working

ADVERTISERS

Sports Outside the Beltway

Columbus Center Derick Brassard out for the season

He was tied for the rookie scoring lead before his injury happened. From ESPN-

The rookie disclocated his right shoulder during a fight last Thursday night.

“He’s going to have surgery in early January and he’s done for the year,” Jackets general manager Scott Howson told ESPN.com Monday.

“He’s four to six months out in terms of return to play — closer to six months. So he’s not going to return this year.”

Brassard was tied for the NHL rookie scoring lead with 25 points (10-15) in 31 games and was among the candidates for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

It’s a huge blow to a Jackets team that wasn’t that deep at center to begin with.

Brassard was the sixth overall pick in the 2006 draft and was the NHL’s rookie of the month for October. He has earned points in 20 games this season.

Columbus hockey fans had high hopes for the Blue Jackets to make their first ever post season appearance. This looks rather doubtful now.

Pierre LeBrun at ESPN writes-

Talk about a punch in the gut. The Jackets were three points out of a playoff spot Monday and can ill afford to lose their No. 2 scorer. So now what? Other GMs around the league can expect their cell phones to ring in the near future.

*****

The Washington Capitals have been shopping veteran center Michael Nylander all season, but we’re told the Jackets aren’t interested. Too much contract left on that baby. Nylander, 36, has two-and-a-half seasons left on his current deal, which pays him $5.5 million this season, $5.5 million next season and $3 million in 2010-11.

They wouldn’t want Florida’s Brett McLean would they? He just scored his first goal of the season last Sunday!

There’s always former Blue Jacket Center Gilbert Brule. Oh never mind about that.

Either way, Brassard’s injury is a huge blow for a team that needed its core players to stay healthy all year to remain in the playoff race. Ken Hitchcock rates among the best coaches in the NHL, but barring a trade, this might be too much to overcome.

The Western is the tougher of the NHL’s two conferences. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Columbus in the post season for at least one more year.

 

Florida Panthers beat Colorado for the first time ever at home

The final score yesterday was 3-0. If you wanted to get technical, Florida had beaten the Colorado franchise in a home game, but it was the team was still the Quebec Nordiques in 1994. In between 94 and 2008 Florida lost the regular season encounters in Florida between them and the Avalanche plus two Stanley Cup final games.

Highlights of last night’s game-

Tomas Vokoun stops all 23 shots on the way to his second shutout of the year.
Brett McLean scored his first goal of the season. It coming against his former team. Honestly I think Florida shoud dump McLean he gets too much play time in return for the scoring production he’s given Florida.

Florida is starting to make a believer of me. The win last night put them at 15-13-4, which is only 10th in the Eastern conference. Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and the New York Islanders are so stinking up the place that above .500 doesn’t cut it at the moment. But remember, Florida is 7-2-1 over their last 10 games and that came with vital players missing from the lineup.

It is still early to tell if Florida can make the playoffs for the first time in a decade. At the present moment, I think Panther fans have reason for hope.

 

Close call- Miami Dolphins beat Kansas City 38-31 to go to 10-5

It was the fins version of the ice bowl. Supposedly the coldest game time temperature in franchise history(Does someone really keep stats on such nonsense?) and Miami needed a win to keep any realistic hope for the playoffs. The Dolphins won but it wasn’t pretty. In spite of the cold weather, they gave up almost 500(492) total yards of offense to KC, turned over the ball twice, and squandered an excellent scoring opportunity when they went for it on a 4th and 1 just before half-time. I have not seen a worse play call by Miami’s coaching staff all year. Sideline passes were dying in mid-air and you try throwing a leap ball to a tight end who’s caught one pass all year?

At half-time I swore Miami was going to lose. The score was already 28-24 and the Dolphin defense seemed unable to stop Kansas City. Fortunately Miami got the Chief attack under controlin the second half and staged a comeback. A win is a win, but yesterday’s was ugly and I still think as I’ve written before, that the Dolphin defense is too weak to take this team far in the playoffs if they make it in the first place.

 

Will George Johnson of the Calgary Herald please pick up the black courtesy phone

Another sports writer showing their ignorance about the Florida Panthers. From ESPN-

The Cats won their franchise-record fifth straight road game Friday night in Calgary, a city they hadn’t enjoyed any success in whatsoever since 1999. The night before, backstopped by the white-hot Craig Anderson, they shut out the big Oil Drop in Edmonton, a place they hadn’t won in since 1998.

Out of 20 possible points in their past 10 games, the Panthers had accrued 14 and sat 10th in the Eastern Conference (just two points out of a playoff spot) heading into Wednesday’s action.

And they’d accomplished all this despite seven regulars, including forwards Nathan Horton, Cory Stillman, Richard Zednik and defenseman Bryan Allen, missing from the lineup due to injury.

