I have said it too many times before, there is no dumber animal on this planet then the professional athlete. Well now we can add the Olympic athlete to the list..Not that Ben Johnson or Flo-Jo hadn’t already….

“Phelps’ aides went into a panic over our story and offered us a raft of extraordinary incentives not to run the bong picture. ”
“Our source revealed: “Michael came to visit Jordan but ended up just getting wasted every night.
“He arrived with a group of girls hanging all over him. Jaws hit the floor when he walked in. You don’t get many celebrities in Columbia, so when Phelps comes to your party it’s a very big deal.
Obnoxious
“He didn’t know many people so you’d think he’d be a little shy. But he was loud, obnoxious and slamming beers from the get-go.
“Every girl wanted a piece of him and every guy wanted to be his best buddy. He couldn’t get enough of all the attention.”
As he basked in his hero status, Phelps knocked back beers and shots of spirits. And when a student offered him the glass bong engraved with red writing, he did not hesitate, says our source. ”

Read more here…

Thanks to CP, the official photographer of TSM:

Toronto has recalled Anton Stralman from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies to take Kaberle’s place for tonight’s game against the Penguins. The 22-year old Stralman has one goal and six assists in 25 games this season. Too bad Jame Sifers didn’t get the call!

So, we have now seen first hand the risk of waiting until the deadline to make a move. It’s the age old problem of do you wait until value is at it’s peak or do you go the safe route and trade before your assets may get injured. Clearly the critics will say Burke waited too long. Others will say that he would get more closer to the deadline. The reality is know one knows how long Kaberle will be out. Some guys heal quickly. Others take longer. If it’s 3 weeks Kaberle may get some time back. Four weeks will be tight for sure. Teams will want to see medical records before trading for him. He is not an old guy, teams will know what they are getting. If they are satisfied with the medical reports they will make the trade. If they aren’t satisfied with the reports they won’t. You can’t blame Burke for this one…..

Kabs broke a bone in his hand in Colorado…more from TSN here

Good news for those that want the Leafs to drop to the bottom….but this was a guy that could have fetched a nice package….could be tough now.

LT

For those who haven’t seen today’s Toronto Star there is a great piece on Doug Gilmour. This one by Kevin McGran is different in that 2 current Toronto Maple Leafs hockey players, Jeremy Williams and John Mitchell discuss growing up Gilmour fans:

“Williams: He can’t be your favourite player, he’s my favourite player.

Mitchell: He’s your favourite player too?

Williams: It was either Doug Gilmour or Mario Lemieux.

Mitchell: Did you wear Doug Gilmour’s number in minor hockey?

Williams: I wore it in Triple A.

Mitchell: So did I.

Williams: When I was on Team Saskatchewan I wore No. 93. (Williams explained he usually couldn’t get the number on his club team.) I lived in a small town and you couldn’t pick your number. They just gave you a ratty jersey from 10 years before.

Mitchell: When I played in Hamilton in Triple A, for four years I wore 93. Ninety-three, tucked the jersey in the side. Used the Titan stick. I was a big fan, big supporter.

Williams: Big geek.

Mitchell: No. I was a kid.

Williams: Sure. Dweeb.

Mitchell: I was a kid who idolized his favourite player. What’s wrong with that?

Williams: You got picked on.

Mitchell: No, I didn’t. I was looked up to, because I wore No.93.

(He now wears No. 39.)”

Good stuff. Nice to hear from some of today’s Toronto Maple Leaf hockey players how they too idolized and emulated Doug Gilmour….It’s still a kids game!

Read McGran’s interviews with former players here

Should be a great night down at the ACC as, perhaps the greatest Maple Leaf player in my adulthood is honored. Doug Gilmour, as the ad on 640 Toronto says, restored the passion in the Maple Leafs. Until he arrived the buds were mired in a slump that had lasted over a month. I was returning home from the Christmas holidays and thankfully someone had left a day old toronto newspaper on the plane, in one of our seats for us to find when we boarded. I remember reading the news and thinking WOW this is awesome. Awesome it certainly was. Cliff, Doug and Pat. How very cool it was. It was really fun to be a leaf fan again. The guy was everything we ever wanted in a leaf player.

I have tried to immerse Little TSM in as much hockey, especially Maple Leaf nostalgia as possible. We were fortunate enough to run into Doug at Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls Ontario a couple of years ago. We first saw him on Friday night. Mrs. TSM and I took Little TSM to see the fireworks over the falls and brought him back to the hotel very late. As we were waiting for the elevator we ran into Gilmour. He could not have been nicer to us, especially Little TSM. He asked him his name, who old he was, if he played hockey etc. He also posed for this photo. The next morning (happened to be NHL draft day) we were in the restaurant eating breakfast watching TSN disect the Roberto Luongo trade to Vancouver. Gilmour and his entourage walked into the restaurant and without missing a beat, he came right over to our table (and the restaurant was full) and said “Little TSM, did you see who got traded this morning?? He gave him a big hug and a high five!” As a parent it was one of the coolest things a guy like Gilmour could have done. Little TSM was all of 4 at that time and had no clue who he was, but we have the photo, one day perhaps we will get it signed for him.

My favorite Gilmour story however involves the wife of a family friend. “Allison” was in her doctor’s office in the height of the Gilmour era. She was at the reception desk and was pretty sure that the guy standing next to her was someone famous. “Allison” kept staring at the guy and smiling, sure that she knew him. The guy smiled at her and nothing was said between the two of them. “Allison” left the office and went to her car. It then hit her. She knew how she knew him! Overcome with excitement, “Allison” ran back into the doctor’s office ran up to the guy and said, ” I know how I know you!” The guy nodded and smiled again and was about to say something when “Allison” screamed, “Your the guy from the Milk commercials, with the cow legs!” The best part of the story was “Allison” recounting the story to her husband, a devoted Maple Leafs fan! Can you imagine what Gilmour thought?

