http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/12/its_time_for_cleveland_cavalie.html

Cleveland.com- James has not and will not, throughout the course of the season, go to management seeking Blatt's removal, a league source said. That level of authority is not in his job description.

"Listen man, I don't pay no bills around here. I play," James said following Monday's practice.

If you're waiting for a ringing endorsement from James on behalf of Blatt, it's not happening. It's much too soon.

"He's our coach, I mean, what other coach do we have?" James said.

There is immense pressure to keep The King happy.

James, who turns 30 today, has no intention of compromising his prime years playing for a sputtering organization. He can opt out of his contract at the end of the season and become a free agent.

Given the massive scrutiny he would endure if he departed Cleveland a second time, if his hand is forced, I'm told he won't hesitate to make the appropriate business decision if it means bolting.

LeBron James runs the Cleveland Cavaliers, there is absolutely no doubt about that. He has been seen boxing out his own head coach to lead the huddle. Hell, he all but orchestrated a deal to bring in Kevin Love days after rejoining the franchise. However, if you want to take on the role of GM and Coach, then you better be ready to accept the criticism that comes with it. Don't turn your back when things don't go smoothly. At least stand by your coach, the guy who is basically letting you run your own NBA franchise. The extent of his endorsement of his coach was "he is a coach". Thanks Bron Bron. What a selfless 'team guy'. 

The issue is that LeBron basically treats the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise like a kid going away to college. He is essentially the kid that grew up in Cleveland and then went away to school. The kid who left to better himself and take on a better opportunity. Now he is moving back into his parents house  post-grad and taking advantage of all the leeway he is being given. He's leaving his laundry all over the house. Leaving dirty dishes in the sink. Stumbling home drunk a couple nights a week and waking the whole house. And every time his parents question him he threatens, either directly or indirectly, to move back out again. Somehow, he thinks his presence is such a present to those around him that he can demand everything without subsequently inheriting any responsibility.

It seems he has learned nothing from his experience in Miami. There are no fingers to point. He assembled this team upon entering the door. He runs the plays. He coaches on the sidelines. The guy has been back in town for 31 games and he's already acknowledging his ability to leave, AGAIN, upon season's end. Do I think he will? No, but the fact that it is even a question is a glimpse into how he thinks. Can't be his fault. He's the best player in the world. Always looking for greener pastures. Always looking for the easiest way to a championship. LeBron back to Cleveland isn't the fairytale the media would like you to believe. It was a convenient way for him to play on a younger and more talented team, while gaining back the favor he lost with his hometown when he all but kicked them in the dick and spit in their face on his way out. That is pretty evident when stories like these get leaked. It's not about LeBron winning a championship for Cleveland, it is about LeBron winning another championship for LeBron.

UPDATE: In case you still drink the LeBron KoolAid. Here is a nice little vine of him telling Dwayne Wade…

"Like I said if things don’t get better this year we’re gonna re-unite again and do bigger and better things."

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/29/if-rob-ryans-going-out-hes-going-out-his-way/


PFT- The Saints defensive coordinator fired up his guys and led the Saints to a comeback win over a sort-of trying Buccaneers team yesterday.

Ryan’s impassioned halftime speech was cited by some as the reason for his comeback, as he lit into players, telling them: “Act like you want to be here,” Ryan yelled.

“Rob came in and chewed us out,” Galette said, via Katherine Terrell of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “It’s like ‘Hey, this guy really cares.’ You know he cares. You know how passionate it is. And we started playing as a team and just played with our technique, we were gap-sound and they couldn’t do anything.”

The main reason Rob Ryan needs to stay is the passion he exhibits for the game on a weekly basis. Are his defenses historically great? No. But you can't deny that he is a great football mind and a great motivator. How many people have turned the second worst defense in NFL history into a top 5 unit upon their arrival? The list is as short as Rob Ryan himself, a man who was let go from the Cowboys only to see their defense become the only one ever to best the 2012 Saints in terms of yardage allowed. Things change quickly in the NFL. If you had to guess you would have thought that Rob Ryan's rough patch would have came in his first year working with a historically bad defense. Turns out he turned them not only into a respectable unit, but a formidable one. What changed between this year and last year? I don't know, but I know Rob Ryan deserves a chance to be the one that finds out.

The mark of a good football team, and subsequently a good defense, is a solid leadership core. I can't say that, other than Keenan Lewis, this defense has an emotional leader. Junior Galette, one of the captains of the defense, spent more time talking to the media about how talented his teammates were than going out there and inspiring them to prove it. Second year safety, Kenny Vaccaro, a player who prides himself on his physicality, invented ways to miss tackles this year. On the surface, the loss of Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins, Jonathon Vilma, and Will Smith look miniscule. Other than a rejuvenated year from Malcolm Jenkins, it would be hard to argue that these players aren't on the downside of their career. However, there is something to be said for experience. There is something to be said for letting your play do the talking. Those are two things this year's defense lacked.

I am not surprised in the least that Rob Ryan chewed out his defense at halftime of a completely meaningless game. As par for the season, the defense was atrocious in the first half. No passion, no fire, no will. For Christ sake, they let Josh McCown go up and down the field against them. They single handedly returned Doug Martin to elite running back status. Rob Ryan had to resort to drastic measures. And, you know what, it worked. Sure it was only the Bucs, but he inspired his team, that had nothing to play for, to end the season on a high note. Well, maybe not high, just not an embarrassingly low note. If there is one person on the defensive side of the ball whose passion I have not questioned this year it is Rob Ryan. If the defense isn't going to show up to play for him, then they aren't going to show up to play for anyone. You can put players in a position to succeed, but at some point it is up to them to take responsibility for their own miscues. A problem that their defensive coach, and leader, has not had. Just from the eye test this year, the Saints have generally been in position to make plays. It's not up to the fiery, gray-maned competitor on the sidelines to do it for them.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2014/12/rutgers_running_back_savon_huggins_to_transfer.html

NJ.com- Savon Huggins arrived at Rutgers in 2011 as the most heralded in recruit in program history. While his career didn't meet those lofty expectations, the running back left Rutgers on Monday with a legacy for representing his state school proudly and loyally.



​
'Tis a new day on the Banks of the Raritan. A day in which Savon Huggins and his loser mentality can not, and will not, affect this football team and it's future. Perhaps I am giving him too much credit. It you polled the Rutgers fan base, a vast majority wouldn't even know that Savon Huggins was still in school. That's how irrelevant the once 4-star recruit has become. Should I cut the kid some slack? He came into the university with the world on his shoulders. The die hard fans of the Knights expecting him to rip off a 50 yard touchdown on his very first carry. What they received was as close to the opposite as you could possibly get.