There are two problems. First Florida last beat Edmonton in Edmonton in 1996 not 1998. That’s the small error in what Johnson wrote. Here’s a link to a google search that comes up with at least 10 web links saying it was 1996. This is pure laziness.

The big mistake is Johnson not mentioning David Booth as one of Florida’s missing players. He is only the team’s leading goal scorer! Booth’s first game back in the Florida lineup was against Carolina last Thursday.

If Mr. Johnson picks up the phone I will advise he see a good proctologist. So he can get his head out of his ass.

 

Battle of the Pits Ohio- Cincinnati beats Cleveland 14-0

The 2008 NFL season has to have Ohio residents longing for the days when Brian Sipe and Ken Anderson duked it out. From AP-

On a bone-chilling Sunday, a season of high hopes hit new depths for the Cleveland Browns.

“Worst season I’ve ever played in,” running back Jamal Lewis said.

Cedric Benson rushed for a career-high 171 yards on 38 carries and cornerback Leon Hall returned one of his three interceptions 50 yards for a touchdown as the Cincinnati Bengals got their first road win this season, 14-0 over the hapless Browns.

After losing their first eight games, the Bengals (3-11-1) have won two straight for the first time since closing 2007 with back-to-back victories. It was their first road win since beating Miami in the ’07 finale, and the shutout was Cincinnati’s first since blanking the Browns 30-0 on Nov. 26, 2006.

The Bengals now lead the series 36-35.

The Cleveland Browns who have lost two quarterbacks already this year, Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, may have lost another.

To make matters worse, the Browns lost another quarterback. Ken Dorsey, who is only playing because of season-ending injuries to Derek Anderson and Quinn, suffered a mild concussion and injured ribs in the fourth quarter. Dorsey was replaced by recently signed QB Bruce Gradkowski, who may have to start the season finale.

Maybe the Browns can lure Sipe, Mike Phipps, or Bernie Kosar out of retirement. Not that Dorsey was not good either. The first pass he threw today was intercepted and run back for a touchdown.

It is believed Brown coach Romeo Crennel will be fired at year end. Will Marvin Lewis survive this off season also? This will mark the second consecutive losing season for Cincinnati.

 

Mike Holmgren wins last home game as Seattle coach, beat NYJ 13-3

It has been a rough final for the only coach to ever take the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. From AP-

Seattle’s Maurice Morris sliced through the snow like a sled for a season-high 116 yards and John Carlson scored the only touchdown on a short pass from backup Seneca Wallace as the lowly Seahawks ended New York’s stay atop the AFC East with a 13-3 upset Sunday.

“Three points is obviously not enough. There are a lot of reasons for that,” Favre said. “We are well aware of what opportunities that have been there for us. That’s what’s disappointing.”

Holmgren, who’s taking a sabbatical from football in 2009, walked around the edge of the field with tears in his eyes immediately after the second win in eight games for Seattle (4-11). Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” blared over the public-address system amid a weird scene of snowballs pelting down around the 60-year-old coach.

The Jets go to 0-4 for west coast games this year with this defeat. The slumping Jets who were once 8-3 and atop the AFC East can only make the playoffs if they beat the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo beats New England next weekend.

I grew up following the Jets, so whenever they and Miami play I have mixed feelings. Its my hope either one of Jets or Dolphins win the AFC East and the cheating defending champs are knocked out of the picture by Buffalo.

 

Detroit lose 42-7 to New Orleans, go to 0-15

How dominating were the Saints today? They were 11 for 11 on 3rd downs before taking a kneel down on the last play of the game. From AP-

This one made NFL history and set the stage for a perfectly imperfect season.

Detroit became the first 0-15 team when it was routed 42-7 by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

“Awful, embarrassing,” Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky said. “We stunk. Any bad adjective you can use, throw it in there.”

The Lions try to avoid the dubious distinction of finishing 0-16 at Green Bay, where they haven’t won since 1991.

I think Detroit is about to go 0-16 this year. Anyone disagree?

 

Karrie Webb to play in the Australian Open

Since she is Australian in addition to being the tournament’s defending champ this shouldn’t really be news but it is. From the Herald-Sun-

THE tournament still has no sponsor, but the Australian Open can count on a commitment from Karrie Webb and the country’s best female golfers.

Webb has chosen country over cash, confirming she will bypass the opening event of next year’s US LPGA Tour to defend her Australian Open crown in February.

The Open, from February 12-15, will clash with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay Resport, a Hawaiian event offering more than three times the $500,000 prize pool at Melbourne’s Metropolitan course.

