A sporting Christmas wish list

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last few days: a combination of my computer dying (or at least suffering serious injury) and the craziness associated with Christmas meant that I wasn't able to find the time to sit down and hammer out a post. Anyways, in step with the many pundits who have traversed the road before me(such as Ben Knight and my own father), here's my shot at offering symbolic Christmas presents to those I write about.

Hockey:

-To Roberto Luongo: A trophy case for those he should collect later this year. Luongo narrowly lost out to Sidney Crosby and Martin Brodeur in the Hart and Vezina Trophy races last year, but is having a better season than either to this point. He also dominated their head-to-head battles, stopping Crosby twice on late breakaways and shutting out Brodeur's New Jersey Devils in a 5-0 rout. As the Vancouver Province's Ed Willes pointed out in an insightful column yesterday, "Luongo, at this moment, is the best player in the NHL." His numbers (2.03 GAA, second only to Detroit's Chris Osgood, and .929 save percentage, second only to Boston's Tim Thomas) are impressive on their own, but look even better when you look at the shot-difficulty data Gabe Desjardins has compiled (thanks to James for the link). Luongo is sixth on his list of those who have a better GAA than expected from the difficulty of shots that they make, with a delta GAA of -0.65. Brodeur is way down the list with a delta GAA of -0.11, suggesting that many of the saves he makes are on easier shots (not surprising, when you consider that the defensive system New Jersey plays with is even more pronounced than Vancouver's). Hopefully a strong continued performance from Luongo will be enough to sway the necessary voters come June.

- To Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth: get-well soon cards. The league is a better place with players of their quality.

- To Mike Weaver: Some toys for his new son. He's been a solid team player thus far for the Canucks, effective in his role and capable of stepping up to fill in defensive holes in the roster.

- To Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins players: some toques. They'll need them.

- To Colin Campbell: a clue. The NHL's discipline czar uttered some great lines to Toronto Star writer Randy Starkman on the legitimacy of concussions in hockey. "Some are legitimate," said Campbell. "I think some you might find aren't legitimate. ... I think there's a small percentage, not a great percentage, of players who use it as an excuse, `Oh yeah, I've got a concussion.' They can milk it. It's a hard thing to really say that you haven't, you know, if you're trying to get some extra insurance money out of it to get paid an extra year or something." I think Campbell is out of his mind here, especially given the hockey culture of not reporting injuries and returning far too soon. As Keith Primeau, who was knocked out of the game by concussions, said in Part Two of Starkman's series, hockey players aren't going to take themselves out of a crucial game due to concussion symptoms. "They're not going to do it," Primeau said. "Guys aren't going to think long-term. We never do." It's a little worrying to hear that the head of NHL discipline thinks players are faking concussions. I'll have more on this in a later post or column. By the way, kudos again to James for highlighting these articles in an insightful post.

- To Starkman himself: sincere commendations for the work he did on his features on concussions in hockey. Concussions in sport are a tough, often touchy topic to address, as I found out earlier this year when writing my original piece on them. Players and coaches are frequently reluctant to give out too much information on concussions for fear that it might be used against them by opponents. Yet, it can be rewarding: there's a deep issue here, as concussions bring up the tension between the manly image of playing through pain and the concern about what's best for an athlete long-term. They make us ask the question of "at what price do we value sporting triumphs?" Starkman did a fantastic job on this article, and deserves a hearty round of applause. Hopefully, more work will be done on concussions in different sports in the future: I still think that this is perhaps the most important, if rarely talked about, issue facing sports today.

- To all NHLPA members: reading lamps for them to enjoy their new gifts from Chris Chelios and Eric Lindros, Susan Foster's The Power Of Two. This fantastic book, on the work that Foster and ex-NHL star Carl Brewer did to expose Alan Eagleson's shameful activities as head of the Players' Association, should be required reading for every hockey player, particularly in light of the recent troubles the PA underwent with Ted Saskin. Kudos to Chelios and Lindros for springing for these. I'll also send the PA members Russ Conway's great book Cracking the Ice, based on the investigative articles he wrote for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, to give a journalist's perspective on Eagleson's downfall. Both books are terrific, and should be read by anyone interested in the history of hockey.


Soccer

- To Jonny Evans: a good lawyer. He'll certainly need one.

- To Manchester United: Blinders to ignore the fallout from the Evans case. Regardless of how this turns out, it's going to be a public black eye and a distraction for the club at a very inopportune time. Hopefully, they'll be able to keep their focus on the pitch.