Why do I harbor so much ill will towards a single failed recruit? The answer is simple. Huggins is one of the first players whose recruitment I followed from day one. Perhaps I was blinded by the 4 golden stars gleaming next to his name. Perhaps, just once, I wanted to see a highly touted prospect live up to his billing, instead of depending on mediocre prospects to out perform their ranking. Whatever it was, Huggins didn't just fail to live up to his potential, he tripped over it in the backfield for a 3 yard loss. The first question a friend of mine asked me when I told him that Savon was transferring was "where is he headed?" . A number of places ran through my mind. Possibly church, to confess for his sins, to take responsibility for dashing the hopes of Rutgers fans both near and far, to exercise the demons of Saturday's past. Maybe the eye doctor to fix whatever has been ailing his vision for the last 5 years. A blind person with a seeing eye dog could have, at the very least, paralleled Huggins' stats. He certainly would have been better at following his blocker.

You got to think that Huggins regrets not transferring earlier. Going into the last year of a miserable college career he was staring at a backfield featuring 5 players his superior. Goodwin will probably get moved to cornerback next year due to depth at the running back position and he is 1,000x the player Savon ever was. If I walked into Kyle Flood's office off the street, on crutches, told him to fuck himself, spit on a picture of his wife, then asked for a walk-on spot, my chances of starting at tailback for Rutgers would rival Huggins. I realize he has not even carried the ball since 2013, but I have to imagine his presence around the team is responsible for at least one of the losses this year. Just no way you can be around that level of self implosion without some collateral damage. 

I realize his heart was in the right place when he chose to bring his talents to Piscataway. 'A' for effort, 'F' for execution. He's lucky he didn't scare away every recruit in a 100 mile radius. This isn't 'goodbye' Savon, this is 'see you never'.

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014/12/29/new-york-rangers-dallas-stars-list-greatest-rangers#

SI- If you can't read the list, it says the following:

1. Aragorn, Son of Arathorn 
2. Kimberly, The Pink Ranger
3. Nolan Ryan 
4. Night Ranger
5. Chip & Dale, Rescue Rangers

Can't argue this. Not a single New York Ranger in their long, "storied" (I suppose something can still be a story even if 98.8% of the chapters are brutal) history can possibly steal a spot above these 5, 6 with respect to Chip & Dale's individuality, famous Rangers.

-Aragorn. The leader of the fellowship of the 'Ring'. The fact that Aragorn is even familiar with what a ring looks like or represents means he is already light years beyond 99.9% of Rangers both past and present. Aragorn, along with Gandolf, were Rangers of the North and laid guard to middle Earth where the Hobbits resided. Have you ever seen a New York Ranger defend anything? Why do you think Henrik Lundqvist ends every season with this head hung low and his defensemen's dicks in their hands. Even in their most successful season in the last 20 years, The LA Kings made the Rangers defense look as protective as crotchless panties. Aragorn would have had the best plus-minus of the bunch, and it wouldn't have been close.

-Kimberly? Do we really have to waste our time? The pink Power Ranger? The smokeshow that led to the fire in my loins? The 14 out of 10? The fiery little vixen that is more than likely responsible for the first wet dream of every male in his late 20's/early 30's. The York Rangers could definitely fuck up a wet dream, but you can forget about causing one. You find one red blooded, American, Rangers fan that would take any of their rostered players ever over Kimberly and I will show you the closet they call home.

-Nolan Ryan. The only thing a New York Ranger has thrown up and away faster than Nolan Ryan is their career by signing to play in The World's Most Famous Rat Trap. Quick question, what lasted longer, Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitter's or Brad Richard's career in New York? Eric Lindros? Pavel Bure? Chris Drury? Bobby Holik? Thank God Gaborik got out of their in time to salvage his career. It is widely accepted that Nolan Ryan is one of the greatest pitchers of all time. It is also widely accepted that anyone to don the snooze-worthy diagonal logo of the New York Rangers is far more of a catcher. Great pitchers are more important than great catchers 100% of the time. 

-Night Ranger. 10 million albums sold? A decade of chart dominance? When is the last time the New York Rangers dominated anything. Even the playoff series they mistakenly win usually go 7 games. Henrik Lundqvist has lost years of his life trying to cover the missteps of the paltry team in front of him. The fact that Night Ranger had to remind people "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" is enough to show they are far more lovable than any of Glen Sather's underachieving, overpaid athletes. I bet when Night Ranger had sold out shows there wasn't a sea of empty purple seats visible from across the river. 

-Chip & Dale. I mean…even explaining this one brings more credence to it than it deserves. Did Chip & Dale ever fail at anything? Show me one episode where they failed to accomplish the mission at hand. The only time Chip & Dale ever failed was when they let their name get dragged through the mud by a bunch of cock slinging dick jockeys. Something tells me that was beyond their control. If they changed the name of the show to 'Rick Nash and Dan Girardi: Rescue Rangers' it would turn into a horror cartoon. Every kid would go to bed in tears cause their Rescue Rangers couldn't pull through in show's final minutes. Shit, Rick Nash couldn't save a cat from a tree if someone was shining a news camera on him. The guy is about as useful under the bright lights as someone with a degenerative eye disease. If Rick Nash tried to save a drowning child he would probably knock himself unconscious diving into the shallow end. 

I commend the Dallas Stars. It is true. As society regresses we are far more impressed with lists, and this one is spot on in regards to the greatest Rangers of all time. Credit is due where credit is due. To be a Ranger one must be capable of heroics, and those of the New York variety are far more schooled in the art of failure.

I am not a fan of suspending players for playoff games. Always something about it that struck me as wrong. With that said, I totally agree with the NFL's decision to sit Suh's gargantuan ass on the pine for the wildcard round. Yes, Roger Goodell is a nazi prick, but he was really left with no choice. What is an alternative answer? Fine him some inconsequential amount of money? The guy already has millions upon millions of dollars, and he is about to make about a billion dollars on his next contract in the offseason. If money were a deterrent to Suh the last 3 or 4 incidents involving him wouldn't have occurred in the first place.Plus, it sets a bad precedent. If someone as notably psychotic as Suh simply loses some minuscule percentage of his salary, and what a player with no prior transgressions get when he does something similar?

Truth be told, I used to love Suh. I used to think his aggressiveness and talent were something to behold. His incidents, in the beginning of his career anyway, were a result of playing too hard or unnecessary physicality after making football plays. Then he started kicking quarterbacks in the dick and stomping on their ankles, and somewhere along the line he lost that benefit of the doubt. If he were simply suspended for a late hit or a hit to the head I would have far more of a problem with it. Could Suh stepping on Aaron Rodgers ankle twice have been an accident? Yeah, sure, if it were literally anyone else. You don't give a sex offender the benefit of the doubt when he's a caught in a park after sun down. Sure, he may just enjoy a nice stroll through the park and a few minutes on the swings. However, it's more than likely he's trying to diddle toddlers, and it's more than likely that Suh was trying to end Rodgers playoff run before it started. 

