Wishes for the NHL's Western Conference Canadian Teams

As it is a new year and thought to myself what would the Canadian teams in the Western Conference wish for in the year 2012.

Calgary Flames would wish that Jerome Iginla played the preseason like it was October and November were only again fell way below the point a game mark that he needs to be at help make the Flames a success as he had 12 points in 23 games which is 0.521 points a game and the Flames were 10-12-1 in 23 games. In December he has 18 points in 16 games which is 1.125 points a game and the Flames are 8-4-4 in those 16 games and his performances in past years indicate that it will continue into the new year so he will still get like 70 points in the season but because he has no really great supporting cast the Flames will struggle to try and get into to the playoffs so getting something useful for him before it is too late so they can be stronger in the future would be another good wish.

Vancouver Canucks would like Roberto Luongo to play like he has been playing after December where he is 9-1-1 in his last 11 games in April through June when it really counts instead of the 7-6-1 that he was at the beginning til after the December 1st game that he usually plays like in April through June where everybody wonders if he can handle the pressure really not know which Luongo is going to show up night to night. the beginning of the season until after the December 1st game he had a save% of .892 and after the December 1st game it is .940 with two shutouts.

Edmonton Oilers need more support for their first line as the JORDAN EBERLE-RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS-RYAN SMYTH line has accounted for 43 of the teams 100 goals this season (43%) and after Eberle's 39 points, Hopkins's 35 points, and Smyth's 30 points it drops to 24 points for Taylor Hall who has not played 8 of the teams 37 games and then it just keeps dropping from there. So the Oilers need to make like a deal like the Ottawa Senators did for KYLE TURRIS from Phoenix or the Leafs trading Francois Beauchemin to Anaheim Ducks for Joffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner, and a draft pick which the Leafs would in deep deep trouble without the deal and the Senators got a player with a lot of upside for very little.

Happy New Years everybody

Tom Mehegan

Undertaker Vs. Brock Lesnar and Stone Cold Vs. CM Punk @ WrestleMania 29

Brock Lesnar retired from the UFC last night after being knocked out by TKO by Alistair Overeem which made Dana White almost sick and did not want to talk after the main event most likely because it has cost the UFC millions of dollars as he probably had high hopes for Lesnar in the future as he had more matches left on his contract.

So that brings us back to UFC 121 where Cain beat Brock and after the match where Ariel Helwani interviewed Undertaker and then Brock came over and got in the Undertaker's face and Undertaker said that they had an issue and it comes around days before the Undertaker returns 1/2/12. Undertaker and Brock will fight at either WrestleMania 28 or 29 as it looked like they were setting something jump for WrestleMania 27 but Dana White did not want to allow the match but now that he is retired that he will do an one off return to the WWE and it could happen for WrestleMania 28 in Miami but it is more likely that it will happen in Undertaker's backyard @ Cowboy Stadium. So @ WrestleMania 29 there will be over a 100 thousand fans and it will be a huge build to the match and would bring in the PPV buys and the build will be great because Undertaker knows how to talk and do a promo while Brock can talk but his best friend Paul Heyman can do amazing promos and will come back with Brock and it will be good build.

So Brock will be doing one final match @ WrestleMania 29 and will basically get the Undertaker/the Rock treatment meaning that he will do only TV and it will be the build to the Undertaker and Brock match and after WrestleMania he will be gone again. WrestleMania 29 will be a huge event because it also sounds like that Stone Cold Steve Austin will be coming back for WrestleMania 29 and will likely be facing CM Punk with great promos by both and it would be a good match and Austin is a Texas Native will bring in a lot of local interest along with Austin is the face of the attitude era.

So WrestleMania 29 in Dallas will be the biggest wrestling event in history

Tom Mehegan

NHL wishes for the Canadian teams in the Eastern Conference

As it is a brand new year in hours I thought what would be a wish that the Canadian teams in the NHL would want for 2012:

Toronto Maple Leafs: The one thing the Leafs would like to fix is the specialty teams especially the penalty kill as they are the only teams kill off 3 of every 4 penalty kills they face as they give up a goal 27.5% (effectiveness on the KP 72.5) of the time and even the Columbus Blue Jackets are less than 25 allowing opponents to score on the power play at 24.8(75.2). So what they need a defenseman who can clear the traffic in front of the net like a Zdeno Chara who could make it easier on the goalies to make the key saves. Also they could go out and get whoever is in charge of the New Jersey Devils penalty kill because they are at the top of the league in penalty kills.

Winnipeg Jets: The Jets would wish to find away to put 3,000 more seats in the arena so to be able to lower the ticket prices because I do not know if the city of Winnipeg and province of Manitoba can handle the second highest prices in the NHL in the long hall and they would also like to play all their games at the MTS Center as they are 13-6-1 @ home this season.

Montreal Canadiens: The Canadiens would like to get a time machine to go back in time and not trading for Scott Gomez so they could get a scoring power forward because the Canadiens' lead scorer is Erik Cole who has 15 goals and Tomas Plekanec who has 29 points in 38 games this season. So they could go out and get like Jerome Iginla or Rick Nash who can better support the cast in Montreal so the Canadiens get more than 4 points for a guy who is making 7.5 million dollars and they hopefully would score more than 97 goals in 38 games.

Ottawa Senators: The Senators who are 18-15-5 and are tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference but has given up more goals than anyone else with 131 in 38 goals so they would like a stronger defenseman to clear the puck out of the zone and to make it easier for Craig Anderson to make the game changing saves to help the Senators win more games in 2012.

Happy New Years

Tom Mehegan

Tebow Vs Orton and the ghost of Al Davis Vs Phillip Rivers for the AFC West

Tebow Vs Orton back in the Mile High Stadium

Tim Tebow is back home and playing the AFC West as he has just played the last two games Vs the AFC East as he faced the Patriots @ home and the Bills in Buffalo and the magical Tebow touch has been not so magical with Tebow throwing four interception Vs Buffalo and no comeback Vs the Pats. So now he faces the guy who he replaced coming back to where he had been booed by his home fans and he has had 300 yards in both of his starts as a KC Chiefs with a win over the Packers where he completed 3 of every 4 pass and then throw two interceptions in a loss to the Oakland Raiders and he will be trying to move the second worst scoring team down the field to score as they have average less than 2 touchdown and the 25th passing offense with less than 200 yards a game but does have 119 rushing yards a game. He is going up against a defense that gives up 127 a game on the ground and 235 through the air so the Chiefs will need a good game from three head running game of Jackie Battle, Thomas Jones, and Dexter McCluster while Orton moves the sticks. The Broncos offense run through their running game lead by the combo of Willis McGahee and Tim Tebow who have run for 1718 yards this seasons while Tebow has thrown for 1669 yards this season with 12 touchdowns to 5 interceptions (4 last week). It will be up to the Broncos defense to keep the game low scoring going into the fourth quarter so that Tebows can spread his fourth quarter magic and I think that Tebow will be up for late game heroics in the biggest Broncos' game in a number of seasons.

The ghost of Al Davis Vs Phillip Rivers

So if the Broncos lose than the Oakland Raiders with their lost of their legendary owner Al Davis earlier this season will try to make the playoffs behind Carson Palmer who was brought because Jason Campbell had a season ending injury in game 6 of the season and were on a roll when he went down but since then they have been struggling mightily since then. So Carson Palmer who has average 277 yards passing in his 8 starts but has thrown 12 interception and 11 Touchdowns in his starts and he will be going up against Phillip Rivers has thrown for 4314 yards and 287.5/a game and has 24 Touchdowns and 19 interceptions. On the ground Michael Bush will try and help take the pressure off Palmer against the Chargers run defense that give up 123.5 yards a game on the defense and the Chargers Ryan Mathews will try and gain yards on the ground against the Raiders rush defense that has given up 135 yards on the ground.

I believe that the Chargers will win this game as it will be the last game that Norv Turner will coach the Chargers and Phillip Rivers will put up yards through the air and has a good 24 TDs on the seasons and the only way that the Raiders win the game is if Phillips has a multi-interception game.

Lets see who will win the AFC West

Tom Mehegan

Battle for the NFC East - Dallas Cowboys Vs New York Giants

The battle for the NFC East happening Sunday Night Football in the final regular season game of the 2011 season will not only decided who is going to host a NFC playoff game but who will be playing in the playoffs and who will be sitting at home wondering what if. Also it will decide which head coach will keep his job and who will be handed a pink slip on Monday morning or close there after because Jerry Jones a couple weeks a go gave Jason Garrett the vote of confidence of death while Tom Coughlin has been riding the borrowed time that winning Superbowl XLII almost four years ago and on a number of times it has looked like he had lost the team on a number times. Including last season when the Eagles in week 15 scored 28 unanswered points in the last 7 and a half minutes of the game including DeSean Jackson scored on the last play of the game a 65 yard punt return where the special teams missed assignments which cost the Giants the division. Then at the end of the 2009 regular season in their final game at Giants Stadium they mailed it in losing 45-9 to the Carolina Panthers and then the next week in their final regular season game of 2009 they got their doors blown off again this time by the Minnesota Vikings.

So this Sunday night the 8 and 7 teams will be fighting to face either the Atlanta Falcons or the Detroit Lions and the Giants have sucked at home going 3 and 4 this season but did beat the Cowboys 37-34 with Eli Manning throwing for over 400 yards and Hakeem Nicks had 163 receiving yards. While the Cowboys have been the team that has been taken huge leads this season and blowing them most noticeably in Dallas against the Lions when the Lions climbed back from a 24 point deficit including two interceptions thrown by Tony Romo returned for TDs and then laying two eggs against the less than dream team Eagles and another loss in front of their fans in Arizona this season. The Giants have been a up and down team this season losing both games against the Redskins and then they also went into New England and broke the Pats winning streak at home which goes back like three or four seasons and staying close to the Packers and then have a loss to the Eagles.

So this game is going to come down to Eli Manning and if he will have time to step back and find Nicks or Victor Cruz before he gets smashed by DeMarcus Ware who has been a monster this season with 18 sacks so he will need to be doubled but that may leave another of their pass rushers an open line to Manning. Also will Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs will be able to run the ball effectively to counteract the pass rush against the 14th best defense including given up 98.6 yards on the ground with the 7th rush defense and 238.3 yards through the air as the 23 best pass defense.

