Built Ford Tough

F.agan's name is censored. Didn't notice that when I read something involving her before on here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/UFOX1_600X250_JPG.jpg/200px-UFOX1_600X250_JPG.jpg Anybody plan on watching the UFC's debut on Fox this Saturday? I've got to work so unless I can change my shift I won't be able to, which really sucks. This is probably one of the most highly anticipated heavyweight title fights in UFC's history. 1 loss between the two of them and both have run rampant through the heavyweight division. Dos Santos is considered one of the most dangerous strikers in all of MMA while Velasquez is regarded as one of the most well rounded MMA practioners in the world. You can't really ask for a much better debut on Fox for the UFC than these two as it will surely be an entertaining war for the heavyweight championship. It starts at 9 PM EST. This is the only fight that is going to air live, but there is another huge fight taking place on the undercard, which airs on Facebook and FoxSports.com, in Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida. The winner of this fight has been confirmed by Dana White to receive the next shot at Frankie Edgar's lightweight championship.

Scrivens gets the start against the Blues tonight. Does this spell the end of Gustavsson's time in Toronto? I can't see him being too happy about this decision and benching him in favour of a rookie who hasn't looked very good in his last two appearances makes it seem like Wilson and company don't have any confidence in him anymore. I like him and still think he could become a number 1 goalie in the NHL for some team, but I think his time in Toronto is running out. I think it would be benficial for both parties if they went their seperate ways. In somewhat related news, the Leafs are supposedly interested in Nabokov and Turco. Yuck! Don't want either one at all.

Coburn signs a 4yr/$18M contract with the Flyers. Thoughts on this, Phightins?

Paille takes a slapshot from about 10-15 feet away right in the face. Ouch!

Don't worry, I just bought Uncharted 2 about 2 or 3 weeks ago and have still yet to pick up RDR, so you aren't alone there. As for whether or not they are a good buys, I can't comment on RDR (although all my friends have said good things about it and my brother loved it as well) but I'd honestly pay $40 for Uncharted 2 by itself. It is easily the best game I've played on the PS3 so far and I literally don't know a single person who hasn't loved it. It is considered one of the best games ever made, and for good reason. I absolutely loved it.

Just wondering if you actually decided to get into hockey this year, or if you never really did? If so have you come to a decision on which team you are going to follow or is it still up in the air?

Going off of what I have read from posters over at Real GM who have watched him play, it sounds like their guards do a really poor job of getting him the ball. He can be wide open underneath the basket or have his man pinned deep, but the guards are either unable or unwilling to pass him the ball. I don't know whether it is because they don't have confidence in him as an offensive player or if it is a coaching decision or anything like that. From what I've read it just seems like his job is to play defense, rebound and make hustle plays and he doesn't have much of a role on the offensive end, aside from finishing 2nd chance opportunities or lobs. Hopefully as the season goes along this will change because he has shown glimpses of some offensive potential when he has been given the chance to showcase his skills on that end of the floor.

Tim Connolly is out for 10-14 days with an "Upper Body" injury. He suffered the injury during the Leafs first penalty against the Bruins on Saturday. At least he managed 6 games before getting hurt again. I was surprised he even made it to Columbus. Bozak is expected to take Connolly's place on the first line and there is no word on if there is going to be a call up or not.

Leafs PK is an absolute joke.

Schenn scratched tonight against the Bruins. I think it is about time. He has been absolutely awful so far and it has been a while since Franson has gotten into the lineup. Franson hasn't been great by any means and has played pretty poorly in his own right, but Schenn needed to get benched for a game or two. Hopefully it is the kick in the ass that he needs to get going, as it worked well during his 2nd season when he was in that horrible sophomore slump. Rosehill is in for Dupuis as well, in case the Bruins try to take any liberties tonight. Scrivens gets his 2nd consecutive start in net. Unfortunately, I will only be able to catch the 1st period as I have to work a lame 5 hour shift tonight.

The thing is that with Nasvhille's system and the best defensive pairing in the game, even a bad goalie looks pretty decent. Just look at Chris Mason for example. With Nashville he put up a .915 SV% and a 2.50 GAA in his 4 seasons with them. He leaves Nashville and has managed to put up .907 SV% and a 2.78 GAA in the three years since. Or even the guy Rinne beat out for the Nashville job in Dan Ellis. With the Preds he put up a .911 SV% and a 2.65 GAA in 3 seasons. He goes to Tampa the next year and puts up a .889 SV% and 2.93 GAA and played in a mere 13 games last season for the Ducks. I think it is safe to say that Nashville could get a more talented goalie than Ellis or Mason had they decided to not give RInne this contract and basing how well they did in Trotz's system, I think they would be fine. Not as good as they are with Rinne, obviously, but still a pretty good team all things considered. I think of it as a similar situation to the Blackhawks two seasons ago. I'd rather have two elite defenseman in Keith and Seabrook and an average goalie in Neimi than having to split up what was the best pairing in the league and putting in a goalie like Rinne. Obviously you want to keep all three, but I think the two defenseman are more important and would choose them if I could. Weber will be a UFA so unless the Preds are willing to shell out at least $8M annually, he is likely gone. He got $7.5M form arbitration this past summer so you can guarantee that he will be getting more than that if he hits the open market. Suter is a UFA as well, and I would be surprise if he doesn't get at least $7M a year as well. That is, at the very least, $22M for these three and the predictions on Weber and Suter may even be conservative. I question whether the Preds will be willing to do that, although I certainly hope they do.

