We are not worthy

All Hail Alexander the Gr8.

In honor of Ovie's goal of the millennium last night, here is the interview he did with ESPN. The interview is great for two reasons; it is extremely candid (his brother, his driving), and they make Sidney Crosby and Don Cherry look about as exciting a pair of lawn bowling mennonites. Also gotta love Lebron playing "witness" for once.

Ovechkin E60 Video Part 1

Ovechkin E60 Video Part 2

Closing Time

Maybe not anymore.


As the season progresses and Jays fans continue to wet their depends every time BJ Ryan trots out to the mound, it is time to talk about the percolating issue of closing for Toronto’s boys of summer.

BJ Ryan stinks. The man’s degeneration has been more confusing than the plot of Lost. With 12 saves by the end of May last year, Ryan seemed to have recovered well from his Tommy John surgery the year before. Fast forward twelve months and he now throws a batting practice fastball and gets lit up more than Patrick Lalime in the post season. In 16 games so far this season, BJ has managed to blow 2 saves.

With this in mind, how necessary is the position of a consistent and dominating closer for lasting success in the Major Leagues? Generally teams must be able to rely on their bullpen late in games to succeed (think Jonathan Paplebon. 35,37,41 saves in the last three seasons). Toronto’s management acknowledged this importance by signing Ryan to a deal paying him 12 million dollars this season. This is roughly 1 million dollars for each point in his abysmal 11.12 ERA. Championship teams need a reliable closer and unfortunately reliable is just about the last adjective one would use to describe BJ these days.

Whats frustrating about Ryan’s deterioration is that it has been essentially the only low light in a promising start for the Jays. It is a shame that with Toronto’s young bats producing as they have and spirited (albeit inconsistent) efforts from the starting rotation that the last three outs in a number of games have been hard to come by.

Hopefully Jays’ manager Cito Gaston can manage to get his team off the island. One would hope he has enough sense to stop sending Ryan to the mound simply based on the value of his contract. Performance should be the only factor in determining playing time. With that in mind, it is time for Scott Downs to establish himself.

So last night as I sat in the library staring at the different scores in sports i realized something. I don't have an exam tomorrow. Let's go watch the late games. I must say while San Jose laid an egg in periods two and three the Utah, L.A. game was phenomenal. Here are a few things that got me thinking.

"Choke" Thornton?

I know a lot has been said recently about Big Joe not showing up in the playoffs but I have always been a defender of the big man. He's a stand up guy, who in my opinion is always playing hard and you can't blame one person for the team underperforming. However, last night i was praying to god that he had at least 17 broken bones because he looked downright awful. He was -3 and looked genuinely scared to touch the puck. I mean seriously, if you got a chance to watch his third period giveaway to Ryan Getzlaf, he looks like an atom age player playing in his first game of hitting. He was absolutely terrified to have control of the puck. Here's hoping he can turn it around and make one of the best match-ups in this play-offs competitive once again.

A Shooter HAS to shoot!

I behooves me every time I watch a shooter in the NBA pass up an open shot. I mean seriously, you don't defend well, you don't rebound well, you can't even handle the ball very well and yet you defer open shots. Do they not understand that their job is to shoot a basketball. Nothing else. I go on this rant in reference to Kyle Korver yesterday doing his best Jason Kapono impression for the first three quarters. He missed a couple of open jump shots so he started passing. Now thank god for the Jazz that Jerry Sloan is a patient man and left him in to start the fourth as he was a key in their run. However, the man must've had an ulcer in the process. Just shoot the basketball. If Jerry wanted anything else from that position he would play Andrei Kirilenko. Kyle finally got the message in the fourth sparking the Jazz to an upset win.



Order Restored.

Now I don't know who it is wearing Trevor Ariza's jersey, but for the first two games and three quarters it was not Trevor Ariza. Trevor is a nice player with decent ballhandling skills who can jump out of the gym. However, his career three point percentage shot hovers just under 30% but he still feels inclined to take it. Sound familiar Toronto fans. Yes in case you were wondering he is the rich man's Jamario Moon. However, in the first two games and three quarters of the third it was raining threes for this guy. That is not a joke he was 8 of 9 from the land beyond at that point. 8 of 9 that is absurd. Finally in the fourth quarter order returned. As Kyle Korver was taking and making his jumpshot, so was Trevor Ariza throwing up bricks. All was right again.

And that folks, was last nights view from the couch.