When the Cowboys are on offense it will be if Tony Romo can get the ball down the field to Dez Bryant, Laurent Robinson, and Miles Austin or if he can dump the ball off to Jason Witten before Jason Pierre-Paul gets to him just like the game in Dallas where he had 8 tackles and 2 sacks so will be a handful for the Cowboy linemen and DeMarco Murray can have a game like his first two games it would Romo. Romo will be up against the 28 ranked defense who gave up 255.4 through the air and 26 TDs which will allow Romo to put up yards through the air if he gets time to throw but if he is not carefully the Giants defense had 19 interceptions this seasons and the Giants also gave up 126.1 yards on the ground.

So I think it is more likely that Romo and the Cowboys will find away to win this game because the Giants can fall apart in big games and almost not show up prepared but then sometimes the Giants can surprise people and win games when it looks bleak so lets say that its up to the big monster defensive ends to decide the game so if Jason Pierre-Paul has a bigger game then the giants will win and if DeMarcus Ware has the bigger day Cowboys will be heading to the playoffs.

Will see Sunday night

Tom Mehegan

NFL's hardest luck fans

NFL'S HARDEST LUCK FANS

1. Minnesota Vikings have let their fans down time after time and have broken their fans' hearts over and over again and and again when they have gotten to the Superbowl they lose year after year as they lost 5 Superbowls in nine seasons including 4 in 5 seasons and the only season that they did not play in the Superbowl brought the phrase "Hail Mary" to the NFL when Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach through a long pass to Drew Pearson for a touchdown in a 17-14 loss. Then in the 1987 strike season the Vikings regulars went 8 and 4 but because the replacement players had started 0 and 3 so the Vikings had to go on the road for the whole playoffs and beat the 12 and 3 Saints 44-10 and the 13-2 Niners 36-24 before going to Washington and came 6 yards short from tying the game but instead lost 17-10 and Washington went on to smoke the hard luck Denver Broncos. Then the Vikings go out and try to put together and Superbowl winner and felt that all they were missing was a running back so on October 12, 1989 they traded what would turn into the leading rusher in NFL history Emmitt Smith and four time all pro safety Darren Woodson for Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys and the Cowboys used the two players to help them ride into three Superbowls and won all three of them. Then under Dennis Green the Vikings make the playoffs 8 of his 10 seasons and made two NFC championship games and the must disheartening was the 1998 season with rookie Wide Receiver Randy Moss went through the NFL like a hot knife through butter and headed into the playoffs 15-1 and nobody could match them offensively. When they got to the NFC championship game against the Atlanta Falcons and were tied at 27 and Gary Anderson who had just completed the first perfect regular season missed a 38 yard field goal as time expired and the Falcons won the game in overtime to head to the Superbowl to setup the most bizarre Superbowl Innocent before the Falcons got crushed by the Denver Broncos. In the late 2000's the Vikings thought again that they had put together another Superbowl contender with Adrian Peterson and in 2007 they won 5 straight games to put themselves @ 8-6 but only the Vikings lose the final two games and miss the playoffs and then they got in 2009 Brett Farve after losing to the Eagles after winning the division. The fans had high hopes and they went 12 and 4 and had the second seed in the NFL and crushed the Cowboys 34-3 but then against the Saints were they almost doubled them in yardage but two Farve interceptions in the last two minutes of regularization to send it to overtime where the Saints kicked the game winning field goal. Then the next season they had high hopes again but the roof literary fell in on them. Then this past Saturday they put coil in their fans' stockings and beat the Redskins after Adrian Peterson and their starting quarterback left the game with injuries and the Vikings won the game eliminating them from the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes after they had put themselves in the backseat and gave themselves a very good chance for Luck if the Colts had beat the Jags in week 17.

Honorable mentions

The Buffalo Bills who lost four Superbowls in a row between 1991-94 along with the Music City Miracle in their last playoffs appearance and the Titans went on to get a yard away from winning the Superbowl in 2000 but since then they have not been able to make the playoffs and falling short late in the season or just not being bad enough to pickup a No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

The Detroit Lions who had one of the best running backs in NFL history Barry Sanders and just could not get it put together and would have a tough beginning to their seasons and come on strong at the end to just miss the playoffs or fissile out early in the playoffs. Then U look and it has been since 1957 that they have won a championship and has only have been to one conference championship game since which happened in 1992 when they got humiliated by the Redskins. Then there are the 2008 and 2009 seasons which were two of the worst seasons in NFL history including the first team to lose every game in a 16 game regular season after going 4 and 0 in the preseason and the next season they went 2 and 14 and did not win a road in over 26 games.

Cleveland Browns simply because when the original Browns got good they moved to Baltimore and have not had any really success since coming back in 1999 and the memorable moments in Browns history are the drive and the fumble both against the Denver Broncos in 1986 and 87 playoffs and most famous player in club history is Jim Brown in the '50 and '60

Sucks to be a fan somtimes

Tom Mehegan

Final Battle 2011 - Steen is back, Richards still champ, the Briscos seven time champ, and WWE diva Maria makes appearance

The main event of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards was simply amazing with Richards superplexing Edwards off the top rope which Edwards followed up with a superplex over the top rope and both went over the top rope and they both made it back 19 and then they went to the corner and went back and forth with Edwards in controlled with kicks and Richards turned it around and karate chopped Edwards who then turned it around for some more kicks. Then they were in the middle of the ring with Richards holding down Edwards' head and kicking him and then Edwards chopped Richards and then they went superplex for superplex which brought out the house of truth to battle with Richards' corner and Dan Savern took apart the house of truth and ended up beating up Martini and all this gave the wrestlers a breather. Later Richards throws everything at Edwards and Edwards kicked out every time until Edwards could not kick out and Richards keeps the title and after the match Richards took the mic and thanked all the fans and thanked Edwards and thought that he was a great wrestler at which point Kevin Steen came out on the ramp and said that what Richards had just said was a piece of garbage and that he was coming for the title and when he won it he would hold ROH hostage and Richards was held back by security and that is how the show ended.

Just before ROH's intermission they had the Kevin Steen Vs Steve Corino with Jimmy Jacobs as special referee with Jim Cornete ringside and after Carino did everything he could to finish off Steen and keep him out of ring of honor for good but when Steen constantly kicked out at the count of two it was time for Jacobs and Corino argued over the count. Kevin Steen got the advantage with the argument and got the pin and won the opportunity to wrestle in Ring of Honor once again and Jacobs was not wanting to count three but finally against his better judgement he counted the three and the crowd chanted welcome back. After the match Steen said he had three thing checklist for tonight and the first was beating Corino and being reinstated in ROH and the second was and he attacked Jacobs and power bombed him and out and Steen went over to Cornette and put up three figures meaning that Cornette was next and chased him around the ring and before he could get his hands on Cornette El Generico came into the ring and ended up with Steen on the top for a brainbuster but Steen tossed him over the rope and tombstone piledriver onto a chair. This created a mess and the parametric were called to ringside and El Generico was sent to the hospital.

In the first half of the evening Michael Elgin had his troubles with TJ Perkins but in the end Elgin started the night with a win and then Tommaso Ciampa with Prince Nana and The Embassy in his corner took on Jimmy Rave who was returning from wrestling in India and he was in charge of the match Nana showed him the robe Rave had worn as a part of the Embassy and at that time Princess Mia attacked Rave which opened the door for Tommaso to win the match and he did. Another surprise was in the next match where Mike Bennett brought his quote on quote girlfriend former WWE Diva and playboy playmate Maria and Mike took on both El Generico and Jay Lethal for the TV title where Bennett beat Generico and seconds later Lethal beat Bennett to retain his title.

To start the second half they had the Tag Team Gauntlet match that started with the Bravados Vs Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander with Coleman and Alexander winning and taken on Future Shock and Future Shock won and took on the Young Bucks who took apart Future Shock which meant the final match was between The All Night Express and the Young Bucks and the Young Bucks won on a referee stoppage so that they will receive a title match in 2012.

Then it was the time for the Roderick Strong Invitational Challenge so Strong and his adviser Truth Martini came to the ring and Strong was disappointed that there was nobody taking the challenge so he wanted to be declared the winner of the match so the bell was rung and Martini started to count to 10 with comments in-between numbers but before he said ten the music hit and Chris Hero came out to a Hero's welcome. Martini and Strong were frustrated and argued around the ring and when the match started Hero took control and it was not until Martini used the book of truth to Hero to get his wrestler Strong back on track and they went back and forth in the match until the finish when Martini jumped into the ring to break up a three count and Hero ran around outside of the ring and then Martini ran into the ring and Strong went after Hero but missed and Strong almost ran into Martini and Hero tried to kick Strong and and he moved out of the way and Strong rolled Hero up for the win.

The Tag titles were in the lead into the main event and the World Greatest Tag Team came into the match as the heels because the Briscoe Brothers were fan favorite and before the match started the World Greatest Tag Team attacked the Briscos and blooded them up and like 10 to 15 minutes later the bell actually rang and the match started with its 45 minute time limit. The match was crazy and it got so bad for the World Greatest Tag Team that Shelton Benjamin was sent to the back and then Paul Turner the ref was knocked out and Benjamin came back and they used a piece of wood but in the end the Briscos got the advantage and the fans were happy with the final result as the Briscos won the titles for the seventh time.

The PPV was a good quality of wrestling with great surprises and the crowd were amazing all night and showed what Ring of Honor is all about but there was a huge mess up on the ippv and that was that during the replays the voice of Kevin Kelly was distorted and it just sounded very strange especially with the actual commentary in the background and this was a disappointment especially with their largest ippv buy rate in ROH history tonight. The Richards/Edwards3 was the match of the night and is the reason that one of these days ROH will definitely have the second highest buy rates next to the WWE and showed the fans like me who was watching an ippv for the first time why ROH has so much street cred in the wrestling business and I give it 4 stars with the audio problem being the only real problem on the night.