- To Luca Toni and Franck Ribery: some choice German sausages, beer, and Black Forest cake to make them feel at home at Bayern Munich despite Oliver Kahn's recent comments. I'm pretty sure Toni at least feels somewhat comfortable, judging by his recent four-goal performance against Aris.

- To the Vancouver city council: a desperately needed kick in the pants to get going on the new soccer stadium. Unlike every other arena deal in recent history, Greg Kerfoot is proposing this one with very little cost to taxpayers at any level. Council should stop moaning and listening to the constant grumblers, and get on board with this before Kerfoot realizes just how much better his offer is than any proposed by a sports franchise in any other city. It's a wonder that this man puts up with this city.

- To Toronto F.C.: a playoff berth next year, and an injury-prevention device. They made some great strides this year, and could have done much better if not crippled by a string of bad luck. Hopefully the support will stay strong in Year Two and the on-field success will follow.

- To the UBC Thunderbirds and the Cape Breton Capers: a belated bottle of champagne for their CIS championship wins.

- To the men and women of the Queen's Golden Gaels soccer teams: a round of drinks in celebration of a successful season, and best wishes for next year's campaigns.

- To George Gillett: success in his new stadium endeavour for Liverpool. He comes across as a guy who genuinely cares about his franchises, and the tremendous level of access he gave to the Globe and Mail's Stephen Brunt recently certainly speaks well for him.

- To the aforementioned Mr. Brunt: congratulations for a solid year's worth of work. He's written many terrific soccer columns this year, including the aforementioned one on Gillett and Liverpool and his earlier call for replacement of the Canadian Soccer Association around the Black Wednesday protest. It's great to see a columnist of such stature not only talking about soccer, but writing insightful pieces on it. He's also written some other great columns this year, including those on the imminent invasion of the NFL, Bret Hart
, and the backroom maneuverings between the NHL and NHLPA. Keep up the good work.

- To another great Globe columnist, Ben Knight: kudos for a fantastic first few months in his new digs at the Globe on Soccer blog. He consistently provides great insight into and fascinating takes on the beautiful game.


Other Sports

- To the New York Giants: superhuman strength to knock off the insufferable Patriots against all odds (and not the steroid variety: it's not worth becoming cheaters to beat cheaters).
- To Madison Square Garden head honcho Jimmy Dolan: a hint that it might be time to Fire Isiah?
- To those named in the Mitchell Report: a old-fashioned Bronx cheer

Thursday roundup of the sporting world

Lots of news going on at the moment: here's the highlights.

Hockey

Flapping in the breeze

The Dallas Stars apparently think Roberto Luongo's equipment is controversial. According to Grant Kerr of the Globe and Mail, Marty Turco and Mike Smith both took to the practice ice this morning wearing exaggerated cardboard flaps to question the flaps on Luongo's pads that supposedly extend wider than the maximum width permitted by the league. This surprised me a bit, as Luongo isn't one of the goalies regularly mentioned in the same paragraph as bulky equipment, unlike a certain Stanley Cup-winning netminder. It will be interesting to see if anyone at league HQ takes notice.

Related: Alanah's take on the issue.


Simon's attempt to save himself

According to a Roy MacGregor piece in today's Globe, Chris Simon is planning to appeal his 30-game suspension.
"I don't think it was fair," Simon told MacGregor. "I'm not a complainer. I've never complained before. I took my suspensions and moved on. But I don't think this one was fair." He went on to say that the act was unintentional.
"I wasn't trying to injure him," Simon said. "I tripped him and I was telling him to [expletive], and I did step on his foot. I pushed down on his skate, I don't deny that, but I wasn't trying to hurt him. I don't think a player has ever missed a game from one of my suspensions."
Simon brings up an interesting point here: is it the intent, the action itself, or the results that should be considered? For example, is Simon's act worthy of a longer suspension than Todd Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore because the intent and the action itself were worse, even though the results were nowhere near as bad? I think the NHL got this one about right, particularly given Simon's long history of suspensions: however, it is interesting to note that the legal system takes the opposite approach (for example, Simon and Jesse Boulerice aren't too likely to get in legal trouble over their suspendable activities as they didn't cause severe damage to anyone, whereas Bertuzzi and Marty McSorley did). The other possibility to consider is that the league recognizes it was too lenient in the McSorley/Bertuzzi days and would apply an even stricter penalty for such an incident today.

Related:
- Takes from James Mirtle, Eric Duhatschek, James Duthie, and The Puck Stops Here.
- The National Post has a story quoting Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, as saying that Colin Campbell perpetuated a stereotype about First Nations people with his comments on Simon's suspension. Fontaine is demanding an apology.