*****

But Webb, who produced an incredible comeback to beat world No.6 Ji-Yai Shin in the Australian Open this year, will front up in Melbourne again with Australia’s leading females Katherine Hull and Lindsey Wright.

*****

“I thoroughly enjoy playing in the ANZ Ladies Masters at Royal Pines every year and I’m thrilled to be going back to the Open as defending champ after winning in a play-off earlier this year.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to play in front of family and friends.”

Webb will also be aiming to win her seventh ANZ Masters title on the Gold Coast in February.

But she will have tough opposition, including Shin and world No.2 Yani Tseng.

An unnecessary scheduling conflict between the Australian and LPGA tournaments. With all those open weeks early on in the LPGA schedule, couldn’t the SBS been played another time?

Maybe not, the golf course may not have been available or the deal between the tournament and the LPGA not subject to change. Besides Webb and other Australian based LPGA pros, I think most LPGA players will pick SBS over the Australian Open.

 

Capitals outshoot Flyers 48 to 28 but lose 7-1

A .750 save percentage is not very good. From AP-

Scott Hartnell enjoyed a milestone day as the Philadelphia Flyers continued their winning ways at home.

Hartnell scored three goals, Jeff Carter added a pair and Antero Niittymaki stopped a season-high 47 shots as the Flyers snapped the Washington Capitals’ five-game winning streak with a 7-1 victory on Saturday.

Not only did Hartnell record his second hat trick in five games, the veteran left winger scored all of his goals within a span of 11:40 in the third period, the first time he had pulled the trick off in one period.

“It’s been a good couple of weeks,” said Hartnell, who scored three goals in a 6-5 win over Carolina on Dec. 11. “I just want to keep going, stay positive, and stay confident.”

Hartnell, who has five career hat tricks, scored on a scramble to give the Flyers a 4-0 lead at 4:45, hammered in a rebound at 7:29, and poked in a shot from the front of the left circle at 16:25.

*****

Niittymaki, who has started the past three games in place of flu-ridden Martin Biron, was spectacular, especially in the first period when he stopped 25 shots, a Washington record for most shots in one period on the road.

*****

Washington outshot the Flyers 25-6 in the first period, and 48-28 for the game.

Washington is now 20-11-3 for the season. They got a great player in Alexander Ovechkin but I don’t know if the Capitals got enough to make the Stanley Cup. They just didn’t impress me last season even though they ended up winning the Southeast division.

How did that Goalie Washington recalled yesterday do?

Johnson, who allowed three goals on 13 shots, was replaced at the start of the third period by Jose Theodore. He gave up four goals on 15 shots.

As I wrote yesterday- “Team pays tons of money for player who then stinks but team won’t bench or get rid of the player because they paid so much for them in the first place only compounding the original mistake.” See I am a hockey prophet.

 

Hawaii reaches financial agreement with former football coach

It stems from a dispute between the University and June Jones after he left Hawaii for SMU earlier this year. From AP-

Hawaii has resolved its financial dispute with former football coach June Jones over the early termination of his contract, officials said Friday.

Under the agreement, the June Jones Foundation has donated $100,010 to a scholarship fund for students pursing degrees in Hawaiian studies or language. In addition, an undisclosed donor has contributed $100,000 to the school.

“Hawaii is my home; therefore as I look beyond our past achievements in football, maintaining a healthy relationship with UH and sustaining productive contributions to our island communities will always be important to me,” Jones said in a statement.

He also encouraged his former team to beat Notre Dame in next week’s Hawaii Bowl.

The university has said it was owed $400,008 in damages because Jones left Hawaii before his five-year contract expired June 30. The figure represents half his annual salary with the Warriors.

Jones resigned and accepted a job worth about $2 million a year at Southern Methodist, six days after Hawaii lost to Georgia in last January’s Sugar Bowl to finish the season 12-1.

Under his Hawaii contract, Jones was prohibited from accepting employment “under any circumstances” as a football coach at any NCAA school or professional team in the United States before the expiration date … “without first obtaining a written release or a negotiated settlement.”

“In the event the university releases coach of his obligations under this agreement, coach shall be responsible for paying to the university liquidated damages,” Jones’ contract stated.

If Jones had asked for Hawaii’s permission like most coaches do, he may have avoided the payments. Hawaii had a right to go after their former coach but it could do long term damage to the school by discouraging potential applicants from taking a job in fear they would have a repeat of the Jones affair should they want to leave.

Update- Ian Lind has an interesting post that delves into the donations to the Foundation in question. He writes “So how in the world does money collected by the foundation for charitable purposes get used to pay off the contractual debt of the former coach who just happens to also be the foundation’s chairman?”

 
 


Visitors Since Feb. 4, 2003

All original content copyright 2003-2008 by OTB Media. All rights reserved.