subcutaneous needles he used to inject his son. He was now looking at wide-bore needles meant to puncture dense muscle and inject a thick fluid deep into tissue. His mind began racing. He had no authority to give injections to players, let alone to the face of the franchise. But Clemens had asked, and McNamee had agreed. There was no turning back. Anyway, McNamee figured, Clemens was more prone to hurt himself if he stuck needles into his own ass.
The pitcher bent over. McNamee dabbed Clemens's skin with alcohol so as not to cause an infection. Then he stuck the needle into the pitcher's buttocks and depressed the plunger of the syringe. Now they were accomplices.
From that moment McNamee and Clemens had the kind of relationship that can create the tightest bonds of loyalty -- and pave the way for a painful falling out. When they had first met, at that season's spring training in Dunedin, Fla., Clemens still felt remnants of the bitterness that had consumed him after his dismissal from the Boston Red Sox following the 1996 season. He'd poured his guts into that team for 13 years, only to be sent off with what he perceived as an insult: Boston general manager Dan Duquette said Clemens had reached "the twilight of his career." After signing a three-year, $24.75 million contract to play for the Blue Jays in 1997, Clemens shot back, "I could pitch till I'm 45 because of the conditioning I do, especially with my legs."

Police work was the McNamee family business, and Brian had had his share of big moments during his three years and four months on the force. Working undercover, he had patrolled Manhattan in a Yellow Cab; he locked up 77 people and won numerous commendations. One day in 1991, while on foot patrol, he got a call to head to a five-story walk-up near Lexington Avenue. What he found there would remain vivid in his memory: the body of four-year-old Conor Clapton embedded in the tar on the roof. The boy, the son of rock star Eric Clapton and Italian actress Lori del Santo, had fallen from a window in the high-rise apartment building next door.
Now McNamee's gig with the Blue Jays was his foothold in the glamorous world of professional sports. He was 31 and not getting paid much, but he was close to fame and glory. He'd played baseball for Archbishop Molloy High in Queens and had been a good enough catcher to play for St. John's University, helping his team upset defending national champion Stanford in the 1988 NCAA tournament. After college McNamee had played a little semipro ball in the New York area, and after leaving the police department in 1993 he had worked briefly as a bullpen catcher for the Yankees.
Despite their differences in accent and income, Clemens, the swaggering jock from Texas, and McNamee, the sardonic ex-cop from New York, shared a passion for baseball. Clemens was determined to prove he wasn't fading, and McNamee, having just arrived at the Show, was committed to staying there. So there would be other injections, but with the first one the two men crossed a stark line into territory they would never escape: Clemens became a cheater, and McNamee became his enabler.
DECEMBER 2007
Only days before the release of the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drug use in baseball, Clemens sat on the patio of a casita in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, after receiving a phone call from his agents, Randy and Alan Hendricks, that would change his life. McNamee had told federal law enforcement agents investigating a steroids distribution network run by former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski that he had helped Clemens use steroids and human growth hormone over a period of several years beginning in 1998. McNamee had also been cooperating with former senator George Mitchell's investigation.
In the weeks to come Clemens would attack McNamee on 60 Minutes and in a defamation suit, and his attorneys would smear McNamee's character. They would secretly record McNamee in conversations he thought were private. But Clemens would never mention the moment of truth in Cabo; he would say that he didn't know about McNamee's accusations until days later, in Houston, and that he'd been blindsided by his trainer's betrayal.
In Cabo, Clemens tried to absorb the news, but to friends who were with him there -- ballplayers and businessmen -- he didn't seem panicked. He'd spent a lifetime cultivating an ability to control his world. In Clemens's mind this situation was just like any other game in which he had gotten behind in the count. He could gut his way through it. He just needed to throw his opponents a little chin music.
FEBRUARY 2008
With the confident stride of a baseball legend, Roger Clemens arrived at Capitol Hill on the morning of Feb. 5 for his deposition before investigators for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He wore a gray pin-striped suit buttoned tightly across his wide chest. He carried a small vinyl briefcase in his left hand, and in his right hand -- the one with which he collected 354 big league wins -- he carried a large paper cup with a tea bag label hanging out.
Flanked by his lawyers, Rusty Hardin and Lanny Breuer, Clemens entered room 2157 of the Rayburn Building, took the oath and promptly declared, "I have not used steroids or growth hormone." He repeated this denial, in various formulations, six times in the first 30 minutes of the exceedingly awkward meeting.
These were probably the most important sentences Clemens had ever uttered. The sworn statements were direct and unequivocal, and they were recorded verbatim. From that moment forward, if it were ever proved that Clemens had used steroids or HGH, he could be prosecuted for lying to Congress. For much of the deposition he sat silently while his lawyers spoke to the investigators, clarifying the pitcher's answers and bashing the methodology of the Mitchell Report. Clemens had eagerly looked forward to testifying. It was his chance to demonstrate resolve and, it seemed, to blow off steam.
"Brian McNamee did not make me as an athlete, despite his ongoing claims," Clemens said. "I had a great workout ethic before I met him." Clemens's legacy was at stake. For nearly two months people had been wondering what drove him to deny McNamee's stories, even after his longtime friend and teammate Andy Pettitte had confirmed McNamee's allegations to Mitchell Report investigators about Pettitte's use of HGH. Clemens didn't want anyone to think he had cheated -- that he had taken the easy route to the unprecedented success he'd enjoyed late in his career.
"I have never smoked a cigarette, I have never smoked dope, I have never done cocaine," Clemens said about halfway into the five-hour deposition. "I would not put anything -- allow anybody to put anything -- in my body that's going to be harmful to me. That's who I am as a person."
Clemens claimed it had been "shocking" to learn that Pettitte had used growth hormone. "I would think that we were close enough to know that if he was thinking of doing it, or did it, that I would have known," the Texan said. He could not explain why McNamee might have lied about him yet told the truth about Pettitte. "This man has me being a drug dealer," Clemens said. "Very upsetting...if you have seen my interviews. Very upsetting."
The committee's investigative staff had, in fact, seen Clemens's interviews. They had watched his denials on YouTube, 60 Minutes and at a press conference in Houston. Clemens had boxed himself in with the claim that McNamee had injected him with B12 and lidocaine, not steroids or HGH. Now he was forced to repeat and explain those claims under oath. He had to testify about his wife's use of HGH, which had come up in Pettitte's deposition to investigators. (Two days after Clemens's testimony, McNamee would tell the investigators that in the winter of 2002-03, at Clemens's house in Houston, Clemens had summoned him to the bedroom, pulled a vial of growth hormone from a shaving kit in the bathroom and instructed him to inject Debbie Clemens.) Clemens also had to discuss a decade-old medical report that described a "palpable mass" on his buttocks where an MRI revealed a "collection of fluid deep within the subcutaneous fat, likely related to the patient's prior attempted intramuscular injections."
A week after his deposition Clemens returned to Capitol Hill for the Feb. 13 hearing that laid waste to his legacy. Ten minutes before the hearing the ranking Republican on the House committee, Tom Davis of Virginia, offered Clemens a chance to back out, but the Texan waved him off as he would a catcher who'd called for the wrong pitch.
Two weeks after the hearing the committee referred Clemens's testimony to the Justice Department for a possible perjury investigation that has since led the FBI into the darkest corners of the pitcher's life. McNamee had seen it all coming; during the hearing he sketched a game of hangman on his notepad.
SPRING 2009
Roger Clemens has been keeping a low profile, like a soldier caught behind enemy lines. Charities once proud to feel his embrace have cut their ties. At the final game at Yankee Stadium last fall, Clemens's accomplishments were not recognized, while Pettitte had the honor of starting the game. Clemens's defamation suit against McNamee was all but gutted by the presiding federal judge on Feb. 12. In the course of their perjury investigation, FBI agents Heather Young and John Longmire interviewed Clemens's friends and business associates, as well as gym owners, doctors and former teammates, looking for connections between Clemens and the steroids underworld.
While Clemens has put himself on the verge of a federal indictment, McNamee is trying to pick up the pieces of a broken life. He contributes to a website started by some friends in Boston, SportsImproper.com, and is rebuilding his training business. He is preparing to sue Clemens for defamation. He has met with prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and been told to be prepared to testify before a grand jury. Members of Congress -- including ones who once defended Clemens and attacked McNamee -- now say they expect to see the Texan indicted.