The Moore-Bertuzzi saga continues to spiral...

Many people are all in a flutter about the latest testimony to come out of the Bertuzzi trial. It's nicely summarized in James Christie's Globe story here.
Basically, whether you believe Bertuzzi saying that Crawford told the team to get Moore during the intermission or Dave Nonis who said the conversation occured earlier in the day, it's pretty clear that the Canucks were out to get Moore. However, this isn't all that shocking, given the hit he laid on Naslund: retribution has been part of the hockey code for eons. As Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province points out, the case "isn't as cut and dried as Danson (Moore's lawyer) would lead you to believe." Willes adds that the evidence that has been introduced so far would lead to massive outrage and a summary conviction in any other arena, but in sports, it's tough to define what is and what isn't accepted: Bertuzzi's actions were certainly beyond the pale (which he was found criminally responsible for and served his sentence), but calling for someone to "pay the price" is a normal part of hockey and doesn't mean to go break his neck. As Willes writes, "The end result, of course, was terrible. But you can watch any hockey game and see something similar, or a lot worse, take place. There was Chris Simon's attack on Ryan Hollweg; Marty McSorley's attack on Donald Brashear; Steve Downie's hit on Dean McAmmond; Jesse Boulerice's cross-check to the face of Ryan Kesler. We could go on, but you get the picture. What Bertuzzi did was dangerous and mindless, but within the context of the game it wasn't that unusual. Maybe it's not the most admirable defence, but it's an effective one."

Related:
- Christie Blatchford at the Globe has a well-written piece along the same lines as Willes' column
- The take over at Orland Kurtenblog.
- The related court transcript from the Toronto Star: thanks to Zanstrom for the link

Other hockey links:

- James Mirtle on the Canadian franchises' contribution to NHL revenues
- Tom Benjamin on how league parity isn't such a good thing (including the following hilarious lines: "Is more parity really good for the hockey fan and good for the NHL coffers? Bettman thinks so, but he's incompetent and the incompetent are seldom right.")
- George Johnson has a great story in today's National Post about the Flames' recent 6 for 6 road trip (including memorable lines such as "Six out of six? C'mon. It's still hard to get the old head around the idea, much less the reality. Timothy Leary on his best trip couldn't come up with something that far out.")
- Neil Stevens of Canadian Press on the IIHF inducting three women (Angela James, Geraldine Heaney, and Cammi Granato) into their Hall of Fame
- The Edmonton Journal's David Staples on how the NHL should href="http://communities.canada.com/edmontonjournal/blogs/hockey/archive/2007/12/19/are-nhl-players-on-steroids-and-other-powerful-performance-enhancing-drugs.aspx">strengthen its drug policy
- Alanah on Stephen Harper's promos for the World Juniors on TSN



Soccer

Edu seeking bigger pastures?
According to a National Post story by Mark Masters, Toronto FC's rookie sensation Maurice Edu may soon be heading to the English Premier League. Manager Mo Johnston was quoted as saying, "There's a couple teams who have contacted us. You'll have interest any time you have a great young talent." British papers have Aston Villa (who saw him first-hand during their summer exhibition against TFC) making a strong play for Edu. It would be a shame to see him go, as he impressed me quite a bit in his debut season, but he's certainly very talented and would fit in well with the core of strong young players at Villa. Hopefully Mo will get enough cash to buy a capable replacement if he leaves.

Jonny Evans arrested
The Associated Press reports that Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has been arrested and released on bail in connection with a rape case, which allegedly took place at the club's Christmas party. Whether this particular allegation is true or not, it certainly gives the club a black eye in the public relations realm. Evans is only a fringe player, but he's one of the up-and-coming talents at the club, and has seen some first-team duty this year (including last week's meaningless Champions League match against Roma). It's definitely not the first or last time that athletes have been accused of rape: see Stephon Marbury, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Duke lacrosse team. Even in the case of those later proved innocent, such as the Duke players, questions need to be raised about the situation they put themselves into. I'm not advocating for all athletes to be upstanding moral citizens, but they need to at least try to be discreet and somewhat careful about their carousing so it doesn't hurt their own image and that of their club. The paparazzi make too much of many of these cases, but that doesn't mean that there is no problem.
Related: Football Corner's post on the story.


