FTB - Dog Days of Summer
by PPP on Jul 29, 2008 10:00 AM EDT
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PrintYou know that there is not much news in the hockey world when the New York Times devotes an entire article to Howard Berger (do the FHF know that the NYT calls their first post of the day The Morning Skate?). They manage to make the usual mistake that draws reproachful head shakes from MF37 by equating the number of comments on Howard's blog posts with his quality of writing and the devotion of his fans.
In the sporting world, TFC provides the only distraction (and following another last minute loss last night it's not a very good distraction) from the fact that the Jays (as much as their fans want to deny it) are destroying any chance at moving AJ Burnett by creating the impression that they are in the playoff race. Then again, it's not like teams are giving up great prospects for middling players. Wait, they are? Well, good thing that JP isn't making the trade since he would probably screw it up anyway.
Oh, and Mats might not make up his mind August 1st. Anyway, here are some links to read while we pray for training camp to start:
- Quel surprise. Leaf fans are getting gouged by yet another divisional rival that can't make enough money to survive. Isn't Golisano a billionaire?
- Carlo continues his quest to avoid injuries through magic.
- James Mirtle takes a look at the brutal arbitration process. Actually, I kind of like the idea of the two sides arguing like a bitter old couple.
- Jay Feaster should not be allowed near the Leafs.
- This article touches on the Retire/Honour discussion from last week.
- Greener has a new podcast out. Apparently the degenerate he shares his blog with made a factual error that usually results in a smashed bottle over the head. When's the next flight to LA?
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Is PPP gonna have to choke a bitch?
Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option
by JaredFromLondon on Jul 29, 2008 10:39 AM EDT reply actions
No
The unsexy kind of choking.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
you can sexy choke Moose all you want.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
this is getting wrong, and not in the way I intended
Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option
by JaredFromLondon on Jul 29, 2008 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m on the phone with Air Canada as we speak.
He Score, He Shoot! Soon to Be Announced As the New Leafs GM
L.A. Earthquake Update:
No word yet on Moose’s safety, so, we have that.
He Score, He Shoot! Soon to Be Announced As the New Leafs GM
More Links
Andrew Raycroft is angry at the Toronto Media. How dare his crappiness be the one thing that they accurately reported.
Oh, and a former nemesis Nick Kypreos is an idiot.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
Did I miss something? This is the first I’ve ever heard of the Leafs using Bob Essensa as a goalie coach.
Down Goes Brown - Because it's technically possible that things may get better before we all die.
by Down Goes Brown on Jul 29, 2008 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Weird
Essensa isn’t listed on the Leafs’ page as a coach.
Steve McKichan was the goaltenders’ coach in 2006-2007.
And here it says that he got canned this May.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
I found one reference to Essensa having a stint as the Bruins goalie coach. Maybe the reporter is confused.
Wait… is it possible that Raycroft thought a guy who worked for the Bruins was still his goalie coach? Shit, that would explain so much!
“Andrew, on those high shots, you really need to work on keeping your glove hand down by your side.”
“OK coach!”
Down Goes Brown - Because it's technically possible that things may get better before we all die.
by Down Goes Brown on Jul 29, 2008 11:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Mystery Solved
The pot/shrooms explanation makes more and more sense.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
have you ever stopped a puck?
yes
but have you ever stopped a puck on weeeeed?
Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option
by JaredFromLondon on Jul 30, 2008 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions
"have you ever stopped a puck?"
WEll, only on occasion
Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing
I’m pretty easy on slack-ass players and wishing them well when they move on, but come on Andrew. You frigging suck, you know it, everyone except the Avs management knows it, and I hope you don’t get splinters in your ass riding the pine for the duration of the season.
Who else feels rage that this slackass loser will make more in a single year than most of us will make in 5+ years for doing sweet eff all? God I want to fire a slapper at his nads, and not in the sexy way.
by LeafFanInVan on Jul 29, 2008 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions
fucking raycrap. what a douche. all he’s got is a minor league save percentage. what a loser.
A Toronto sports blog, where we unequivocally and unapologetically support the home team...
Raycroft
hmmm…methinks that the stoner Raycfort of Bryan McCabe’s backyard barbeque was far more accurate than Emo-Croft. Oh well—imagining him cutting himself to the smae Sarah Maclaughlin song amuses me for some odd morbid reason. Then again Stoner-croft has potential…
I was gonna stop that puck, but I got high
I wasn’t gonna let him score that shot, but I got high
Buzzed past my head on the glove side, and I know why, yeah-hey
‘cause I got high
becasue I got high
because I got high
la-da-dat-duh-dadada
Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing
Huh. And I thought that getting high was Wellwood’s motif. Although judging by his bug-eyed look in interviews, ‘shrooms might be up Wellwood’s alley.
I’m not the biggest JP fan, but to be fair to him, he’s a good trader. He hasn’t had any deals where he has been ripped and he even bested Billy Beane a few times. I figure since the 5 bandwagon Jays fans have jumped off, some of us have to defend the BJs. Hard as that may be for the last decade or so.
