Built Ford Tough

I don't know. I still think the right answer is Herp Derp.

The Canucks top 6 is ridiculously slow without Kesler and Raymond in the lineup. Burrows is the only member of their top 6 that you could consider fast and I think everybody else (Sedins, Hodgson, Samuelsson and Sturm) could all be classified as average or below average in certain cases. I was trying to figure out what looked so different about the Canucks to start the season from last year and it didn't hit me until about 10 minutes into the 2nd period of the Columbus game that they look really slow.

Nothing relevent to the lockout, but I found these pretty funny.

You mean the answer isn't Herp Derp? Crap.

Herp Derp.

From what I have read/heard, it sounds like they made enough progress today that they aren't officially canceling the first two weeks of the season just yet. Instead, they are talkiing about pushing the start of the season back to mid-late November and still playing an 82 game schedule. Who knows if it is true or not, but it sounds like they are definitely closing in on a deal if they are willing to do something like that. Don't expect a deal today, though.

Here is the final part of the 3 part series (ironic since it was the first one written) as Ford, Fraschilla and Thorpe argue why Anthony Davis, ESPN's current #1 ranked prospect, should go 1st overall in the 2012 NBA Draft. From Thorpe From Fraschilla From Ford Of the three leading candidates for the 1st overall pick (Drummond, Barnes, Davis) I like Davis the least. In fact, I think I might even like Quincy Miller more than him assuming he doesn't suffer any long term affects from the knee injury he suffered last year. However, with that said you can't deny that Davis is a very interesting prospect. Like Thorpe and Ford mentioned, you don't often find a 6'10-11 guy who has the ball skills or the fluidity that a guy like Davis has. Also, unlike a lot of long, lanky guys, Davis doesn't have a reputation for being soft or shying away from contact which is also a concern with guys who have frail builds. I just can't get the Perry Jones hype out of my head when thinking about Davis, though. I know Jones had a reputation for being somewhat lazy and appearing disinterested at times, but you can't help to notice the similarities in what was said about the two heading into their freshman seasons. Jones is still a nice player and a solid prospect, but there is no way I'd take him over the likes of Drummond or Barnes and Davis reminds me of him a bit too much.

I'm pretty sure he is staying as the GM regardless of who is hired. I'm not 100% sure of the details, but as far as I know, this is basically the same situation as the Leafs management team. Burke has Nonis and Dudley and Colangelo seemingly wants a similar thing for himself. Hence him looking to add another executive with GM experience. I don't think he is giving up the GM title, at least for right now.

The lockout will go on for as long as the players want it to. They basically control when the lockout will end as the owners clearly aren't budging.

Even though he got a hat trick and 4 points last night, the thing about his game that stood out the most for me was the shift he (and Lombardi) had at the end of the game. If you would've told me two seasons ago, hell even last year, that Phil Kessel would be on the ice trying to preserve a one goal lead in the last minute of a game I would've called you an idiot. Not only was he out there, he was absolutely dominant. He probably killed a good 20 seconds in the Sens zone along the end boards by outworking everybody else on the ice. Another play that stood out was in the Montreal game. I can't remember who it was that turned the puck over (I want to say Gardiner but I really have no idea) but the Habs broke out with an odd man rush (3 on 2 I believe) and Kessel came back and broke up the rush. He was the deepest player in the Leafs zone, but he used his speed to not only get back into the offensive play, but make it a 3 on 2 rush for the Leafs. I know it has only been two games and neither one of them were against great teams, but his defensive play has been fantastic this season. I expected the offense (although I can't say I expected 5 points in 2 games) but if he can continue to give this kind of effort defensively I will be very happy. Phanuef has also looked brilliant to start the year. I'm not going to go as far as to say he is back to his Norris form like his early years in Calgary because he clearly isn't. However, over the past 40 games or so, he is definitely back to looking like a legitimate #1 all-star defenseman. Him and Kessel receive a lot of criticism, some is valid while some isn't, but if they continue to play like they have over the past 40 or so games they are definitely going to shut those critics up. And now for the pessimism as there is too much optimism in this post. Luke Schenn has looked absolutely awful so far. I noticed it in the preseason but figured it was only the preseason so who cares, but his poor play has carried over into the first two games. He looks really slow and has made quite a few mistakes thus far. Hopefully it is just a slow start because when he is on his game he is a very good defensive defenseman, but man, he looks bad so far.

Is that St. Pierre's long lost cousin? Seriously though, he fights against Condit on the 29th.

