A side of Chris Berman we've never seen

Pure Hilarity: Bird poops on reporter

Way to go Ray!

I think this is my 3rd posting about Ray Emery and his overall lack of intelligence throughout this season. The latest fiasco has ended up costing him a day's pay. Granted, it's a measly $14K out of his $2.75 million that he'll earn this year, but it's about all the Sens can do without sending him packing either on waivers or trading him for a bag of hockey pucks. There have been plenty of fans, media-types, and bloggers who have voiced their displeasure with his foolishness and even tried to come up with solutions to this on-going problem. I always enjoy what my fellow Sens Army soldier has to say over at Scarlett Ice. We're talkin' bout practice?! Yes, Allen Iverson. We are. But we're also talking about an underlying issue that has surrounded Ray over the last few years that he's been in O-Town. After all, he was returning from a binge weekend in Las Vegas when he decided to pop by to see if his team needed him around. Nah, that's OK Ray, we'll just throw up a Mr. Siv so you can shake off your hangover. I do recall a few Facebook groups from last year's Cup-run that went something like, "Please Ray, don't do drugs during the playoffs" or, "No drugs 'til after the playoffs". I don't think his tardiness has anything to do with a faulty alarm clock. Maybe he's been hanging out with Redden for too long, but there seems to be a deeper problem at the heart of this issue. He's got his contract, guaranteed cheddar, groupies, and all the accessories that goes along with living the dream. Good for you, Ray. You're what becoming a professional athlete is all about.

Go figure: Tiger loves the Buick

Surprise, surprise. Just another win at the Buick Invitational for Tiger Woods...by 8 shots! And he's now won this event 6 times! Hey maybe he gets a big bonus for winning his sponsors tourney..? He also tied Arnold Palmer for 4th on the career PGA Tour wins with 62. Funny thing is, he didn't even play all that well in the final round. Well, for his standards anyway. He was kind of all over the place. Making remarkable flop shots and rolling it decently with the flatstick, he still managed to make 3 bogies in a row on the back 9. Didn't really seem to matter much, as only 7 players broke par on Sunday (Tiger was one of them with a 71). If this is what happens when Tiger comes back after taking months off at a time, then the Tour is in for a long season. Especially when Tiger says he's playing better than he was in 2000 when he had the Tiger Slam. Good thing 2nd place pays pretty well...

East team takes All-Star Game, Snoop Dogg on skates

Thankfully, tonight's All-Star game in Atlanta was a better showing than last night's skills competition. For some reason, the skills comp just doesn't have the allure that a slam dunk contest has (obviously). But I think the NHL needs to figure out a way to develop a more entertaining show. Moving targets? Relay race? Maybe take a lesson from the WWE and have a Royal Rumble scrap? That being said, I enjoyed the actual game tonight. Some nice dangles and goals. Columbus' Rick Nash got a hatty with a few beauties, but Carolina's Eric Staal snagged the MVP honours with 3 points. There were some nice saves, like the one San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov made on Atlanta's own Ilya Kovalchuk. In the end, it was former Thrasher and current Bruin Marc Savard who potted one in the last minute to win it for the East. Alright, let's get back to the season...

The Snoop D-O-Double G will hit the ice with the Anaheim Ducks tonight on his E! reality show, "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood." The show features Snoop's son and friends saucin' it around (aka: doing their best to not fall flat on their faces while ankle-skating around the Honda Center) with Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Pronger, and George Parros. He likes the game so much, he's even considering starting a minor hockey league in SoCal! Oh, before I forget...Why does Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella? Fo Drizzle. Boooooooooooooo.......

The ability to carry his team like no other

If you're a frequent reader of this blog, then you'll know who I'm talking about. Since I launched this site, I think I've made it pretty evident that I'm avid supporter of Daniel Alfredsson. He put his heart on the line during Ottawa's magical run to the Cup last year. But this season has brought a variety of challenges to the Ottawa Senators. Well okay, maybe not the first 15 games of the season when they were unbeatable. But, to go unbeatable, you need your goaltender to be above average (something that's been lacking). You also need players to pick up the slack when others are faltering. There have been stretches where the Senators have been nothing short of awful. Case in point: a 7-game skid in November and the first few weeks of the new years have definitely shown their vulnerabilities. Throughout this time, there's been one player who has single handedly carried this team. He goes by the name of Alfie, and he's a living legend in the city of Ottawa.

Remember when he put the team on his back during last year's post-season? I do. And if you're a hater or you simply just forget (shame on you), the Sens' 8-4 beat down in Tampa tonight is a prime example of how good he really is. A 7-point night to propel himself up from 7th to 1st in league scoring with 67 points over Vinny Lecavalier's 66. Keep in mind that Alfie's been out of the lineup with injuries a few times this year. But even with the firepower of Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, the Sens are nothing without their captain. I said it, dare to disagree? I didn't think so. I'll even go as far as saying he's the best player in the NHL. Drop me a line if you would like to dispute that claim. Oh, and stay tuned for a formal mid-season recap on the state of the league and other random thoughts I have.

