It's all raisins off an Oldsmobile. None of this should have kept you up at night ...... Any gut feeling that the Senators will end up stuck with Dany Heatley and have to pay him his $4-million bonus.
... People treating the story about Wimbledon putting better-looking female players on centre court as ribald. Sorry, but when the two Grand Slam events held in old Europe often schedule Serena Williams to play on a side court, it's not amusing. It's something else which rhymes with acism.
... wondering how long until it is OK to riff on Vernon Wells changing his at-bat music to Michael Jackson songs. It's a classy move, but it's as if Wells is trying to point out someone else has actually gone even longer without producing a big hit.
... feeling like you have taken the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' futility for granted for the past 10 years. (That's a great column by Stephen Brunt.)
... Whether to take the inaugural football Junior World Championship seriously. The joy of football is the journey, yet New Zealand, Sweden and France travelled all the way to Canton, Ohio to lose by a combined 184-7 to Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Did the French run the original Statue of Liberty play against the Americans, or did their quarterback's play wristband read, "Prenez un genou."*
(BT to the dub, proof the Creator does not throw dice. The Hockey Hall of Fame is in the heart of Canada's largest city. The Baseball Hall of Fame is nestled in the postcard-worthy Finger Lakes. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio is right next to interstate highway.)
Columnists bellyaching about how bored they were by watching the NHL draft. There seriously has to be a better topic and whining about you doing journalism, isn't that what a blog is for? (Besides, Jack Todd wrote the definitive takedown of the NHL draft on Monday.)
(*That's French for, "Take a knee.")
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5 comments:
Albeit grudgingly, I've got to give you props on that Wells zinger ...
I am increasingly of the view that the Senators should simply keep Heatley. First off, the trade offers are a joke. If teams aren't willing to part with first rounders and/or blue chip prospects, forget it.
Secondly, if you read Wayne Scanlan's piece in the Citizen this morning, Camp Heatley seems to be inferring that Dany just wants a hug, and to feel loved and wanted. Like many stars, Heatley obviously has a huge ego, one that he had done a pretty good job of keeping out of sight. The combination of the team winning at the end of the year, though, in conjunction with his ice time dropping somewhat, was too much for him to bear.
Clouston also didn't know how to handle NHL egos, and as a result probably treated Heatley the same way he treated Jesse Winchester. That works fine with the Kootenay Ice or in Bingo, but in the NHL you have to be able to tiptoe around the minefield of player egos.
Heatley will not sit at home and leave $7.5 million on the table. If the Senators offer him a face saving route back to the team, he will likely take it.
Dennis,
You lost me at "if you read Wayne Scanlan."
One possibility we can probably dismiss out of hand is that Heatley stays home. The landscape has changed since 1999, for the better, in hockey. No one is going to hold out for a whole year.
The guy who really ends up in the cross-hairs is Alfie ... where's the leadership?
The reason Heatley is not going to be dealt (at least possibly until the trade deadline) is the lack of understanding of value in the cap environment by Ottawa fans. Every Ottawa fan seems to be expecting a huge return for him. But his value is not high. He is an excellent player and maybe he will get 50 goals again, but his contract is bad enough to cut his value way down. They would get spare parts and other people's salary problems in return. Near the trade deadline when contenders are looking to add salary is when his value will be at its peak, but still with the length of the contact it won't be what fans are expecting.
Since Murray (who above all wants to avoid looking bad or disappointing fans) can't get what fans expect for him, he won't be dealt.
@Alex:
This post just hit the fan w/ the Gomez trade. Not that I disagreed w/ it, but Gomez???
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