So great show ROH great show

Tom Mehegan

NHL need to do something about concussion

The NHL is have a huge problem with players going down with concussion and having major players be taken out of action for long stretches of time just looking at players that are out right now including Sidney Crosby who looks like he may be nowhere near were he was when he left along with Chris Pronger is out for the rest of the season and his career maybe finished. Then there is Jeff Skinner who was rookie of the year last season and one of the biggest surprise about the Ottawa Senators is Milan Michalek and they are out indefinitely with concussion and finally there is Kris Letang actually had a concussion during a game and came back into the game and scored a game winning goal and then was sidelined indefinitely now and then the most recent incident is Colby Armstrong who was able to hide concussion like symptoms and the Leafs found out at the last minute that he had concussion like symptoms and was held out of the game on Monday against the LA Kings.

So the list is growing everyday including Claude Giroux who left the Flyers lineup as the leading point getter in the NHL and then came back and scored four points in last night game against the Stars so the league needs to get their players better protection with more padding in the helmet like the padding that is now inside James Reimer who the Leafs did not want to tell the rest of the league about because they felt that players would take a run at him just like Tootoo did to Ryan Miller. Also they need a specialist in a both above ice level to just watch for players that look like they are not all there and had their bell rung and then make sure that they are taken right away to the quiet room for a concussion test just the NFL is going to start tonight with a specialist in a press box looking for players that need to be checked out.

The NHL need to put newer guidelines for helmets and get a third party to oversee the concussion situation in hope to drop the number of players that go down with a concussion

Tom Mehegan

TSN radio 1050 has a gem in Matt Cause and he should be a bigger part of the morning show

TSN RADIO have found a gem in their company and need to use it properly as they are being destroyed by Sportsnet radio especially after Tim & Sid made their debut a week ago and are No.1 podcast on itunes.

I think Matt Cause is a brilliant guy and knows his stuff as he has filled in for Chris Schultz and was very knowledgeable about the NFL and was fit in very well with Mike Hogan on countdown to football this past Sunday. He has also been doing the weekend afternoon drive and getting funny and knowledgeable people on the air to talk about sports which is a breath of fresh air to sports radio and he also has great chemistry with TSN strong holds in both Dan O'Toole of late night sportscenter and Michael Landsberg of Off The Record which creates great radio.

He has also been producer of the flagship show on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto with the highest paid announcer on TSN Radio in Toronto Mike Richards who show has not been living anywhere close to expectation as his morning show has been far behind the morning show on Sportsnet Radio 590 in the rankings. The problem with Mike Richards in the morning is that he is too serious and is trying to be like Bob McCown who is on Sportsnet Radio 590 on the drive home show Prime Time Sports and he does not go down to meeting areas where the movers and shakers in Toronto meet and pay off the serve staff for what they had hear while serving drinks or food or whatever people leave behind like my sources say about Bob McCown. The reality is that Mike Richards was given a lot of money to comeback to Toronto from Calgary where he had the biggest morning show around and by all accounts it was because he was funny and for some reason he has lost his funny personality and this is where Matt Cause comes into the picture because if Richards and Cause get together to out together the comedy bites maybe they could come up with comedy gems that better the morning show. Also Matt should be in studio with Richards as Richards' sidekick and maybe Matt's craziness maybe offset the seriousness of Richards and the guy Richards has been going to get different stuff from is Claude Feig who is the sports update guy and is as dry as Richards is which simply not a good fit for the show.

Finally they need to go out and get funnier people from around North America who covers sports just like they had a sports talk radio guy from Austin Texas to talk about the Cowboys winning the NFC East and he started by saying that nobody knows about the Dallas Stars and he is across from the game and then said that the Texas Rangers do not look like they are going to do anything in free agency and said that the Eagles were worst chokers than the Toronto Maple Leafs. He also said that Cowboys fans felt like jumping off the top of the new Cowboys Stadium and he was the funniest and most refreshing thing I heard on the TSN morning show and Mike Richards was off today so something needs to change and Mike Richards's cause and effect maybe the remedy to turn around the sluggish morning show and give TSN radio a fighting chance in Toronto.

Let's hope Mike Richards's cause and effect comes soon

Tom Mehegan

Zack Ryder US Broski, Daniel Bryant World champ, and handcuffed CM punk still champ,

Zack Ryder has become the new US Champion

Zack Ryder beat Dolph Ziggler for the US championship with the match going back and forth with both wrestlers being in trouble but the match finished with Vickie trying to save Dolph title and instead he was sent to back which happened just before Ryder got the Rough Ryder on Dolph for rhe three count. After the match they had Ryder's dad on camera so excited for his son winning the title and this happened because on this week True land ice Z Ryder's dad was shown with a Ziggler shirt and he dropped it and showed that he was wearing Ryder shirt and also on this week's episode Ryder got even with Ziggler by attacking at the end of the episode and calling him the mark after Ziggler had called Ryder a mark for weeks on the show which means that this feud is over and he will separate from Vickie after she cost him the match. In the end Ryder will be the most recognizable US champ in years and Ryder will have it at least until WrestleMania and th broskis' will be going out and getting US championship belts while for Ziggler the future very bright as he is positioned to be at the top of the card fighting for a heavyweight championship.

Daniel Bryant is the new World Champion

So Mark Henry and Big Show and it started with Big Show outside the ring throwing all the chairs lined up outside the ring into the ring and after finished doing that he got back into the ring and Mark Henry climbed out of the ring and wanted to leave so Show went after him with a chair and Henry tried to hit him with the belt and missed and Show choked him with a chair. The story of the match was that Big Show had a hurt arm and could not do the slam as Henry had hurt his hand with a chair and at the end of the match Show gives Henry the knockout punch and is in pain but is able to roll onto Henry for the 1-2-3 and Show is champ for the first time in 9 years. After the match Henry lays Show out with a chair and ddt onto a chair and leaves and the chant we want Bryant has already begun and Daniel Bryant rolls over Show and pins him for the 1-2-3 and then he gets in Michael Cole's face saying that he said he could not do it and celebrates with the crowd while Big Show is watching him not happy at times and at other times he looks like OK the worked along time for this so I give him his moment and leaves and goes to the locker room. The end of the match says that it will be a heel Show most likely against a baby face Bryant for the title but it could also be the other way around with the actions of Bryant not being like a baby face.

CM Punk keeps title in the TLC match

So Punk took some massive bumps in the match and the story of the match was that Rodriguez came into the ring with handcuffs and handcuff punk to the ladder and that punk who did get loose from the ladder had one hand handcuff and he tried to GTS on Miz and it did not work. Later in the match Miz and punk were on the turnbuckle for like punk to superplex Miz but Miz blocked it and Del Rio came from behind and kicked Punk in the head and he fell through a table outside of the ring and later on Punk throw Rodriguez over the top rope and he landed on the broken table. So the ending of the match was Miz handcuffing punk to a turnbuckle and tried to climb and get the title but was unable to because punk unscrewed the turnbuckle and stopped him and gave him the GTS and cleared the ring and went to the top rope and got the title and stood on top holding the title while the handcuff was still danging from his arm.

All in all a very strong show with the fans getting what they wanting this holiday season as the Broskis' have an US champ that they can fist pump with and the internet wrestling geeks finally have a World champ that can really wrestle and can look for good title matches while he has it which may not be very long and the Mark Henry train maybe coming to a stop after been so strong to actually have a shirt on www.WWEshop.com for once in his career. Finally nobody had to boo CENA because for the first time in years and years and years CENA was not on the card at all.

So it was a good card but would of been a better TV show then PPV event as I can not see to many people buying the repeats this week

Tom Mehegan

Packers not perfect, Colts can win without Payton, Megatron beats the Raiders, and the Pats know Tebow

Packers defeated season is gone

The Green Bay Packers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and Kyle Orton 19-14 @ Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City as Romeo Crennel who his first game as interim head coach and Kyle Orton puts up 299 yards passing. The game went to the second half 6-0 Chiefs as for the first time all season the Packers were shutout for the first half and Aaron Rogers was 6 for 17 for 59 yards in the first half but in the second half early in the third quarter hit Finley for 41 yard pass and three plays later Rogers found Donald Driver in the corner of the end zone to the Packers a 7-6 lead and Rogers his 40th touchdown pass on the season. The Chiefs got a third field goal from Ryan Succop to make 9-7 KC going into the fourth quarter where the Chiefs scored another 10 unanswered points to go up 19-7 including a Jackie Battle one-yard TD run which was the Chiefs first time to find the end zone and then Arron Rogers ran it in from 8 yards out to make it 19-14 with just over two minutes left but on the onside kick Nelson was unable to get a hold of the ball before it went out of bounds and the Chiefs ran out the clock. The Packers lost their first game in 20 games which is the second longest streak in NFL history and Ryan Succop has made 21 straight field goal and now the Packers get to reset and prepare to try to repeat as superbowl champs and if anyone whats to take it away from them they will have to go to Lambo field.

The Colts finally win a game this season and may have saved their head coaches job

They have been reporting this week that if Jim Caldwell did not win one of the last three games he would be fired as the head coach of the colts and this afternoon where at the RCA dome and beat the Tennessee Titans as they outscored the Titans in the second half 24-7 on their was to the victory 27-13. The Colts had Dan Orlovsky as their starting quarter and he was the guy that finished off the Detriot Lions winless season in '08 and today he throw a TD pass and a block to spring a 80 yard run for another TD score which was half of Donald Brown 161 yards rushing in the game. It has taken Dan Orlovsky 10 starts to get his first win as a starter and did not need to do a lot to gain the win as he 11 of 17 for 82 yards with a TD. The reality is that there is no way that the Colts will not get the first overall pick in the 2012 draft and will be able to draft Andrew Luck and most likely will be choose by the Colts and then there will be a decision to be made about Payton Manning and if they want to have Manning starting next season and Luck will sit and watch the master or will they trade him away to a contender for a high price.

MegaTron powers all over the Raiders as the Lions keep their playoffs hopes.

MegaTron (Chris Johnson) took the Lions down the field 98 yards in 9 plays and 95 seconds to take a 28-27 win as Stafford through it to him four times on the winning drive and all were successful as Johnson catch a 21 yard pass and a 48 yard pass to set up the Lions at the Raiders' 23 yard line where Stafford looked towards Johnson and the Raiders Sheppard was called for pass interference to put the ball on the 6 yard line and Johnson caught the TD pass to put the Lions up. The Raiders had their chance to win the game in the last 39 seconds as Carson Palmer completed a 13 yard pass and 21 yard pass to Boss which setup a 65 yard attempt by Janikowski which was blocked by the Lions but it turned out the big mistake was that the Raiders did not go for two points when Stafford was sacked on the Lions' 9 yard line by Curry for a TD and put the Raiders up 26-14 and if they were successful on the two-point attempt it would of given the Raiders a two touchdown lead and at worst the game goes to overtime where it is anybodies game.