Canucks/Flames

Can The Canucks Go All The Way?

On CKDU Sports today, Chris Trembley said that the Vancouver Canucks will not be a factor as the NHL playoffs continue.
“Vancouver is not playoff ready, they’re not built for the playoffs. When push comes to shove, is Vancouver tough enough?”
Chris’ question may have been valid in the several years following the Bertuzzi/ Naslund/ Morrison era, but I’m not sure the ‘Nucks are really that soft.
Roberto Luongo certainly isn’t. St. Louis has only put 3 pucks past him in 3 games. The Sedins appear to be much stronger than years past, and guys like Alex Burrows (51 pts) and Ryan Kessler (59) have emerged as top 6 forwards, The roster has allot of size throughout the roster (only 2 players are below 6’0”). On the point they still have venerable plus/minus guys like Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo alongside rugged youngsters Alex Edler and Shane O’Brien.
Chris knows allot more about hockey than I do, but I would not be surprised to see the Canucks make a run.

Flames/Hawks

Watching game 3 of this series, the Flames down 2 games to none, but leading 4-1. I think if you’re a Calgary fan, you have to be really disappointed if the Flames do not win this series. The Flames have a really balanced team, even without Robyn Regehr. They have the better goalie, more size, comparable speed, and more experience. The Blackhawks should still be a couple years away, the Flames window of opportunity is now.
For a guy who never played in the playoffs before this season, Olli Jokinen sure knows how to play playoff hockey!

Canucks vs Flames?
Just in case you are wondering, the Flames playing the Canucks in the next round is very possible...if the Flames can get past the Hawks.
Assuming the first round match ups play out the way they are looking now, the Red Wings would play the Ducks, and the Canucks would get the Flames. That would be alot of fun!

Remembering Dyrick Mcdermott....MSVU moves "Forward".

Dyrick Mcdermott (1968-2009)

Mark Forward Named Head Coach of MSVU Women's Basketball

Mount Saint Vincent University took the first step towards moving forward after the unexpected death of basketball coach Dyrick Mcdermott 2 months ago, appointing Mark Forward as their new head coach of women's basketball this past week.

Forward is a gradute of the Mount and was the school's first CCAA all star in 1991 as a member of the Men's basketball team.

As a coach, Forward had several successful years in the late nineties coaching the men's program at Dal Tech, before joining Rick Plato with the men's team at the Mount where he has coached the last nine years.

Forward was a close friend and former teammate of Dyrick Mcdermott's. He takes over the reigns of the program with a heavy heart. Speaking on CKDU Sports this past monday, Forward commented on his personal struggle with the loss of Mcdermott. " It's hard to talk about..it' surreal. There were not too many days over the past 20 years where I did'nt see or talk to Dyrick. That void that's there is very difficult. He was my best friend, our little boys were best friends. I'm sad for his family, it was just so unexpected."

After asking Coach Forward about following up on Mcdermott's legacy of unbelievable success on the basketball court, Forward suggested his old friend was sticking it to him one more time. "A mutual friend of mine and Dyrick's have joked that Dyrick is still managing to give us a hard time!"

Forward admitted to feeling pressure taking over the traditionally strong program, having been involved for nearly a decade with the dominant Mystics men's team. "I feel the pressure, but that's what drives you to succeed. I'm going to give it my best effort, and I have Dyrick as motivation to keep the winning going," said Forward over the phone.

I'm sure Coach Mcdermott would be very pleased that his best friend is taking over his program, and I'm pretty sure the entire basketball community will be cheering for Coach Forward and the players at the Mount, who called Coach Mcdermott their friend and mentor.

I was not a friend of Dyrick Mcdermott, but I wish I had been. I have a feeling my life would have been that much more richer. Although, if I had been, that late April weekend would have been even more heart breaking than I already found it.