JFJ gets cut loose

I'm not a John Ferguson Jr. fan by any stretch. In fact, I've found the epic failures of the Toronto Maple Leafs quite amusing. To get an idea of where I'm comin' from: a Leafs loss is just as good as a Sens win (of course, these days, the Leafs are expected to lose). But the latest debacle in The Big Smoke has to be one of the biggest management blunders in the history of the NHL. Not only did Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (aka, the doorknob Richard Peddie) publicly admit they had made a mistake by hiring JFJ, but they openly searched for his replacement...while he was still the GM! You gotta feel for him. Of course, he's brought it on himself. He can recognize talent, but he has built a brutal history of signing average hockey players to ridiculous contracts. $6 mill for Bryan McCabe?! How 'bout Pavel Kubina who makes $5 million...Darcy Tucker somehow scammed his way into a $3.5 mill per year deal. I could go on...

What many people fail to recognize is the fact that he was brought in with NO experience. Not only did have a lousy resume, but he was thrown into the fire we call the Toronto media. MLSE's management strategy has been exposed and everyone now knows that JFJ had no choice in signing those players. He was essentially a puppet to the boys at the top. For the Leafs to ever regain any kind respect in the NHL, they need to clear out all of the idiots who have driven their team into a bottom-feeding disaster and not hire Cliff Fletcher, a GM they fired a decade ago for being useless. But hey, as long as they're making millions of dollars from ignorant Leaf fans who keep showin' up, all is well.

No wonder he looked awful

I've never thought of San Diego Chargers' QB Philip Rivers as a 'franchise player'. He didn't look very good in the Bolts' loss to New England Sunday either. My buddy Pindawg thought his throws looked like he was throwing (pushing?) a shot-put. I said, "really?" Then Rivers made a 'pass' and I was convinced. We laughed. You shoulda been there cuz it really was a good time... But I digress.

Apparently Rivers went under the knife last week in order to even play in yesterday's AFC Championship. Though his knee was still a mess, he decided to play anyway. His ACL was, and I quote, "totally gone." That's what being a gamer is all about. But this begs the question: what's the better scenario? A starting quarterback at less than 50%, or a back-up quarterback at 100%?

He was visibly limping throughout the game and will be going back under the knife and will be back for training camp. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

That was disappointing...wasn't it?

Does anybody else out there agree with me about the outcome of last night's NFC Championship? The New York Giants weren't supposed to win that game. Hell, they weren't supposed to win in Tampa 2 weeks ago, nor were they supposed to win in Dallas last week. But to beat Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau and head to the Super Bowl just sounds down-right silly. Let's be honest people, Eli Manning isn't that good.

Favre was supposed to cap his career off with at least a trip to Phoenix and a shot at de-throning the all-mighty New England Patriots. At least that game would be half-worthy of watching. I know, too many hyphens. Deal with it. On another note, how many chances were the Pack gonna give Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes? (who, by the way, set a playoff record for being the first kicker to make a 40+ yard field goal at Lambeau Field) Obviously, too many. (Washington Post) Apparently, nobody loves Lawrence Tynes anyway. (Sports Illustrated) There's no photos of this, but after the winning kick, Eli looked like a disgruntled 5-year old looking for his tricycle. In reality, he was looking for his fiancee who he made sit outside with the Cheesehead-faithful in 30-below temps. She likely bolted to the nearest airport after realizing that it was colder than a witch's titty...and that he's kind of a douche.

On the links: The Palm Springs Poolsider reports back from The Bob Hope

67 degrees and sunny!

Picked up the action with John Daly, Luke Wilson, George Lopez and Samuel L. Jackson on the 10th tee. Funny group, especially Lopez who said when someone yelled, 'nice day', he replied yes, 'mail order...just like my wife'. Daly dropped a 20-footer for bird, and then dropped to his knees to thank the Lord. Jackson picked up, saying "I didn't want to embarrass myself." Watched Chad Campbell birdie the hole. He was with Cheech Marin and Don Cheedle.

Then we backtracked to #1 to pick up Weir (his 10th). I think made the turn at -3 for the day. We joined him on #2 as he was eagling the hole (his 2nd of the day). Then he went par-par-birdie before starting to implode. On #6 he sliced one to behind a tree, and made the shot of the century (Shell and I were 10 feet away), hooks it around the tree to put it on the green 220 yds away, and 10 feet from the pin! But...then in true Weir fashion, he 3-jacks it for bogey! That's how the rest of his round went...couldn't putt today. If he made some of those birdie putts, he might be at -12 today because his tee-to-green stroke play was pretty good. Weirsy played with Kevin Nealon (not particularly funny) and Kevin James (silent too). Both were hacks. Weir had about 300-350 Canadians wishing him well, groaning on every missed putt, and screaming on his eagles. He really is one helluva player, but won't win this one.

Finished the day off watching Justin Leonard, the 3rd round leader, and Jesper Parnevik, who is close to being washed up. Parnevik was playing with Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper, both pretty good golfers.

Sidenote: Roger Clemens backed out this week...likely preparing for his lies to Congress next month.

My gimp leg held up till the end and so Shell's driving home. Enjoy your snow :-(

Palm Springs Poolsider