There was no Tebowing at the end of the game as the Broncos left too many balls on the field

So Tim Tebow and the Broncos came into the game 6 and 1 under the reign of the Tebow and the game began the way most Broncos end under Tebow as they out gained the Pats 167-4 in the first quarter and the Broncos outscored them 16-6. After the early start the Pats gained their male high legs and outscored the Broncos 21-0 going into halftime where the Pats led 27-16 and one of the main reasons for this was that the Broncos fumbled and turned over the ball three times which counted for 13 of the Pats 27 first half points. In the second half it was no different as they continued to mow down the Broncos defense and the Pats scored 10 more unanswered points to give them 31 straight points before Tebow got a single fourth quarter TD drive and unlike in past weeks Tom Brady took the Pats down the field again and end any thought of a comeback as the Pats won 41-23. The Pats with the victory clinched a playoff birth and will most likely be the AFC East champions again while the Broncos took a set back and are 8 and 7 heading into Buffalo who have lost 7 games in a row and with the loss of the Raiders and the soft Chargers the Broncos still have a great chance to win the AFC West.

So two more weeks and still a lot to be decided

Tom Mehegan

What we learned from Sid and Tim in week one at Rogers Sportsnet 590

What we learned on Tim & Sid in week one

Sid Tebow's before every show
Rick Jeanneret does not have favorite call but is simply amazing
That people have sex on the TTC
Aaron Rogers is over shadowed by Tim Tebow
they need a longer bleep button for Sid
Daren Millard is their favorite hockey central panel member
Sid likes Rogers products
Rogers bought MLSE as a welcoming gift for them
That after the show they are having their farewell party (just joking)
That U might get a concussion if U talk to much about concussions
Tim has suffered a number of concussions in his football days
Tim shampoos' his bald head
Jeremy Ronick has a double standard when it comes to concussions as he feels that players now need to take better care of themselves but he would not change a thing about his hockey career
The Philadelphia Flyers have a very silly victory dance
That Ilya bryzgalov is all about the universe
That Kid Famous is back
That Chris Paul and Blake Griffin is as close to a NBA Jam is real life NBA
That the Blue Jays waiting til Tuesday to see if they have negotiation rights to Yu Darvish is silly
Yu Darvish should be No.2 and come out to a U2 song
Lance Kennedy is trying to match songs to segaments
That Lance Kennedy finds the Zest commercial quicker than another battle song
That Sid and Daren are both 1 and 0 picking Leafs games and differ on the Canucks game tomorrow
That it takes Lance Kennedy a couple of days to find the battle of LA theme and needs to learn when to use the horn

Most importantly that Tim and Sid are back on the Rogers Sportsnet 590 the Fan Monday - Friday from 1 - 4 PM and the podcast can be found at Fan590.ca under on air and subscribe to the podcast or on itunes where it is No. 1.

See U next week

Tom Mehegan

cops put a stop to a NFL cocaine ring

Sam Hurd was arrested for trying to buy cocaine and marijuana from an undercover cop and he said to the undercover that he had a drug sale system that he had already going on and that he had been already distributing four kilos a week of cocaine in the Chicago area with a co-conspirator and it was not enough and was looking for more so he was trying to setup transfer of 5-10 kilos of cocaine and a 1000 pounds of marijuana a week. He was also looking Mexican cellphones because he believed that the cops could not track Mexican cellphones and the story has been building up for quite a while as his co-conspirator met on July 27th in Dallas just before Hurd signed a 3 year/5.1 millions deal after playing for the Cowboys and the co-conspirator bought 5 kilos of cocaine from the agent on August 14 on behalf of Hurd.

So it will be very interesting to see if the NFL will suspend him for the rest of the season and will he be black balled out of the league at the end of the season and it sounds like there maybe a list of NFL players that are provided with stuff through Hurd and his co-conspirator. This means if he is out of the league and stuff will hit the fan because he will most likely want to make his money back by given up some of the names on the list.

In the end the reality is that the NFL will take this situation to the woodshed and make this a top priority and the the steroid will continue to happen and certain positive tests will magically disappear as they also focus on a couple of players like Shawne Merriman who get caught often while most others get off scott free. So this a big story and will be attempted to be squashed and it will in the end mask the overriding situation of cleaning up the steroid use in the league.

Another interesting day in the NFL

Tom Mehegan

NBA players still trying to make their own trades so they can be with their friends as Paul is dealt

So the NBA still having problems with players are still trying to make trades themselves and they are two of the top 10 players and could be two of the top 5 players in the NBA and the NBA commissioner David Stern actually nixed a trade involving one of these two player Chris Paul going to the LA Lakers in a three team with the Lakers, Hornets, and the Rockets. While in Orlando the other player Dwight Howard is interested in going to the Lakers and it looks like the Lakers would like him too as they want to get stronger around 33-year-old future Hall of Fame Kobe Bryant but the problem is that the Orlando Magic really wanting to try and sign Howard to an extension.

The Chris Paul thing is very interesting as he has just been traded to the LA Clippers and in return the Hornets will get Guard Eric Gorden, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center Chris Kaman, and it is likely that the thing which will decide if it is a good deal for the Hornets is the first round draft pick their getting because it is the Minnesota Tiberwolves first round pick and they are not so good and could very likely a top 5 draft pick and could get even better. The Clippers will need to sign Paul long term and it sounds like Paul will take the option year next season so then they have two seasons to show him they are serious about being competitive and it is very important that Blake Griffin and Paul get along and are on the same page. For now as deal is not final the Hornets get a young shooting guard in Gordon who will turn 23 on opening day and averaged 22.3 and 4.4 assists a game while Aminu is going into his second NBA season who played 8 games but is projected to have great upside while Kaman who is the oldest of the three @ 29 with 8 seasons under his belt started half of the Clippers games and played half a game while collecting 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds. So compared to other situations like this they came out a lot better off than the Cavillers if U do not count the high jinx at the draft, the Raptors, and the Denver Nuggets and the pick will be interesting to say the least.

The Superman situation i.e. Dwight Howard he wants to be with a more competitive team and has a better chance of winning the NBA Championship as he is like a lone wolf in Orlando and he would be a monster in front of Kobe Bryant who would make Howard a stronger player and the Lakers would be a dominated team in the Western Conference and would be very close to odds on favorite to win the NBA Championship along side the Miami Heat. The other solution is the New Jersey Nets who are moving to Brooklyn shortly and with Mikhail Prokhorov as their owner who has a lot of money (he is a billionaire) and he is not afraid to spend it so if he gets Howard he will be able to put a team around him that is very strong and the team starts strong with Deron Williams as the point guard already.

In the end I think that it would be good if the league could keep away from the dream team situation that has already been put together in Miami it would be better for the league as a hole and the players will be rewarded for sticking with their team and not going somewhere else. The only problem that I see is that certain players i.e. the superstars of the NBA will leave money on the table to join their friends and guarantee themselves a much better chance of winning which would a couple of teams very good but the rest of league fan base will get even lower as they will know that they have no chance to win a championship or go far in the playoffs because after 3 years their top players will be leaving to go join their friends elsewhere.

NBA is back and the season starts in a week and a half

Tom Mehegan

The Wrestling PPV landscape will be changing in the new year

Wrestling Pay-Per-View buys have been in the toilet for a few years now because the only company in the wrestling business doing it right is ROH who is promoting their Pay-Per-View extremely hard on TV and maybe not the first to have Pay-Per-Views solely on the internet but they are making it affordable at 14.99 and they are not having a PPV every month like the other wrestling companies are doing in North America. So as of April 1 of 2012 (this is not an april fool's joke) the WWE will launch their very own TV station and may begin on the internet as not all TV companies will agree to the WWE terms of right fees right away but it looks like the non staple Pay-Per-Views will be put on this WWE TV station as incentive for the consumer to buy the station and will likely be in that 10-15 dollar range most likely and diffidently under 20 bucks a month which is way less than the 45 or 55 dollars a PPV costs. Which will diffidently more profitable than the WWE ondemand station has been and the WWE will not need to worry about if they are getting 75 thousand buys or a 175 thousand buys for a PPV and then they can go back to the late-80's - early-90's when they had quarterly PPVs with the Rumble in January, WrestleMania in late-March or early-April, Summerslam in August, and the Survivor Series in November with the hope to have better sales for the quarterly PPVs. Then there is TNA who lose money hand or fist on PPV as they use their PPVs to promote the TV when it should be the other way around and instead of having PPVs that U do not promote maybe have a three hour super show every 6 weeks that they build their product to just like a Saturday Night Main Event and maybe even put it on at like 9 PM on a Saturday night. They can keep doing PPVs but just make them every like three or four month and make it so the price is like 29.99 to attract audience because pricing it like the WWE is stupid as they have nowhere near the fan base the WWE has and lower price and fewer of them may make PPV not such a money loser.

The new PPV landscape is looking good for the WWE and ROH while TNA needs to join the party

Tom Mehegan

Tim and Sid are back tomorrow

So as of December 12th, 2011 @ 1 PM the ban of Tim Tim Micallef and Sid Seixario talking sports to the Canada and the world as they will arrive on Sportsnet Radio 590 and they will have better computers so Sid will not need to complain about slow computers. Also it will be very interesting with open phones as they were unable to U the phones on Tim & Sid:uncut as they only took phone calls on episode 100.

Now as they have been off the air for three month they will have some catching up to do and it goes like:

- Red Sox gate
- Tim Tebow
- The Green Bay Packers
- The Miami Marlins and the California Angels of Anaheim during the winter meetings
- AA and the Blue Jays
- Stern nixing the three team deal sending Paul to the Lakers
- The NBA lockout is over and the future of the NBA
- Goalies being run in the NHL
- Sidney Crosby
- Albert Pujols
- Albert Pujols's agent
- What they did with their extra me time
- UFC and maybe another disaster as of tomorrow as Alistair Overeem maybe out of the main event of UFC 141

In the end it will maybe take some time to get the sounds bites going and maybe even different sound bites but I do hope the horn is back and that Sid watches his P & Q along with the board operator being aware of salutary language

Tom Mehegan

UFC 140 was full of fireworks and that was good because the judges sucked

The PPV lasted two hours and it was a night of knock outs and when it did go to a decision the judges got the call wrong as I saw two decisions one in the prelims and one during the PPV event and both decisions where completely head scratchier with Yves Jabouin beating Walel Watson with the third judge given the match 30-27 in the prelims and there was no way that the Canadian Jabuin won all three rounds.

