Enter Blue Guy

This makes me want to put my face through a wall.

Strikeforce is a very reputable promotion, you could get a few respectable fights for Fedor there. Brett Rogers I assume is the money fight for them, possibly Overeem as well. But then who? Mike Kyle? Still seems completely possible he flies out to Japan and takes on Barnett, which is a horrible idea if you ask me. If Fedor himself is looking for exposure in North America, Strikeforce is not the place. It is still a distant second to the UFC and Fedor is still too much of an unknown in these parts to sell PPV's on hype alone. I can't believe that the exposure Fedor gained from Affliction met the standard his camp were hoping.

The whole thing has turned out to be Finkeldinkle looking out for his ideal deal with Fedor's services as the offer more than anything.

Good for Strikeforce, they win the prize. But if you are an MMA fan you have to feel like you just lost.

I read that Paul Buentello is back too. Solid heavyweight depth.

Belfort vs. Franklin is a way more interesting. I'm a big Belfort fan, happy to see him get such a high profile fight. WE BACK!

Don't know much about LC Davis, but Vazquez is awesome, nice to see him in the big leagues.

I'm a fan of the announce team. Very fluid in the sense that they can call the action and fit in their off the cuff comments without missing a beat. Two guys who you can tell love calling the fights and offer up an atmosphere as if they were sitting in your living room watching the fights with you.

I eat shit out of Joe Rogan's hands. I think the guy is hilarious and I have a very hard time disagreeing with him. He does go a little overboard sometimes with his own opinions, but that's just the passion he has for MMA.

Mike Goldberg is who he is. He's like Joe's wing man. Charismatic and almost charming. He makes Joe look like a million bucks. The only thing is that Goldie sometimes does it to a fault. Like when he says something that borders on being quite dense, Joe will fill him in, and almost before Joe is even finished talking he comes in with his patented "great point!" line. That's about it.

I had a hard on for Bas. He was the bee's knees in PRIDE, now everybody says he is overrated. He was so corny on purpose, I loved it. But then he'd turn it on and break down the action down better than anybody. If you could get past him being all Dutch and shit. I think if English was Bas' native tongue, he'd be the king of commentary. Easily.

Frank Mir is an awesome colour man too.

Let's do the math:

After four years in Sweden, Stralman played 50 games in the NHL (plus his AHL games, which we shall discount for the purpose of statistical analysis).

His stat line:

50 Games, 9 Points, Or 0.18 Points Per Game.

He's actually improved on that. Last year was his second year on the team and got 13 points in 36 games. 22 pts in 88 games.

It would've been cool if they could have kept Stralman around longer, but the guy needs playing time and he ain't finding it here. He would've been the Kaberle of the Marlies or a healthy scratch. He could have been a worthy project to continue to work on and possibly help to replace Tomas as a solid puck mover. I mean if the Leafs didn't already have 60 guys playing defense of course.

I think he was bound to go some time in the Brian Burke era anyways. This is Schenn Country now and it'll be hard enough to utilize the multifaceted skill set of the lovely and talented Mr. Ian White.

Mayers, Primeau, Orr? Are you kidding me? The hijinx from the coming season alone will be worth hearing about all the Jesus levels of talented we wasted if Stralman becomes the next Brad Boyes. I hope the Habs' training staff has a full stock of Depends on hand for those Toronto games. The thought of being stuck on the ice with our forth line and a defensive pairing of Schenn and Beauchemin/Komisarek/Exelby/anything on skates is causing a massive blue, red, and white shit stain all across Montreal. WE WANT THE BELT! WE WANT THE BELT!

Ha! Chicago's new toy broke before they could even take it out of the box.

...are you waiting for someone to ask what you are on top of?

Yes.

Wait.

What?

Anyways, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the first time Kimo has been dead.

Yeah it was at 205. My brain is very lazy. I'm not on top of the sport like I used to be.

Is Luiz Cane MIA or something? I don't think he has an opponent or a date set for a fight or anything, right? Hasn't he called Franklin out by name?

I think people gave Cane way too much shit because he didn't send Steve Cantwell into Boliva like everybody was expecting. IIRC, Cane was working him well in the first but Cantwell stayed alive and started to respond rather effectively. I don't think Cane was expecting that and a mix of frustration and discouragement likely played a role in how the rest of the fight went. Considerable, since Luiz was still lacking big league experience.

Hendo/Ace should be another good fight but I thought Dan's win was pretty convincing. Now they are moving up a weight class in which I think Hendo is probably much more comfortable in than Rich.

They could have easily squeezed Dan into another fight against Anderson and it would have made sense.

The wikipedia page says Bruce has a cameo

Damn, I wish I didn't read that.