I met Coach Mcdermott in January when he agreed to let me do a story on his women's basketball team at MSVU. Not only was he courteous and helpful, he was a great interview.

Over the winter he bacame a regular on my CKDU sports show and always gave me great insight and thoughtful opinions.

I found out about Coach's death just before I went to work that night. Concentrating on my job was very difficult, and as I went from emotion to emotion, thought to thought, I realized how hard his death must be for people who actually called him a coach, friend, father or husband.
This guy was a great man. A far better man than me, and probably a better man then most of us. His death is tragic and sad, and a lesson for all of us to enjoy every day we have on this planet, and make the most of it. Because at any moment, it could all come to an end.

Review of CKDU Sports March 23

Review of the big show on March 23.

Trevor Steinberg- Head Coach of Saint Mary’s Huskies Ice Hockey. His team is off to nationals in Thuder Bay as AUS champs and the #2 seed in the tourney.
Guy Carboneau is a good coach and should not have been fired, the problem in Montreal is with the personnel, not the coaching.
Regarding the media opinion that the AUS Championship doesn’t mean anything because both teams qualify for nationals, “there is a banner and a championship at stake so anyone saying it doesn’t matter wouldn’t understand what it is these guys fright for every year.”
Due to their victory over UNB, they get to avoid the pool with Alberta. Alberta and UNB are the best two teams in the country so they get to watch those teams beat up on each other in the other pool. (SMU, the 2 seed, is in a pool with Western and Mcgill)
Players embrace the favourite role, think they can beat anybody, will give the team a huge confidence boost.
Team is healthy going into nationals, although the coach is not happy about having to get up at 3am on Tuesday morning to make the flight to Thunder Bay. (nationals are being held at Lakehead U)
With regards to fighting in the NHL, “..fighting helps govern the game and takes away from the stickwork...but if one of my players throws a great hit on a player from the other team, there’s no reason for the other team to send a guy out to fight, we have to get rid of that type of fighting. “
Coach feels there are immature kids who feel they have to get that last punch, they are showing a dis-respect to the game. When a fight is over it’s over. Refers to George Larouque as a guy who fights, but knows when the fight is over and it’s time to let the linesman break it up.
(sidenote..I was desperate to play Tom Cochrane’s “Big Leagues” after this interview but I couldn’t get the turntable to play..damn it!!!”

Rachel Wise- Coordinator of Water Polo Association at Dalhousie, they just held the biggest water polo tourney in the maritimes in the past 30 years.
Rachel said there were 16 teams in the tourney, including teams from Newfoundland.
Newfoundland took the gold medal. Old timers team from Halifax won silver. Dalhousie Black team won the bronze.
Good attendance, stands were full at Dalplex on Saturday.
High scorer of the tourney was Greg Corex and he scored 24 goals

for the Old Timers team. Travis Campbell of Dal was the MVP goalie.
Age range was 18-mid sixties. “Those old guys used allot of skill and strategy..they’re crafty.”
Lost all their games to a team from Laval a few months back. “They were tough.”
Mcgill has a similar program to Dal and she is hoping that next season they will be able to set up a tourney with the Martlets.
Anyone interested in joining the association can look at the facebook group or e-mail Rachel at waterpolo@dal.ca

Steve Sarty- Steve is the new Athletics Director at Saint Mary’s.
“Honour to follow in the footsteps of Larry Uteck and David Murphy”
Regards to his philosophy, “ I certainly want to win, but winning is not the ultimate goal. A culture is important..it’s important to develop young people during their formative years and teach ethics and morals....we have a responsibility to develop young people that will make the university proud.”
With regards to AUS football expansion, “It would be a great dynamic to add a fifth team...UNB would be ideal, they have a great field to watch a game. “
On the possibility of ensuring Laval plays SMU once every year. “It would be nice to see if we could do that every year.” Mr. Sarty has not looked at that issue yet.
Starting his job on April 1, his first item will be addressing the athletes at the Athletics Banquet and having a staff meeting with coaches.
Will be looking at sponsorship and trying to develop new partnerships.
Not aware of any outstanding issues or problems that need to be addressed right away. Steve thinks that with the bad economy it could be difficult to secure sponsorship dollars.

Review of Monday's CKDU Sports

Highlights from the big show today. Thanks again to Steve Betts who provided insight and analysis on the World Baseball Classic last week in TO.Thanks to Halifax Mooseheads insider Chris Trembley, Dalhouse Tigers Bball Coach John Campbell, and thanks again to Dan Reed, the voice of Tigers bball, for his excellent q and a regarding the Raptors. Below are the highlights from each conversation with today's guests, enjoy!

Steve Betts• Canada didn’t show up to the field vs Italy. Italy not as bad as everyone thought would be, some solid players at the top of the lineup.• Pitching definitely hurt Canada. One of their starting pitchers threw a fastball in the low eighties! • Justin Morneau and Matt Stairs had a very disappointing tournament.• Canada’s heart was in it but just no hitting from the 5 spot on, and the pitching made up of guys who play Single A and Double AA, just wasn’t enough to compete.• By far Venezuela had the most energetic fans.• Steve picks the Tampa Bay Rays will win the AL East, followed by the Yankees and Boston in that order. Does not think Toronto will be a factor. The division could come down to the effectiveness of the closers on each team, Mariano Rivera is starting to show his age.• Tampa Bay has a winning formula, Yanks made great additions with Burnett, Sabathia, and Texeira. . Sox did not do enough over the off season to add to their roster. • Arod’s acceptance from Yankee fans will basically come down to how productive he is throughout the season.• Steve thinks the Phillies are still the team to beat in the NL. Believes the Cubs will be the hard luck kids again this year. • Steve picks Japan to win the WBC, citing too much pitching and speed.

