Canadian Sports Fan Blog

Raptor Trouble

David — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:50:11 +0000

If Cleveland fans are worried about LeBron James leaving, Raptors fans should feel the same way about the possibility of Chris Bosh leaving. It is almost set in stone that Bosh will leave Toronto. With that being the case, it will leave the Raptors without a superstar. On top of that, due to signing Turkoglu last summer, Toronto will have minimal cap space. Raptors fans need to pray for a miracle, because it will take one for this franchise to not be down in the dumps.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

Will UFC 115 be worth it ?

GameSetMatch — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:00:39 +0000

This Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia the Ultimate Fighting Championship will hold their next pay per view UFC 115. The main event includes Rich Franklin vs Chuck Liddell. Honestly right now this is probably one of the weakest pay per view card for the UFC. Now if this was a free television card on Spike television then the card would not be bad at all. The main event fighters are both coming off losses and it is hard to say what would happen for the winner. The light heavyweight division is so deep that the winner would have a couple more challenges to face before even being considered a contender for the title.

The rest of the UFC 115 card looks disappointing in my eyes. Pat Barry a developing fighter against a worn and beat down Mirko Cro Cop as a co-main event is “ugghhhh”. Then you have Paulo Thiago versus Martin Kampmann which is a good fight between two ranked welterweights. After that I can really care less about the fights. It just does not appeal to me.

Prediction Time:
Franklin vs Liddell – Franklin via Unanimous Desicion

Barry vs Cro Cop – Barry via TKO 2nd round

Thiago vs Kampmann – Thiago via Submission 2nd round

Jays option Roenicke; Tallet to be activated Tuesday

GameSetMatch — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:40:02 +0000

The Toronto Blue Jays optioned reliever Josh Roenicke to triple-A Las Vegas on Monday night and will activate lefty Brian Tallet to start Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Roenicke is 1-0 in nine games with 4.97 earned-run average, but his 11 walks in 12 2-3 innings were a concern.

“We want him to go back and work on his control a little bit,” manager Cito Gaston said after a 3-2 win over the Rays. “He’s probably the hardest throwing right-hander out of that bullpen right now, but he does have control problems at times.”

Click here to read the full article – By The Canadian Press of http://slam.canoe.ca

Father’s Day Is Coming

David — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:51:18 +0000

Come to Team-Superstore.Com for all of your Father’s Day needs! By entering in “DADSDAY15″, you can get 15% off all orders until 6/25/10!

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Montreal Down 2-0

David — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:41:11 +0000

We are two games into the 2010 NHL Eastern Conference Finals. And the Montreal Canadians have as many goals in this series as me and you have. The difference is that the Flyers have nine goals, and thus have a 2-0 series lead. Nothing is working for Montreal. Halak has been shaky in net, especially in game one. Those guys who usually score are getting shut down by Philadelphia’s tenacious defense.

But as Philadelphia showed last round, anything is possible. With the series going back to Montreal, a win in Game 3 would put them right back in the series. A loss, and well, Montreal will have to repeat history that just happened last round. Montreal may have the most Stanley Cups in NHL history, but with the way they are playing, they won’t be adding another this year.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

UFC 113

GameSetMatch — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:08:56 +0000

If someone could be bothered to author one of those fancy USA Today-type graphs, you could chart a pretty clear ascendancy of effectiveness in the UFC career of Mauricio Rua.

In his debut against Forrest Griffin — the barely perceptible starting blip — he faded after a few minutes and wound up eating only the second submission loss of his career.

He didn’t look a whole lot better against Mark Coleman, but at least he managed to pull out a win with only seconds to go. (The bar goes a little higher.)

Against Chuck Liddell, he delivered an efficient and clean knockout. (Getting up there.)

Against Lyoto Machida, he lost to the undefeated light heavyweight champion, but many believe he deserved the decision. (Bar scraping the ceiling.)

This is progress.

You would think that fighters like Rua, who spend the majority of their careers competing under Japan’s Pride rules, would have an easier time adjusting to American regulation. They have additional rest periods, which offer a chance to take more risks closer to the bell; they usually get more than a few weeks’ notice to prepare. And handing elbows back to a Muay Thai specialist (Pride forbids their use) is a pretty generous offer.

Click here to read the full article – By Jake Rossen/Sherdog.com of ESPN.com

Bute leery of Miranda’s punch

GameSetMatch — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:19:05 +0000

While six of the top super middleweights duke it out in Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic, titleholder Lucian Bute is off doing his own thing — and doing it well.

Bute is clearly the best 168-pounder in the world not involved in the Super Six, which boasts titleholders Andre Ward and Carl Froch along with Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and alternate Allan Green (who replaced Jermain Taylor). However, Bute, who had previously appeared on Showtime, was not invited to join the tournament party, so HBO scooped him up.

Before middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defends his belts against junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez in the HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday night (10 ET), the split-site telecast will open in Montreal, where the Bell Centre crowd will be roaring for the popular Bute when he makes his fifth defense against powerful Edison Miranda of Colombia.

Click here to read the full article – By Dan Rafael of ESPN.com

Samuelsson’s second goal in OT gives Canucks first advantage over Kings

GameSetMatch — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:59:21 +0000

The Canucks signed Mikael Samuelsson as a free agent last summer largely because of his playoff experience in Detroit.

It paid off in his postseason debut in Vancouver on Thursday night.

Shortly after Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo swept a puck off the goal line, Samuelsson scored his second goal 8:52 into overtime to give Vancouver a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference series.

“If you’ve been around, you know what to expect. That’s what experience is,” said Samuelsson, who played 69 playoff games and won a Stanley Cup during four seasons in Detroit before signing for three-year, $7.5 million ideal with Vancouver.

“You stay calm because you know what to expect, and you are well prepared. … I just play my game and try to pick my spots.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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Canadiens stun Capitals in Game 1 as Ovechkin fails to get off shot

GameSetMatch — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:46:50 +0000

Alex Ovechkin didn’t have a shot on goal. Not a single one. The NHL’s best scoring machine got upstaged by a player who, in the spirit of the week’s bit of trash-talking, did his best impersonation of Jaromir Jagr.

On a night in which the two-time reigning MVP was neutralized, Tomas Plekanec was the perfect spoil sport for the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 13:19 into overtime as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed beat the top-seeded Washington Capitals 3-2.

It was Plekanec who traded gibes this week with Washington goalie Jose Theodore.

Plekanec basically said that Theodore was no Martin Brodeur or Ryan Miller, and Theodore shot back that Plekanec wasn’t exactly Jagr. Just to add to the fun, Plekanec’s jersey number on the greaseboard in the Canadiens’ locker room was listed as Jagr’s 68 — instead of Plekanec’s 14.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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Raps’ heads will roll

GameSetMatch — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:10:10 +0000

For the Raptors, the end arrived late Wednesday night in the season-ending game.

For some, it marked the beginning of the end because heads will now roll.

Whether it’s as early as Thursday, next week, in the ensuing weeks or in the coming months, someone will have to take the fall for a free-falling team that never looked the same from the all-star break.

The entire team, from top to bottom, will now be under review. What is uncovered and what measures are taken to correct this mess will lay the foundation for how the Raps look in the future.

With very little financial wiggle room in a basketball climate where revenues are declining, the Raptors won’t have much to play with in terms of bargaining chips.

Click here to read the full article – By FRANK ZICARELLI of Ottawa Sun