When the PPV started the first match was Korean Zombie Chan Sung Jung Vs Mark Hominick who came into the event with his last match at the Rogers Centre when he had a big bump on the side of his head and it was also his first match since his trainer and best friend Shawn Tompkins passed away in August. The match finished as soon as it began as Hominick came in carelessly with a wide punch and then took a punch and went down and Jung got 5 clean punches in on the ground and it was over in 7 seconds.

Claude Patrick Vs Brian Ebersole was next and it was the only decision on the PPV and the Canadian Patrick lost the first round because Ebersole controlled the action but then Patrick controlled the second and third rounds and had the only 4 submissions attempts in the match and Ebersole was upset at himself after the match. The decision was Ebersole by split decision (29-28, 28-29,29-28) so he had to change his tone when he talked with Joe Rogan and said he was upset by not being able to finish him.

Tito Ortiz Vs Little Nog was next and the crowd was behind the future hall of famer Ortiz and he came out strong and took it to little Nog but when it went to the cage little Nog got a punch in on Tito and rocked him and it was all over going to the mat where little Nog got strikes in and the match was stopped at 3:15 of the first round and Tito had most likely broke ribs and was whining in pain. So Tito has one more match in his contract and he wants to fight for 15 years which would be May 31, 2012 so he will fight mostly on TV in June or later in 2012.

So the crowd was not happy up to this point and then the UFC put a prelim match in where Constantinos Philippou took care of Jared Hamman in 3:11 by TKO as he staggered Hamman and he recovered but he could not last.

Frank Mir Vs big Nog was next and Big Nog came out and looked like he could even the score from UFC 92 almost three years ago on December 27, 2008 when Mir beat him but Big Nog said he was not well going into the match and Mir looked out on his feet but when it went to the ground he woke up and they very quickly went through submission holds but it ended when Mir got a kimura on Big Nog and it was stopped 3:38 as Big Nog arm was broken.

The main event was for the light heavyweight championship between Jon Jones the Champ and Lyoto Machida a former champ and Lyoto Machida took control of the first round as Jones was very cocky coming into the match as he did a cartwheel coming into the ring and when the match started he was quoting which was weird. In the Second round nothing changed until Lyoto Machida throw a punch which woke up Jones because suddenly they both started a lot of rapid punches and it was quickly over as it got to the cage where Jones got a standing guillotine choke on him and it was over @ 4:26 in the second. It should have been stopped 5 to 10 seconds earlier but the the Ref was Big John was on the wrong side of the fighters as the arm he was looking at was pined to the cage while his other arm had gone numb at his side.

In the end it was a very quick fight night with lots of quick stoppages with only two matches going into the second round and only a single match went the decision and it was an exciting night of fighting and it was nice to see Mir beat Big Nog but I was hoping better for Mark Hominick as it was the biggest upset of the night.

Brock Lesner fights December 30

Tom Mehegan

Rogers and Bell team up again to buy MLSE so let the in fighting begin

So today is the day that the Teachers Pension fund has finally gotten out of the sports business and have sold it to the unholy alliance (the Bell and Rogers tag team) for an amazing 1.3 billion dollars and in exchange the unholy alliance gets 75% of MLSE (Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment). It breaks down like this where Bell gets 37.5% of the company and Rogers gets 37.5% and the remainder goes to Larry Tanenbaum who had 20.5% of the company and is expected to go up to 25% and he will continue to be the chair of MLSE and be the governor for the sports entities but in the end Larry Tanenbaum and his company Kilmer Sports Inc will be come very wealthy because he will at some point sell at least 13% of the team to either Bell or Rogers for a lot of money so that one will become the voice of the company and make the decision.

So the big question is how will it effect the Sports entities so here what I think:

The Maple Leafs: First there is no surprise that TSN radio starting in the 2012/2013 season will carry all Leafs games. So the big question is how can the move make the team better and with the salary cap and the other teams in the NHL unwilling to trade their better players so the only real way to better the team is if the Leafs hire more diamond finders because it is all about what the second/third/fourth round picks do and if they get players like the Detroit Red Wings have over the last almost two decades. Also the new owners do not put up will failing because the Leafs standards for excellence has never been lower as the fans will be simply happy making the playoffs instead of being in the Stanley Cup Final or even imaging the hoisting the cup which means Burke and Wilson should not feel as comfortable as they do.

The Raptors: The Raptors will stay on Rogers Sportsnet 590 and it is difficult to build a team in the NBA so they need to start by getting the best possible player in the draft along with trying to get better players to come to Toronto which is the difficulty as NBA players like to visit so I've heard but do not want to live here. The reality is that the company need to go into the luxury tax because the teams on top of the NBA are over the cap and the Raptors need to be there to challenge those bigger than life teams who win the championship.

Toronto Football Club (TFC): really when U look at TFC they have already begun to realize that TFC fans will not put up with losing so the team has already gone through a huge face lift already and have to continue to rebuild the team because right now is the best TFC has ever been as they still are in the kind of like the championship series that Europe has but they need to be better in the league play.

So the deal will not be finalized until likely mid-2012 as they have a lot of hoops to jump through first like with CRTC, the NBA, the NHL, and the MLS and today really showed that when everything is quiet it is more likely a deal will be done and when there is a lot of talk it is likely not to happen because the only correct talk was that a deal would not be done until the NBA lockout was over and that it was done like 12 hours after the lockout was finalized.

So lets see who ends up being the majority owner of the company in the end

Tom Mehegan

The UFC have been hit hard by Canada as St. pierre is out for 2012 and the first quarter of 2013

UFC 140 in Toronto is still not sold out even though they just sold out over 50,000 seats very quickly last March for UFC 129 @ the Rogers Centre they still have tickets available for this Saturday's event at the much smaller Air Canada Centre that holds about 20,000 seats including the floor seats. Now today the world has learned that George St. Pierre will be on the sidelines for 10 month healing his ACL that he recently blow out training to put the loud mouth chump Nick Diaz in his place during a Superbowl weekend event on February 4th, 2012 the night before the big game which will mean he will miss almost all of 2012 just recovering from the blown ACL and most likely the first quarter of 2013 getting prepared for his next match. It might be a completely different UFC and GSP will be a year and a half older and just simply look at Brock Lesner who has been sidelined a couple of times with a mystery alignment that he has not full comeback from and GSP will be almost 32 years old and maybe a tiny bit rusty.

So in his place Dana White has put Carlos Condit against Nick Diaz for the interim UFC welterweight title and it will be hard for Condit to shut up Diaz as he has won 11 straight matches in the last three and a half years being the likes of B.J. Penn, Paul Daley, and Hayato Sakurai and Diaz does not like only running his mouth outside the ring but beating up his opponents in the cage. Carlos Condit besides a split decision to Jake Ellenberger he has won with ease in his four match winning streak and if the UFC is lucky than it will be a great match otherwise the UFC will be struggling to put together dream match that will bring in the big bucks.

The future of the UFC is extremely uncertain

Tom Mehegan

6 more sleeps til the Tim and Sid podcast on Sportsnet 590 but where is their score farewell video

Right now I am very disappointed at the Score TV network who are putting their gruages before professionalism as they are not airing a farewell package for Tim and Sid who have been announcers on the Score since almost the beginning and the Score has made a good chunk of money off of their talent with them doing the score tonight for years and changed how sports was reported. Also Tim has done a number of shows for the Score most notably NBA court surfing and the NCAA March Madness which was so good that it was picked up the 3 letter while Sid did like the Score on the NFL. They were the faces of the Score and even when guys like Elliot Freeman went to the corporation and Cabbie went to the 3 letter along with James Cybulski, Sara Orlesky, and Steve Kouleas while the net grabbed Martine Gaillard and Adnan Virk went south to ESPN but through all this Tim and Sid were the Score personalities. Even Sirius 98 the score was mostly drive by the Tim and Sid: uncut podcast which ran a week or two into September and was like constantly at the top of itunes most listened to podcast on a daily bases.

Why are they not given Tim and Sid the respect they deserve it comes down to Sid Seixerio and his big mouth as on the second final podcast he ripped into the Score for having the taping of the NFL on the Score weekly show start taping at 5 PM so they had to cut the podcast short. Also my research has found out that Sid was the original one to sign a contract with Sportsnet 590 and has been basically out the door since he was taken off the air of the Score on the NFL which happened mid-September as his last appearance was on Gillette Drafted 3 which was all pretaped way in advance as one of the finalist went to Man U Vs Chicago Wovles which was played on July 23 which meant the finale was done in late July instead of live like before. It diffidently has been simply Sid because all his tweets are from home while Tim's tweets until University Rush ended was hanging out at the Score with Greg Sansone who is the program director.

Even though Sid wanted out most likely because of not being on air as much and Sportsnet 590 coming up with a great contract for him and he got Tim to sign on too their podcast is no longer on the score's website even though they have classic Cabbie bits like 6 months to a year after he left and Gerry Dee who has really not done anything for the score in quite a while and has a stand-up comedy tour and in the new year will have his own TV show @ the corporation but he still has stuff up on the website.

I hope a video package airs in the week leading up to their return

Tom Mehegan

Who will face Roderick Strong and the return of Kevin Steen @ final battle

Return of Kevin Steen in a ROH wrestling match

On December 23 from New York City and everywhere through your computer Kevin Steen will have his first ROH wrestling match in a full year as he will face Steve Corino with Jimmy Jacobs being the Ref for the match and if Steen can beat his former running buddy Corino he will be reinstated into ROH wrestling. The battle with Kevin Steen and Jim Cornette will end one way or another after Steen decided to come to Best in the world 2011 where he turned on Corino after being escorted out of the building and then interrupted a ROH board meeting before on September 17th when he powerbombed Jacobs and final he tried to Package Piledrive ROH president Cary Silkin and Cornette where Cornette said that Steen would never wrestle in ROH. So after video packages of Steen and his legal team he will have a one-on-one match with Carino to try and get back in ROH and Jimmy Cornette will be ringside for the match in 3 weeks.

