Enter Blue Guy

At least they've been coming to play on the day of worship. 9-6 on HNIC this season so far and 4-1 in 2009.

They played great last night. Jason Blake is indeed very fun to watch right now. The belly slide, then seconds later puts home a beauty.

Just makes Fleury look silly.

Again, I have to go back to the alter and praise #2. He fucked up early, but he ended playing big minutes with a solid defensive game against Sidgeni Crosbin. And he had a great hit on Crosby to cap it off.

Ian White continues to be a hidden gem, he had a tremendous game last night. I wouldn't be surprised if he attracts some attention at the deadline as a piece of a multi-player deal, but I'd love for him to stay on the Leafs.

MATT STAJAN SCORED!

And I think most importantly, Antropov and Poni had multi-point games. Pad those stats, baby! It's been fun, but now it's time make you two more useful than you've ever been. As trade bait.

The few times I've seen "professional" eating on television, it actually made me feel sad. Then angry. And to be honest, a little hungry too.

I can watch most sports if the atmosphere is right. Baseball is probably my least favorite, but if it's an entertaining game with a lively, more than half empty crowd, I can watch a few innings. It helps if you are pretty baked. It helps suck you into the game. I'll give baseball it's due, it is fun to play.

Golf I won't even watch for a second. Again, it is fun to play once in a while, though. Before you want to rip your hair out. And I suck, so I'm spent on a round quite quickly.

A lot of people over here shit on soccer (football, sorry) but much like baseball, I can watch an entertaining game with a great atmosphere. With much more ease than I can baseball. And I don't even need to be baked either. Once more, it is fun to play, so it's in my good books.

WNBA isn't even on my radar.

I don't mind tennis, but it gets kind of boring rather quick for me.

NASCAR, or any motor sport really, I can't watch, though. It's just plain boring to me.

I want to smack people that call poker a sport. Or pro video gaming or whatever you would call it.

I don't remember the story. Was he rolling or sparring? If he was sparring on fight day, he is a dumbass. As far as I know, you shouldn't be punching anything but pads on fight day. If he was rolling and simply bumped heads, then I can understand.

The tale of their season so far is that are very beatable, but they have been playing great over the last week. Elliot has been damn good in net.

Gwen Stefani circa 95-97. I still love her, just not in pre-teen crushy way.

I'm pretty sure those who wanted to watch Kimbo where watching anyways. He could have been put up against pillow case full of ground beef and the same audience that would have watched him fight Shammy would have been there. Blaming Ken is stupid as fuck. Fact of the matter is Kimbo was EXC only distinguishable selling point and he lost to Seth after an off-footed jab that made him look like chump change.

The blame for the failure of EXC should go squarely on those who involved in running the promotion, failing to attract an audience of their own, besides those who where interested in Kimbo.

Strikeforce should be commended for digging deep and finding it's own way that separates themselves from the UFC. Maybe not direct competition, but EXC management and whoever else could've only dreamt about being as legit as Strikeforce has become.

...Yeah, I got nothing. I fucked up.

So, Leafs and Pens tonight, eh? Sounds like a superb ice hockey match.

It's Ovie, baby. 200 hundred goals in 200 seconds.

Very repetitive, but if anything it proves that Alex's wrister is second only to Kovalchuk death laser. I'd like to know where they teach these Russians to shoot.

EDIT: Jesus, his slapshot is fucking bonkers accurate too.

I went to play Xbox and when I came back it was 4-3. Then no less than 20 seconds later Stamkos scored. Fack. At least it was a nice shot.

Cue the speculation wheel!

Is Frank really planning on fighting? I heard he might back out! Wait, now I heard he is going to fight with a scratched cornea. What's that? The fight will be fixed and is planned to end in the 3rd via injury, then they'll rematch sometime in 2013?!?

All joking aside, I'd love to see this fight. In a perverted way, I want Frank to win. I used to love Frank Shamrock, then I realized he is more than little flakey. The word "douchebag" comes to mind.

And fuck you Ontario, dilly-dallying on this MMA shit. I don't know the specifics, I don't care, but when Ireland and Germany and get cards sent their way, it's not sitting well with me.

Burke's price is 10 first round draft picks for Schenn. At least that's what he's told the public.

The Cammalleri rumors seem a little too good to be true. I'm not going to get excited until I know he is coming for sure, but if he did, it would be pretty damn cool. A good ol' Richmond Hill boy, born and raised just down the road from me, playing for the Leafs.

How is Kono obscure? He is a champion!

It's more in the name, though it helps if the player himself is obscure. Or random. Besides, as much of a beast he was for Washington in NHL 94, I'd say Steve is a pretty random player to throw out there.

My buddy and I were playing the obscure and random hockey player name game via text today. Spirited effort on both ends, but I finished it with a swift German Titov to the face and countered his Steve Konowalchuk with a Jiri Slegr nail in the coffin.

Classic time waster.

The ox that pulls the wagon from Oregon Trail.

The most obvious thing has been said already, more than once; the judges must be properly educated, then there should be a specific qualifications test before a judge can score MMA fights.