Chris Trembley• Mooseheads were snake bitten in their late season charge to make the playoffs. In their pivotal game at PEI on Wed. they outplayed the Rocket but just could not put enough pucks in the net. • Mooseheads were worried early in the season that it could be a non playoff season, team realized they were without any great players outside of Logan Macmillan.• Mooseheads were never really overmatched they just lost allot of close games.• The Mooseheads did not get much out of their goaltenders this year. Mark Gettman did not perform as well as he should have between the pipes and there were not enough goals scored to make up the difference.• General Managers announcing they want to bring an end to “staged”” fighting in the NHL is just an attempt to silence the media. Fighting is an integral part of the game and you can’t just change the fabric of a game overnight.• The linesmen don’t get in and break up fights like they used to because the dynamics of hockey fighting has changed over the years.

John Campbell• Referring to the Tiger’s first round loss to UBC, Coach Campbell said UBC came out very focused on defence, locked down Simon Farine, other players did not step up, and some early defensive lapses by the Tigers killed them, “They really outplayed us from a technical standpoint and an effort standpoint”.• Recruiting will focus on finding physical inside players, felt the team did not have enough of a physical presence in the post at times throughout the season.• Wants to get the Tigers to the point where they are the top team heading into AUS playoffs, and wants to compete for a national championship, not just participate.• Teams at the national tournament had allot of inside strength, whereas teams in the AUS this past year were very guard oriented.• Regarding their consolation round game vs Concordia, the Stingers felt very slighted by the seeding they received (7th) as the Quebec champs and a team that had been ranked highly all season. Came out with something to prove vs Tigers. Tigers had too many turnovers in first half and could not get any scoring outside of Simon Farine.• Coach feels he needs to get a guy in recruiting who is 6’5’/6’6”, can play inside/outside, is a physical presence and can bring some grit.• Dave Nutbrown, the former Head Coach at Acadia, brought allot of technical defensive instruction to the Tigers and was the primary reason the Tigers were the best defensive team in the conference. Nutbrown has also been a big help with the post players.• Josh Beattie has a tremendous work ethic and is a natural shooter. • Carleton has players on the bench who could start for many Canadian teams and Carleton will be back next year and competing for a national championship even with the loss of valuable senior players.

Dan Reed• UBC had too much depth for the Tigers to deal with. AUS teams are not quite good enough at this point to compete nationally.• Regards to the question whether or not the Raps should have kept TJ Ford, Dan said the Raptors should have never given up Charles Villeneuve for TJ Ford. Villenueva could have been a very valuable player for the Raptors.• Raptors have put together a bad team, made so many bad choices including Andrea Bargnani over Brandon Roy in the draft, and selecting Joey Graham over Danny Granger.• Calderon kills the Raptors defensively. Calderon is a good point guard, but the 2 and 3 positions have to be stronger to make up for his weaknesses. However, he’d rather have Calderon than TJ Ford.• Andreas Barganani will never be an impact player like Dirk Nowitski, but could settle in eventually as a Mehmet Okur type.• Raptors have always been a soft team. Chris Bosh crumples with contact. Loves Chris Bosh, but you have to trade him and get value, and rebuild the team.• The Brian Colangelo method of building a team has failed. They need some hustle players and guys who can rebound. Teams like the Bobcats and Grizzlies have brighter futures than the Raptors. • Sam Mitchell was a bad coach. The only thing that saved his job was the Coach of the Year award. Wishes they would have fired Sam prior to the season and gone after Mike Dantoni.• Colangelo will be back because he is a proven front office guy and a history of success. He’s made some mistakes, but he’ll fix them and start over. Jay Triano will not be back next year• “The Raptors have proven to be inept in any kind of strategy.”• Marc Ivaroni, the fired coach of Memphis, is available and would be an excellent head coach for the Raptors, as he has a history with Brian Colangelo and is a disciple of Mike Dantoni.• Anthony Parker has lost athleticism and explosiveness, cannot get separation from his defender and is no longer a legitimate NBA player.• Shawn Marion is no longer the matrix, he’s an enigma. Likes him more than Jermaine O’neal. If you can resign him for a low contract then do it but you cannot give him too much money.

Article on Fighting in MacLean's

This is a must read. The article starts with Don Sanderson's father saying that he thinks fighting should be banned, that he is not friends with Don Cherry, and that Cherry mirepresented Sanderson's feelings on fighting on his Coaches Corner segment. Please read! If you have an opinion, email me at CKDUSports@gmail.com and I'll read it on my sports show or news show.

"You'll never get rid of it completely"

