Steve Nash will have a lot of choices in the off-season

Steve Nash is ready to leave the valley of sun and not head for greener land but instead he will be looking for a shot or two at a championship trophy. At 37 years old Nash has a little time to get that ring and will not want to stay and just quietly set off into the sunset. So Nash will have a number offers to join the elite teams or the better teams in that second tear in the NBA and teams like the LA Lakers, Miami Heats, Dallas Mavericks, and OKC will be the most interesting situations and this is because Kobe Bryant is looking for a final run and Kobe and Nash would be a very good back court and strong forwards. Then there is the Heat situation it would be interesting to see if Nash could have the chance to find the open player and put up an even better offensive effort or he could back to Dallas and play catch with Dirk and it would be a very interesting to see how well Dirk and Nash will work together after 8 seasons apart where Nash has won two MVP and Dirk has a MVP in 2007 and NBA Finals MVP in 2011. OKC with Durant down front and Westbrook at shooting guard and it will be fun to watch his interactions with the super super super stars while the Magic maybe bring him in to try to keep Superman @ Walt Disney World.

In the end no matter what Nash will be on the move and taken a team to the next level

Tom Mehegan

Don Landry has finally arrived at TSN radio in Toronto but maybe only an one off thing

So this morning I woke up listen TSN 1050 in Toronto and I heard a familiar voice along side Jim Tatti and I know I had heard of it before and I most likely had heard it on the Fan 590 and when I finally heard that it was Don Landry I was very excited. It was a very intelligent Landry who talked about how if Tebowing works in New York then in the next couple of years more teams will use their backups on a more regular basis and how before Steve Young there were no running quarterbacks in the NFL but Young opened the door for guys like Doug Flutie to get a chance in the NFL. He also talked about how the fire wagon game against the Oilers was the last home win for the Leafs who have now lost 9 in a row at home and have taken a complete nose dive and that something must of happened around the game that disrupt the chemistry and that someone is likely to come out in two or three years and set the record straight.

It was very good to have Landry on TSN 1050 because that is a guy that I wanted on the radio when they started almost a year ago but it looks like it may of been an one off thing because his podcast Bill Hayes has been picked up by Newstalk 1010 every Wednesday night from 10 til midnight in the last couple of weeks. This means that he may of only been invited in for an one time visit kind of thing but I diffidently hope not because his sports knowledge sprinkled with some of his comedy gold would be a great addition to TSN radio especially on the overnight shift where ESPN radio is not cutting it and bringing a local voice with his local views and his comedy bites may help the station going into year two.

Don Landry is great

Tom Mehegan

Sean Payton is suspended for a season and Greg Williams is out indefinitely

The NFL has nailed the Saints after learning that they had a bounty system and now they are going to have a different head coach for the next season as their head coach for the past 6 seasons has been kicked out of the NFL for the 2012 season. So Payton is in trouble because their defense had a bounty program that awarded their players for injuring or knocking a player out of a game and they received money as their award. Sean Payton will probably continue to be the head coach of the Saints after the one season exile and it will be very interesting to see what will happen to Drew Brees who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2012 season after having the franchise tag put on him going into this off season which means he will not be franchised next season and he may want to get out of town and find a fresh start somewhere else. As it was a defensive bounty system so the person that has been hit the hardest is the new head coach of the Rams and former defensive coordinator of the Saints Greg Williams who brought the program in with him as he used it as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills and he will not be allowed to be apart of the NFL for an indefinite period of time and maybe not allowed back for a few seasons and now at the last second the Rams have been snowballed and will need to find a new head coach almost immediately. The Saints GM Mickey Loomis has been suspended for the first half of the 2012 season and also he will have to dip into his pocket and give the league a half a million dollars while assistant head coach Joe Vitt has been suspended for the first 6 games of the season so it will be a messy messy season in New Orleans maybe not like the 2011 Colts but everybody will be gunning for them because they have been embarrassing teams or the last few seasons.