So, as a partial observer who isn't particularly a fan of Aaron Rodgers, FUCK Suh. That big dumb animal deserves whatever punishment the NFL gives him from here on out. When you literally attempt to behead quarterbacks on a yearly basis you lose my sympathy. If you wake up naked in an alley with a sore asshole every time you drink Jack Daniel's, you should probably stop drinking Jack Daniel's. If you get 35 warnings from the NFL commissioner you should probably stop putting yourself into questionable situations. At some point the intent stops being questioned and the severity of the action, and the grocery list of a rap sheet comes into consideration first and foremost.

Don't show me the standings. Don't try to tell me how deep they are. Don't tell me that it's impossible for a team to 'show up' to every single one of their 82 games. The Penguins are pretenders, and nothing you can say to me can prove otherwise. Hyperbole? Maybe. Regardless, the roster the Penguins iced tonight is a roster schooled in the art of faggotry. I'm not talking about their sexuality. I am talking about them being soft. Soft, cheap, and to spare no insult, quite frankly they are a bunch of pussies. They got beat up, down, across, and into the ice, by a team that is not known for their physicality. You want proof to my point? Look no further then the 'toughest' and most finesse players on their team. Bortozzo got rag dolled not once, but twice, by Tootoo, a man that has to look up like a midget in the front row of a movie theatre just to make eye contact with him. Crosby left no stick un-slashed and no tear un-cried. Their talent means next to nothing when the going gets tough and the games get gritty. If you can't beat the first team in history to have three head coaches, you certainly won't beat the best the NHL has to offer when winning requires actual, tangible toughness.

Enough about the most fraudulent roster, and fan base, in sports. Tonight, the Devils showed up. They played hard. They played smart. They created. They forced the play on a far superior team at times. They weathered the storm at others. Schneider was solid. Larsson was steady. Jagr flashed the talent that still remains in those 42 year old legs. Zajac scored a fucking goal, for once, and was a force on both ends of the ice. The team had jump and will, something they have lacked for most of the season. Last, but not least, this team finished strong. Maybe not on consecutive breakaways late in the third, but they didn't give the Penguins an inch. Especially in the closing minutes that have long ailed this team. 

Jordin Tootoo can stay on this team as long as we plan to suck. The guy has personality on and off the ice. Say what you want about his talent, but the guy certainly wants it more than others on the rink. His fights against Bortuzzo gave a lift to this team tonight, no matter what those that want it banned from the sport have to say. One of the main reasons the Devils won tonight was that they took it to Pittsburgh physically. That was punctuated with two fights in which Tootoo took Bortuzzo to the woodshed and whipped him like the submissive little Sally he is. 

Damn, that felt good. Maybe not orgasmic, but I'm not saying a little something didn't come out when the final buzzer rang. Sure, we still suck, but if they want to give me a win like that every now and again I can get on board with this ragtag group. Whether it be the influence of a new coaching staff, or an extra incentive from a cheap shot to Jagr the last time these two teams faced off, this was a different Devils team tonight. Win or lose, if this team plays that brand of hockey they will have my respect, despite the number next to them in the standings. Then again, we don't play  mentally and physically weak teams like the Penguins every day, but a man can dream. 

Introducing our first ever….
                                                          Fairy Of The Night

This, of course, excludes those donning white, black, and yellow jerseys both on and off the ice. That makes this a bigger upset than the game itself. I don't think you need to throw back a bunch of beers to enjoy a hockey game. Hell, you don't need to have one for all I care. You want to be straight edge, go ahead and be fucking straight edge. I drink at games because I prefer my sports with some hops, some barley, and a nice little buzz. I respect all those that actual show up and pay to watch the team I love, even if most are ill informed on what's actually taking place. However, don't try to rub your sobriety in our face by throwing it on the back of your XXXL jersey. Did this kid just eat 8 meals a day until he was big enough to own a jersey that fit 'STRAIGHTEDGE' on the back? How does one even get that big without drinking? Must have replaced the beer in his diet with Crisco and stuffed crust pizzas. Either way, fuck you guy. You think you are better than me because you abstain from alcohol and drugs? I would say you abstain from sex too, but that would assume that you had any say in the matter. This is like wearing Crossfit brand clothing or wearing a 'Say No To Gluten' shirt, except a billion times worse. The $200 you spent on that jersey is going to seem like a pretty poor purchase when you realize how awful your life is and go waddling back to the bottom of the bottle. Almost impressive that a person that hasn't seen his penis since the Clinton administration could go more than five minutes without a bottle to his mouth. Although, he's probably also five minutes from guzzling bleach. 

Unless of course this jersey is supposed to be ironic in some way….which makes him the worst kind of human being on Earth. Why, why couldn't this kid be in a Penguins jersey?

​

P.S. I can't wait until Sidney Crosby gets the the strand of mumps that never go away. Never has anyone so blatantly personified a 'mump'. His talent between the whistles is to be marveled at. No one can take that away from him. His goal tonight was a a thing of beauty. If you can't tip your hat to a guy on a play like that then you are the very definition of a hater. However, he's still a whiney little twat. For a guy blessed with incredible physical prowess, he seeps out an aura of vaginal secretion after the play. It's amazing he doesn't slip in it more often. Maybe that's why he falls every time he's touched. It was no more evident then his crosscheck to Henrique after he netted the all important insurance goal.

Did I expect a team with three brand new coaches to come out and beat a red hot Rangers team? Of course not, but if they were going to lose, like they inevitably did, I would have liked to see them do it while making some significant changes. Peter Harrold, a Peter Deboer favorite, and a guy the fan base has grown to loathe, still inexplicably manned the first defensive pairing. Stephen Gionta, a player that now gets a bad rap because he gets thrown into situations his talent does not warrant was on the ice for a power play that turned into a Rangers shorthanded goal. The Devils, as expected, managed to fall short of finishing all but one of their chances. Same old, same old in a season that is uglier then a team picture during the mumps epidemic.

The night could be summed up in one play that was basically a microcosm of the season thus far. Travis Zajac, one of the smarter players and better skaters on the team managed to turn the puck over at the point. Then, instead of getting back and limiting a drastic mishap, he somehow managed to flail all over himself like a 10 year old that stepped on the ice with his skate guards on.  That led to a Derek Stepen breakaway that gave the Rangers a one goal lead in a game the Devils had dominated to that point. It was funny. I didn't yell. I didn't scream. I didn't turn my remote into a cluster of microscopic pieces of plastic. I chuckled. How can you not? It's either laugh or cry at this point, and I save my tears for funerals and weddings. If you can't crack a smile while watching this dumpster fire of a season then you have a lot of anger in your future. This team sucks. I learned long ago that the ability to laugh at yourself is an important characteristic to have. Being able to laugh when your sports team resembles a well dressed District 5 team is equally as important. 

