This week on 15 Minutes of Fame – lots of overtime and lots of fighting to kick off the NHL playoffs, the Oilers win the draft lottery & discuss the future of their coach, the Maple Leafs apologize and a number of top players head to the World Championships. Also – the head of the MLB players union talks steroids and the Hall of Fame.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Thierry Henry, the NFL, Lamar Odom, Lingerie Football and Dwyane Wade. The Punchline this week involves Augusta and an attempted cup of sand!
This week on the show we start out with the topic that’s on everyone’s mind – the feud between the Pittsburgh Penguins & the Philadelphia Flyers (and to a lesser extent, the Pens & the Rangers). We also look at a couple of fines handed down to coaches this week (including Edmonton’s Tom Renney) and we run down the upcoming match-ups in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
In the GABBYs: Mike Smith, Ray Whitney, Joey Votto, Alistair Overeem, the Orlando Magic & fans of the University of Kentucky. The Punchline this week is the Baltimore Orioles!
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
This week on 15MOF we discuss the latest news surrounding Oilers forward Taylor Hall, as well as another story that has left the team a bit red in the face. Also on the show – we discuss whether the Toronto Maple Leafs will be the next NHL team to fire a GM and we look at the latest “bounty” news from the NFL.
In the GABBYs: the Norfolk Admirals, Jamie Moyer, Sidney Crosby, Colin Clark, Reebok & March Madness. The Punchline this week is Beach Volleyball!
Patrick Chan (David Carmichael, Wikimedia Commons)
2011 Lionel Conacher Award winner Patrick Chan of Ottawa, Ontario is one step closer to defending his title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Nice, France.
Today, Chan put down a solid short program, and leads the Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina by 1.74 points. Due to the fact the television coverage on CBC is absolutely lousy, the event can be seen live on www.cbcsports.ca or if you have Bold. The final flight of skaters in the men’s event is at 8am and the final flight of skaters in the women’s event is at 1:30pm on Saturday with Alena Leonova of Russia in the lead. In the pairs competition today, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov hammered the strong German pair of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy by 8.04 points, but only hung onto the silver medal behind the Germans after a poor short program.
This week on the show we’re discussing the latest big suspension from the NHL and some of the major playoff races – who’s in and who’s out? Meanwhile, in the NFL, the league comes down hard on the New Orleans Saints over the team’s bounty program and the Denver Broncos win the Peyton Manning sweepstakes!
In the GABBYs: Kevin Love, Leo Messi, Fernando Torres, Ben Eager, Wayne Rooney and Joba Chamberlain. The Punchline this week is a Tim Tebow inspired drink!
The NBA Trade Deadline came and went yesterday. My initial reaction was simple.
Steve Nash, Canada’s greatest basketball ever, is still a Phoenix Sun and his chances of winning a championship are dwindling. He’s 38 years old, passes the ball with absolute ease, but at this stage off his career is stuck as a Sun on a team that needs a couple of years at least to rebuild in order to be a contender for a Championship.
Sure, they beat the Clippers last night without him, but last night’s performance by the Suns simply doesn’t happen often.
I’m not saying Steve Nash should be another Ray Bourque and be a professional athlete that asked to be traded to win a Championship before he retires, but that the Suns should have looked into it. Nash deserves a chance. The likelihood of Nash being a Sun next season is 50/50, and the Suns missed a great chance to get something for him.
Sure, there were trades yesterday. The Portland Trail Blazers traded Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams and a first round pick. The Milwaukee Bucks traded Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden State Warriors for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown, and then the Warriors traded Jackson to San Antonio for Richard Jefferson.
We also saw Washington acquire Nene Hilario from Denver, Houston acquire Derek Fisher from the Los Angeles Lakers and Marcus Camby from Portland, Indiana acquire Leandro Barbosa from Toronto, and two coaches leave–Mike D’Antoni in New York and Nate McMillan in Portland.
But with all of the movement, Steve Nash, the greatest point guard in the game remains playing under the sun in Phoenix. Are you as disappointed as I am?
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we look at the reasons behind the Toronto Maple Leafs firing their coach, an idea that would make the final month of the NHL season more interesting for non-playoff teams, the “expanded” MLB playoffs and Ryan Braun’s overturned doping case.
In the GABBYs: Bat boys, the LA Clippers, Brad Keselowski, Danica Patrick, Tiger Woods/Peyton Hillis and the New Orleans Saints. The Punchline this week is USA Yoga!
