Phightins

I am happy because it means we are that much closer to March/April/May which is IMO the best three month span for sports of the year.

Ben Sheets signed with the Oakland Athletics today for 1 year and $10 million, plus performance incentives. Sheets didn't do too bad for a guy who did not pitch last season.

I am excited to hear Big Sarge's reaction in the Phillies broadcast booth the first time Little Sarge does something against the Phillies.

Yeah I saw that. That's probably how the Rangers should have handled it, but honestly Gaborik probably had more balls than any of his teammates on the ice at that time as unbelievable as that sounds.

They definitely have to come up with something. I would love to see the NCAA format but I can also see the arguments against it. I know most defensive coordinators would probably hate it.

One more thing. One of the local sports TV guys said that after the Carcillo/Gaborik fight, a scout for another team that he is friends with texted him saying that the league was not happy at all about it (well, clearly) and that the Flyers were going to have a hell of a time getting any favorable calls, at least for the immediate future. Yesterday, after the Scott Hartnell "goaltender interference" and Simon Gagne "high stick", he got a follow up text from the scout saying that was precisely what he was talking about. Now, I think those penalties were probably just as much a product of the game being NBC and the officials being under pressure to call more penalties in general, which I think is ridiculous as well, but needless to say this league has a lot of problems right now.

New poll... Who honestly gives a [expletive] about the Pro Bowl? And to answer the second poll question, yes moving it to before the Super Bowl made it an even bigger joke than it was before (I didn't think that was possible).

A couple notes for today... Ryan Parent had back surgery today and will miss 6 weeks. Apparently Mika Pyorala has been practicing as a defenseman so it will be interesting to see what happens. I had heard that Holmgren is trying to work a trade but maybe they will use Pyorala back there until Syvret/Parent come back if nothing turns up. Tollefsen has been horrible since returning from his injury. Also, ESPN can [expletive] themselves. Pierre LeBrun ripped up the Flyers PR guys for tweeting a link to the video of the Carcillo/Gaborik fight. Well maybe Pierre ought to do a little bit of research next time, seeing as the NHL provided flyers.com with the videos and encouraged them to be shared. And as I said earlier, most importantly, the national media needs to stop acting as if Gaborik is a victim here. He did not get jumped, he got exactly what he wanted. But that's how reputations work in the NHL I guess. The link to the LeBrun thing is below. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4853266&name=lebrun_pierre Also, John Stevens will make his broadcasting debut tonight with Versus for the Penguins/Rangers game. I for one am very interested to see how he does, he has never struck me as the media type.

Nah why would he do that, that'd kill all of ESPN's summer programming.

I think that the NFL needs a new overtime structure.

Brett Favre's last play as a Packer: INT Brett Favre's last play as a Jet: INT Brett Favre's last play as a Viking: INT?

Holy [expletive].

Carlos Ruiz signed a 3 year $9 million extension today. Hell of a bargain for the guy who is IMO the most underrated catcher in baseball, and I'd argue one of the most valuable guys on this roster. This means that our entire starting 8 (except for Jayson Werth) and our entire starting rotation is locked in beyond this year. Ruben Amaro, you are the man.

Matt Cooke bit Arron Asham's hand today. I have not seen any pics of his hand but apparently there are clear bite marks. I do remember the scrum where this happened, and I guess this explains why Asham was so pissed off. Also it will be interesting to see how the league handles this, since they did not discipline Scott Hartnell after he supposedly bit Kris Letang earlier in the season (although a lot of people claim that Letang made that up). Anyway, I do know one thing, the Penguins and Flyers have one game remaining this season and it will be nasty. Also, looks like Penguins fans may want to rethink those "Hartnell bites" signs for the next game.