A completely unexpected Bruce Willis cameo would've been the icing on this phallic shape beast of a cake.

"Suggesting" isn't the best way to put it, as I did. There is a possibility that it could have been suicide.

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=AqYK...p&type=lgns

I didn't see this thread before.

I like boxing, not a huge fan but Gatti was king. He was beloved around these parts.

I really hope he didn't take his own life like they are suggesting now. I mean it's already tragedy he was killed, but even the notion of suicide makes me sad.

I don't think Gionta was photoshopped into that picture. That's him, legit.

Gomez looks happy. He must be looking forward to all those delicious pasta dishes his line mates will be dropping off to him at home when he's out for a few months with Schenndonitis.

Was Dana White wearing a dress when he tweeted that?

Tito bores me to tears and is not relevant to the UFC LHW picture. Please, Mr. White, can we have a fight were the somebody benefits from a win? Stupid main eventless UFC 103.

Tito is no walk in the park for Franklin, but... c'mon. His time is done. Tito Ortiz is a shell and if a fight with Franklin goes down, his year long layoffs, his surgically repaired back and knees, and the fact his opponent will not be Ken Shamrock will be very evident. The guy hasn't had a clear cut, decisive win against anybody that matters since Patty Cote. And the only thing people remember about that fight was Cote knocked him down kinda.

Meh, UFC is a business. Tito still has a loyal following. The belief is that Tito still equals fan interest and I guess Rich could use a win over somebody with name value.

I do actually enjoy how easily Tito can get under Dana's skin, though.

That whole thing sounded a lot more bitter than I intended it to. Double meh.

Squeaky clean.

Offensively challenged? Eat those words when Jiri Tlusty breaks all kinds of rookie scoring records then waves his very naked penis in Carey Price's face. Maybe he'll cock smack him a few times too. Maybe Jamal Mayers puts the stamp on Travis Moen while Colton Orr skates around aimlessly because big Georges didn't even bother to bring his skates to the game.

Grant by UD. Who's up for a big ol' Canadian Bandwagon ride!?! I don't trust Asians fighting on North American soil. Especially for the first time. They tend to disappoint IMO.

Kim has fought here 3 times.

How dare you notice everything. His entire UFC career went right over my head apparently.

The main events went exactly how I thought they would. The only thing I didn't think of was the fact that Alves would come in looking like a horse. Georges looked tremendous clearly out weighed by like 20 pounds. He had Thiago's leg kicks timed perfectly and did work with the single. I loved Jackson's reaction to GSP's torn groin. "Don't worry about your groin... HIT HIM WITH YOUR GROIN!"

Lesnar is just too much mass too bet against. At one point Brock had serious arm and wrist control behind Frank's head so easily I thought he was just toying with him. With the huge meat hook collar tie-up from half guard, cradling Frank's head down to the left and making his life hell. Disgusting domination of position. Then he wins and goes ballistic. I love it. Whatever stern talking to Dana gave Brock was purely for the slight jab at Bud. Other than that, Dana probably stained his pants last night thinking about the kind of attention can Brock attract

Dan knocked a couple years off of Bisping's career. That shot was devastating. Perfectly executed. I don't think Dan tried to throw the right in the second up til the KO. Joe pointing out Bisping's constant movement to the left and Dan being so patient with that right hand, you knew a bomb was coming. Moments later, Bisping goes into a state of retardom.

I liked the Akiyama decision. I was expecting it to go the other way, but overall I thought it was Akiyama who fought the smarter fight. Scored a few take downs, forced a some knock downs, and didn't let Belcher take any liberties besides the leg kicks and that ridiculous springboard punch that Akiyama just stood there and took for some reason. Belcher had the one knock down, the only one I remember, but Akiyama was landing with more authority. Anybody pick up what caused the swelling Akiyama's eye? Goldy speculated it might have been a finger poke.

Finally, feel good story of the night is Mark Coleman's first win in the UFC in over 10 years! Hooray!

My bold predictions

Brock by TKO. Nog was bound to get put to sleep hard eventually. His whole career has been based on taking a beating and making the miraculous comeback. The elastic band is pretty worn out now.

Mir's stand up is very polished, but I can't see him being able to get inside and land flush as easily against Brock, not with the physical threats Lesnar presents. Mir is talking about how Lesnar can't just stand there in front of him, I think it's Mir that has to worry about that. Brock isn't going to keep this a squared up in the center of the cage, Mir needs to keep the outside otherwise he is gong to get tied up and Brock is going to dominate the position game until he gets what he wants.

It looks like Frank has the ability to outclass Lesnar on the feet, but he can't be as brash with his flashy combos as he was against a broken down Nog. I'm sure Brock is just wait for Frank to get cocky with a couple head kicks, then come in with a huge goring takedown.