The Devils standards of excellence have dropped into the red. That was clear when the Devils celebrated a goal that brought them within one like it was worth 30 points in the standings. You would have thought Steve Bernier's finish on a beautiful passing play shot the Devils into contention in the Eastern Conference. Was it nice? Yeah. Especially given the player who scored it and the Devils' pension for turning wide open nets into night long nightmares. However, given the circumstances of the season maybe it's better to temper our emotions for at least a game tying, or God forbid, a game winning goal. 

I don't expect the coaching trio, or 'Coaching Mafia' as it has been called, to turn water into wine. I don't expect them to part any seas. I don't expect them to heal a team full of mumps with a touch of their fingertip. Just give me something to look forward to. Scratch that. Just give me something else to watch. I don't even care if they continue to lose. Just lose differently. This team needs forward prospects, and they needed them yesterday. They aren't going to sprout up from a talent barren farm system, but give me a young player or two to observe. Give me someone else to watch suck. Every game is like deja-vu. I feel like I am Bill Murray in Groundhog Day without the witty humor or a semi-sexy co-star to enjoy it with. I feel like I keep walking into the same punch like a battered wife with Alzheimer's. Throw me a bone boys. At this point the fan base is pretty easy to satisfy. Shit, a Reid Boucher sighting might give me a stiffy I could hang my hat on. At this point anything to hang my hat on is a welcomed change.

A win in name only. I don't think I have ever seen a victory that left me so void of any emotion whatsoever. Would it have been smarter to lose for a higher draft pick and subsequently knock Tampa Bay down to the number two draft pick? Possibly. However, I am not the type to root for my team to lose. Sure, that would have made it easier to accept had they managed to lose to a two win Buccaneers team, but in the moment I was hoping they left Raymond James Stadium with a win. And lord, could they have picked a more pathetic way to win? That was essentially the same game as last week against Atlanta, except Atlanta isn't completely void of talent like the Bucs. The Saints tried everything in their power to lose today. That's why today's win feels like nothing of the sort. The offense and it's 20 million dollar leader turned the ball over at an alarming rate and were inconsistent at best. The defense spent the entire first half nipping at the heels of Doug Martin and company. Literally nothing about the win gives any hope for a better 2015.

I think the most disappointing thing about today, and last week, isn't the subpar play on the field. It's that I wasn't even mildly surprised by the play on the field. Getting your hopes up for this year's Saints team is like stepping in your neighbor's dog shit over and over again and continuing to blame your neighbor. At some point you need to be responsible for your lack of skepticism and awareness. Poop on my shoe once, shame on you, poop on my shoe nine times, shame on me...as they say. This team failed to come through in almost every big spot they fell into, and I do mean fell into. This team didn't earn an opportunity to put a strangle hold on the division last week in New Orleans. It was gifted to them by an anemic division, and they still flushed it away without much of a fight. If I didn't know that an NFL season was only 16 games long I would say it felt like the Saints went 4-20. It certainly didn't feel like this team only lost one more game than they won. When you put it that, it almost seems like they aren't even deserving of the record they finished with. 

The only positive spin you can give to this bitter end of a miserable season is that this mockery of team didn't luck into a playoff spot, or even a playoff win against a battered Cardinals' team. This mentally fragile group would have considered that a success in a year where most fans and experts alike expected a Super Bowl caliber team in New Orleans. This team needed a reality check, and clearly 16 anticlimactic games weren't enough to give it to them. They need a full offseason to realize how drastically they under performed, to understand how unacceptable the level play of was in comparison to the level of talent. Did the amount of leadership lost with the departure of players like Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins, and Will Smith mean that much? Was it simply some superiority complex based on a relatively successfully 2013? This Saints, while not the worst the NFL had to offer, was definitely the most underachieving. That in itself is arguably worse, from a fan and franchise standpoint, than the latter. 

I think the biggest problem with this team is that it is so hard to pinpoint one problem. A top 5 defense from 2013, morphed into the record setting joke that it was in 2012. Same players, arguably better than the year prior, didn't even show glimpses of the same potential. The offense, as a whole, was a disappointment. Don't tell me Drew Brees nearly threw for his 5th 5,000 yard season. Don't give me some statistic as to how they stacked up in comparison to the rest of the league. This offense couldn't protect it's quarterback. It's quarterback couldn't avoid the backbreaking turnover. The skill position players routinely dropped, or fumbled, in the most dire of situations. The eye test matters much more than the numbers, and this offense isn't close to the one that used to strike fear into the hearts of defensive coordinators. Nothing makes that more evident than the loss of the SuperDome stigma. A 5 game home losing streak isn't just bad, its comedic. Especially in a year where the team fell one win short of the playoffs. 

If this team wanted to temper expectations for next year they certainly did a hell of job of it today, even in victory. Who Dat, or something like it...

There were some moments this year. A history making home opener turned disastrous meltdown to Penn State. A couple bumps in the road in shellackings at the hands of true conference powers Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. However, 8-5, including solid wins on the road against Washington State and Navy, a momentous win over a lackluster Michigan program, and wins over Indiana and Maryland (the latter coming in an outrageous come from behind fashion) are enough to declare the Scarlet Knights season a success. Hell, there isn't much more you could have realistically asked for. Especially if you fall into the 'doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile' category of fan. The only thing that could have been expected was to keep losses against the best the conference has to offer from being absolute debacles. It would have been nice to put our best foot forward in games against some of the more prestigious foes, yet it still would resulted in an 8 win season, at best. 

What can't be denied is that Coach Kyle Flood survived a murderer's row of tough road games and was able to keep his team's head on straight. Rutgers had the hardest schedule in the conference this year. They have the hardest schedule in the conference next year as well, and they were able to finish ahead of well established programs like Penn State and Michigan, despite them suffering through tough years. With the way last season ended, Rutgers turned a year that could have decimated the program into a reason to optimistic for the future. The recruits will only get better, the opponents far less intimidating. Let's be serious, a program that has spent the last decade floundering in mediocrity hasn't been subjected to the level of football played in East Lansing or Columbus. They were bound to take a few on the chin. The more important thing for the coaching staff and the future is that they were able to get up from those and finish the season on a high note.