The Saints were hit very hard for being caught for head hunting and lost their second round draft picks in 2012 and 2013 while Roger Goodell has sent e-mails to the other 31 teams in the league and has told them that if they are using a bounty system they will have to stop immediately. Then U look @ what happened or lack there of to the New England Patriots who were caught red handed by the league for stealing the other teams play calls and even did it on the biggest stage of all the Superbowl and they did not loss anything really except that since the league stepped in they have not won a Superbowl as they lost both to the New York Giants.

The NFL feels a lot stronger towards head hunting than stealing opponents' play calls

Tom Mehegan

Payton Manning choices the Broncos over the Titans and the Niners

So Payton Manning has decided that he is taken his talents to the Mile High City and the Denver Broncos but in this decision he taken the field conditions out of his hands as he has gone from playing most of his games inside a nice dome where the conditions will not change during the game. Now he is heading to Denver where the air is completely different and will take time to adjust to the more airy air and Payton will diffidently be getting himself used to the air situation by spending a lot of time playing catch outside but this the not the big road block is that the weather can change in a blink of an eye.

Payton Manning has played @ mile high stadium first on November 24 and went 27 of 44 (61.4%) for 229 yards with an interception in a 23-20 victory. The Second game was a last game of the season and throw 2 passes and completed one and the third game was a 34-31 victory and he went 32 of 39 (82.1%) for 345 yards and 3 TDs on October 29, 2006. His fourth and final game @ Mile High Stadium in a 27-13 victory and throw for 27 of 43 (62.8) for 325 yards and three more TDs on September 26th, 2010 which means he was 3 and 0 with passing% of 68.3 for 899 yards with 6 TDs and 1 INT so it looks like he was able to play there but with only one late November game so he may have not met the Denver weather conditions.

The Broncos receivers last season catching passes from less talented quarterbacks and Eric Decker had 44 receptions for 612 yards and 8 TDs while Demaryius Thomas had 32 receptions for 552 yards and 4 TDs and they will have better receiving yards next season with Payton Manning thrown them the ball.

Lets see how Payton will do as the Broncos starting quarterback

Tom Mehegan

Mario Williams is heading to buffalo and he will be getting paid huge

Mario Williams who was the prized piece of the defense players in the NFL free agency and he is heading to Buffalo to join the Bills as he will be much needed piece on the Bills defense as a pass rusher and could easily the best pass rusher since HOFer and the all-time sack leader in NFL history Bruce Smith left Buffalo in free agency in 1999 and still has way more sacks than any other Bills players with 171 sacks as a Bill. Mario Williams is getting a 6 year/100 million dollars with 50 million dollars signing bonus and he has only played 18 games over the last two seasons and has 13.5 sacks over that time and played 5 games last season and collected 5 sacks. He had some interesting injuries like a torn chest muscle last seasons and then missed the first 3 games because of a sports hernia but then U look at his first 4 seasons in the NFL played all 64 games that the Texans played and collected 39.5 sacks over those four seasons.

Getting a defensive end was the most pressing need of all for the Buffalo Bills was a pass rusher for a long long time with it hitting rock bottom this past season they had only 29 sacks with 10 of them being in a game against the Skins and it was not even a game in US because it was the Toronto, Ontario, Canada game. So it is a big risk bringing in Williams but money is simply money as contracts are not guaranteed but it will be interesting to see how much pressure Williams will get on the quarterback and what kind of space he will open up for all the other defensive linemen as he will be doubled teamed which will leave a guy unblocked. This move should also help them with their run defense as it will help free up a player to make the tackle and better the team going forward.