GSP by TKO. GSP is a master of timing and execution. There is no doubt in anybody's mind Alves wants this standing up and GSP being GSP, always getting better and excelling in the big fight atmosphere, will have a well formulated game plan to get the win. Alves needs to catch GSP, hurt him, and just punish him relentlessly. He's going have to chop Georges down like a tree if he wants the win.

Hendo by KO. Bisping will be the quicker step, but Dan will wear him out and bully him. I'd say TKO, but I can picture Dan coming out for the third round and planting Bisping on the button with his hook or uppercut.

Fitch by UD. *Edit: missed this... er, Fitch wins. Yay?

Belcher by UD. Mild upset special! Akiyama starts stong, but if Belcher weathers it I can see him gutting out a three round decision.

Bonnar by sub. Poor Coleman. Bonnar is too tactical for the cumbersome Rusty Hammer.

Danzig by sub. I like Miller's heart. He's powerful and aggressive, but I think he's a little too vanilla for Danzig not to pull something out. Mac cannot afford to lose, so he will be looking for a stoppage for sure.

Jones by UD. Two powerful dudes. Jones just happens to be the more dynamic and is due to break out huge soon. It's destiny for Jones to take the dominate win.

Grant by UD. Who's up for a big ol' Canadian Bandwagon ride!?! I don't trust Asians fighting on North American soil. Especially for the first time. They tend to disappoint IMO.

Ales Kotalik weighs 230? I've never given him too much attention, I mean he has played in the teeny tiny market of Buffalo for 99% of his career, I just assumed he was like 180 or something.

Like most Canadians, I've seen this top ten like five times since last night, but some might not have.

Top Ten Things We Love About Captain Clutch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAHUPMbUUy8

I'd much rather have Finger on the squad than Exelby. I think it's a must. His salary should at least warrant him a full-time job at the start of season. He isn't as tough as Exelby, but the only thing that Finger lacks in comparison is about 10 pounds. Finger wins on every other category besides girth and nastiness. It's not like Finger is a small dude who can't throw the body and he was one of a few who would back up his teammates when it needed to be done last season. Last year our defense was made almost entirely of balsa wood, so having two competent reserves in Frogren and Exelby could be useful, if they can manage it.

Finger should not and most likely won't be an odd man out.

I feel bad for Van Ryn. Out of the back end players in limbo, I can see him being the most likely to see the door. Shame. Every time he was in the lineup last year he was exceeding expectations, especially on the powerplay. Maybe he wasn't a top four d-man anywhere else, but he was doing the job better than anybody could have hoped. Then Milan Lucic happened a few times. Hey, at least if he manages to find his way back this year, Komi can hold him down while Van Ryn punches him in the stomach.

Kabby will not go anywhere. No matter how many times people say he is leaving, he always ends up staying. Before you know it, deadline day will come around. A deal for a hot, young, top line sniper will fall through. And we'll do it all over until the contract expires and Tomas will end up somewhere in the South East.

But it's ok, I hope Kaberle stays. Beauchemin would be perfect for Luke to play with and learn from, but I think Frankie could be the best thing to happen to Tomas since pre-lockout Bryan McCabe. Similar type of player, but better defensively, better shot, and can land checks that aren't all can openers. I'm pretty sure he isn't hard of sight either.

Or Beauchemin could end up this year's free agent goat, who knows!?!

The Joe has been a horrible building for the Pens. Ok, it's been a horrible building for anybody without a winged emblem (the wings of a penguin don't count). Even if Pittsburgh forces game seven, even if they blow them out on Tuesday... The most skilled team of the modern era, with an extra day of rest, playing in a building that has been more like a prison for most teams, who would love to give the fans the Cup clinching win at home that they didn't get last year. Is it too bold to add Detroit Red Wings hockey in there with death and taxes?

I guess you can't count out the team that has Batman and Superman on it's roster. Only problem is their goalie turns into Robin playing at Detroit.

The only things I remember about Baumgartner were that he'd fight anything that was breathing and he looked a lot like Kelly Gruber.

That's right. I dusted off Kelly Gruber's name and threw it out there.

Zezel gave it all, man, skating around the ice like a bull. I remembered he had almost like a cult following. Reading and hearing what people have to say about him, I guess I remember correctly. I loved him, but then again my dad tells me I used to like Kent Manderville too because he had big, goofy ears, so I guess it wasn't hard for me to buy into a player.

I was at the Gardens for one of my first games and Zezel did something of note and I stood up a yelled something like "Yay Peter Zezel!". The guy in front of us turned around and introduced himself as Peter Zezel's dad. So that was pretty cool.

My heart truly aches for his family. 44, gone way too soon.

RIP Peter Zezel!