I don't know who was wearing Lorenzo Waters jersey yesterday, but it certainly wasn't the guy that turned missed tackles into a nearly uncountable statistic this year. Two fumble recoveries, a blocked field goal, 14 tackles that didn't occur 30 yards downfield? Way to pad those 'Zo. Nowhere to go but up on defense, how's that for glass half full? You want some more optimism. The last 3 quarters of the season saw the Scarlet Knights play stellar defense. Sure, the first half at Maryland was about as futile an effort defensively that the sport of football has ever seen, but it's about how you finish, right? Turnovers? Wrap up tackles? Maybe yesterday was a sign of things to come from the defense. People forget that despite the veteran presences of Darius Hamilton and Kevin Snyder, the unit as a whole, especially the secondary, is fairly young.

How could the offense not have you excited? With Carroo officially deciding to come back, the Scarlet Knights will return 4 of their top 5 wide receivers and all of their immensely talented running backs. Freshman running back tandem Josh Hicks (200 yards and a touchdown) and Robert Martin III (100 yards and a touchdown) have sparkled in nearly everyone of their opportunities. Almost so much so that they make the return of stud running back Paul James seem insignificant. In a run heavy conference, It seems Rutgers has an embarrassment of riches at an extremely vital position. 

Quarterback, as is tradition in Piscataway, is still question mark. Next year, for the first time in 4 years, the answer to that question will not be Gary Nova. Gary went out on top, which is all you can ask from a career marred by the highest of highs and lowest of lows. If you take out a miserable performance against Penn State where he basically lost the game by himself, he had a very steady and solid year. The records he holds and the wins he was responsible for are an important part of Rutgers history and watching him walk away from this program a winner was maybe the most important part of yesterday's bowl game. As Gary wildly proclaimed amongst frenzied teammates prior to yesterday's contest, "It's more than a game!". I think the players, as well as the fan base, felt that. It's going to be a weird feeling for everyone to see someone other than Gary Nova taking snaps next year. To the person lucky enough to take on that roll, Darius Hamilton has some words of advice…

“Whoever's next up, God bless him,” defensive tackle Darius Hamilton said. “This is a tough job. When everything goes right, you're the man. When everything goes wrong, it's all on your shoulders. You have to look no further than Gary to know that.”

Well, it was more of a question of when than if. The writing on the wall made 'REDRUM' look like the slip of a child's crayon. I guess I kind of feel bad for Pete. That's not to say I agree with every decision he made, or that he is top head coach in the NHL. However, his record since joining the Devils is more of a reflection of a lackluster roster then a fair judgement of his coaching abilities. Since the 2012-2013 departures of Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk, two of the top 10-15 players in the NHL at the time, the Devils organization has been throwing an ungodly amount of shit against the wall and praying it stuck. Whether that shit came in the form of Michael Ryder, or Damien Brunner, or Ryan Clowe, one criticism that can not be made is that Deboer was drastically underachieving. The talent on this team is the talent of a struggling, non-playoff team. 

As much as I think Pete was dealt a poor hand, the guy has basically been going 'all-in' with a 2-4 off suited the last two years, I agree with his dismissal. Not because I think a coaching change will somehow spark this team to a playoff run. Just because I can only watch the same game replay in front of my very eyes for so often. For as painful as each soul crushing blown lead turned shootout loss was for me, I would imagine it was more disheartening for a coach that led the same team to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance mere years before. I don't think Pete deserved to lose his job. I just think at this point change was necessary. For a team that sucks, they were certainly a new brand of suck. I have never seen a team that sucks so bad take leads in so many games. I have never seen a team with such a lack of talent manage to stay within a single goal a majority of the time, even if the result was very rarely in their favor. Hell, if NHL games were only two periods long Deboer might be up for 'Coach Of The Year' instead of an addition to the unemployment line.

It's always easier to blame the coach. That's the type of criticism you leave yourself open to when you become the coach of any professional franchise. It's much easier to blame one man behind the bench than to accept that, regardless of who has to fall on the sword, the players that actual play the game aren't all that good. You can't win with a 42 year old shell of himself in Jagr, and an 'off the streets' free agent in Gomez carrying the offensive load. You can't win when you dress four extremely young defenseman at a time, and somehow the worst ones are your core veterans.

In the most Devils' move of all time, It looks as if Lou Lamoriello will man the bench with the help of Scott Stevens and Adam Oates. If were being completely honest, I love the move. At this point, winning is no longer the most important thing. This team and organization needs to develop and evaluate. There is a lot of dead weight on this roster and a lot of youth that needs to produce for the reconstruction of this team to be done in a timely manner. If one thing is clear with this situation it is that Stevens and Oates won't be coaching for their job like Deboer was. Pete was unable to make moves for the betterment of the future because he was expected to win now. At this point, the fastest way up might be down. It wouldn't have been smart to bring in a new head coach off the street to take over this mess. It wouldn't have resulted in some drastic difference in on-ice performance and he would have been the next coach under the bus within months. Much rather have two guys come in and help develop some familiar faces in a familiar system and organization. Plus, any Devils fan that doesn't give Scott Stevens nostalgia points isn't a true Devils fan at all. That guy could burn my house down on a Sunday afternoon and I would still worship the ground under which he walks. 

P.S. Hilarious that Lou Lamoriello said it was "unfair" to expect one man to take over this mess of a team. Makes the dismissal Of Deboer look more like a mercy killing than an actual firing.

It played out like a book I had read a 100 times before. Usually it was Cory Schneider manning the pipes, but recently rookie Keith kinked has fallen victim to the same tragic ending. One goal lead, game dwindling to it's conclusion, and the Devils give up a back breaking goal against a far superior opponent. I probably would have put my life savings on another Devils loss had you afforded me the opportunity at the end of regulation. There is just no possible way the Devils were supposed to win last night. Thank you Santa, Merry Christmas to the New Jersey faithful! 

I know the Devils are not very talented, that's why it is utterly unbelievable that are able to take leads on all of these teams. Let's look at the last three games Kinkaid has been in goal for. Blackhawks, Islanders, Tampa Bay. Three of the best teams in the league. Why must the Devils play so well for the first 50 minutes of games and drag us by that little inkling of hope that they can pull it out?  It's like they refuse to lose a game without it being completely soul crushing and demoralizing. Last night they had the perfect opportunity to do so again, and when they sent Zajac up 2nd and Patrik Elias up 3rd in the shootout I thought they were absolutely destined for it. Is it shame on me for not having faith, or shame on them for shitting on my faith so many times before?

