Monday, January 05, 2009

Snark break ...

(Honestly, the Snark Break bit might have to die ... on Mondays, it should be, in honour of favourite funny bastard Bill Murray's first big role, the Trippers, as in, "It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!" Anyway, it just doesn't matter ...

... that four Montreal Canadiens were elected to start for the Eastern Conference in the NHL all-star game and Alex Ovechkin, the best player in the sport, will only go as a reserve. It's an exhibition game in a sport where players only stay in the ice for 40-50 seconds at a clip, does it matter who starts? The NHL All-Star Game is as pertinent to hockey as Ben Lyons is to film criticism. Let it go.

... that there are still two games left in the Bowl Clusterphooey Series. The blogetariat is convinced the national championship should be handed to the unbeaten Utah Utes.

... that each team is not guaranteed a possession in NFL overtime, when it's Peyton Manning's team that ends up never seeing the ball. (Seriously, it's stupid.)

... who gets centrefielder Andruw Jones and his restructured contract, although it would be nice if he went back to the Atlanta Braves. Then they would have Chipper Jones and Cheaper Jones.

(One columnist has convinced himself Jones' career is done. Well, why didn't you say that his career is over? Start in with the J.P. Ricciardi jokes in 3-2-1 ...)

... that you never bother to read anything at AOL Fanhouse, because it's dead on arrival now that it has signed up Jay Mariotti. (Thank you, Sports On My Mind.)

... that the Minnesota Vikings, my Minnesota Vikings, lost out in the NFL playoffs. It puts Brad Childress on a short leash in 2009, one would hope. The game was there for the taking even though they didn't play very well or all that aggressively. It's kind of a microcosm of how it's gone under Childress. Anyone think that Bill Cowher would call for a run up the middle or a, groan, safe pass, right after the defence forces a turnover at midfield? No, he'd force the issue. The mind reels.

... that Kinger is the only one who gets why Big Wheel At The Cracker Factory would be a great title for a book if some guy wasn't already using it.

... that someone is another a year older. Thanks again to the readers and friends, and all of you are in the latter category, who sent Facebook messages to the newly minted 30-something-year-old. I debuted the same year as two franchises who have underperformed lately -- Star Wars and the Blue Jays.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting
  • Bob Elliott of Sun Media published a list of the 100 most influential Canadians in baseball over the weekend. Jonah Keri of ESPN.com, Gatineau native Phillippe Aumont and Baseball Canada's Jim Baba (who had a little something to do with the Ottawa Rapids' existence) each made the list (and ahead of jamiecampbell, too).

    The Ottawa Citizen sportswriter Don Campbell, who's an accomplished youth baseball coach, received a honourable mention.
  • Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis, a Kingston guy, got a right good Kurtenblogging. Please don't shoot the messenger.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry for your loss Neate. Go Steelers!!!!

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

No one cares who starts the All-Star game. The problem is that guys like Komisarek, who have no business going, are there. That's weak.

sager said...

It is weak, but here's the rationalization ... are you going to watch the worst NHL game of the year? If yes, why, and if no, why care that Komisarek starts when he has not done anything this year to warrant the honour?

Dennis Prouse said...

I flatly refuse to watch the All-Star game. It is just as big a joke as the Pro Bowl. I would rather go watch a local Junior "B" game -- at least those kids will be trying hard. All-star games can serve a purpose in junior hockey or college football, where players are putting on a show for the scouts, but in the pros they are a mind-numbing waste of time. I guess they serve some kind of a marketing purpose, although I have no idea what it might be.