I am not entirely sure if he’s that great of a trader long-term. Short-term his last few deals have worked out great (Hillenbrand, Glaus) but he’s had his bad ones. But if he’s a good trader then this push makes it even worse because now he will be handcuffed by the ‘pennant race’.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
Scouser
Well, not knowing who you supported until this afternoon it could have been (a lot) worse.
Looking forward to Fat Rafa getting the sack by Christmas.
Sack by Christmas?
Not likely.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
yeah
19M on Robbie Keane!
Enjoy 4th place.
DGB’s article got me thinking.
Who was a worse GM Smith or JFJ?
4th Place?
By adding a proven premiership goal scorer? I know it’s not the “buy a 12 year old and mould him for the future” path that Wenger follows but maybe he should have looked at Keane to provide a second striker after Adebayor.
And it was Smith. By a mile which is saying a lot.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
Robbie Keane is a very, very good player – his performance over the last two years is comparable to Dimitar Berbatov’s, for example.
However, playing Keane in his natural position as a second striker behind Torres means Steven Gerrard’s going to find himself on the right wing again. And we all know how much he loves that. So, maybe Keane plays wide left with Babel on the right and Gerrard in the centre; with Mascherano and Alonso behind them. Still doesn’t look great to me.
They’d have been better off going for David Bentley, IMO. That’d have given them genuine width and quality on the right, which they don’t have right now.
The Henry/Keane comparison doesn’t really hold up. Transfers between English teams are always more expensive than with English and non-English teams.
I think that Gerrard’s focus is on the league so if he has to provide width on the right then he’ll do it. In that formation (Babel – Keane – Gerrard) the three will likely be shifting around throughout the game so the right hand side is basically just a starting point.
I wouldn’t have minded seeing Bentley come in as well.
You’re right about transfers of English players always being notoriously high. If the 6+5 rule ever rears its head it’ll get worse.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
without looking to start a debate
I’m not sure I agree with the theory that transfers between English clubs cost more than transfers between English and non-English clubs.
some examples:
Beckham cost Real Madrid £25M
Overmars cost Barcelona £25M
Veron cost Man Utd £28M
Schevchenko cost Chelsea 30M
Drogba and Essien both cost Chelsea 24M
But then my point was only that Liverpool overpaid for Keane, but you could look at it from the point of view that Barca underpaid for Henry. And if Liverpool did overpay for Keane then Tottenham overpaid for Bentley as well, but I’ll gladly accept the 7M that comes Arsenal’s way as a result. As long as we spend it.
The Gerrard-Torres partnership was fantastic for my dream team last year. Keane may upset that a bit, but he will add more goals to a Liverpool team that needs more than one outlet and should add something different up front. (see what a couple of days of reflection can do?)
by gooner4ever on Jul 31, 2008 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
I wouldn’t say it’s always but beyond the big, big names that you cited the average transfer of an English player costs more than an equivalent foreign player.
So far, based on returns, I’d say it looks like Barcelona heavily overpaid for Henry. And if Keane does provide another outlet beyond Torres and Gerrard and can swing the balance in games where they might be shut out then he’ll have done his job. If those efforts lead to a legitimate title push then they paid the right price.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
maybe
but:
a) Keane played for Tottscum. and I hate him. And 19M is a heck of a lot of money for an average striker. Henry only went for 16M and he is out of Keane’s league.
b) we don’t need another striker. If (and it’s a big if) Van Persie stays fit then he’s the main man next year.
c) the youth way is the best way to go. And it’s the on that the Leafs should follow.
Which leads me nicely back to the Leafs and as to why Smith was worse?
I can get behind you hating the move out of hand because Keane played for a rival. He did average 13 league goals for Tottenham over 6 seasons which would be welcome (and likely improved upon) at Liverpool as a way of giving Torres some help.
As for needing a striker…RVP will get hurt. I like the way the gunners play but there are two things I know about the team: 1. They’ll try to pass their way into the net and 2. RVP will get injured.
Smith had a shorter time frame to cause trouble but he made a potential franchise altering move by trading that pick for Kurvers. If he had done nothing but sit on his hands like an idiot he would have probably lasted longer in the job. Same with JFJ. I wrote a post last year about how JFJ could have made himself a legacy as a good GM if he had done nothing at all. No UFAs, no trades.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
talk about getting something for nothing
I would gladly sit on my hands for, I don’t know, a year, and get paid the shit (sorry) loads of money they get paid.
The sad thing is, I had NEVER even heard of Kurvers until today. But I know full well who Niedermayer and Eric Lindros (is it sad that I think he was great?) are.
Hopefully when we tank this year we won’t swap the Tavares pick for a journeyman. Hey ho.
To answer the Arsenal….....
1) you’re right. And sometimes, it drives me crazy. But the main culprit, hlebmcnoscore, has left and been replaced with the “new zidane”.
2)RVP is going to be a god. When he can stay fit. Seriously. if he manages to stay fit for one season, with the chances that we create, we’ll win the league.