BREAKING NEWS: Patrik Elias is indeed alive! A highlight reel goal and a shootout goal in the same damn game. Did Patrik wake up in 2011? Firing up the old time machine for the holidays? Listen, that backhand doesn't slowly find it's way into the back of the net without the help of the defenseman's stick, but we take our highlight goals however we can get 'em in New Jersey. It's the thought that counts….and the notch on the scoresheet (which have been so rare for St. Patty recently).  I think my criticism of Patty being selected as a 'Star Of The Game' against Ottawa must have struck a nerve. Maybe it wakes him up for the second half of the season, but for now I will settle for the high from last night.

Sidenote: Kinkaid standing behind the net prior to the Elias shootout goal fully encompasses the emotions of every single Devils fan at that moment. I bet if there was a shovel he would have dug a hole to hide in until the shootout was over.

I got to say I am feeling Kinkier than ever. Guy is a stud. Of course that means the mentally retarded fraction of the fan base has to create some goalie controversy in their head. Can't they just accept that our best two players can't play during the same game? Cory has proven to be a great goaltender, and Keith looks to be headed in the same direction. Can't we just be happy that we have one position tied up for the foreseeable future? This Devils roster has enough problems without creating unnecessary controversy. Good for Keith, good the rest of the team. They may not be headed anywhere this year, but wins like last night show that they still have a little bit of pride, and dare I say, a modicum of skill?

Classic question. One that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time. What came first, the chicken or the gay? I'm like 92% certain that Paul thinks gay people landed on Earth in a spaceship, or their arrival into society is some inexplicable phenomenon like Big Foot, or feminists. I imagine him sitting down with a pen and paper and trying to do the arithmetic. Positive plus a positive equals a positive. Negative plus a negative equals a negative.  Gay plus a gay equals a gay, but gays can't multiply so they must be obsolete. This is like the elderly people that still use racial slurs, and refuse to believe that Barack Obama is president. They just don't watch TV or open a newspaper and look at you like you have six heads if you say our president is black. Something like this...

I think I would rather explain to Robertson how to use each app on my iPhone than explain to him that two heterosexual people can produce a homosexual. There would absolutely be a higher rate of success. I think he would have to follow the entire life cycle all the way from conception until the resulting child was old enough to engage in sexual relations with someone of the same sex. I just don't have that kind of time on my hands and he definitely doesn't either. You know when you engage in an argument and your friend just keeps making the same point over and over again and can't elaborate on it? I could make the most compelling argument in the world and Robertson would still be sitting there repeating "the gays are going extinct!". Zero percent chance he would ever admit defeat.

The best part about this video is the question had absolute nothing to do with homosexuality. Robertsen was sitting home eating through a straw and watching reruns of MASH, and masterminded this theory days ago. It's like when you think up the perfect joke and can't wait to use it with your buddies. Then you get so excited that you use it in the wrong context, or you fuck up the delivery, or it just doesn't go over as well as it did in your head.  I could have asked Paul Robertson what the weather is like outside and he would have told me that "gays are going to die out". There just can't be anyone still living in the modern world that was sitting there nodding along in agreement when Paul dropped that first line. Even the woman who is being paid to let him spew his psychobabble is so clearly holding back her thoughts through the guise of a smirk.

P.S. I don't care if you are attracted to women, men, frogs, elephants, trees, or dead people. If you didn't laugh when he dropped that first line you are not human. It may be the single funniest thing I have heard this week. 

P.P.S. This picture is from a satire sight, but if I didn't include it I wouldn't be able to live with myself. "Amoral faggotaceous period", actual fucking tears.

Well there's the shocker of the century. I'm not saying computer hackers don't exist in every race, color, and creed, I am saying that white hackers are far more concerned with seeing Hope Solo's disgusting vagina. Even if this movie weren't coming out, the first finger I am pointing is at an Asian country. Most likely China. I know it is wrong to generalize, but racial stereotypes exist for a reason. Assuming that anyone else was at fault would be like showing up to play pickup basketball and not taking the lone 6'6 black kid with your first pick. You might not always be right, but the odds are certainly in your favor.

Am I supposed to be surprised that North Korea is responsible for the e-mail scandal of a company that is about to release a movie about killing their dictator? I don't know about the general public, but I am certainly not concerned with the content of the emails going to and from Sony. I don't care if some Sony executive gets fired for libel or defamation of a actor or actress. Who else would be trying to take down Sony besides a rival company (that would have done so far earlier if they had the capability) or Kim Jong-Un? 

While were on the subject, I am not sure how I feel about the movie premiere of 'The Interview' getting shut down. While this is America, and I certainly don't care about the feelings of some North Korean dictator, I certainly would be pretty pissed if I were him.  I mean, he's a national public figure. If we are going to make a cinematic film about his death can we do better than Seth Rogan and James Franco? If I know Kim Jong-Un like I think I do, the cast of that movie is far more disrespectful than the actual plot. I only thing I would trust those two to kill is a 5-5-5 from Domino's. What a slap in the face is to a soulless dictator. I think he would rather be killed in cold blood at the hands of a competent human being than have his likeness meet it's demise at the hands of a couple stoners.

If North Korea had the means to make a movie about the murder of Barack Obama, while using a likeness of him, it would certainly strike me the wrong way. It would probably be the most watched movie below the Mason-Dixon line, even if half those people couldn't read the subtitles. However, America as a whole would be up in arms, literally and figuratively. All I'm saying is that despite North Korea's lack of man power, I am steering clear of Kim Jong. That guy could probably upload my entire search history using a Nokia. I get that a righteous dictator doesn't deserve respect, but he's not my righteous dictator. How about we just leave him be and let him dictate 3,000 miles away from me? No reason to draw the ire of a malicious sociopath. Nothing to see here, Mr. Un.

With that said, he's got to go. Absolutely has to kick the bucket. Not now, but right now. Not because I don't love the guy, but because that is his last chance to go out on top. If a 40 year old hockey player wins the Stanley Cup, he retires. That's just a rule. Go out in a blaze of glory if given the opportunity. Hell, I'm in my late 20's and I might go swimming with alligators if I hit a hole in one at 'Pitch and Putt'. I am sure his family would miss him, but sometimes the story is worth more than Grandpa lasting a few more, ultimately miserable, years. I don't know how it has to happen, but it does. Maybe a heart attack due to a sudden amount of excitement? Part of me wishes the skies opened up and he was struck by lightening seconds after making that shot, Caddy Shack style. 

If that shot was Gus' farewell he goes out as a king. Everyone would be sitting around at the funeral marveling over his golf skills. Talking about how he died being the best at what he loves. If he croaks in three years after crapping his diaper and falling down the stairs, 'the shot' is no longer the story. It will be long forgotten by then. Both grandparents usually pass away within a short period of time because one can't live without the other. With that said, I don't want Gus to live a life without hole-in-ones. They are basically his soulmate.