Michael Sanderson spoke those words to practically anyone who would listen in the days following his son Donald’s death. And in a nation suffering no small amount of guilt over a senseless loss, they were received as absolution. In the depths of his grief, this man got it, the self-styled purists said. He’s played the sport. He knows fighting is embedded in it. He won’t use the death of his 21-year-old son—by universal account about the best kid you could ever meet—as a pulpit to rail against that which sets the game apart. “Other people won’t understand this,” Don Cherry told his coast-to-coast audience after attending Donald Sanderson’s memorial service in Port Perry, Ont. “But Mike is a hockey guy.”
Yet on this subject, more so than any other, we Canadians don’t listen closely. Or we hear only what we want to. So if you’ve been gathering your information on this slow-moving controversy from Coach’s Corner, it may surprise you to learn that Michael Sanderson would in fact love to see fighting eliminated from the game. You may be shocked to hear he supports measures that would suffocate the practice. Automatic ejections? “Helluva rule.” Requiring players to keep their helmets and visors on during fights? “Great. If they know they’re going to be punching plastic with their bare hands, they’ll eventually stop.”
As for that stuff about “never getting rid of it,” well, the pro-fighting advocates appear to have missed Sanderson’s point entirely. It’s part and parcel of his argument that throwing players out of games and fining them would limit fighting to blue-moon incidents, which can then be severely sanctioned. He cites football, baseball and basketball as sports whose ejection rules have made fighting look “frigging ridiculous.” “They have a fight every once in a while,” he says. “I mean, it’s going to happen. But mostly guys just don’t bother.” Oh, and one more thing: he’s no friend of Don Cherry, with whom he says he has “issues.” “He said we sat there like we were buddies [at Donald’s funeral],” Sanderson says tightly. “I’m, like, no we didn’t.”
Not buddies, not fellow travellers, not allies in a rearguard action against the bleeding hearts. If truth be known Michael Sanderson shares the view of a growing number of Canadians who sensed the ground tilting after the Jan. 2 death of Donald Sanderson, whose head struck the ice after his helmet came off during a fight. Don was no household name: he played for fun with a senior-level team in Whitby, Ont., between classes at York University. But for anyone who has talked hockey over a tray of cheap draft, it was a whispered fear come true. Someday, someone’s going to get killed, we warned ourselves. And now that someone had, it seemed hypocritical not to act. In the days following Sanderson’s death, six out of 10 respondents told a Leger/Sun Media poll they favoured banning fighting from all amateur hockey. The Ontario Hockey League, the province’s top junior circuit, meanwhile, banned players from removing their helmets to fight.
Yet when the discussion came around to the NHL—the last and most influential bastion to keep fighting alive in the game—it ran up against the same old immovability. Sure, a few progressive minds wondered aloud about whether it’s time to discuss the issue (Colin Campbell, the NHL director of hockey operations, promised to raise it next month at a meeting of general managers; Ken Holland, the GM of the Detroit Red Wings, applauded). But by and large, Holland’s peers held firm. Only two of 18 surveyed by TSN support stiffer punishment for fisticuffs, while the league-wide response to Campbell’s proposal was best articulated by Toronto’s Brian Burke. “I think that will be a very short discussion,” he said. “I am not in favour of it.”
The importance of this resistance is obvious. More than mere professionals exercising their freedom to engage in the occasional fist fight, NHL players are beacons youngsters follow into the game. But rather than change, the players, their bosses and the media commentators have circled themselves in dubious arguments for the status quo. Fighting protects talented players from cheap shots, they say. It serves as a release valve for emotions. The fans love it, and so on. There are a host of reasons to question these assumptions—starting with the quaint notion that fighting is the wrong way to resolve our differences. But like Michael Sanderson’s true feelings, they get drowned out by patriotic bluster. The time has come to shout a little louder.
That fighting is embedded in the DNA of hockey is hard to dispute. It is said that the first game played indoors under written rules ended in a fight, as players at McGill University in Montreal scuffled with members of a skating club who wanted to use the ice. That was 1875, and it followed several accounts of outdoor hockey devolving into fist fights and stick-swinging incidents in Toronto and the Maritimes.
The rationalizations came later—most notably the idea that a contact sport played at such high speeds needed fighting as an outlet for anger. “Nothing relaxes the boys like a good fight,” said Francis “King” Clancy, the legendary Toronto Maple Leaf of the 1930s, in a flash of Irish bravura. Clarence Campbell, the NHL’s long-time president, popularized the “safety-valve” trope, warning that, without fighting, “the players would no doubt develop more subtle forms of viciousness.”

These notions took hold, and were allowed to calcify despite an abundance of contradictory evidence. Study after study has demonstrated that violence leads only to more violence, notes Stacy Lorenz, a University of Alberta professor who has studied the history of violence in hockey, while some of the most traumatic moments in the game were either sparked by fighting, or occurred despite its prevalence. Maurice Richard resorted to his fists again and again in response to the slashes and ethnic slurs he endured as a Montreal Canadien. Yet his combativeness did nothing to discourage—and arguably spurred—the opponent who cut his face with a high stick, provoking the epic meltdown that led to the Richard riot of 1955 (a wild-eyed Richard broke his stick across the shoulder of his attacker, Hal Laycoe, and punched a linesman in an attempt to get at the Boston Bruin).

Meanwhile, the cheap shots went on, reaching their apogee in the 1970s, when the Philadelphia Flyers were the Broad Street Bullies and fighting was commonplace. The league was forced to crack down on bench-clearing brawls. But pugilism remained, and in today’s NHL, a perceived cheap shot can lead to endless cycles of retribution, with players waiting several games to exact revenge on an opponent they believe has taken liberties. The idea, says Rob Ray, a former tough guy with the Buffalo Sabres, is to ensure talented players aren’t injured by bigger, tougher opponents. “You can use Wayne Gretzky as an example,” says Ray, who now works as a TV analyst. “He always had somebody looking over his shoulder, protecting him, allowing him to play the game the way he could.”
Trouble is, many cheap shots are committed by practised fighters—no doubt because they are unfazed by the thought of dropping the gloves should they need to. Egregious examples include the forearm shiver Toronto’s designated fighter, Tie Domi, laid during the 2001 playoffs on Scott Niedermayer, an all-star defenceman then with the New Jersey Devils; or Dale Hunter’s blindside elbow on Pierre Turgeon during a 1993 playoff game between the Washington Capitals and Turgeon’s New York Islanders. A more recent spate of attacks suggests the problem has deepened, as small-time pugilists take liberties with players who don’t typically fight. In October 2007, Jesse Boulerice, a dime-a-dozen fighter with the Flyers, levelled Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks with a cross-check to the face. That play came just two weeks after Steve Downie, another minor tough with the Flyers, concussed the normally peaceable Dean McAmmond with a flying elbow, putting the Ottawa Senator out of action for 10 games. This season, Ryan Hollweg, a spare-part agitator with Toronto, was suspended for three games following his third misconduct in nine months for boarding—essentially, hitting from behind. The Leafs forward has been branded a coward for those hits. But he is no shirker in the fisticuffs department, fighting 19 times in the two seasons leading up to his suspension.
So the theory that fighting limits dirty play doesn’t hold water. Nor does the idea that it protects ultra-talented players from the indignities of a rough game. In the last couple of weeks, NHL fans have been treated to the spectacle of superstars Sidney Crosby and Alexander Semin throwing punches after opponents crossed the line (Semin, who can be seen on YouTube, looks rather like an angry toddler). You can’t, evidently, have a thug riding shotgun all the time.
Still, the pro-fight lobby holds to its catechism, insisting the mischief would abate if enforcers were given more latitude. Their latest target is the so-called “instigator rule,” which they say emboldens cheap-shot artists by giving extra penalty minutes to players who pick fights to even the score. That would be a lot more persuasive if officials actually used the instigator rule. Since it was introduced in 1992, the number of infractions has steadily dwindled to about 50 per year, out of 1,230 games. Meantime, fighting has been booming following a post-lockout low of 466 in 2005-’06. At the current rate, 2008-’09 will end with 789 fights, or 0.64 fights per game, according to the website Hockeyfights.com. It is possible, as the foregoing numbers suggest, that 94 per cent of those fights will have been started by no one. But it’s a lot more likely that the league is trapped in a vicious cycle, where fighters are doing the cheap shots, the cheap shots are leading to more fights, and the officials have given up trying to stop them.
It is tempting under the circumstances to throw up one’s hands. “These are professionals, and they are adults,” notes Dave Morissette, a former enforcer who now provides NHL analysis on RDS in Quebec. But even Morissette, who fought relentlessly in the minors to get his shot at the NHL (11 games with Montreal), was shaken by the death of Sanderson—a player who like so many Canadian boys grew up idolizing NHLers. For Morissette and for others, qualms about fighting have always revolved around these younger players, whom he believes should be protected from the fighting culture until they are ready to turn professional. “I think they should get it out of junior hockey completely,” he says. “Let those players play hockey.”
Morissette’s reasons are rooted in psychology—the kind learned by one who must prepare mentally for a nightly maelstrom of fists. “In my first year of junior, I wanted to quit by Christmas,” he admits. “You don’t sleep at night, because you’re not thinking about hockey anymore. You’re just thinking about your fights. You’re 16 or 17, there are 2,000 people at the arena. There’s your teammates and your girlfriend and your dad in the stands and you really don’t want to get your ass kicked. So are you thinking about scoring goals? No. You’re thinking about that fight.”
The syndrome can carry a player to frightening depths. Morissette made waves four years ago by admitting in a book that he had taken steroids in order to match strength against the muscle-bound giants entering the league. Today he wonders what fury these behemoths will unload on their future victims. The same fears were on Ken Holland’s mind when the Detroit GM weighed in on the debate. “Some of these guys are six foot seven, six foot eight,” he told the Globe and Mail. “They weigh 245 or 250 lb. In the old days they were six foot one, 185 lb.”