Also has anybody else noticed that there are always a TON of penalties during the NBC games? It's as if the NHL thinks lots of special teams is the only way to lure new fans. And when it's the league's most penalized team against the team that is on the power play more than anybody else, it is a pretty bad combination. I know the Flyers had more power plays than the Penguins today so this is kind of a moot point, but quality of penalty should be more important than quantity. The refs were responsible for a 2-goal swing that was the difference in the game. Also there are several rules I'd like to see taken out of the game, or edited at least. One being the double minor for drawing blood on a high stick. This is just flat out the dumbest rule in pro sports. Also I'd like to get rid of the delay of game call for flipping a puck out of play from your own end. If it is clearly an intentional delay of game then fine give a delay of game or unsportsmanlike conduct or something, but this gets called so much and it's just unnecessary IMO.

The Penguins with yet another completely undeserved 2 points against the Flyers. Thanks refs! I'd like to get a copy of that two-sided rule book.

The NHL is officially a [expletive]ing joke. Anybody watching this game knows what I am talking about. Just wow.

http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/pot-calling-the-kettle-black-734818.jpg

Phillies folk-hero Matty Stairs signed with the Padres today. I knew he was not coming back here, but I am happy he is going to a place where he should get a chance to play.

That may be true, but I am only playing Real Deal's game. Get personal and toss aside stuff that doesn't support my argument...he is the king of that. Anyway like I said I am done here as far as arguing over Kobe goes.

Kobe is a professional athlete. If he is out on the floor I am expecting his A-game. Even Kobe has said in interviews. There you have it. Kobe himself said he is fine and the injuries don’t affect him. I will take Kobe’s word over some guy on the internet. Kobe doesn’t expect there to be any excuses and neither should anyone else. Kobe is getting old. With his back, knee, constant finger injuries we are seeing the toll of 1000 NBA games played plus all the playoff games. And are my eyes playing games on me? Is this “Real Deal” complaining about someone ignoring points. Even if I was Goro from Mortal Combat I wouldn’t be able to count the times Real Deal ignored someones points on my fingers. Let’s take a look at just one of yours posts in this very thread. -Failure to counter argue anything about LeBron wrecking the Lakers in last nights game. - Failure to accept that Kobe made zero plays off the dribble in last nights game. -Completely ignoring the recent streak of games when you ignored the terrible Orlando game and still having no mention of it whatsoever. Only looking at one of your posts too, for the record, this is a common Real Deal occurrence. You get the point, and you do this in EVERY argument. So I'd say you are the pot calling the kettle black. Effective FG% was all I needed to see to be able to tell you were stretching things. Once again let’s see how LA fares against those Houston Rockets at the end of the year when their ratio of home/road games is evened out. Also Houston’s defensive rating is actually better this year with Ariza instead of Artest too. See anyone can pull some weird defensive stat to help their argument. Also just in Lakers defensive rating is 101 while Houston of last year was 104! Owned!!! Yeah now you can see why using stats from a season that is only halfway through is laughable in its own right. Wow Kobe had a good 4th quarter tonight! CALL THE PRESSES! He shot 8-24 which is 33% from the field. But wait they had to be playing a good defensive team right? Nope they played the No D’Antoni Knicks. Great Job Kobe allow me to finish you off for your amazing 33% shooting performance. Kobe is posting up even now with Gasol more than any other guard in the league has in a long time. It is apparent that Kobe has lost his quickness off of the dribble and he is now a jump shooter trying to emulate what Jordan did in the late 90’s although he isn’t nearly as good. He isn’t being able to get to the rim as easily anymore and he is looking old. Kobe Bryant has turned into a volume scorer needing 20+ shots to get 20+ points. I am looking forward to the moment the refs stop fellating him however and don’t save him by sending him to the line. The Danilo foul was laughable tonight. But I'd say this is probably my final post on this subject. It is a futile argument considering I am arguing with "Kobe's uncle".

I think Eddie is sticking with the same starting lineup as last night. For once he has gotten something right.

Yes.

I think we should all stop arguing and just bow down to Kobe. Anything less will get you nowhere around here.

The first scene of the first episode is going to be great, just to see where they take the series. The way they ended season 5 was probably the best cliff hanger I have ever seen.