Dance Dance Dance

As all of the free world probably knows by now, Kristi Yamaguchi took home the title Tuesday night on Dancing With The Stars. The N&O has a story here. Apparently she garnered the most points through the competition in the history of the show. Congrats to Kristi. Though I have to admit I did not see a minute of the show.

Also of note, a few days ago the N&O ran a story about how Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi were making plans to put down roots in California in the not so distant future. Hmmm...guess that's something to mull over as Brett returns to Raleigh to have a sit down with JR...natch, pack up his belongings?

Whatever Brett decides to do, UTTR wishes him nothing but the best.
He's earned it. We just like to kid...


-m

Off Season Game Plan

Well I'm back from my temporary sabbatical, which ended up lasting a lot longer than I expected. Turns out looking for a job, a little bit of travel and attending weddings took up a bit longer than I expected. But hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things quickly.

Was psyched to see that the (manufactured?) melodrama over Coach Peter Laviolette's job status seems to have been settled, for now at least. I found Jim Rutherford's comment - "This became a bigger issue than it needed to be" - somewhat amusing as it was JR's bristly refusal to give any thing resembling even a lukewarm endorsement of Laviolette that led to all the speculation in the first place.

Also today, over on TSN.com, Scott Cullen has posted his "Off Season Game Plan" for the Hurricanes. I had been waiting on this, since I had enjoyed Cullen's prognosis for other teams in the league so far. Have to say that I think he got things right for the most part, but it would be hard not to know what the Canes need most (defense, defense) assuming an even passing glance at their shortcomings last season. Erik Cole and Justing Williams are still offered up as possible trade bait for a top line defenseman, which is not surprising I guess, but I really hope it does not come to that in either case. There are also some free agent options listed. Check it out. Perhaps I'll offer up some of my own, completely uninformed, opinions on this stuff soon. I know you will be on the edge of your seats for that!


-martin

Blogroll please...

As I become more and more fixated (natch, obsessed) with actually updating and maintaining this blog on a more regular basis, I've also been trying to tinker with the look and layout as best as my feeble skills allow.

TO that end, I spent a ridiculous amount of time updating the blogrolls (over there on the right) this evening with some of my favorite places to read about the Canes and Hockey in general.

Check them out if you are so inclined.

Now I've got to get to bed.

-m

Ol' Roy Out of The Outhouse

Roy Williams seems to be out of the shitter with Kansas fans...so to speak...or, literally.

From an AP news story today:

The large sketch of the former Kansas basketball coach was removed from the men's room of the Downtown Barbershop on Monday where it had hung as a symbol of fan anger since he departed for North Carolina in 2003.

Now "Ol' Roy" is back where he used to be, prominently displayed among the hundreds of sketches, photographs and memorabilia that make the landmark little shop near the campus a shrine to Jayhawks athletics. Instead of facing the urinal in the back of the building, the man who coached the Jayhawks to nine conference titles is facing customers out front..."The hatchet is buried," owner Jon Amyx said. "I think most people would tell you that now"...Amyx surveyed customers and ended Williams' exile to "the Roy Room," now just the men's room.

Now if Ol' Roy can just bring all those Tarheel fans in off the ledge after his Final Four fiasco(s).

Full story HERE.

NHL on Sean Avery Being Sean Avery

There are a lot of words one can use to describe Sean Avery of the NY Rangers.

Let's see...a few that come to mind...

gritty
hard working
instigator
thorn in the side
douchebag
assclown

But even by Avery standards, his performance on Sunday against the Devils was considered by the suits and hats at NHL HQ to be across the line...thus, we now have the Sean Avery Rule. According to an edict handed down from on high (or somewhere near Toronto), (Sir) Colin Campbell, grand poobah of NHL Crimes and Misdemeanors (natch, Senior Executive Vice President and Director of League Operations...yadda yadda yadda), the league has sprung into action to counter this shameful blight on the image of the NHL:

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play."

Thanks Colin. But while we have you, anything you want to add about violent hits to the head, or excessive boarding that leads to injury? ... Colin? ... Hello?...Ok, I guess we've lost Colin.

While I have often expressed concern over the NHL "making up the rules as they go along", I have to applaud them in this case. Sean Avery definitely deserves to have an unsportsmanlike conduct rule named after him.

Don't get me wrong, the guy is a heck of a player (and has possibly the single greatest head shot on any team's roster), who plays with an edge and is incredibly effective for his team. Since he arrived from the LA Kings in a trade last year, the Rangers are 50-20-6 with Avery in the line-up and 9-13-3 in games that he's missed. It's just too bad that he crosses the line between effective instigator and clownish asshat so often. There are a lot of guys in the league that I love to hate, but would love to have on my team. I would not want Sean Avery on my team (or at least that's my position from my current perch of sactimony!).

I'll let the legendary Don Cherry sum it up for me:

I've known this kid since he was about 16 years old," Cherry told Toronto radio station The FAN 590. "Once a jerk, always a jerk. You can't blame the referee, because . he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Could you believe what you were seeing? I've never seen anything like that and I've been in every league that's ever existed."