The Football Source - Michael Lombardi

I'm sure every Sports Guy (Simmons) fan is now a Michael Lombardi fan. Simmons has him on probably once a week to talk football. I like Lombardi thanks to the Simmons podcast. Here's a snapshot of the common sense approach Lombardi takes:

I heard all the talk last season about how the Lions were going to go back and be a run team, that getting rid of Martz would allow them to protect the ball, run more and manage the game in a more efficient way. Well, how did that work? The Lions lost all 16 games, but I promise you, had Martz been the offensive coordinator last year, they would have won a game or two. In Detroit, the offensive theory after firing Martz is the same theory now in San Francisco. The team wants to return to a running game, but all they return to is a bad offense. The 49ers don’t want to throw the ball more than 30 times and they want to establish the run. This is the same organization that invented the west coast offense built on the theory that you have to throw the ball to run. Establishing the run only means you are kicking field goals.

You can read the rest of the story at The National Football Post.

Wheaties

The Brandon Wheat Kings are making short work of the Kootney Ice in the first round of the WHL playoffs. Up 2-0 over the Ice the Wheaties are on the road in the Rockies looking to take a 3-0 lead. After 2 periods in game 3 it's 3-2 for the Wheaties.

Shaw TV is showing Saskatoon vs Lethbridge. Thanks!

I think it's important for the Wheaties to win a round or two this year. They need the playoff experience and pressure hockey experience for next year's Memorial Cup hosting duties. I really hope Coach/GM/Owner Crimmer is watching closely to see which players are rising to the occasion and are the guys he wants around next year for the big push.

Under Pressure

Dave Dameshek brought up an interesting sports topic that requires many hours of thought and lists of sports stars. That's pretty much his gig. The current thought is which sports figure (player, coach, GM) is under the most pressure right now. He tossed out names like Kobe, Crosby, Peyton Manning, Brian Cashman, etc. but then he said a name that I just loved to here...Joe Thornton. Now, I think Joe Thornton is great and I cheered for him in Boston and cheer for him when he suits up for Team Canada. As a Shark though, I think the dude is overrated. OK, it bugs me that the Bruins got a bag of steaming crap in return for Joe in one of the worst NHL trades of all time but hear me out. The Sharks have the same number of Cup wins as the Bruins since the trade. That's right, ZERO. So Joe can rack up the points in the regular season and win a round or two on the West Coast but he still has yet to crack the Cup Finals let alone win it. As for the Bruins, they canned the guy that pulled the trigger on the trade and went out and got Savard and Chara. Two big pieces of the current team that is just as much a Cup contender as the Sharks this year.

Back to the main topic though....which sports star is under the most pressure. I think if you ask me this question next year at this time the answer will be Ron Wilson. Leaf Nation is putting up with another poor season but the Honeymoon with Wilson will be over next year. For right now though I have to give the question more thought...the kind of thought Dameshek gives these types of silly things.

Brier Recap

My 4th Brier is in the books. Calgary '09 was a good Brier considering the talented field and excellent venue. It didn't hurt that Stoughton and team Toba was always in the playoff hunt. As we wait for the final between Alberta vs Manitoba on TV back in the Wheat City I thought I would put down some thoughts and revisit my predictions.

First my predictions..

I had the top 4 teams predicted right but that wasn't very difficult to do. Stoughton may upset Martin today but I will be surprised if he does so I think I've got the top 4 in the proper order. I was way off on Quebec, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick. Russ Howard surprised me and maybe he is on to something with the rotating front end. Jordison is a much better team/player than what he showed at the Brier. This guy qualified at a Slam this year but this week he was finished quicker than a pint of Pilsner at a Rider game. Quebec is always a coin toss so I don't feel too bad about that one. Nova Scotia had a really difficult schedule for a rebound and unfortunately they got off on the wrong foot so it was next to impossible to recovery. The team I was really off on was Northern Ontario...Thanks a lot JD for that pick!!. Jackabo was out of his league.

Reflections on the trip...