I don't think the 10 point system is right for MMA in general, three rounds isn't enough for it to be used properly. I don't think it's the worst thing and the sport isn't going to die as long is it's there, a lot of the suggestions in here would help the system for sure. I think there are more accurate ways to judge a sport with as many intricacies as MMA. If it was up to me, there would be a definitive point system and judges would only be needed for the debatable aspects of a decision.

First off, instead of the round by round, 10 point system, there would be a specific point based, full fight, criteria (which most people either love or hate. I love). It's mostly of the cuff and outside of the box, so please bear with it.

3 points for a clean knockdown of an opponent (no accidental slips. A clear slip after a strike would count as whatever the strike landed was. Anything resembling more of a push or trip would count as a takedown)

2 points for:

Landing a power strike

Landing a clean knee to the head or body in the clinch

Successfully executing a takedown

Achieving full mount

A submission attempt that is fully locked in, but that doesn't end a fight

1 point for:

Landing a jab or an unchecked leg kick

Landing a clean punch in the clinch

Reversal into a dominant position

Achieving half mount, side mount, and rear mount (if any mount is achieved off a reversal, it would count as "reversal into dominant position" and nothing more)

-1 point for an accidental foul after ref issued warnings

-5 points for excessive fouling

Then finally when the judges come into play, judging the debatable fight factors

Who controlled the pace for the majority of the fight.

Who delivered the most damage.

Who was the more active fighter.

Something like 3 or 5 points for each, something that ends the fight with a definitive result.

Excessive? Time consuming? Maybe. Does it have it's flaws? Of course, not nearly as much as the system in place. For the most accurate results, it would take something like this.

Like I said, in a perfect MMA World. This would require video replay, something that smaller promotions may not have access to unless every AC that regulates MMA designates the proper equipment along with the judges it sends to sanctioned events.

As it is now, the must is for is that the judges are qualified to the highest standard. I think after that, the only thing you can ask for is that fans and fighters realize MMA is a sport. Not a brawl where only one can leave on their feet. There are imperfections in they way we determine a sudden death winner in most sports, a lot of which fans and players have reason to bitch about. But for the most part, they've gotten used to it and went with the flow. I think the best we can have it something along the lines of Wrath of Kane's scoring.

I've seen a lot of hockey this year, no team in the East has their elbows up and takes runs from behind like the Habs did last night. That was ridiculous. Everybody has something to say about fighting this season, but I'll say the more disturbing trend is how often guys are hitting from behind, especially since a lot of times it isn't a result of a guy turning away from a hit. What's even worse is how easily it can go unpenalized. It will probably take a serious injury or worse inside the NHL for the league to seriously shift their attention to the nature of some of these hits.

Great game for the Buds, though. Besides some stupid penalties of course, but when Luke Schenn scores his first NHL goal as part of a winning effort in Montreal, you really can't complain about anything the Leafs did wrong last night. It helps that they did a lot right too. Brad May forces Laraque to burn a fight that had no affect on the game, then he sets up the screen for Luke's goal. Toskala had one of his best games, though the Habs looked so off the mark last night they could have lost a game of tee ball to a group of 7 year olds. And Jason Blake is still in Superman mode, taking over the team points lead last night.

And I was pretty happy Mats picked three points last night too. I still love the guy and a three point night out of a Leaf jersey is just fine with me. Maybe ending the game as a minus player helped me enjoy it a little more.

1. Bobby Orr

2. Gordie Howe

3. Mario Lemieux

4. Maurice Richard

5. Patrick Roy

The guy to watch out for is Tank #41. All of a sudden Kulemin is throwing his weight around and I love it. Actually now he is trying to hit everything, maybe he should calm down a bit. I never realized how solid he was built until recently. All his stats pages says he's 183. Fucking lies! If I'm betting on somebody coming out of nowhere to have Garbo's back tonight, I'll throw one out there and say Kulemin.

I know the ass-reaming of a practice Ron gave the team after the Buffalo game was probably enough of a message to step up tonight, but I really hope he at least touches base on their need to be mean out there if they don't want to look like chumps. Again. For love of God, boys, play with some pride tonight.

Yeah that's a pretty cool story.

We may not be making the playoffs, but we can still be dicks to those trying. I'm hoping the excitement from the last few games carries over tonight. Back to back home wins? Savor the small achievements. So for that to happen, tonight Luke Schenn scores. It's in the air.

Poor Craig Hartsburg...you had to sign with Ottawa and have your first chance as a coach in the NHL mucked up like this.

Poor Craig Hartsburg, you short-changed his career!

Maybe next time the Sens can ride a coach out for a whole season.

He fought Chris Neil.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=iCeu99f9TD0

I'll echo the Blake love. Everything that needs to be said about his turn around this season, has above me.

Luke Schenn. It almost seems to good to be true what's going on with this kid. Not only playing in the league at 19, but playing effectively, doing serious work in the corners and along the boards, fighting at the right times, throwing big hits on big stars, and his doing it all with the confidence of a seasoned vet. I think I've said that like three or four times word for word in this thread already. Whatever, Luke Schenn is exactly what the Maple Leafs need at the this time. A legit young star who is not only showing he could captain this team one day, he is playing brand of hockey that is going help make the philosophy shift of the team as smooth as it possible can. Burke and Ron have wet dreams about Schenn at least twice a week. Last night for sure.