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes the internet with some crazy new stuff to flip the script on you!
This week on “When Sports Go Viral,” that is exactly what happens – from paper airplane world records to singing athletes to funny car commercials involving athletes, it’s all here for your perusal. Oh yes, and there’s some Auto-Tune.
Remember the video of Tim Tebow reading Dr. Seuss? Well, you had to know this was coming:
I watched the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves for the first time last night and was very impressed.
The Timberwolves went into Los Angeles and beat a Clippers team 109-97. A major reason for their victory is that Head Coach Rick Adelman seemed to focus defensively on all of the Clippers except their two star players– Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
While doing play-by-play for the University of Calgary Dinos Women’s Basketball team in 2003, I saw Dinos’ head coach Shawnee Harle execute a similar defensive strategy against the University of Winnipeg to perfection. The fundamental approach is let the entire team you are facing beat you.
Tactically, Rick Adelman is an underrated basketball genious. Even though he has never won an NBA Finals, he has gone 963-633 while coaching the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and now Minnesota Timberwolves. What he has been able to do in Minnesota is amazing. Last season the Timberwolves were the worst team in the NBA defensively. Now they’re in the middle of the pack, and Minnesota is fighting for a playoff spot.
All throughout the game it went through my head, is why didn’t the Raptors make more of a push for Adelman when they had the chance after being fired by the Rockets? Why did they decide to settle on Dwane Casey instead? Adelman has more experience and has never been afraid to coach in smaller, less profile basketball markets. The Raptors blew an opportunity here my not going after the best candidate on the market stronger.
This week on a special NHL Trade Deadline edition of 15 Minutes of Fame, we try to pick out the winners and the losers of the big day and do our best to analyze the one trade pulled off by the Edmonton Oilers. We also look at the biggest pre-deadline trade and non-trade, which was Jeff Carter to the LA Kings and Ales Hemsky re-upping with the Oil.
In the GABBYs: Chicago Cubs fans, CC Sabathia, Jeremy Lin, Greg Oden, Rajon Rondo & Tommi Virtanen. The Punchline this week is MMA fighter Dan Lariviere!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we’re discussing some potential trades from around the NHL, Alex Ovechkin’s work ethic and news that former Oiler Mike Comrie is calling it a career. As well, we look at what the Edmonton Eskimos did in the opening days of CFL free agency, what LeBron James said about returning to Cleveland and the circus that surrounded the recent fight between Vitali Klitschko and Dereck Chisora.
In the GABBYs: Teemu Selanne, the Detroit Red Wings, Brad Marchand, the Rochester Knighthawks, Roburt Sallie and Brazilian soccer club XV de Jau. The Punchline this week is the “Piggyback Bandit,” Sherwin Shayegan.
For the Oklahoma City Thunder to be considered an elite team in the National Basketball Association, Kevin Durant needs to simply have the ball as much as possible.
On Sunday, Durant recorded a remarkable 51 points in a 124-118 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets. Point guard Russell Westbrook also added 40 points.
With the win, the Thunder improve to 24-7, the best record in the Western Conference, and only half a game back of the Miami Heat for the best record in the NBA.
Durant, Westbrook, and teammate Serge Ibaka combined for 103 of the Thunder’s 124 points, made unbelievable history. Thy became the first trio to record 50 points, 40 points and a triple double in the same game. Ibaka had 15 rebounds, 14 points and an amazing 11 blocked shots.
One could argue and make the case that Ibaka is more valuable than Westbrook for the Thunder. Westbrook has been criticized for being a shoot first point guard, while Ibaka’s defensive ability was shown on the scoresheet Sunday when he was a +31– impressive when you consider the game went into overtime.
The internet certainly is a great time-waster, isn’t it?
Whether you’re trying to get through a long day at school, a long day at work, or just a long day in general, the internet is always there to offer a helping hand, usually in the form of completely random, useless information. In our case though – it’s viral videos!
Here is a glimpse into what is happening in the world of viral sports flicks at the moment:
Let’s start off on the slopes with this stunning video from fashion photographer and filmmaker Jacob Sutton (via The Nosebleeds) – he got pro snowboarder William Hughes to wear an LED suit and shred some pow late at night! (VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP!) (more…)
The internet certainly is a great time-waster, isn’t it?
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