P.S. Gus has 8 career hole in one's and averages about 90 a round. That means a man knocking on death's door could beat me by about 40 strokes in a sport. The good news is, I got about 75 years to catch up. Might I'll wait until Gus gets a little more senile and convince him I am his grandchild, I have got a lot to learn.

There it is. A vintage 2013 Devils game. Outshoot the other team by 1,000. Fail to finish every opportunity presented to you and end up losing by 1 (sans the empty netter) on a fluky goal. To the untrained eye, the 2014 Devils look very comparable to the 2013 Devils. To the people that have had to endure every second of suck, it has been very different. Very much worse. The 2014 Devils can barely make or accept a pass. They considered breaking out of the zone a luxury which they are granted maybe once, or twice, a game. Their lack of scoring chances has almost been unconscionable.  

Not last night. They outplayed the Senators about 58 minutes of the game last night. Tallied 34 shots to Ottawa's 16. Had countless others blocked. For one night, they looked like they were dominating another NHL team. Of course, just like the year prior, it didn't result in a win. Hell, it didn't even result in a goal. This team has the ability to make their scoring chances look depressing. I could have told you, for certain, they weren't going to score last night somewhere in the middle of the second period. They make everything look so hard. They turn 2-on-1's into non-scoring chances. They turn breakaways into shot less situations. Never have I seen a team so inept at making basic offensive plays. 

Bad news: 
-Damon Seversen looks like he's out for 4-5 weeks. Another bulb out. Another bright spot sidelined. The Devils locker room is growing dimmer and dimmer with each passing day.

-That means Peter Harrold probably plays 45 minutes for the foreseeable future.

-Bryce Salvador is making progress with his injury. 

-Larsson is playing in Albany after recovering from the mumps. This means he will likely be banished there until 2021.

-Gomez, the guy that wasn't in the NHL a month ago, makes the rest of our roster look like they are skating in glue.

-For some ungodly reason, Marek Zidlicky will never be sat besides making about 7 drop passes to the other team per game. Apparently, the ability to be old as dirt is enough to keep him in the lineup.

Good News: 
-Salvador is not yet skating.

-We have our very own first round draft pick, and a roster futile enough to turn that into a substantial prospect.

-The Devils weren't the worst people at their job in the Prudential Center last night. A group of people actually voted Patrik Elias as a 'Star of the Game' despite setting an all time record in turnovers. That is a fireable offense in itself. Apparently hitting a post is rather impressive.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/wade-miley-clashed-with-the-d-backs-about-the-gluten-in-his-diet-214049345.html

Yahoo Sports- Miley says his diet was something he and the organization "head-butted" about at some point in the year."After a while, they left me alone," he said. "But it was always that elephant in the room."

Miley said he didn't want to go into specifics about his diet but did make a passing reference about not being gluten free. He said he wished the team were more willing to tailor its approach toward individuals rather than having everyone doing the same things.

"It might work for some people, but I didn't feel like it worked for me," he said. "I did what I felt like I needed to do to pitch every five days."


Gluten free. All the rage right now. So hot in the streets. Even in sports the gluten free diet and being aware of every single thing you put in your body has become commonplace. Scott Gomez recently said in an interview that the biggest difference between now and his rookie year is that players used to slam 6-packs post game and now they are much more aware of their diet. That along with the progression in training and athletic ability has created a better product amongst professional sports. It is now part of the culture.

Does that really go for a pitcher though? Basically a pitcher is just an arm and a brain, mostly arm though. Pitching is probably the most mentally demanding position in sports. The ability to shake off a bad pitch and a home run is key to being successful. I can't imagine their diet is much of a concern to how much rotation they can get on their curve ball. Look at some of the best pitcher's in MLB history. I am pretty sure David Wells was half in the bag almost every time he took the mound. C.C. Sebathia is about as out of shape as they come. Know what happened when he started to shed pounds? He got noticeably worse at pitching. These guys aren't hunting down shallow line drives or trying to go first-to-third on a single. Let them put whatever makes them comfortable in their body. Should they be grossly obese alcoholics? Preferably not, but if that is what keeps the ERA under 3 then cheers to them. Just let the old southpaw stay in his comfort zone and throw back a burrito or two. A man's stomach isn't just the way to a man's heart, it's a way to a man's mental stability. Have you seen how Verlander pitches when he's got Kate Upton in the crowd? Success directly correlates with how comfortable you are on the mound, and no 220 pound pitcher is comfortable eating eating like a bird.

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/bo-pelini-insults-a-d-shawn-eichorst-in-expletive-filled/article_b202b14a-8633-11e4-8c91-f3f5386da4f8.html

Omaha- “I didn’t really have any relationship with the A.D.,” Pelini said. “The guy, you guys saw him (Sunday), the guy is a total p—-. I mean, he is, and he’s a total c—.”

“A guy like (Eichorst) who has no integrity, he doesn’t even understand what a core value is,” Pelini told players. “And he hasn’t understood it from the day he got here. I saw it when I first met with the guy.

“To have core values means you have to be about something, you have to represent something, you have to have something that is important to you. He is a f—— lawyer who makes policies. That’s all he’s done since he’s been here is hire people and make policies to cover his own ass.”

“He goes, ‘I disagree that I haven’t supported you.’ I said, ‘Hey bud, you can’t support somebody underneath a f------ rock.’ I said, ‘To do your job at this level, at a place like this, you gotta be a grown-a-- f------ man to lead something.’ I said, ‘You can’t lead anything under a f------ rock.’ I said, ‘You don’t spend any time with us. Our players don’t even know who you are.’ And I said, ‘That isn’t leadership."

“I don’t even really know what those guys do — and I said, ‘Hey, you know what, if (Eichorst) ain’t gonna do his job, and if he doesn’t have the b---- to go out there and support me, support these kids, support this program, then do me a favor and get rid of me.’ ”

“Let me tell you, fellas, this is for real. If it wasn’t for you guys and the coaches and their families, I would have resigned a year ago. Because there was some things that were going on that were making me miserable. And all the money in the world ain’t f------ worth that. And that’s the truth."




What's in a name? A question as old as time itself. Well, I think the answer is, it kind of depends. Not all names say something about a person. However, you name your kid Amber she might be getting finger blasted in a middle school bathroom. You name your kid Chad he might end up dealing with 'allegations' from a Duke lacrosse party. You name your kid Chester, he is without a doubt destined to get some face time on the 6 o'clock news. That's really the long and short of it. The name Bo speaks volumes. Bo's gonna Bo. When you hire a Bo you know you are getting someone that is a little rough around the edges. Shit, I wish I was named Bo. You are automatically granted a longer leash by society. I would be dropping hard C bombs while walking to church. You know who is a pussy in comparison to Bo? Everyone. 