Now the Bills can look at their other holes in the team like the offensive line going into the 2012 season

Tom Mehegan

Calvin "megatron" Johnson is getting paid and will be staying in Detroit for a long time

Megatron a.k.a. Calvin Johnson is getting paid with a 8 year/132 million deal and 60 million dollars of it is guaranteed and for the Lions effort to make the deal happen free up money this season to go after a free agent as he was scheduled to make 22 million dollars this season and apart of the new deal he will be receiving 9 million dollars. Megatron is so much taller 6-5 than most corner backs so he has caught a pass in each of his 76 games and has more over 4 catches games than 1 or 2 catch games and has 21 100+ yards games including 2 200+ yard games and 5 150+ games so he can go down the field 10-15 yards and turn around and Drew Stafford throws the ball up and more often than not he will come down with the ball. Calvin has averaged 16 yards a catch and has 366 catches and almost 6,000 yards (5,872) over the past 5 seasons to go with 49 TDs along with 25 40+ yard catches and 96 20+ yard catches and when the Lions needs a first down they go to Megatron as he has 270 catches for first downs.

So this deal will be a great deal for the Lions because Megatron and Stafford will be a great pass/catch combination over the next 4 or 5 yards as Stafford is coming off his first 5000+ yards season and if they both stay healthy it will not be the only 5000+ season that he will have and Megatron will have even more 100+ yard games and 200+ yard games. So the Lions will be able to challenge the Packers in a couple of season with the D staying strong and will be able to be a future Superbowl contender.

This is the Lions so it will go wrong some how

Tom Mehegan

Bud Adams will do anything to get Payton Manning, Randy Moss finds a new home, and much more

Bud Adams wants Payton Manning as a Titan

Bud Adam will give Manning whatever he wants and would offer him a lifetime job in the Titan Organization after his retirement and has spoken to Manning's agent Tom Condon wishing to meet with the Manning family. So first Bud needs to get his Coach and GM on the same page as he is going forward and he should also pound home the key reasons that would interest Payton which are that they play in the AFC south so he can play the Colts twice a season, Chris Johnson is the Titans' running back, and it is warm and there will not be too many bad weather games in Tennesse. It would be a good fit for both sides and Reggie Wayne is a free agent and will likely go where Payton goes which is a combination that is one of the best in the NFL.

Randy Moss is heading to the golden gate bridge

Jim Harbaugh after turning around Akili Smith he is going to take a bigger challenge bringing in Randy Moss who has not been on the same page as his teammates the late time he was in the NFL in 2010 where he separated himself from his Patriots teammates and then went to Minnesota where the only thing he did was complained about a mom and pups catering team catering a Vikings lunch and then headed to Tennessee where he sat on the bunch. This a single season in the career of Randy Moss and Jim Harbaugh is hoping that being out of the NFL for a season may change Moss's focus to just playing ball and if so Moss would better the Niners but if not Harbaugh will fall from Grace and take his first miss step in his coaching career.

Mark Sanchez's renegotiated his deal to free up cap space for the Jets

The Jets have renegotiated Sanchez's contract to free up 6 million dollars as he is going to get 8 million signing bonus and a 3.25 salary and a 500,000 dollars off-season workout bonus and it is the same salary just structured differently. Then next season he will get 8.75 million guaranteed instead of 6 million dollar non-guaranteed and in total he will make 20.5 million guaranteed instead of 17.75 non-guaranteed to basically earn 2.75 more over the next two season. In the end it will come down to if Sanchez can keep Rex Ryan out of his head and be a leader in the locker room and keep everybody on the same page and focused on winning on the field instead of what happens away from the field.

Tom Mehegan

NHL should be adding a luxury tax on to their salary cap in the CBA this off-season