Frankie Edgar is unreal. Guy has so much heart. To come back from that beating he took in the first round and then completely dominate the rest of the fight is just ridiculous, especially considering Maynard has such a huge size advantage over him. I don't think Maynard landed anything after the 1st round. Edgar's movement and takedown defense was phenomenal. Maynard just couldn't touch him. That was a sick sequence that finished the fight, though. Stuff the takedown attempt and while transitioning, hitting Maynard with a huge uppercut to rock him, then landing a nice combination to really wobble him and finishing it with a huge right hook to finally drop him. The punches on the ground were just the icing on the cake as Maynard was clearly out already. I admit in thinking that Edgar was a bit of a flash in the pan after the first Penn fight, still didn't really believe in him after the 2nd one and finally started to come around to him after his performance in Edgar/Maynard 2, but I can comfortably say that after tonight Frankie Edgar is for real and he definitely has a new fan. You just can't help but be a fan of a guy like that.

Fight has been identical to their 2nd one. Frankie gets absolutely rocked in the 1st, nearly finished numerous times only to survive. Then he comes out and wins the next round as Maynard is too tired from trying to finish the fight in the 1st to actually do anything. Scary how they are literally identical.

http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/84736/1/watch-ufc-136---frank-edgar-vs-gray-maynard-iii.html It lags a bit, but it is the only decent one I could find that was in English. EDIT: A couple of the other links (Link 2, 3, etc...) work pretty well, but they aren't in English.

So does Florian now cut to 135 so that he can lose a 4th title fight?

Hopefully Guillard's loss to Lauzon will put an end to the ridiculous hype he has been getting. It was starting to get out of control. Sonnen with some WWE-esque shit right there. Calling out Silva and saying if he beats Anderson he has to leave the MW division and if Silva beats him he will leave the UFC forever. So corny!

I thought Halladay left Toronto? You wouldn't know it based on last night.

I think Lupul has had about 4 or 5 golden scoring chances in the first 4 periods of this season and he hasn't buried one of them. He is really snake-bitten to start this season. Hopefully he can finish one of these opportunities and get some confidence as you don't want a streaky scorer like him to have numerous chances and not be able to convert on any of them. EDIT: Simpson and Healy are brutal. Armstrong gets a stick in the face from Cowen and gets cut in the process, and all they can talk about is how Armstrong is trying to sell the call. SImpson even went as far as to say that he didn't even think the stick hit him. Grabovski scores on the insuing powerplay after an excellent feed from Kulemin.

Colton Orr is back in the Leafs lineup. Too bad Carkner isn't playing for the Sens. It would be nice to see Orr throw him around again.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_raptors_ed_stefanski_100711 If Stefanski or Bower are hired, I literally would not even care. Both of them are very underwhelming and if they are the "great basketball minds" that Colangelo has talked about bringing in, well....

That was a sick pass by H. Sedin to D. Sedin. A saucer pass over two Pittsburgh players' sticks right on the tap of Daniel who buries it shelf on Fleury. I know the two are known as huge divers and chokers, but man are they fun to watch when they have time and space tow ork with.

Luongo looks all sorts of awful tonight. Talk about a rough start to the season.

I actually thought that Grabovski was one of the better Leafs tonight. He was dangerous with the puck, played well defensively and even though he didn't get any points, he definitely created some very good chances for Kulemin and himself. Kulemin didn't look as good as he usually does and Frattin had his moments, so overall I can agree that the line itself was pretty average, but from an individual standpoint, I thought Grabovski was buzzing all night long, even in the first when the Leafs looked like garbage. Komisarek played his best game in a long, long time tonight. Perhaps his best game in a Leafs uniform. He did a good job of clearing the front of the net, blocking shots, making the simple play and his physical play was great as he didn't overcommit leaving himself out of position. I was with most Leaf fans who wanted Franson in the lineup over him, but if he continues to play like he did tonight I have absolutely no problems with him being a permanent fixture on the Leafs blueline this year. I doubt that happens, though. Steckel was awesome as well. His ability to dominate the faceoff circle (what was he, 18-6 or something?) was huge for the Leafs on the PK and whenever they needed a defensive zone win. Starting with possession of the puck did wonders for the Leafs PK tonight and if Steckel can consistently give the Leafs this kind of defensive effort I think I am going to grow to love him. Other standouts for me were Phanuef and Kessel, for obvious reasons. That one timer from Phaneuf for the 2nd goal was exactly the kind of shot he had in Calgary. It was a rocket and perfectly placed. Reimer was solid. He wasn't really tested all that much as most of the shots weren't very challenging, but he was a steadying influence and he did his job tonight.

I actually think the Canucks are going to get off to a pretty slow start this season. The loss of Kesler is going to be huge as that pretty much eliminates all of their secondary scoring. Unless the Sedins play absolutely brilliantly, I don't see them coming out of the gates all that strong. With that said, I still think that they are the best overall team in the West and would be my pick to come out of the West if I had to make one right now. Luongo is starting off shaky as well. The first goal was awful and the second one he let in wasn't that difficult either.

Shows how much attention I've been paying to the Raptors lately. I thought he already signed with them.