If you are at all surprised by the above quotes than you are more out of the touch than the Nebraska AD who just fired a coach who went 9-3 in the Big Ten. Imagine putting anyone that just lost their job in a room full of their co-workers, sans their former boss. This is pretty much exactly what I would expect. Roasting your boss is dream come true. Especially in front of a room of people  that support everything you stand for, and have openly expressed disdain for your dismissal. Bo Pelini loves his players and his players loved him. It looks like that love was not shared with an absentee athletic director, on both counts. 
​

Eichorst’s athletic department responded via statement late Wednesday afternoon, making clear that Pelini’s pattern of unprofessional behavior played a role in his firing.

“If these comments were, indeed, spoken by Mr. Pelini, we are extremely disappointed, but it only reaffirms the decision that he should no longer be a leader of young men at Nebraska,” the statement said.


Oh, so that's why Bo got canned. Vulgar language. A history of disrespectful and inappropriate behavior. Wait, Bo Pelini was the football coach, right? He wasn't the Dean? He wasn't the University minister? What the fuck do I care if the football coach is using politically incorrect language? What happened to what's said in the locker room stays in the locker room? College football is a business. A business based solely on winning and losing. Firing a football coach for vulgar language and inappropriate social interactions is like firing a beer taster for being drunk on the job. It's like expecting your personal trainer to have an apathetic personality. It's just something that comes with the territory of the position. It's a results based business and from the bottom up it looked fairly successful until you got to the athletic director.

I think the explanation by the Nebraska athletic department is very telling. If you fire a football coach for saying words like 'cunt' and 'pussy' you probably are both a cunt and a pussy. Racy language doesn't make you incapable of being a leader of young men. The biggest hurdle to becoming a leader of men is to convince men to follow you, no matter how off-color your tactics are. That skill is something Bo Pelini apparently had, and something Shawn Eichorst apparently does not. Hell, I would go to battle for Bo off these quotes alone. At the very least I would like to throw back a few cold ones with him.

P.S. “I’d rather f------ work at McDonald’s than work with some of those guys. Not that there’s anything bad about working at McDonald’s.” 

Way to catch yourself there Bo.

Seriously. 20 rounds. 40 breakaways. Maybe 30-35 of which lacked any skill or creativity whatsoever. I don't want that 20 minutes of my life back, I need it back. When I am laying in a hospital bed trying to get out all of my last words to my wife and children I will be looking back on last night. I rue the day I planted my ass on the couch and watched the most boring shootout ever (sans every Devils shootout since October 2013). All I know is what I watched last night needs to be abolished from the sport of hockey. I have never been so sure of anything in my entire life.

Was the novelty of the shootout cute when it was first inducted into the modern NHL game? Sure. It was fun and creative for the first year. However,  I can say with certainly it has lost it's luster. There's nothing new. Nothing we haven't seen. The bloom is off the rose. That has only been exacerbated by the NHL's decision to not do ice cuts prior to the shootout this year. Last night I watched the puck bounce erratically off the stick of 3 Panthers who had open nets and a chance to end the shootout about 10 minutes before it's eventual conclusion. After that, I watched a bunch of 4th liners and stay-at-home defenseman come down and rip snap shots into the pads of tired goaltenders to avoid losing the puck and further making a mockery of the situation. At no point in time ever should Willie Mitchell have a chance to win a game with a breakaway. That's when you know we are trivializing the rich tradition of hockey. 

If you need shootouts to arouse you for the sudden ending of a hockey game then you probably aren't a huge fan of the sport itself. People either like hockey or they don't. Some illusion of excitement created by the shootout isn't enough to sway the casual observer, especially not the 20 minute train wreck I watched last night. I don't think we should bring ties back. This isn't 1950. But surely there is a way to decide a hockey game by playing the actual sport of hockey, and not some gimmicky charade of one on one situations.

Is time the biggest concern? I almost fell asleep three different times trying to watch the entire 19+ minutes of last night's disaster. If they played 5 minutes 4-on-4, followed up with 5 minutes 3-on-3 it would almost certainly end every game in dramatic fashion, and apparently more importantly for the NHL, in a timely manner. Hell, play 3-on-3 sudden death. The rare situations in which that happens during the game have always produced an exorbitant amount of chances. It still involves a higher volume of skill and allows the players to be more creative than they can on a breakaway. 

I know I don't trust the NHL to make the right decision. Shit, we will probably have another lockout before we see the end of the shootout era. However, it's clear, to me anyway, what the right decision is…

P.S. Amazing that these cameras may still flash after midnight without risk of penalty. May just spend the whole night driving through red lights with my middle fingers up. May even grab a chauffeur and pay him to cruise through town while my hams are placed firmly against my windshield.

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014/12/16/atlanta-hawks-kyle-korver-underwater-rock-workout

SI- Outside Magazine has the story of Korver's crazy workouts, which he does only once a year. It's a concept his trainer, Marcus Elliot, calls misogi. The tasks are so gruelling they will hopefully leave a lasting impression. "If it’s hard enough," Elliot explains, "the lesson will last."

This year's misogi​ involved a 5k relay along the ocean floor while carrying two different stones, one 85.2 points, the other 68.5 pounds. Oh, and the stretch of the Pacific they had chosen in Southern California had recently been the site of shark attacks. 

Might be time to find a new trainer Kyle. There's a fine line between innovative and stupid. A fine line between genius and insanity. I am sure that relaying a 80 pound boulder through shark infested waters is mentally and physically draining. Know what else is mentally and physically draining? Carrying a huge rock through non-shark infested waters. If were being honest, it's probably nearly as draining to carry a gigantic rock through a swimming pool and there isn't an imminent threat of death. After the Ben Roethlisberger and Jason Williams incidents athletes are prohibited, by contract, to ride motorcycles. Most athletes are also prohibited from playing any other sport but their own in the offseason. Might be time to get a little more specific with our contract clauses. I am not sure how you would write that up, but Kyle Korver's contract should be void as soon as he enters a body of water that is known for man-eating fish.

We aren't talking about a UFC fighter here. We aren't talking about someone that routinely risks their life for their career. We are talking about Kyle Korver. The guy who gets paid to stand 30 feet from the basket and nail open three pointers. That's his whole career. He isn't banging down low in the paint. He's isn't battling with 300 pound behemoths on the defensive line. Kyle Korver could consider himself unlucky if he has to make contact with another basketball player more than ten times a game. It's not like they expect the Wonderbread white boy sharp shooter to play a hounding style of defense. All he has to do is be able to nail threes from a half mile away from the basket on a regular basis. I would think a valid training regimen for that would be jogging a few times week, lifting a weight or two, and shooting basketballs until your hands get callus. Not creating the opening scene for Jaws 6.