Well, they are who we thought they were. At first we were over-optimistic, then extremely pessimistic, then guardedly optimistic, and now it’s back to realistically pessimistic.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not a good hockey team.
We knew this, ignored it, and paid the price of missing expectations. Playoffs, while a nice goal, was not a realistic jump-off point for a team in Year One Point Five of a complete rebuilding.
More after the jump!
Whether you’re a fan of basketball, hockey, football, or Ontario curling, the biggest sports news from the weekend was that I’m turning The On Deck Circle into a food blog. More specifically, the sight will now exclusively talk about Asiago Dip.
What can I say, I need to cash in on this Julie & Julia thing, similar to when I tried to cash in on Twilight by using my real name (Edward) for a while.
So…about this Asiago Dip craze…I mean, wild, right? The world is abuzz with questions about what the perfect mix of ingredients is, who the best chef is, what the best dipping tool is, etc, but we can all stop. The debate is over.
Geoff Frigault owns Asiago Dip.
Imitators shouldn’t even try. The world’s top chefs can try. The guy who invented Asiago Dip can try. Nobody will top Geoff Frigault’s Asiago Dip.
He mastered it Saturday night at a going-away party for him and Annie (Andrea…whaaaat?). It was the perfect blend of cheese, mayonnaise, artichoke, garlic, etc. True culinary fusion, and a true culinary masterpiece.
You bitches better recognize.
In addition, I stole the recipe and will be marketing the product in grocery stores shortly. Sorry Geoff, but a hustler’s gotta hustle.
In closing:
“Motherfucker, how come you didn’t tell me the cheese was so good??” – Arsenio Hall
Oh I think they like him when he hit you with them other ones, so T-Smith is back and he’ll hit you with another one!
What, Dem Franchize Boys are no longer in? Shit, my bad.
Anyway, Trev, a major Laker fan of course, is suggesting Pau Gasol is the real key to the Lakers’ success. Tough to argue against Kobe Bryant, but it’s equally tough to argue against Trev.
Steve Nash, the greatest basketball player in Canadian history, also happens to be the man who has done the most damage to Canada’s sole franchise, the Toronto Raptors.
In honor of Bright Side of the Sun’s awesome Steve Nash Internet Day, several bloggers were asked to share thoughts, stories, and feelings on Steve Nash. I could have looked at the charity work, his developing comedic side, his two MVP awards, his role in the re-establishment of up-tempo basketball, and probably three dozen other angles (or more, as we’ll see tomorrow when Steve Nash Internet Day goes live). I couldn’t though. I couldn’t take an angle, couldn’t applaud his fledgling filmmaking or honorable community work, or even look at his obsession with another major sport, soccer, and what that could mean for his Life After Ball.
And that’s because there is one Steve Nash memory in my mind that resonates whenever I hear his name. He is one of my favorite players of all time, an icon in my country of Canada (and it kills me that he doesn’t play for our National team), and one of the best point guards in NBA history. Still, though, my predominant Nash quick-association-game answer is How Steve Nash Stole Christmas (kind of…it was a Christmas gift, anyway).
More after the jump!
A brief preview: “I have absolutely no interest in writing about the Raptors right now. If I did, I would write a Choose Your Own Adventure style column, or a Mad Libs column, similar to the following:
“__(curse word) __ (curse word) ___(curse word) Jay Triano ___ (curse word) defense ________ (curse word) polar bears ________ (curse word) OLIVER MILLER!!!”
And I’m sure everyone reading this has already wrote, spoke, or thought that sequence multiple times in the last few weeks. So instead, I’ve decided to put in just slightly more effort than the Raptors on the defensive end and offer a player-by-player First Quarter Bitch SlapEvaluation. Enjoy, and step back from that ledge, my friend.”
December is here just as quickly as November went (obviously?), and not without some all-too-familiar Maple Leaf sentiments. The Leafs are still in second last place in the NHL, still struggling to decide what is to become of overpriced veterans and/or underutilized youngsters, and still trying to keep one goalie healthy long enough to determine the least awfulbest starter.
That said, November was a much better month than October, both in terms of on-ice performance and reasons to be optimistic for the next four or five months of frozen agony. October brought a 1-7-4 record, November brought a 5-5-3 record, and the team sits at an uninspiring 6-12-7 overall (36.5% of possible points). Still, because of the NHL’s moronic insistence on rewarding teams for losing in overtime, the Leafs sit just seven points out of a playoff spot in the East. Don’t get it twisted, this is probably not a playoff team, but the realities of Bettman’s Hockey Funhouse are that teams can be pinned-to-the-bottom-in-cement-shoes for a long time and still float to the playoffs make a playoff run (see: St. Louis Blues, 2008-09).
More after the jump!
I recently read a piece on Kyle Korver discussing his impending return from injury, and why it was delayed. The piece said:
“Although he’d hoped to return in the coming days, Korver will have to wait a little longer. He said Thursday that Cybex testing showed he still has strength to regain in his hamstring and quadriceps following surgery.
As a result, Korver will cease court work for a week and focus on rebuilding strength in his leg. Korver said he would need to test at 75 percent to be “borderline” to play; his quadriceps was 70 percent and his hamstring 56 percent.”
To this point, I wasn’t really clear on what was meant by Cybex Testing. I had only vaguely heard of it from NFL Combine chatter, but the passage intrigued me. Here, it seemed, there was a scientific method in place for measuring the recovery of injured muscles and joints. Being the Sports Maven that I am, I had to do some research to find out what exactly Cybex Testing is, and what future potential it has for the sports industry.
More after the jump!
Trev is at it again at Hoops Addict, with a really strong look at Allen Iverson’s place in history. Fairly self-explanatory title, so I’ll spare you the intro line and you can just check it out!
As a Canadian, I joined my countrymen in the giving of thanks over a month ago. But as a sports fan, I cannot help but feel a part of the American version of the holiday. The reason for this is simple: the North American sports leagues flood us with content to coincide with the holiday.
How deep does my commitment to the holiday go? In high school, I had a tradition of playing sick every Thanksgiving Thursday, without fail, so that I could be assured of not missing a moment of watching the Lions get embarrassed and whatever mediocre match-up David Stern threw our way.
Let the most obvious of observations reign: Thanksgiving football is an institution on either side of the border. So, with the day of feasting and family upon us once again, why not use the opportunity to unleash a succession of NFL Tangents.
Nothing captures the spirit of the holiday season like a string of non sequiturs! Onward and upward…
More after the jump!
I have a new article up at Raptors Republic…it’s about Bosh again. This time, though, I’m analyzing his stay-or-go decision looking strictly at finances – I applied the NBA cap rules to all 30 teams, and adjusted for taxes and cost of living to see how many “real” dollars teams can offer CB4 this summer.