So the NHL salary cap ceiling for the 2011-12 NHL season is 64 million dollars and that makes the profitable teams like The Maple Leafs, Flyers, Blackhawks, Bruins, Canucks, Rangers, and Canadiens are laughing all the way to the bank because even when they put 10-15 million a season into a pot to be divided between the teams that are struggling noise high in red ink as they are being hammered by having to reach the cap floor which is 48 million dollars. So the cap floor needs to be lower a lot as in 10-15 million dollars in the next NHL CBA that needs to be finalized before the NHL starts their 2012-13 season and it will help teams like the Panthers, Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, Coyotes, and even maybe the Predators. This creates a huge road block in negotiation between the owners and NHLPA because the NHLPA will not have anything to do with the average players salary going way down and the only way to make both sides happy would be if the Salary Cap gets adjusted and a luxury cap should be added to it just like in Major league Baseball and the National Basketball League and they could put a cap on the Luxury cap which allow teams that can afford the luxury tax can go or the cap by 15-20 million. In a way the luxury tax will also help the poorer teams because there will be of course a tax which could be between 20-50% of the amount a team goes over the cap which with a 20% penalty would add up to 50 thousand every million a team goes over the cap and that will be added to the relief fund that the poorer teams in the league. For the more wealthier teams if they max out the luxury cap they will end up having a mid-80 million dollars and with the help and the penalties they max out at less than 100 million and teams like the Detroit Red Wings (struggling at the gate), Rangers, Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and now even both the Canucks and the Blackhawks (because winning is bringing more fans to the game since the cap appeared) had a 100 million plus payroll back in the uncapped past in the NHL.

If it happens it would allow the wealthy teams to throw their money around and continue to give players silly contract after silly contract and would also allow bigger trades to happen during the trade deadline which is a snore feast since introduction of the salary cap system.

It would be more fun to watch

Tom Mehegan

Payton Manning is the biggest free agent since Reggie White in NFL history

Peyton Manning is the biggest Free Agent since Reggie White was a free agent in 1993 which was the biggest free agent in NFL history as he had 124 sacks in 8 seasons with the Eagles and was only 32 years-old when he was signed by God a.k.a. Ron Wolf , the GM of the Green Bay Packers, and had 6 more seasons with the Packers and he had 68.5 sacks in those 6 seasons. Payton Manning is the biggest free agent since then as he has put up almost 60,000 yards through the air (54,828) and has a completion% of 64.9 and twice as many TDs (399) to INTs (198) and ended his Colts career with a QB rating 94.9 and at 36 years old he still has 3 or 4 good seasons left in his arm that has had over 4000 yards a season in 12 of his 14 seasons as a Colt.

Now when the free agent market opens March 13th there will be a number of teams in line for the services of Payton Manning and he may want to go to a place where he could stick it to the Colts twice a year like the Houston Texans or Tennesse Titans. Then there are teams that may be wanting Manning to take them to the promise land and those are the New York Jets who have rumored in the sweepstakes since before the end of the 2011 regular season and then the Mannings would rule the big apple and then there is the Baltimore Ravens who are looking at the final stand with the great Ravens and they might get him to try to get another ring. Then there is the Niners who were a fumble away from getting to the Superbowl with Alex Smith under center and he was almost a journey man back-up or in the arena league before this past season and could be looking at Manning to put them over the top. Then there are teams just looking for something to market and make them better including the Washington Redskins (who go after big names), the Miami Dolphins (who are in need a QB), and even a team like the Cleveland Browns (to give the fans something to get their hopes up) or the Seattle Seahawks (so Manning meets the 13th man).

Manning will have lots of options to choose from in the market and it will be very interesting

Tom Mehegan

The Maple Leafs Handcuff themselves with the Mikhail Grabovski contract extension

The Maple Leafs who are up against the cap will have decisions to make going into next season as Mikhail Grabovski signed a 5 year/27.5 Mil contract extension for a player who has played four full seasons in the NHL and has scored in the 20's in goals three of the seasons. This really says how much the free agent market is completely soft as Grabovski is the second biggest forward in the upcoming market behind Zach Parise and he would likely have gotten between 4-5 mil a season from other teams but the question is would any of the teams given him anywhere near the Leafs 5.5 Mil.

Now the Grabovski deal will put a lot more pressure on him and it is likely that he could struggle under the pressure as this contract would be the kind of contract a player that consistently scores 30 to 35 goals a season. This means that Grabovski will need to take it to the next level with his game and that will include playing better on the back check.