Finally, Robbie Keane didn’t just play fir a rival, he played for the devil’s team.
As far as I know Robbie Keane has never, and will never, have any affiliation with Manchester United so the epithet “devil’s team” seems unwarranted. RVP is a beast…when healthy.
One of Bill Simmons’ pet theories is that general managers tend to outthink themselves. Rather than look at a situation and go with the common sense approach (Two great goaltending prospects? Twice the odds of getting a franchise netminder!) they try to get cute (let’s re-hab a former Calder Trophy winner and put all of our eggs in one basket in the future).
Part of that is the desire to tinker like madmen but part is obviously if GMs started saying “well, we’re actually going to give this group of players a couple of years and see what happens. We’ll add draft picks and promote players but not bring anyone in from outside unless it’s a no-brainer” then they’d probably get canned.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
Man United may call themselves the Red Devils but it’s clear where the Devil’s affiliation actually lies…..
Anyway the Devil is a scout for the New York Yankees in his spare time….
I can see why they (Mangers, Owners,) meddle to be honest. It’s the same in any sport. And if Raycroft had been amazing then it would have been a good deal. But now we’ll have to watch Rask play for the Bruins and Raycroft sit on the bench at Colorado. But then JFJ made too many of those kind of deals. Like giving McCabe a NMC. Seriously. Maybe an NTC but a NMC? Come on.
The best JFJ memory I have is when Mike Myers was at the ACC and was presented with a jersey by JFJ. The look of absolute disgust on his face was obvious.
Kind of like McCain’s when the Dali Lama held his hand.
Kind of like McCain’s when the Dali Lama held his hand.
Oh God, the Daily Show clip of that was priceless. The thought bubble above McCain’s head was filling up with homophobic remarks that he had to swallow for the photo op.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
That’s “New Zidane” in the same way as every short Argentinian #10 is the “New Maradonna”. We went through Saviola, Aimar, D’Alessandro and others before ending up with Messi, who is – finally – the real deal.
Nasri may very well be excellent, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for him to do this:
nasri.
may never do that but at least he won’t do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjWi663kXc
but he can do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3BgS6W06Zk
We have been through a lot of false dawns when it comes to Maradona. But only because he was a god. Better than Pele. Easily.
How about the “new Pires” then?
by gooner4ever on Jul 31, 2008 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions
Better than Pele. Easily.
Slow down. That’s blasphemy. There were better players on Pele’s World Cup winning teams than Maradona.
If Nasri ever head butts an Italian national team player like that then I’ll be shocked. Only true legends pull moves like that one.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
Maradona took an average Argentinian side to one World Cup victory and One World Cup Final defeat. He also took Napoli to two league titles, something they had never done before, nor will ever do again.
Pele played on a Brazil team that would have won the World Cup without him.
That’s why Maradona is better.
Argentina in 1986 cheated to get past England and then beat Belgium (big whoop) while the Germans were involved in a war against the French.
Argentina in 1990 were the heavy favourites and they barely made it to the final. If not for Goycochea they wouldn’t have gotten past Yugoslavia (where Don Diego bottled his penalty). The way that they played was testament to how poor the entire team was during that tournament including Diego.
As for Napoli, that was not a garbage team. Ferrara, Careca, and Zola were all very good players.
I am not saying Maradona isn’t # 2 ;) but O Rei is # 1.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
he did cheat
but it was the hand of god and that second goal was just unbelievable.
Pele played for the New York Cosmos. Kind of taints his record. So does the Viagra record. And making up his goals tally.
Maradona played amazingly whilst high on Cocaine.
Also Napoli only won the league because of Maradona. And they loved him for it.
I’m pretty convinced that the two players Argentina had sent off, and the penalty were the only reasons that Germany won in 1990. Bloody Germans. Should have been an England- Argentina final. Which we would have won, like we won the Falklands…..
Falklands
I was surprised to only hear one joke about the Falklands at the Independiente-TFC friendly this summer.
Pele needs Viagra because, unlike Maradona that has ballooned since he stopped playing, Ladies Love O Rei.
Pele making up his goals tally? When you score over 1,000 it can be tough to remember although I think that you are thinking of Romario as the Brazilian most likely to lie and cheat like Maradona.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
no no
i’m not confusing them.
Romario’s goal tally may be disputed, but only because FIFA claim that 77 of his goals were scored in Youth and friendly matches. However, FIFA have no problem allowing Pele to include goals he scored in friendly matches, international tours and armed forces matches.
A case of one rule for Pele and another for Romario?
Anyway this is a futile argument because it’s obvious that I think Maradona was the best player of all time and that you think that Pele was.
It would be like arguing if Gretzky was better than Messier…..
Pele = Gretzky
:P
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Aug 1, 2008 8:17 AM EDT up reply actions
that's where I saw it!
The Daily Show (known as Le Daily Show avec Jon Stewart over here. I mean comeon!) is amazing.
I really hope Obama wins. But only because McCain looks like a robot. Who doesn’t open his mouth when he speaks. It really freaks me out.
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