Indeed, the dangers are plain to anyone who cares to look. Thirteen days after Sanderson’s death, Daniel Carcillo, a young forward with the Phoenix Coyotes, thumped his bare head against the ice in a fight with Vancouver’s Rob Davison, who stands six foot three and weighs 220 lb. “When I saw that,” says Michael Sanderson, “it sent a chill through me.” Carcillo escaped serious injury, but the following week, a minor-league forward playing for the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers’ American Hockey League affiliate, suffered a seizure after falling helmetless into the boards during a fight, his legs shaking uncontrollably and his eyes rolling back in his head. He was kept overnight in hospital, but appeared to be recovering.

None of this appears to have fazed the NHL brain trust. “I don’t think there is any appetite to abolish fighting from the game,” commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters this week during All-Star festivities in Montreal. “I think our fans enjoy this aspect of the game.” Still, the league might take a harder look at fighting’s effect on its product. Far from encouraging rugged play, fighting and its concomitant urge for retribution have turned even clean hits into violations of the NHL’s supposed “code of honour.” A mid-ice hip check that 10 years ago would have been considered part of the game now induces a dreary round of shoving and scuffling. Star players who fans pay dearly to see are pulling up on their checks so as to avoid these scenes, while the Hollwegs and Downies roam around unchecked. A case can be made that fighting is actually making the game less tough.
The eye-for-an-eye mentality has also led to blowout incidents that have bruised the game’s reputation among prospective fans. Marty McSorly, after all, was trying to goad Donald Brashear into a fight in February 2000 when he swung a stick at the Vancouver Canuck’s head, resulting in a high-profile assault prosecution. Todd Bertuzzi’s infamous attack on Steve Moore in 2004 was payback for a hit on Markus Naslund, the Canucks captain, in a previous game between Vancouver and the Colorado Avalanche. That Moore had already answered the proverbial bell by fighting with Matt Cooke made the attack all the harder to fathom. If fights are any kind of safety valve, why do these dramas drag on?
The league’s answer to such questions is as familiar as it is blithe. “We believe we’re adequately and appropriately policing our own game,” Bettman said in the wake of the Bertuzzi incident. What the commissioner fails to grasp is that the rest of the world does not share its view of hockey as a self-governing kingdom. “Violence in sports is father to violence in everyday life,” said Judge Sidney Harris of the Ontario provincial court in 1988, setting down a precept the justice system has upheld ever since. The public appears to agree. In poll after poll, Canadians say they look upon hockey as a means to teach values like respect, discipline and grace under pressure. Fully 54 per cent of respondents to a Harris-Decima survey conducted last week said they oppose fighting in the NHL.
Here lie the moral contradictions the league cannot—will not—address. We teach our children that punching another person is no way to resolve frustration. Why is it thought reasonable in hockey? More to the point, is fighting not antithetical to the concept of athletic competition? What are rules and officials for, if not to prevent players from taking justice into their own hands? Why should they serve this purpose in other contact sports but not hockey? Football, to name just one, is a physical game, featuring 300-lb. men throwing themselves at each other at high speed. But head shots, blocks in the back, pushing your hands into an opponent’s face are deemed penalties. And if two players finally do lose their cool, the referees don’t stand back while they remove their helmets and start swinging. Perhaps Wayne Gretzky summed it up best: “Hockey is that only team sport in the world that actually encourages fighting. I have no idea why we let it go on.”
It’s not as though getting rid of it would be difficult. Automatic game ejections followed by escalating fines and suspensions would likely do the trick—not eliminating fisticuffs altogether but, as Sanderson says, making them ridiculous. Minor hockey associations did it long ago, reducing fighting to a few pathetic parodies in which players cuff each others’ face cages, gloves still on. As for the canard that old habits die hard, one need only consider the NHL’s own example: by near-universal opinion, the league’s crackdown on obstruction and stick offences has been a grand success. Like clockwork, the lower leagues have fallen into line, taking their cues from the pros and juniors. It was a clear demonstration, if any was needed, that a few rule amendments and some perseverance on the part of officials can change a sport for the good.
Sanderson, for one, doubts the hockey would suffer one bit if fighting were gone. He points to the Stanley Cup playoffs and world junior championship as series that feature next to no fisticuffs, yet offer some of the game’s most punishing physical play. “It’s open, it’s fast, and the referees let them play,” he says. “We watch because it’s exciting. We don’t watch it for the fights.” He’s been speaking these truths insistently but quietly, so as to avoid heaping guilt on Cory Fulton, the Brantford, Ont., player who was fighting Don Sanderson when he went down. “There’s another person to think about here,” he says. “Being a dad, and trying to be sensitive to both sides, it’s hard to speak out.”
But make no mistake: should Donald Sanderson’s death prove the turning point in this ancient debate, that would be just fine with his father. “At least we could say something good came out of it,” Michael says. “Right now, nothing’s good for me. I don’t have my buddy. I can’t see him, I can’t talk to him. There’s gotta be a reason for that. You can’t tell me the Lord took him for nothing, because he was just too good of a kid.”