United going after Larsson again?
Still on the Manchester United front, Football Corner has them linked with another move to re-acquire Swedish star Henrik Larsson on a short-term loan. Larsson did very well in his short stint with United last year, and I think he'd be a great fit as a depth striker, particularly as fixture congestion tends to become an issue in the New Year. He's very capable of scoring off the bench, much in the way Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used to do, and he's familiar with the United team. On United's side, it's an obvious move, as they tried to get him to stay last year. The only question is if he can be persuaded to leave Sweden again.
Related: Richard Starnes has more on this proposed move.


Nick Dasovic becomes men's Olympic coach

The Canadian Press reports that Nick Dasovic has been named to coach the Canadian Olympic (U-23) men's soccer team. Dasovic had a great playing career with the full national team and several clubs including Croatian side Dynamo Zagreb and the Vancouver Whitecaps, where he served as a player-coach. He has recently been Dale Mitchell's assistant with the full national team.

Dasovic is a good choice in my books: I saw him play several times with the Whitecaps, and was impressed not only with his on-field play but with his direction of those around them. The Olympic side is important, as it's an area where we have a greater chance of success than we do with the full national team: players must be under 23, except for three over-agers per country, which allows some non-traditional football powers to excel (2004 saw Paraguay finish second and Iraq come in fourth). It also plays a key role in developing young players for the full national team. Dasovic should have the right blend of playing and coaching experience to succeed in this role. Kudos to the Canadian Soccer Association for getting one right.

Bayern advances with rout

Bayern Munich pulled off a stunning 6-0 defeat of Greek side Aris to advance to the next round of the UEFA Cup. Luca Toni recorded four goals, while Philipp Lahm and Christian Lell added the others. I bet the four-goal performance probably felt pretty good for Toni, after the recent criticisms of him by teammate (and captain) Oliver Kahn. Also, Lahm, who has recently been linked with a move to Manchester United, continued to impress with his offensive ability from the wingback slot.

Other soccer links of note:

Ben Knight on The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, which he calls "the best soccer book of the past decade – flat-out adored by every fan and writer I know who’s ever read it?"


Other fun sporting links:
- Matthew Sekeres of the Globe has a nice post on the From Deep basketball blog about the Raptors' game in Portland
- The Globe's Michael Grange has to write a post about the Trailblazers on an ESPN blog, due to losing a bet
- A great Sports Illustrated story by L. Jon Wertheim on Paul Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers
- Apparently Terrell Owens doesn't actually have a problem with Jessica Simpson watching Cowboys games
(includes the great TO quote "If I don't get the ball this week, then I am going to have to go to Hollywood and bake some cakes or something and find me a Hollywood star or something.").
- Jonathan Papelbon's dog ate his World Series ball
- Some more names using steroids come out of Jason Grimsley's affidavit

Kahn!

Oliver Kahn is one of the all-time great goalkeepers, and also one of my favorite players, but he's gone too far this time. Kahn was recently suspended for a game and fined 25,000 euros for "disciplinary reasons" by Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld. The club didn't explicitly say why Kahn received such punishment, but according to the ESPN Soccernet article linked above, it's likely related to the recent criticisms he made of Bayern's new signings in kicker magazine, one of the leading German soccer publications.

"The new players need to get used to our high expectations." Kahn told the magazine. "It is not good enough to make a bright start. One or two (players) have got to work out that two or three good games are not enough. Bayern is not Marseille or Fiorentina; we are like Real, Man United, Barca or Milan. It is hard to get a team together because we always need three interpreters. There is no pleasure in our game anymore, and every player has got to ask themselves why."
a
Kahn is wrong here on several counts. Firstly, he singles out Franck Ribery and Luca Toni (Marseille and Fiorentina are their old clubs) for special criticism. Anyone who has watched a Bayern match this year will tell you that Ribery and Toni have consistently been two of their best players: Ribery has brought a brilliant new creativity to their midfield, while Toni has formed one of the most lethal strike partnerships in all of Europe with Miroslav Klose. Sure, language barriers can make team comraderie difficult, but Bayern gains far more from the inclusion of Ribery and Toni than they would from having a linguistically homogeneous team. It's a reality of high-level soccer now that players come from all cultural and linguistic backgrounds: this diversity hasn't held back clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Barcelona, so I don't see why it's suddenly a problem for Bayern. A footballer should be judged by his performance on the pitch alone, not his racial, cultural, or linguistic background.