Who will face Roderick Strong @ final battle

Roderick has put out an opening challenge to the world for someone to show up to New York on December 23Rd and right now there are two big drawing cards that are having problems with the WWE and they are one JoMo (John Morrison) who contract just ran out and is a free agent that TNA may want but first he may make an one night appearance to face Roderick @ final battle 2011. The other one is a little more interesting and that is Chris Jerico and of course Jerico would always welcomed back to the WWE but right now Jerico and the WWE are at odds on two points which are most importantly that Jerico was left out of the WWE '12 game which is a huge payday for the talent who are in the game and second WWE talent can only be NBC affiliates and right now Jerico has got a lot of interest from ABC to do something with them.

In other news the Young Bucks are using their past experience to become a heel tag team and it seems to be working as they have mentioned that they did not kiss enough Divas when they had a dark match and because of this they were not offered a contract with the company along with how they simply walked out of TNA because they were not being used properly for their liken. So they are very snobby and the brother hug each other instead shaken the hand of their opponents and they are looking very much like the Hardy boyz in the late 90's and early turn of the century and will hopeful have a better future than the Hardy Boyz.

ROH is looking very strong and maybe throughout the week after the show people will buy it and get close to the average TNA buy of 10 to 15 thousand

Tom Mehegan

Leafs have a bear of a mountain to climb, Canadiens should demote Scott Gomez, and more

Leafs have a bear of a mountain to climb

The Leafs have faced the reigning Stanley Cup champs the Boston Bruins 3 times this season and does not matter if they have one win in four games (Bruins 6 - Leafs 2) or are coming off a win and have not had back-to-back wins all seasons (Bruins 7 - Leafs 0) or even if they are 11-0-1 in their last 12 games (Bruins 6 - Leafs 3). Also does not matter if Tim Connolly is in the lineup or not as he has been in the lineup for the 7-0 shutout and the 6-3 Bruins win both at the ACC and was not in the lineup for the 6-2 Bruins win at the TD Gardens which means that the Bruins have beat the Leafs at home and on the road. For the Leafs the scary parts of facing the Bruins is that Phil Kessel has not scored a goal in his three seasons as a Leaf against the Bruins which is scarier than Crosby not scoring against the Blues as they play once a season at most and the Leafs and Bruins play 6 times a season. So in the first half of their season series for the 2011-2012 the Bruins have outscored the Leafs 19-5 and the Leafs have been well rested, playing back-to-back games, and even 3 in four nights and the only thing that the Bruins have not faced this season is James Reimer as he has not a second in the Leafs goal against the Bruins and if the reports are true he will be backing up to Jonas Gustavsson on Saturday when the teams meet again. As Reimer had is first game off of the season in game 6 of the season which was the 6-2 drubbing and was out with his injury the other two games while the Leafs have not faced Tuukka Rask. So in the end the Leafs need to find away to beat the Bruins because it is not the only way to make the playoffs but if they want to stay higher in the standings and have a chance at the end of the regular season for a division tittle they can not go 0 and 6 against the Bruins and it be good if Kessel can get that bear off his back which would better his season.

The Montreal Canadiens need to desperately get Gomez out of the Locker room

Scott Gomez has 4 points in 13 games which would be embarrassing to someone but not Scott Gomez and with the team struggling to put that frozen piece of rubber in the net as they have only scored 61 goals in 25 games and are a game under .500 and have given up one more goal. So there is no way anyone would want Gomez's salary of 7.35 for the next three seasons and it is not a good thing to a player like Gomez in the locker so the upper management of the Canadiens should put him on waivers and after he does clear the waivers send him to the Hamilton Bulldogs which is the Canadiens AHL affiliate and just let him rote there and if he turns it around and figures out how to score goals again then they can put him on reentry waivers and do not know a club would take have his contract. In the end it is only money and as the Canadiens have a 20,000 plus seat stadium which is pretty full for every game and they also are credited with the second highest average ticket price in the NHL and one of the top two best selling merchandise in Canada with the Leafs so the Molson beer company has the money to eat the contract and then be able to find someone to fill his shoes and have the 7.5 cap hit that goes to Gomez.

Ottawa fighting to barely be in the playoff picture

The Senators have gotten some get play from Jason Spezza 23 points in 24 games which is just over 30 % of the Senators 75 goals that he has been in on and the defense has not been great as they are still given up 8 more goals than they have scored and are now two games over .500 with a 12-10-2 with a 3 and 1 shootout record this season. The biggest surprise this season is ERIK KARLSSON who has 21 assists and 22 points while MILAN MICHALEK is a strong CY young candidate with 14 goals and 6 assists this season. When you really think about it the Senators are overachieving this season and if they are in contention for a playoff spot or not they really should think about their future and the best to better themselves is by trading Daniel ALFREDSSON and get something back to help the team for seasons to come and it would give Alfredsson a chance at the Stanley Cup with a contender as he has been in one Stanley Cup final in his 14 seasons in the NHL so it would be a win win situation and then he have Jersey retired by the Senators. In the end Craig Anderson will be the one player that will keep the Senators in a playoff race in late March and he has a 11 and 7 record while given up 65 goals in his 21 games and has almost a 3.50 GAA and if the Senators play even better defense for 60 minutes that GAA will go down and the wins will go up.

The Jets are strange breed

The Jets can win high scoring games like 9-8 against the Flyers and lose them too like losing to Buffalo 6-5 in overtime while also winning the low scoring games like beating the Penguins 2-1 and also losing the close game by losing to Columbus 2-1 so night to night U really do not know what to expect. The good news is that EVANDER KANE is destroying the league as he has got a point in 6 of the last 7 Jets games and has 9 of his 18 points over that 7 game stretch while DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN has been a streaky player but has more than a point in 5 of his last 12 games and has 13 of his 17 points over that 12 game stretch. Just like every other team it begins and ends in the net so it is up to ONDREJ PAVELEC who is 7-9-4 in his 21 games so far with his 3.29 GAA and a save% of .896 so if he can get stronger defense he can make the key saves to help win games but it looks like a long Manitoba winter for the Jets.

Thanks for reading

Tom Mehegan

Calgary Flames should sell all assets, Oilers getting great goaltending and leadership, SCHNEIDER taken the reins and running with it

Calgary need now kindling to restart their Flames and make them go higher

So the reality is that the Flames have two great assets in their organisation that other teams will want and the first one is of course Jarome Iginla who has 12 points in his first 23 games this season and looks like a shell of himself and does not look like a real leader as the team no sense of direction. He maybe gets re energized by joining a contending team and he has 7 million dollar a season for this season and next and if they can get a draft pick and/or a prospect for him along with a player who has close to the same salary for this season who can be turned into a free agent at the end of the season. The Calgary Flames got him from Dallas in '95 for Joe Nieuwendyk and they gotten so much out of Iginla and can still get more for him. The other asset is MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF who is a pretty good goalie and can help a contender most likely as a starter and they can get either a pick or prospect along with a player whose close to Kiprusoff's 5.8 million dollar contract and hopefully save money over the next two seasons as Kiprusoff has two more seasons of 5.8. So the reality is that they need break down the team to rebuild like their arc rivals down the road in Edmonton.

Oilers getting great goaltending and leadership

NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN has been reborn with a 9 and 5 record with an amazing save% of .936 and an even better goal against average of 1.88 and he has one more season of 3.75 million on his contract and Ryan Smyth who is on the final year of his contract and will be a free agent at season's end and right now is showing get leadership for the very young Oilers like Hall, Eberle, and RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS. So will see if the Oilers can carry this momentum to getting into the playoff or at least give the fans hope that they can challenge for a playoff spot late in the season.

Cory Schneider is taken the reins

With Roberto Luongo not able to start a game in it has been Cory Schneider who has taken control of the Canucks' net and in the last 5 Canucks' games all started by Schneider they are 5 and 0 while he has a save% of .976 as he has stopped 164 of the 168 shots that he has face over those 5 games including two shutouts and a 0.80 GAA. So it looks like Schneider is the goalie to turn the Canucks' season around as just like last season the Canucks had a horrible start and then under the goaltending of Roberto Luongo the Canucks went onto being the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. This now begs the question of if U keep the pending free agent Cory Schneider as your starter and try to get something for Luongo which will be hard with his massive contract where he has 9 seasons left after this one where he is to make 5.3 for the next three seasons and has a no trade clause in his contract. The other thing is will the Canucks hold on to Schneider if at the trade deadline that Luongo is the starting back stop and risk losing him for nothing or trade him to get another valuable asset for the playoff run and see what the 25 year old can do leading another NHL team.

Always interesting in the western conference

Tom Mehegan

NHL fire your head coach day has eventful

So in Washington, DC and Carolina the head coaches have been wondering when this day would come and in Washington it may of come too late and in Carolina it was like the changing of the seasons as Carolina get ready to make their normal second half run of being unbeatable to make the playoffs but it was a little earlier than usually.

So in Washington, DC Bruce Boudreau who like a wrestler went from being a babyface (a players coach) to a heel (tougher on the players as he try to impalement a defense first approach) and just did not work just like wrestling fans sometimes do not buy into a wrestler turning the capitals players did not take the new heel Boudreau seriously and tuned him out. So Boudreau who is the fast coach to won 200 games in the NHL in the modern era but instead of that he will be remembered for barque sauce on his face and his rant of like 90 seconds where every other word was was censored during last season's 24/7 series leading into the Penguins hosting the Capitals in what would turn out to be Sidney Crosby's second last game for 11 months along with the Caps inability to play hard and go far in the playoffs.