The Matrix coming to Toronto

Raptors Trade for the Matrix
Remember when Shawn Marion used to be called the Matrix? For the past year, as his talents have been wasted in Miami's slow down offensive system, Marion has simply been known as Shawn Marion.
It was only 2 years ago that Marion was one of the most exciting players on the NBA's most exciting team, the Phoenix Suns. But ever since Steve Kerr jettisoned Marion, Mike Dantoni, Boris Diaw, and Raja Bell out of Arizona, Phoenix is a team in decline that will probably miss the playoffs, and Marion has dissapeared off the NBA radar.
Welcome back Shawn.
Today the Raptors traded for Marion, giving up underachieving Jermaine O'Neal and the hopeless Jamario Moon. Marion will be reunited with GM Bryan Colangelo, and will give the Raptors an immediate upgrade at their weakest positions, the 2/3 spot, so critical to success in today's NBA.
Finally the Raptors have someone who can match up with other teams in the backcourt, and in the right system, is one of the best finishers in the game. I think the Raptors will be a good fit.

Is it enough to save the Raptors season? Who Knows. If the Raps were in the west, where Phoenix at 28-23 is on the outside looking in, the answer would be no. But in the East, where the Raps are 21-34 but still only 7 games behind 8th place Milwaukee, it could happen.
Marion has always had a reputation as being an unhappy camper, but after his 1 year exile to Miami, he should be rejuvinated and anxious to prove he's one of the game's 50 best players.

Feb 10

Avery On His Way To Rangers
I found this gem on the CNNSI webstite, taken from the NY Post. The author is not afraid to call out some of the Rangers key players, including notorious softy Wade Redden.

"Sean Avery is on his way to Hart ford, where, The Post has learned, he will be assigned today by the Stars for an indeterminate period before going on re-entry waivers that all but assuredly will lead back to Broadway. Not only can't Avery's return come soon enough, but a handful of Rangers on the current roster should feel fortunate not to be making the reverse commute to Hartford, themselves. It's unacceptable how poorly the Rangers' alleged best players are performing under the gun. It's unacceptable how soft the team is as a group. It's unacceptable how coach Tom Renney continues to award ice time, specifically on the power play, to athletes who have proven incapable of handling the assignment. Scott Gomez has lost his game. Chris Drury can't find his. Wade Redden hasn't had one for a couple of years, so you'd need a search party led by bloodhounds to even have the most remote chance of finding a scent, if not a heartbeat. These players specifically, these players who were supposed to blossom and/or lead the team without strong personalities Avery, Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan to interrupt the feel-good party in the room, they have been monumental disappointments."

As much as I hate Avery, I like this from a bitter fans' perspective. If you're not going to give it everything you have and just go through the motions, then here's this asshole Sean Avery for you to deal with, enjoy!
How many players in the dressing room are happy to see that guy coming back?

Gallimore Resigns at X
Several weeks after striking a minor official in the late stages of a game vs Cape Breton, Garry Gallimore resigned this week as Assistant Coach of Men 's basketball at St. FX.
Resigning an assistant coach position from a canadian university basketball team is hardly a big deal. Unless Gallimore had his sights set on being a head coach someday. If that was the case, those dreams are certainly over.
Gallimore struck a timekeeper at CBU when the X-Men were angry that they did not get a late timout they had asked for. As Coach Steve Konchalski walked over to the score table to figure out why, Gallimore followed and appeared to punch the minor official (video is on Youtube).
Most minor officials are students or local basketball enthusiasts. If you've ever seen Gallimore, you know he's a big dude.
Gallimore hitting this minor official was absolutely unacceptable. Although I'm not surprised. Over the years I've seen alot of coaches be verbally abusive to minor officials, so it was only a matter of time before some hot headed coach took the abuse to the next level. Coaches need to learn that minor officials are just like the themselves, players, and referees...they make mistakes.

Florida/Tennessee Rivalry Heats Up
I can't wait for Florida vs Tennessee this fall. This game has been one of the best rivalries in college football for years, but the annual match up received a big boost this past week when Lane Kiffen, the banished former Oakland Raider's coach who has been in Knoxville for barely a month, called 2 time national champion Urban Meyer a cheat.
Kiffen was showing a recruit round the campus of Tennessee when the kid received a call from none other than Meyer, who was also recruiting the player for Florida.
The kid committed to Tennessee, but Kiffen wasn't satisified. At an alumni luncheon, he said that he was happy the Volunteers managed to get the player despite Urban Meyer's cheating.
Unfortunately, Meyer calling the recruit while he was visiting Tennessee was not in violation of any NCAA rules.
Furthermore, Meyer does not like to be called names. Considering Tennessee will be rebuilding next season, while the Gators may be the best team in the country, expect Meyer's Gators to destroy the Vols as payback.

CKDU Sports

I'm happy to write that CKDU Sports, a 2 hour radio show dedicated completely to sports coverage, is up and running on Mondays at 10:00 am, on FM 88.1 or ckdu.ca.