Secondly, Kahn went about his criticisms the wrong way. If he has a problem with his teammates, he should talk to them about it first, and then if it remains unresolved, he should go to the manager. As the captain, he does bear some responsibility for how the team is playing, so if he feels Ribery and Toni aren't performing as well as they could, he should go to them directly or call them out in the locker room. As a member of the press myself, it sounds odd to say this, but the media is not the place to resolve a conflict within an organization, although it makes for great ccopy (just look at the trouble the Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten themselves into with Richard Peddie's comments about hiring the wrong general manger). Teams' dirty laundry should remain in the locker room, not be aired out in front of the fourth estate. As a long-serving captain at both club and national level, Kahn should be well aware of this by now.

Thirdly, the captaincy itself is a problem. Can Kahn's teammates have any trust in him as a leader after he's shown his willingness to throw them from the train? Moreover, can his manager count on him any more? This situation looks especially bad, as Kahn is not only Bayern's captain, but a national hero and the face of the franchise. For hockey fans, this would be the equivalent of the Canucks suspending Markus Naslund or the Leafs benching Mats Sundin: can you imagine the furor that would arise? I think Hitzfeld made the right decision here, as someone had to show Kahn that this type of backstabbing wouldn't be tolerated, but the negative side effect is that his response has made this into a global story, as opposed to a few comments in a German-language magazine. It's focused a lot of negative attention on both Kahn and the club, which doesn't bode well for the future. Hitzfeld may even be forced to remove Kahn from the captaincy, which would be tragic, but perhaps necessary to ensure team unity.

The most unusual part of this scenario is that Bayern have actually performed well to date. A disappointing fourth-place finish last season left them out of the Champions League and without even a cup title to their name, but they reloaded and restocked, bringing in new talent like Ribery and Toni. In fact, they spent nearly $94 million US on new signings, more than the majority of clubs in much bigger leagues than the Bundesliga. This catapulted them to fifth in the world in Sports Illustrated's pre-season power rankings, ahead of such giants as Manchester United, Inter Milan, and Liverpool. So far, they haven't disappointed: they lead the Bundesliga by two points over Werder Bremen, and they're tied for second in Group F of the UEFA Cup, sitting only one point back of leaders Bolton (who have also played an extra game). Sounds like anything but a crisis to me, which makes Kahn's actions all the more unusual. He's really hurt his team here, not only by breeding an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust but also by forcing them to do without his goalkeeping services for Saturday's clash against Hertha Berlin. Soccer is at its very essence a team game, and Kahn would do well to remember that. For the moment, Bayern fans can emphasize with James T. Kirk and his angry cry of "Kahn!"

Links of the Day: A round-up of the best of the interweb

Soccer:
- Richard Starnes on Stephen Ireland's latest antics
- Bobby McMahon's latest Speakers' Corner responses: he likes Capello for England and has some great views on how fans should learn a club's history
- L.A. Galaxy manager Ruud Gullit and AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf have some reservations about the Capello for England movement
- Burglaries aren't limited to American football players: some thugs broke into Steven Gerrard's home last night, following with the Liverpool trend (Pepe Reina, Peter Crouch, Dirk Kuyt and many more have all been burglarized recently)
- The New York Times' Jeffrey Marcus on the recent soccer violence in Mexico

Hockey:
- Zanstrom previews tonight's Canucks-Ducks matchup
- The Vancouver Province's Gord McIntyre's take on Roberto Luongo's injury and the end of Brendan Morrison's ironman streak
- The Province's Ed Willes on the lack of offensive play in the NHL
- Alanah on the Canucks' current injury woes and Mason Raymond's rise to stardom
- James Duthie on the lack of trades in the NHL
- James Mirtle on how bloggers and mainstream media don't need to hate each other.
- David Staples of the Edmonton Journal has an interesting blog post about Shawn Horcoff, trading Joffrey Lupul not necessarily being so bad, and giving Kevin Lowe the benefit of the doubt (can't say I agree with him, but he makes a good case)
- Varius clears through all the muck surrounding the Ducks' tagging room

Basketball:
- Neate Sager has a nice piece on Raptors' guard T.J. Ford's injury last night
- The Globe's Michael Grange on how bad this injury could be and what it could mean for Ford's career, especially given his spinal cord problems
- The Canadian Press reports that Ford's 'doing better' and should be back in T.O. today
- The Times' Howard Beck on Isiah Thomas' latest confrontation with fans

Baseball:
- Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci on why former Montreal Expo Tim Raines deserves to make the Baseball Hall of Fame
- The Associated Press on the looming release of the Mitchell Report
- The Globe's Jeff Blair on the Paul Lo Duca saga
- ESPN's Keith Law on the recent controversy over his non-admission to the BBWAA (check out Neate's post here for the original details)