So now U have Dale Hunter coming in from being a very successful coach in the PHL over the last 11 seasons with the London and is now coming back to the NHL and the Capitals were he was a goon for 20 seasons. The one moment hockey fans will remember him for is his violent attack with his hockey stick as a Capital in the open round of the '92-'93 Stanley Cup playoffs when after Pierre Turgeon scored a goal to make sure there was a game 7 Hunter came up behind him hit him and separating his shoulder and Hunter was given a 21 game suspension by now commissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman and now he has a second chance to make legacy for himself and that is by getting the most out of the very talented Capitals who right now look completely bored. So to start he needs to get ALEX OVECHKIN back on track because he just has not been the same player since 2009-10 and has even been carelessly floating nowhere near the action and his shots attempts have gone extremely south even though focusing on defense is important but so is getting the puck to the net and in the past Alex the Great has had over 500 shots and 50 goals and needs to get back to that. While ALEXANDER SEMIN has 64 points in 85 games since the beginning of the 2010-11 season after having 84 points in 73 games in 2009-10 and the free agent at the end of the season will need to get back to the 2009-10 stats if he wants a big deal and he has also been mentioned as the most talented Capitals player. Then there is Mike Green who after having over 70 points as a defenseman in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 has compiled 30 points in 57 games when healthy as he has spent a lot of games out with an injury and these are the players the Capitals count on along with TOMAS VOKOUN needs to start making the keys saves to help the team get back on the winning track.

I do beleive that they will turn it around and their star players will be their star players and they will make the playoffs and then we will see how this team performs in the playoffs and can they play a playoff style game and can Vokoun steal them a game or two in the playoffs.

In Carolina the Hurricanes have not been getting the kind of performances they have come to expected from their leader Eric Staal who has been a shell of a player this season as he has 11 points in 25 games with a horrifically awful plus/minus of -17 but it is almost time for Staal to turn it on and make an incredible run at the playoffs like in past season like when Paul Maurice rejoined the Caines for the last 57 games of the 2008-09 season and they finished second in southern division and got all the way to the conference final. This is not a first for Paul Maurice as he was fired the first time in Carolina in the '03-04 season after 30 games and fired by the Leafs after two seasons of not making the playoffs so now Kirk Muller has 57 games to get things turned around with the team now 8-13-4 and second last in the Eastern Conference just in front of the New York Islanders. So Kirk Muller has a lot of work to do and maybe this team will not get into the playoffs but their past has shown that they will get close by the end of the regular season and the 19 seasons veteran in Muller with his tough as nail kind of grinder maybe the right voice this teams need.

Thanks for Reading

Tom Mehegan

the NBA lockout is over after 149 days of what if

So Saturday morning at 3 AM after 15 hours of negotiations the players and owners agreed that the NBA was a mess and they shook hands on the 149th day of the lockout and the second longest in NBA history to what maybe a 10 year deal but will be at least a 6 year deal. The deal includes a 300 million dollar cut in players salaries a season along with shorter contracts and lesser percentage of growth from contract to contract for the players as the players say goodbye to the 7 year/ 100 million dollar contracts and maybe even those 60 - 70 million dollar contracts over a 5 or 6 season length. On the owners side the wealthier owners will be hit with bigger penalties for going over the NBA fixable cap while the players and owners will split the 4 billion in revenue 50/50 and if the league turns around and the teams as a whole start making money the players will be able to make 51% but if the league continue in their downward spiral they could receive as little as 49%.

So the players need to reform their union for the 66 game NBA season start on Christmas Day with their traditional triple header which will be the Celtics @ Knicks followed by a rematch of last season's NBA final as reigning NBA champs the Mavericks will host the runners up the Heat and cap off the night Bulls will head to Los Angles to face the Lakers while the rest of the season schedule is TBA at this point.

So it will be a very interesting season as there are so many possibilities in a shortened season like which players will be out of shape going into the season will any team overhaul their roster and if so how will mash together i.e. simply look at the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL or how will new head coaches be able to fit their schemes into the systems the players are used to and how well will it work. Also how many players will be able to focus simply taken care of business instead of being down and frustrated that they have been schooled by the owners and have lost a ton of money in the case of superstars or the opportunity of making a boat load of money if U R a future prime time player. On the other hand will the owners be able to make smart business decisions or will they try and find loop holes in the deal that will make the contracts balloon again like what has happened in the NHL in what was supposed to be a owner friendly deal that is no longer looking like it.

So 10 million dollars off the top of every teams salary cap that is a real win for the owners so now they have to work together to strengthen the league so it is a win-win situation

Tom Mehegan

Hulk Hogan taken to the cleaners by ex-wife

Hulk Hogan real name Terry Bollea was recently fleeced in divorce court by his Ex-Wife Linda as she is set to get 7.44 million of the 10.41 million that had frozen in bank accounts since they separated and she is getting all the vehicles of a Mercedes-Benz, a Cadillac Escalade, a Corvette, a Rolls-Royce and various off-road vehicles. Along with that they are agreeing to put up their three homes they shared up for sale which of course of not come at a worst time because the real estate market is at the bottom of an ocean and will not be coming up for air in states for a very very long time so if they were to sell their Belleair Florida estate where most of the Hogan Knows best which they is worth 13.9 million they would simply get pennies on the dollar. In the end the real kicker is that Linda has a 40% stake in the Hogan brand going forward which means if Hogan turns TNA into a money maker and gets paid big bucks she gets 40 cents of every dollar he makes or if someone comes up with the next big thing and puts Hogan's name on it she gets 40 cents on the dollar but I still think that when he offered the grill before George Foreman and he turned them down was the biggest deal he did not make and it will never happen again.

So it looks like Hogan has decided to move on with his second wife Jennifer McDaniel and really had no foot to stand on as it was his affair with Christiane Plante in 2006 while she helping Hogan's daughter Brooke with her 2006 album. Also maybe his travels on the road also caught up to him as what happens on the road stays on the road may no longer for the Hulkster but at least he has some money to move on with which U can not say for most Wrestlers who can not leave the business not because they love it so much but because they need the money and this is the only way they now how to make a living.

Best wishes for Terry and Linda in their future endiverse

Tom Mehegan

Bruins win 10 in a row, Crosby sings the Blues, and Bryzgalov meets captain hook again

Bruins win 10 in a row as they entered the peaceful environment of the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York a week and a half after Milan Lucic ran over Buffalo's starting goalie Ryan Miller who is now out indiffidently with a concussion. The game began with fights galore with even Lucic dropping the gloves and fighting with PAUL GAUSTAD 1:23 into the game and then at 11:33 of the first period things came to a complete stop as ZDENO CHARA fought ROBYN REGEHR while COREY TROPP of the Sabres and ADAM MCQUAID of the Bruins were pushing and shoving with ADAM MCQUAID being the aggressor and getting the extra 2 minutes in the box and it took the Sabres 23 seconds to make him pay by putting the first puck past Tim Thomas. The Sabres then felt that was not enough as they went up 2-0 when THOMAS VANEK scored his 12th of the season three and a half minutes and they took the lead into the second where TYLER SEGUIN scored his 12th of the season for the Bruins to cut the lead in half 2-1 @ 3:37 but Sabres rookies TJ BRENNAN scored his first NHL goal @ 11:02 to restore the 2 goal lead until with 4 minutes left BRAD MARCHAND scored to make it 3-2. In the third the big man for the Bruins 6'9 ZDENO CHARA scored 3:30 minutes tie it @ 3 and the next 21 and a half minutes did not solve anything so they head to a shootout and the first 9 shooters were stop by the goalies and then the tenth shooter stepped up and it was the Bruins BENOIT POULIOT scored on Jhonas Enroth to give the Bruins their 10th win in a row in a very hard fought but clean game.

Sidney Crosby played tonight and was singing the Blues as he and his fellow Penguins teammates faced the St. Louis Blues which is a team he had not scored a goal against and tonight did not have a single point in the game while having 6 penalty minutes compared to his two shots on goal in just over 18 minutes. It got so bad for the penguins who were done 1-0 most of the game that both Crosby and Malkin were sent to the box 14 seconds apart in the second period but in the third STEVE SULLIVAN tied 3 minutes and the Blues JAMIE LANGENBRUNNER scored @ 10:45 to give them back the lead 2-1 until James Neal scored his 13th of the season to earn the Penguins a points as ALEX PIETRANGELO with less than a minute left in overtime won the game for the Blues while Malkin assisted on both Penguin goals.

Ilya Bryzgalov only lasted in net a period given up 3 goals on 9 shots and the Flyers headed into the second period down 3-1 after scoring first 18 seconds into the game and with a different goalie as Sergei Bobrovsky came in and saved all 23 shots he faced in 42 and a half minute and was winning goalie as DANNY BRIERE scored his second of the night half way though overtime when the Flyers finally killed a 4 on 3. So the Flyers goaltending musical goalie game continues as Bryzgalov does not look go under the heat lamp Philly has as their spotlight especially on goalies while the Islanders' kyle Okposo may of found the light as he scored his first two goals on his season in the game.

13 games and a lot of nail bitting

Tom Mehegan

Survivor Series 25 felt more like a WrestleMania because of the crowd and the Rock

So tonight sold out the house and I do not only mean Madison Square Gardens but he also sold out the Movie Theater I tried to get into and I was not the only one that was turned away because there had to be at least 50 other people in line when it was announced and I do not know how many were there for the next Twilight showing but lets just say that Rock's first match in 7 years and I guess teaming with Pebbles did not hurt it. So I came home and watched on my computer and U know what that means at least I tried to pay for it and what a great show it was indeed.

To start it was John Morrison Vs Dolph Ziggler and it was a long match with Vicki even broken up a pin fall for Morrison and got sent to the back but in the end Dolph got the zig zag on Morrison for the victory. Then the fans announced what they wanted from this match as they chanted for Ryder and after Dolph's music hit and he was ready to leave then Ryder's music hit and he attacked Dolph Ziggler to just tell him he will be the next champ woo woo woo U know it.

Then came the lumber Jill match that ended when Beth had Eva on the top rope and hit the glam slam for the win and after the match Natalia had to hold Beth up so she may be legit hurt which would be horrible even though we will not need to Eva for another 6 months.

Then Rock basically ran down his complete bio of the Gardens starting with his grandfather faced Superstar Billy Gramm in '77 and then 5 years later his father was in a tag match to the point where he was the sole survivor of his team in the '96 Survivor Series.

Then came the traditional Survivor Series match between Randy Orton's team Vs Wade Barrett's team and Ziggler was eliminated first then it was Kofi and from there Sin Ciara hiper extended his knee while hanging from the turnbuckle and was eliminated because he could not perform. The biggest pop of the night came next when Cody Rhoades pinned Mason Ryan and after Shamas would not broke a choke hold by the 5 count so it was four against 1 and it ended with Orton Vs both Barrett and Rhoades where they teamed up to beat Orton so the two of them were the Survivors.