I haven't paid much attention to his play as of late, but I did notice he had a really solid game yesterday. 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks on 6/8 shooting and 6/6 from the line in 22 minutes. Some highlights (not just of Valanciunas) from the game: EDIT: For those of you who don't know, he is number 17.

Why wouldn't he? 12.3 ppg off of jump shots on 47.5 eFG% is at the very least average. If LeBron isn't considered an average/above average shooter, neither should: Paul Pierce (8.9 ppg/49 eFG%) Kobe Bryant (15.6 ppg/46 eFG% Kevin Durant (16.2 ppg/47.5 eFG%) Derrick Rose (12 ppg/44 eFG%) Kevin Martin (11.6 ppg/46 eFG%) Carmelo Anthony (13.4 ppg/46 eFG%) and I can go on, but it would be pointless. He isn't a great shooter by any means as he is really streaky and goes through plenty of hot/cold stretches. However, he faces arguably the most defensive attention out of any player in the league yet still manages to put up very respectable shooting percentages. Clearly he isn't on the levels of a: Dirk (14.7 ppg/52.5 eFG%) Allen (11.4 ppg/56.2 eFG%) Nash (9.5 ppg/51.1 eFG%) but he is, at the very least, average in respect to the rest of the better offensive perimeter players in the league. He also ranked 7th in all of the NBA when it comes to mid range shooting according to: http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2011/9/24/2446337/who-are-the-nbas-most-valuable-mid-range-shooters So yeah, I really hope that he does think that LeBron is an above average shooter.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers are first in the East and West respectively on November 4th. Who the hell would've expected that?

Supposedly Pierce was leading the charge, which doesn't surprise me in the least. The thing that does surprise me is that there was no mention of Garnett. I thought him and Pierce would've been the two most vocal about this. http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/216309/Pierce_Wade_Allen_Howard_Participated_In_Decertification_Call#ixzz1clzOVjTN

Liles scores his first goal as a Leaf. Great to see him pot one as he has been playing very well offensively but just couldn't score. Yet another weak goal from Mason, though. That is 2 of the 3 Leaf goals that he should've easily stopped. He looks absolutely awful.

Play him at the 4. It is pretty clear that is where he should be playing. Don't make the same mistake the Raptors made with Bargnani by trying to make him into something he isn't.

Good first NHL period from Scrivens. Made some very nice saves after some horrific giveaways from the Leafs defense. He didn't really stand on his head or anything, but I do think he played very well and this game could've easily had a different first period if he doesn't make some big saves early, especially since at the other end of the rink Steve Mason is playing like garbage. Schenn continues to play dreadfully, though. He is so slow right now and has absolutely no confidence with the puck, whcih were both on full display tonight and almost ended up in two goals. I think it is time for him to spend a game or two in the press box. I'll definitely take the 2-0 lead going intot he 2nd when you consider the Leafs did not play well at all in that period.

Columbus officially has Crabbs! Ok, that was lame

Pekka Rinne gets a 7 year/$49M contract extension from the Preds. Not sure what to think of the contract. There is no denying that Rinne is one of the best goalies in the league (definitely top 5, possibly top 3) but if this ends up costing the Preds one of Suter or Weber, I don't think it would be worth it. I'd rather have two elite defenseman than an elite goalie. I'm not sure if Nashville is going to be able to pay $22M+ for three players, which is what it looks like they will have to go in order to keep their three core players. You also have to wonder about the end of this deal as well. I believe Rinne just turned 29 years old today so they are going to have a $7M cap hit for a 35 year old goalie. Will he still be an elite goalie then? I'm not so sure. Even with all of that said, I am glad that the Preds were able to lock him up. It is great to see a small market budget team like them being able to retain their star players.

Scrivens makes his NHL debut tonight.

Nah. Skyrim comes out after my 2nd last mid term and like 3 days before my last one so that is one distraction avoided. I've never really been able to play a game like that for hours on end either. I enjoy them a lot and there is obviously a ridiculous amount of things to do, but after about an hour or so I end up turning it off and doing something else, where as with Uncharted I literally would find myself sitting there playing it for 3-4 hours without realizing it. At least that is how I was with Obilivion so I imagine Skyrim would be the same. I do see the irony in what I said, though.

Anybody pick this up yet? I just finished the 2nd one yesterday and even though it is quite possibly the best game I've played, I think I'm going to hold off buying this and pick up Skyrim in a few days instead. I just know that if I buy this now I'll end up spending all my time playing it instead of prepping for mid terms/finals, so I figured I'd go with my 2nd choice in Skyrim instead.

He would only have one thing to say to this.... Ball.