P.K. Subban

What the hell is the Norris Trophy for?  I thought it was for the best defenceman in the NHL but if Subban is a question mark for Team Canada then it must be for something else.  Oh and good job sitting in the penalty box during the OT tonight.

huh, figures.

Just reading some of my old posts from 6 years ago, I appeared bitter and rather haughty.  Funny I should now complain about people whining and bitching on Facebook when I apparently had an entire blog devoted to it. Ah well, older wiser and oddly less bitter or maybe the bitter is more focused, on to some thoughts on a chilly night!

Sid Seixeiro needs to reign his shit in.  For those not familiar, he's a... well radio guy I guess but he's one of those sportsnet radio on tv guys.  He does an afternoon show called Tim and Sid with Tim Micallef.  Maybe he's been doing this for years but it seems new to me but his schtick is every once in awhile he "loses his shit" on some topic and starts ranting and raving, shouting and being essentially unintelligible.  I don't mean you can understand him I just mean he doesn't make sense.  At first I thought it was a joke but then I realized he's actually trying to be impassioned about something, unfortunately he just doesn't make a lot of sense and leaves giant holes in his arguments.  That actually brings up another point, the sportsnet fellas really need to put themselves in a more debate worthy forum.  As I know it the only way you can respond to anything they say is via twitter and then it's a toss up whether they'll see or acknowledge it.  Add to that the 140 character limit and most tweets are of the "no ur wrong" "leafs suck" and "Ron Paul 2014".

While I'm on the topic of Sportsnet people, can we just acknowledge that the majority of personalities on there have some sort of issue with Brian Burke?  Christ it's annoying to hear you guys tear a guy apart on air and chortle amongst yourself about how funny you are/awful he is.  Especially considering you do nothing to give credit to any success he may have, it's always someone else... good lord he's been employed by NHL teams for how long but you still think he's terrible?  He's only ever been unemployed for as long as he wanted, I guess you all should be making twice the money you are and working for some club in the front office since you obviously have all the answers.  Give it a rest already.

Seven million a season is too much for Dion Phaneuf. I understand why the Leafs felt the need to sign him, they literally have no one else and have no prospects really but it's still too much.  Add David Clarkson's massive contract and you have nearly 13 million tied up in two players who combined should be well under 10.  But oh yeah, Brian Burke was all that was wrong with the Leafs.

Suspended for how long??

Couple things I need to get put down regarding the NHL this year and the high number of suspensions that have been handed down by the league.  I don't have a problem per say with the suspensions themselves but more with the seemingly arbitrary length of the suspension.  It's difficult to tell what infraction gets what suspension and the more that are handed out, the less sense they're making.  Today marked another absolute mindfuck when it comes out to being able to guess what someone will get, the problem here is it's sending a confusing message to fans and players.  There is no "don't do this, you'll get 5 games for it" because what one guy gets 5 games for another gets 1 for.

Personally the most polarizing occurrences happened during the Boston Bruins/Pittsburgh Penguins game... I dunno think it was November sometime.  The Shawn Thornton (ST) Brooks Orpik head punch and the James Neal (JN) Brad Marchand head knee.  ST got 15 games for his takedown and knockout of Orpik.  Now I'm not arguing he shouldn't have got suspended.  It was after the play,  it was born out of Orpik's (dirty) hit on Ericksson (let's face it, 8 months ago in the playoffs that was a 5, game, and a 2 game suspension.  The only difference was Eller busted his face open and Ericksson just didn't get on skates for a month.  Blown call and Orpik knows it), it was a bad idea.  Now JN's was a crime of opportunity, a knee in the head of known pest Marchand while he was down on hands and knees for which he got 5 games for.

Here's my issue with this.  ST has never been suspended and while a known tough guy he plays a regular shift and usually ends up in the 20 point range.  He even plays a regular shift in the playoffs where he rarely fights.  He's also never even been considered for a suspension, all in all a clean, tough, player.  He gets 15 games mostly based on the look of what happened.

JN gets 5 games.  JN has been suspended twice previously on incredibly intentionally dirty plays.  These are accidental head hits or hits from behind, these are going out to try and hurt someone suspensions.  Ok, number 1: the message apparently isn't getting through.  Number  2: part of the reasoning behind ST's 15 games was that it "was a non-hockey play" hear that guys?  Kneeing in the head is considered a "hockey play".  Number 3:  you can't even knee someone in the head when they're on their hands and knees in the UFC. How can what would get you disqualified and fined in an organization called "ultimate fighting championship" only get you 5 games in the NHL.  Especially on your 3rd suspension!

Bottom line, the NHL is suspending based on what is seen on TV not by what is done on the ice and it's wrong.  Just because someone appears to be more seriously injured than another player does not make the infraction any less violent or wrong.  You want to clean up the game and get rid of the dirty plays?  Suspend guys for the crime not for the harm.  Joffery Lupul fully intentionally cross checked a guy in the head and got fined $10K for his 2nd infraction.  If the guy he hit missed time with a concussion I can't help but think he'd have got games, that's wrong.  Oh and regarding ST and JN, were it that they were both first offences... if ST is 15 games JN has to be 10 at least.  Furthermore if you've already got a suspension, your second offence is and automatic 5 game minimum and your third is an auto 10 minimum.  It's one thing to try and get rid of the dirty hits but there's no reason any player should be getting suspended repeatedly.

I'm back!

I've been getting annoyed with some things lately and decided I needed to pull out a soapbox to rant on.  Thought about Facebook but frankly I'm annoyed with most things on Facebook and the last thing I wanted to do was add my voice to the thousands of complaining #fml #firstworldproblems #mylifesohard #whydoyouputthisontheinternet #cryforattention posts and status updates that are already on there.  Hint: If you've found I haven't liked or commented on your status in a long time, it's probably cause I hid your updates because they either frustrated me or just got really tiresome, it's not personal... well no it's completely personal but it's not mean, far better than my posting "you complain too much" on your status.

Anyway, now that that's dealt with, on to what's been bugging me.  Lots of sport stuff lately, opinions on bars... ohhh so many opinions.  Let it never be said that I'm not aware of my opinionated nature, occasionally I can even be an opinionated asshole, frankly I'm aware of those moments and generally regret the fact I actually got annoyed to the point of being said opinionated asshole.  Honestly hard feelings are never intended and I think I look more intense than I actually am, regardless it bums me out when it happens cause it puts a damper on the evening.  I've had two occasions at least that come to mind where Robin Baerg and I have been talking about one thing or another and it got borderline heated, I was wrong in both.

With that said, on with the blog!