Then a lot of filler to get the ring ready for Big show Vs Mark Henry and it included a segment with Del Rio and the Belles and then they showed the ring being reinforced and what happened last time.

The was hugely hot for Mark Henry but with the very slow bringing with Show trying to use wrestling moves and Henry just stepped out of the ring and the crowd turned and did a this is boring chant and later a Daniel Bryant chant. The match had some big moves with Henry driving Big Show through the barricade and Show got back into the ring with a 9 count and finally got control of the match with a superkick that brought a HBK chant and then it got very awkward when Show went to the top rope and it took a while but he finally did a bionic elbow that brought a Randy Savage chant. Then when Henry low blowed Show for the DQ to keep the title which got boos from the crowd and then Henry tried to break Show's leg again but he moved out of the way and then took out Henry who needed help to the back and may have to give up the title.

Then Striker interviewed Barrett who said he wanted to be the first English born heavy weight champ and was cut off by Awesome Truth where Truth talked about Rock and Pebbles being on the side of busses and not them and then mentioned that pigeons only shit and they are going to shit on Rock and Cena. Then going to a video package Lawler screwed up and said that the the Del Rio and Punk angle started at Survivor Series and U could hear Cole said that it was Summerslam as they went to the package.

Then the surprise of the night happened when it was announced that CM Punk had his own ring announce and Hall of Famer Howard Finkle came out to a huge pop and a Howard Finkle went up and then CM punk came out and it got even louder and a CM Punk chant was only stopped by a We want Ice Cream Bar chant. During the match there were a lot of high spots and near falls with Punk not able to get the go to sleep on so it came down to Del Rio throwing Punk into the ropes and he hit Rodriquez and then look at him and Del Rio rolled up Punk for two and then Punk got a pin for two and then beat Del Rio with the anaconda device and the best part of the match was when Punk did a proper bionic elbow with the arms in the air. Then he celebrated in the crowd while Finkle announced that CM Punk is the new World Champion and the crowd was on fire waiting for the next match.

But first they made them wait through a recap of the angle that brought together Rock and Pebbles and then Awesome Truth sang their way down to the ring and then the crowd chanted for the Rock and nothing happened for a minute which was followed by Pebbles coming down to the ring to cheer and Boos. Then the roof came off the building as the Rock made his way down to the ring and U could hear a Rocky chant while the music was playing and then it was ruined by the announcers talking when they should not of.

The match was brought down by the announcers in this match as they should of allowed the crowd to tell the story but instead they did not allow it to breath at all and Awesome True controlled the entire match until the end and Rock and pebbles were not on the same page as early Rock tried to tag Pebbles and he was not in position and when he finally got into the ring he got bet down and when he had his chance to tag the rock in he just tried to finish the match by himself and it never worked. Then when Rock got tagged in he got control of the match and did his people's elbow and then the sharp shooter to finish the match. After the match Rock invited Cena who was on the ramp to get back into the ring and they did a popularity contest and it finished with Rock given Cena the Rock Bottom and it was the time all match when they kept quiet.

The New York crowd made this Survivor Series like it was a Wrestle Mania and where hot for everything except for the lumber Jills match so I feel this most definitely be the PPV of the year at least it is in my books and it is all because of the New York Crowd.

Can not wait for Wrestle Mania 28 in Miami

Tom Mehegan

Sportsnet magazine spits in the face of true CFL fans

So Sportsnet known as Rogers Sportsnet has lost their roots because in the November 18th version of their brand new magazine did a rankings of the best and worst CFL franchises in history and except for the Edmonton Eskimos No. 1 the rest of the top 5 are the current Eastern Conference. Which including the Ti-Cats being No.2 and the Argos being N0. 4 with the Alouttes in the middle so U have teams based in Ontario the best teams where more people watch the NFL than the CFL with the exception of BC the rest of the country watches the CFL more than the NFL on any given Sunday. The Ontario teams are in desperately need revenue from the teams in the Western Conference including the worst franchise in CFL history according to them the Saskatchewan Roughriders who already bring money in for the Ontario teams with the spike in attendance as Roughriders are the mose well traveled team in the CFL. So first I guess they could not turn a blind eye to the 34 seasons in a row that the Eskimos had starting in 1972 and ended after they one their more recent Grey Cup in '05 and their 13 Grey Cups and 5 straight between 1978-82 and then looked at the numbers in winning Grey Cups and MVPs (regular season and Grey Cups) and paid attention to making the Grey Cup and the fan bases.

With the Saskatchewan Roughriders ninth all-time behind even the Ottawa Roughrider who are not even the league until 2013 or 14 when the league will take their crack at making it in the Nation's Capital which is simply laughable. One of their main points to their argument is that the Roughriders have been to the Grey Cup 18 times in their history but only have 3 Grey Cup rings in their history and they pay more attention to the Roughriders losing the most games since 1949 with a winning percentage of .473 which is strangely higher than the fourth best franchise in the Argos with a winning percentage of .470 and the other Roughriders franchise with a winning percentage of .458. Then they talked about the run of 11 consecutive Western Conference final between 1966 and 1976 but paid more attention to the one Grey Cup ring and the falling apart act that the Team has done including losing in the Western Final in 1972 with the best record of all-time in the CFL of 14 and 2. Then they decided that the wait for next year approach is a negative along with the idea of having save our roughriders telethons in the 80's and 90's is just wrong but in Toronto they have a wait for next year approach but for a different team who just be in a championship game O wait just make the playoffs and if they could raise money through a telethon they would but what little fan base the Argos have are all outside Toronto.

So they had paid more attention to the fans and just wins and losses than the likes of Calgary and Saskatchewan would closer to the Eskimos than sixth for Calgary and ninth for the Roughriders because the culture in Alberta and Prairies is what the CFL is run on and if Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg were not as big as they are in their communities the CFL would of gone like 20 to 25 years ago.

In the end Sportsnet is only competition for TSN because of Western Canada approach to broadcasting with a lot of their announcers coming to Toronto from out West and their idea of not thinking that the only thing that matters in what happens in Toronto unlike TSN and give the viewers in the West stories about their teams too. So with this story so Ontario driven they have lost their values a little and what makes them the alternative in sports broadcasting and gives them a chance to over take TSN as the sports leader they has been for over 25 years.

Please do not forget where U came from

Tom Mehegan

Will Zach Ryder get his title shot at Survivor Series ?

Zach Ryder in his backyard @ Madison Square Gardens will be a fan just like the 1996 and 2002 Survivor Series at the Garden but I believe that Zach Ryder will be the next United States Champion and after the reaction that he got at the end of Raw in Boston where the crowd chanted we want Ryder so loudly that CM Punk went back stage to get him for the live event finish. I do not know if some how John Morrison, who will be facing the United States Champion Dolph Ziggler on Sunday, will be taken out before the event starts and instead of Ziggler wrestling in the Survivor Series Match as a part of team Barrett only he will end up wrestling Zach Ryder with the pro Ryder crowd blowing the roof of MSG. So without question Zach Ryder will be the next United States Champion especially because he is without a doubt the third or fourth highest merchandise seller in the WWE as he has so many different items with at WWEshop.com like he has now a chain and a scarf to go along with the T-shirt, head band, the sunglasses, and the internet championship will be next so if he has all these things then it means that one fans are buying a lot of Ryder Merchandise and two he is making a bit of money for both the WWE and himself because he gets a cut of the sells.

When he does win the United States title at some point then it will be a huge thing and it will put a spot light on a non heavy weight championship which really has not happened in a long time and the closest maybe Cody Roades with the intercontinental but without the mask he is just another cookie cutter wrestler. So Ryder should get a couple of pay-per-view matches with the belt and maybe even head into Mania with it but that should be as big a title that he should win because if he becomes a World Champ it would not work because his character is not a top guy and he would lose his fan base because he has built it by being the underdog the WWE does not want to promote.

Long Island Ice Z rocks (Woo, Woo, Woo U Know it) so take care and USA (because Vince does not like SPIKE) your hair

Tom Mehegan

NHL Goalies are being taken out with an elbow to the head and it is a big black eye for the league

So right now NHL teams are looking at having a tough making the playoffs because of head hunting starting goalies which is quite a shame to see and it should not be happening at all as it is not a part of hockey.

First there is the whole Ryan Miller issue where even though he was not the usual Ryan Miller as he was 1 and 4 in his last 5 games where he gave up no less than 3 goals each game and only had one game where he had over a .900 save% the Sabres will be life and death to make the playoffs without Miller for a long stretch of time. Then when U look at Milan LUCIC head shot on Ryan Miller which took off Ryan Miller's mask off clean it looks like both parties are at fault for what happened as Ryan Miller was at the left side face off dot to try and get to the puck before Lucic and did but the reality is he was in no man's land and after clear the puck to the side boards just did not know what to do and was a target for a hit. On the other hand Milan Lucic did get a hit on Miller but it was an elbow to the head which is a move not to get an upper hand on him or even to shaken him up but the sole purpose of the elbow was to take him out for good and that is completely sickening to me because to go out of the way to pertinently injury a guy with no idea of when they will be back.

Also there is the issue of James Reimer getting clocked by Brian Gionta while still in his crease was a more clear black and white example of one player in the wrong and the other is a completely innocent bystander with Gionta taken clear advantage of getting an elbow to the head of James Reimer who was in his home. Brain Gionta took advantage of the situation because when he went across the crease Dion PHANEUF was battling with another Canadien player and they getting very close to the net and Gionta took advantage of what might of been Phaneuf slightly backing into Gionta at the end of the play. So now the Leafs have another rookie goalie named Ben SCRIVENS who is trying really hard to help the Leafs win games but then on the other hand U have the monster Jonas GUSTAVSSON is not a very strong net monster and is likely to heading back to Sweden sooner than later especially if the Leafs are now looking at bringing in Marty Turco who was close to have the monster backing him up in Dallas when he came over in 2009 from Sweden.

I would hope that these elbows to the head the NHL would have an automatic ejection from the game just like in the NFL if there is a hamlet to hamlet hit is an automatic 15 yard penalty as right now to teams are without their backbone out indiffidently and then the biggest star in the league Sidney Crosby has almost been out for a whole calender year because of a elbow to the head during an open ice hit.

Brendan Shannon this is your not challenge

Tom Mehegan