I had my first show yesterday, featuring Chris Trembley of the Mooseheads, Steve Sumarrah of SMU football, and Dyrick Mcdermott of MSVU women's bball. Any e-mails about what you here on the show, or about anything going on in sport at all, please e-mail to ckdusports@gmail.com, and i'll read your comments on the air!

MSVU Women's Bball Loses

I've been covering the Mystics Women's basketball team for a couple of weeks. Last year's CCAA silver medalists had won 62 straight ACAA regular season games before this weekend, where they were swept in a 2 game set at St.Thomas in Fredericton. I talked to Coach Mcdermott on Monday. He said they had a chance to win the first game from the free throw line but missed 3 straight foul shots. Then the team came out flat on sunday and got blown out by the Tommies.

Seeing the Mystics in the loss column of an ACAA game, let alone two, is a strange sight indeed. Now the Mount is 15-2, while the Tommies are 15-1 and in the drivers seat for first place. With the losses the Mystics will likely finish second, and will have to play a decent Mt.Allison team in the ACAA semi final hosted by the Mounties in Sackville.

Feb 5

Federer/Nadal Australian Open Final
Last weekend, the morning of Super Bowl sunday, I set my alarm for 5:00 am. I wanted to watch the Australian Open Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, live. Watching the match on tape delay knowing the final outcome was not going to cut it. Federer and Nadal matches are becoming a thing of legend, and after missing the Wimbledon classic last July in order to dutifully follow Alissa to the beach, I was not going to miss this match
It did not dissapoint. Certainly it was not the masterpiece of Wimbledon, but it was five sets of championship Tennis between the two greatest players in the world.
The match had more drama than an Oscar nominated movie. On one side of the net, the perfectionist nicknamed The Fed, attempting to regain his place as king of the tennis universe. On the other side the reighning champ Nadal, number 1 in the world but slightly hampered by leg cramps, none the less playing loose and giving everything he could muster.
After 4 and a half hours Nadal would triumph, but the it waas the meltdown of the onetime inflapable Federer that was the storyline.
Roger Federer had many chances to take control of the match, but everytime he was turned away by a determined and guttsy Nadal. At the end, while Nadal held his championship trophy aloft, Federer wept. We were all given insight to the tragedy of the once proud champion. The same man who we thought of as the greatest player of all time just 2 years ago, was now crying on the court of Rod Laver Stadium, at a complete loss for why he could not overcome the mental obstacle that Nadal has created in the past year.
It is official. Federer can work on his fitness and his forehand all he wants, but he is not going to be able to beat Nadal until he gets his head straight. Which is the greatest tragedy of playing a sport where you play to score. You are always 1 point away from winning, and for Federer, that 1 point is excruciatingly difficult to get vs Nadal.
Federer won about 15 % of break points. 15 %! Combined with a first serve perecentage of 51. Anybody who plays tennis knows that is all mental.
It is hard to believe, but the man who is 1 grand slam away from tying Pete Sampras for the most in tennis history, is also in desperate need of a sport psychologist.

Super Bowl and Notes

Ridiculous MLB Free Agent Signings Continue
The Mets re-signed LHP Oliver Perez today to a 3 year/36 million dollar contract. Oliver Perez is 55-60 for his career with a 4.29 era. 12 million per for Oliver Pezez. WOW!!!!!

Hartsburgh Finally Finished in Ottawa
Like putting a bullett in a mortally wounded animal, the Sens finally put Craig Hartsburgh out of his misery today.
Is the Senators mess Hartsburgh's fault? Of course not. This is a dysfunctional team. It's ironic that the final nail in Hartsburgh's coffin came after Ottawa's dimal loss to the Caps yesterday. Then they hired their AHL Head Coach to take over, just like the Caps did last year with Bruce Boudreau at this juncture of the 07/08 season. Hopefully it will work out for the Sens like it did for Washington.

Better Catch: Tyree in o8 or Holmes in 09
What was the better catch? David Tyree's pinning of the football to his head, coming down with Eli Manning's long bomb, after he somehow escaped the Patriots pash rush...or Santonio Holmes' tip toe catch while surrounded by three Arizona defenders on a perfectly thrown ball by a scrambling Ben Rothlisberger?

I asked Steve Sumarrah, Head Coach of the Saint Mary's Huskies (interview will be on CKDU Sports, Monday at 10:00), and he thought the Tyree catch was bigger. His reasoning was that Manning's scramble, combined with the enormity of the situation makes it the bigger catch. I think I have to agree. Manning's magic, Tyree's once in a lifetime catch, and the fact that it was 3rd down, with the Giants at midfield, and only 1:05 left on the clock, makes it a bigger catch.

The Holmes catch was amazing, and Rothlisberger's throw was excellent. But if the pass is incomplete, the Steelers could kick a gimme field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Regardless, if Tyree's catch is the greatest in Super Bowl history, Holmes' is probably number 2.

Greatest Super Bowl Ever?

It seems like whenever there is an outstanding Super Bowl, people say it's the greatest ever. We have short memories when it comes to these things. Certainly the greatest Super Bowls, with the exception of Pittsburgh beating Dallas 35-31 in the mid seventies, and Joe Namath's Jets beating the Colts in 69, have been played in the past 10 years. Almost all of the Super Bowls in the eighties and nineties were duds.

You could make a case for any of the following games as the greatest Super Bowl ever;

Titans/Rams 1999 (Titans come 1 yard short of sending game to OT)

Patriots/Panthers 2003 (teams combine for 35 points in 4th quarter)

Patriots/Giants 2008

Cardinals/Steelers 2009

Kurt Warner: Most Valuable Person

How could you not root for Kurt Warner on sunday? Asides from his rags to riches story of the late nineties, when he went from grocery bagger to Super Bowl MVP, and his improbable comeback with the Cardinals featuring this past regular season when he nearly won league MVP. Before the game he was given the Walter Payton award for service to the community. This guy plays quarterback in the NFL, has 7 kids (take that John and Kate), and still finds time to give more to the community than any other player in the game! That's a guy I'll cheer for.