- POB

0.2 Seconds

For any hockey fans out there last night was exactly what you were hoping for. 5 games, very little intermission time, and hence a general lack of kelly hrudey or James duthey which was easily one of the best parts of the evening. Now to be fair I focused on two games, Vancouver vs. St. Louis (no comment) and the late game between San Jose and Anaheim. I also caught glimpses of the Detroit, Columbus game, 6 minutes of New Jersey, Carolina and the Pitt Philly first period. A couple of quick observations.

Detroit's Dominance
Detroit is so much better than Columbus its really not worth talking about. I picked this series to last seven cause i thought Steve Mason would just stand on his head. I clearly was not thinking. Take two minutes and go through those two line ups player for player, they're not comparable. Detroit is so much better at every position. To anyone willing to play the goalie card, Chris Osgood has three cups the only other goalie in the playoffs with that many is that Brodeur fellow. Now i'm not trying to compare the two, just make the point that our good friend Ozzie ain't too shabby. (As a sidebar go to youtube and watch R.J. Umberger get crunched in the second period of this game and then ask yourself how did that guy, who was so clearly concussed come back and score for his team. I mean seriously, he looks more lost than Andrea Bargnani in his sophomore season and he was the only one on his team who could score).

A rivalry in California
I didn't know they actually cared about hockey in Cali but I guess the cup run made a difference for the ducks. We're talking about a fired up crowd and two teams who just do not like each other. Rivalries by proximity are pretty common in the NHL (see toronto, Ottawa - Philly , Pitt, - Edmonton, Calgary and countless others) but i wasn't sure it translated down there. Apparently it does and after the sharks win yesterday it might just be a seven game series. I would be happy to watch these two teams kill each other for seven games. It would be a treat.

0.2 seconds
I only watched 6 minutes of this Carolina New Jersey but it was the best 6 minutes i watched last night. The last six minutes of this game were end to end neither team giving an inch and the series seemed destined for a third straight overtime. Then with 0.2 seconds left the puck slipped past marty on a jussi jokinen tip. I have no personal attachment to this series but even I jumped off the couch when this went in. I can't even type a five letter word in 0.2 seconds and carolina just won a stanley cup playoff game with that much time remaining. For those who were wondering it does go down as the latest goal scored in regulation time in playoff history (thank you ESPN) and no that was not a penalty on Martin Brodeur with three seconds left (thank you to the referee who didn't blow that call and ruin a great playoff moment).

And that my friends was last nights view from the couch.

- POB

Ollie Jokinen. Trade deadline beauty or Sesame Street look-alike?

That C's game last night was awfully crazy.

Alright. With the world economy tanking like Edmund Fitzgerald and the resurgence of piracy (not napster) as a world issue, don't you think its time for a little levity? Lets get real. This is the best time of year to be a professional sports fan. The intensity and drama of playoff basketball and hockey, the promise of a new baseball season are enough to captivate even the most passive fan. Even if you watch sportscentre to catch a glimpse of Jennifer Hedger's neckline (to that end what ever happened to Hazel Mae?) there is no denying the how fun professional sports is right now.

I hate to be a sheep on this one but a Laker’s/Cav’s finals is all but official.

However. I have never seen a title so easily awarded to a franchise. The whole thing seems like the Clevland Cavalier’s to lose. My question is this… Don’t they have to win the requisite 16 games before they are awarded the title? To many analysts, the team’s victory and the subsequent confirmation of Lebron James as the crowned King of the NBA seem to be foregone conclusions. I am not saying that the Cav’s won’t win. Rather, they still need to earn it.

Whats on my mind right now is of course the NBA playoffs and its lack of competitive and compelling matchups. Even those with a semblance of excitement (See Houston/Portland) leave the winners as relatively easy fodder for the West’s dominant franchise.

On the other hand, the Bulls and Celtics are making me bite my tongue. For once a dominating Boston team is being asked to earn their victories by a fiery young Bull’s franchise. Playing without Kevin Garnett has dialed up the requisite intensity for Boston. Be sure to watch the EPIC battle at point guard between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo.

I’m starting to believe that the NBA post-season really is where amazing happens.

"Is it probable, no," one team source told ESPN's Wendi Nix. "But when you are talking about Kevin Garnett, anything is possible."

This is possibly the quote of the year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4084614

Mission Statement.

As two students with hardly enough change to buy beer on weekends let alone pay to see professional sports in person, this is The View From The Couch. Welcome.

Launch

Hopefully this will become a running commentary on professional sports and popular culture through the eyes of a Toronto sports fan.

NBA playoff preview to come.