This contract will probably go down with contracts that the Leafs have handed to Jeff Finger (4 years/14 mil) and Mike Komisarek (5 years/22.5 mil) and then there is the trade for Dion Phaneuf where the Leafs traded all their free agent market money for a player who has not and most likely not come close to the 60 points that he put up in the '07-'08 season when he signed a 6 year/ 39 mil contract that the Flames were glad to get rid of and did not need anything in return except cap relief which they got.

Also the Leafs do not look like they have the brains to be able to pick a blue chip prospects as any of the prospects that are good are likely a second or third line forward like Nazem Kadri or a third D-man like Luke Schenn or Jake Gardiner. Even worse now a deal to get a superstar like Rick Nash is out of the picture as they could of moved Komisarek to the Marlies as no one would take his contract and Tim Connolly could of been bought out which would of freed up the room to bring in Nash but now under the cap system they need to find room for the extra 2.6 mil Grabovski will start to make next season.

Finally the CBA is up at the end of the season and I can not see it going up by a lot but the floor may diffidently be lowered

Tom Mehegan

Union station is flooded which has created cause on the streets of Toronto

So it is a wonderful day in the beautiful city in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with a high wind alert in effect and gray skies all around and the busiest subway station in the city which is Union station is flooded so no Subway service to the station and there is no service on the busiest street which is Young street is the downtown area between Bloor and the lake shore. So this all means that there are only buses on the busiest street in the city so with less extra staff available which creates less buses being able to be in service so feels like there are no buses there. So People walking in herds down Young street heading towards the lake shore and more importantly Union Station where all the trains out of the city including Via Railway that gets people across the country.

It is a weekend which brings out the lazier drivers anyway who do not like to stay on schedule and because there are usually no supervisors on the job so U usually see buses and more likely streetcars heading down streets in backs of 3 or 4 in a row. While Subway drivers are usually driving slower and spending more time not moving than on weekdays and I saw a streetcar driver refusing to give a customer a transfer so they could get on another streetcar in the opposite direction because they missed their stop or because they were heading in the wrong direction and the reason the driver refused to give the transfer was because the customer did not ask for it when they got on the streetcar. This issue probably happened because the drivers on the street level were not given the information of what was going on in the subway which is a huge mistake because they have phones on each bus and streetcar and a board that I have seen other drivers look at the board receiving info and this is uncalled for because in this time of slow down they need to be super aware and make sure that customer service is more of a priority then usual. If it was simply a driver going by the letter of the law then these kind of workers are not need in the system because they give the service a horrible name and it is only a handful of bad apples that given the TTC a bad mane which gives extra problems to the good workers who are trying to do a great job and really earn their salary.

So its a bad day for the TTC

Tom Mehegan

Brain Burke brings in his buddy Randy Carlyle to coach the Leafs

Ron Wilson after four seasons of telling everybody he was a great coach but his record said a different story with 130 wins, 135 losses, and 45 overtime losses and did not get any higher than fourth in the north east division. So especially after the fans chanted "fire Wilson" in the third period of the Florida Panthers game it is a good idea but then U see that Randy Carlyle, who is the new head coach of the Leafs, is a buddy of Brian Burke so things really may not change a lot because it is another inside job. Carlyle who won a Stanley Cup with Burke in Anaheim in the '06-'07 season and has a .529 winning% and maybe he give a different voice to the room and they could roll off like four or five wins in a row to get themselves back into the playoffs but I believe Dallas Eakins should be the next coach of the Leafs after doing a good job with the Leafs prospects when they were with the Marlies. He would be a good coach for a Leafs team that is one of the youngest teams in the NHL and if the Leafs can get hot they could pass teams like the Panthers and Sabres along Capitals and get into the eighth spot and if the Senators fall a little they could get into seventh.

No matter what I hope this chances the Leafs chances to make the Playoffs

Tom Mehegan