Don't Jay walk in Calgary - my buddy and I were stopped by police about it!!
Skiing in the Rockies is incredible! It's well worth the ridiculous line-ups and price tags.
Canmore is still my favorite town.
If you need directions to a strip club just ask a NWT/Yukon skip.
Podcasts are the best way to kill time on the road (thanks Simmons, Dameshek, Carolla).
Pilsner is my favorite beer.
Winnipeg has the best chicken wings.
A version of the C-Train would be nice in Winnipeg but I'm not sold we have the right people for it. I still think we are a car town.
The continental breakfast standard needs to be raised across hotels.
Don't play pool in the back of a sleazy bar...you might get drop kicked by an androgynous native woman.
It's great to have close friends you can travel with. Friends in other cities to visit. Friends back home to take care of business. Family to take care of you.
Don't go to Halifax in the winter. Save your money and go to Saskatoon the following year.

I should really save this as a draft and edit it and add pictures (maybe I will later) but I will post as is and cut me some slack....It's been a long week and I'm very very tired.

Brier Predictions

The Brier begins tomorrow and a close friend reminded me I was running out of time to post my predictions. Two thoughts keep resonating in my mind. First, it's something Jon Mead said about the Safeway Championship - when you get perfect ice the best two teams should end up in the final. The other thought is that the two best teams have their Olympic Trials spot ticket punched already and the consensus third best team, Stoughton, needs to take advantage of playing in a bonspiel and competing for Trials points without Burtnyk and Ferbey in the same event. So here goes nothing....

12th - PEI - simply not good enough.
11th - Yukon/NWT - some early buzz about this team being an upset team but let's get real.
10th - NB -yes, it's Russ Howard but even the cagey veteran is no match for the big boys
9th - Quebec - with games against MB, Sask, and AB before Noon on Monday I say avoid 'em.
8th - British Columbia - another tough early schedule...I anticipate same results as Quebec.
7th - Northern Ontario - my curling insider says this team has prepared well for a Brier run.
6th - Nova Scotia - Dacey can play the big shot as good as any...will keep his head above water.
5th - Saskatchewan - should be good enough to be in the mix.
4th - Newfoundland - Gushue will finish with the most 4th place Brier finishes in history when his career as a Newfie skip is over
3rd - Ontario - I'm interested to see how much tank is in the gas for these guys.
2nd - Manitoba - on a roll and playing with determination..will make the final.
1st - Alberta - home crowd advantage, best shotmaker in the world, best ice = WINNER.

Stoughton Wins Manitoba for the 7th time

Jeff Stoughton won his record 7th MB Men's Provincials and will represent MB at the Brier in Calgary this year.

The Safeway Championship was a great event. The finals featured the #1 Burtnyk defending champ vs the #2 2007 champ in Stoughton. In the end Stoughton took advantage of the hammer early scoring 2 in the first end then stealing 1 in the second. Stoughton was the sharper curler and Kevin Park out curled Don Walchuk. In my opinion Team Stoughton was the best team. I'm happy to see him return to the Brier and will be at the Saddledome to cheer him on.

As for predictions:

I predicted Stoughton would win. I had 7 out of 8 qualifiers right (had Allan Lyburn rather than Bob Sigurdson). My biggest mistake was not having Carruthers in the final 4. Reid played really well and actually won the All-Star Skip award. I also had Mike McEwen making it to the finals but he feel short again this year despite a solid effort.

I hope to have similar success with my Brier predictions in a few weeks.

Safeway Championship - Day 2

The first 4 qualifying match-ups are set for the Safeway Championships. Of the 8 teams playing for the first 4 spots only 2 are seeds outside of the top 8 (D.Peters, Taylor). Top 8 seeds that were bounced to the B side were Terry McNamee and Allan Lyburn. But you gotta love Lyburn's attitude....

[link]

"We're here," Brandon's Allan Lyburn proclaimed Tuesday, "to drink a lot of beer and have a good time. Because, let's face it, I don't generally play very well at this thing."