In any event, I only hope that at some time soon, Burke is able to repeat Cliff’s magic and bring Little TSM his Gilmour. With no disrespect to others who have followed Gilmour, there really hasn’t been anyone to come close to filling his skates. The only good thing about his career ending injury after being traded back to Toronto is that he finished off his career a Maple Leaf.

One of my favorite beat writers Adrian Dater has a great story today in response to the call last night in the Maple Leafs Avalanche game. If you want the gist of it, all you need to see is this:

Anyways, AD also has a couple of interesting predictions for the AVS as they relate to their needs. First however I thought you leaf fans would find some humor in this:

“Tonight, we had a goalie (Andrew Raycroft) give up seven goals against the team that bought his contract out to rid themselves of him. He was, in essense, the replacement for Theodore. You had a guy named Darcy Tucker go pointless in an 11-goal game against his former team, which also bought out his contract to rid themselves of him. This is the guy who was said to be the answer to the loss of Brunette.”

Sounds like a a beat writer for a team which is suffering from buyer’s remorse.

Anyway, back to the potential needs:

“Something should happen soon I think. I still totally believe a defenseman is going to be dealt for some kind of forward help, and one of those D-men will be named Clark, Leopold or Salei.
Clark is my bet, but his contract could be a hindrance. As much as I admire Clarkie for sticking his body in front of every shot, he’s been a disappointment offensively and there just seems to be too many of his kind already on the blue line. I think another overlooked thing about this team is the fact that it’s not big enough. Anybody who watched San Jose totally manhandle this team the other night couldn’t help but be struck at how much smaller the Avs seemed than them. This team needs to get bigger and badder, up front and on the blue line. And they need another goalie. I still haven’t gotten a good explanation from anybody why a team that overpaid and tolerated and nurtured and finally rehabilitated a goalie (Theodore) back to his old self suddenly got all concerned about a million dollars a year – the amount over a two-year deal it would have taken to keep him – and cut him loose.

Forget Salei- he is too old, same with Brett Clark, Leopold is at least under 30(barely). So perhaps the Avalanche will need to sweeten the pot to get one of the Leafs forwards. However, if they are looking for a goalie, Vesa would love to be re-united with his pal Andrew Raycroft. Wishful thinking? I can tell you that a Sherpa, who has been very quiet unless there is a major deal about to go down texted me that things are hot between the avalanche and the maple leafs….

You can read Dater here…

There are two things to like this am. One is Jeff Blair’s article on Ron Wilson and Two is Ron Wilson himself.

Blair brings a level of journalism to the daily grind of covering the Maple Leafs we haven’t seen in these parts in a long time. While he doesn’t get overly technical he at least does his homework. When you read his work you can actually hear the guys who he is interviewing say what the quotes say. You don’t have to read things several times over to try to understand what the hell he is talking about.

His account last night on Ron Wilson and his struggles in handling Luke Schenn and Mikhail Grabovski, the two Maple Leafs “rookies” is a really good read.

“”Uh-uh, you never try to take the game in your own hands,” said Schenn, who went into Toronto’s game against the Colorado Avalanche last night with four assists. “[Wilson] took me aside yesterday and said that he wasn’t even worried about me getting points, never mind goals and, well, when your boss tells you that …” he said, letting his voice trail off.Wilson has shown a sensitive side in dealing with Schenn and Grabovski, the 25-year-old centre who hadn’t scored in 11 games going into last night. The pair are clearly not among the players he refers to as “weeds.”"

It’s nice to know that the guy who rips some of his guys publicly makes the effort to talk to the younger guys differently. The stuff I saw last night showed me that Schenn took Wilson’s comments to heart and settled down a bit.

“Of the two rookies, Wilson suggested that Grabovski’s woes present a bigger challenge. Wilson refers to Grabovski as “a sensitive person who grinds himself up when things go badly and that only makes things worse.” More to the point, Wilson appeared okay with it.”Luke’s background is different than Mikhail’s,” Wilson said. “[Schenn's] a physical player. If things are going badly he can get a big hit in and feel as if he’s accomplishing something. With Mikhail, it’s all about making plays and scoring goals and setting up his linemates, and if it’s not happening he gets frustrated. We know we have to be more patient with Mikhail than with Luke.”

No two people are alike and the same rule applies for hockey players. It’s a good sign that Wilson is smart enough to realize that and deal with players differently. This is the exact type of coverage that I want from a reporter in my town. It’s the type of coverage that we don’t see elsewhere. It’s why the Globe is, right now the best sports section in town.

Here are two of the best quotes from Wilson I have seen since he took over:

“Hockey’s a reactionary sport,” Wilson said. “In baseball, you can make adjustments like, say, moving your hand down a tenth of an inch, because you have time to think about it. In hockey, if you’re thinking about making a little adjustment, the play’s probably already happened and you’re standing there wondering why you failed. You can think before a game and do imaging before a game — those are all great ideas — but when the game starts you need an open mind. You need to let it collect experiences.”

“The most fun you have as a coach is seeing people grasp new ideas and employ them and have success with them,” Wilson said. “That’s what we’re going to be going through the next couple of years. We’re going to get even younger. Next year will probably be the same thing, with six or seven rookies. I’m not worrying as much about winning as I am about ensuring these guys get better every day.”

How great would it be to watch a team next year with 6-7 rookies??? How much differently do you think Wilson look’s at Blair when he asks the types of questions that garner these types of responses? It’s a really interesting to read this type of stuff.

“It doesn’t take spending a great deal of time around the Leafs to realize that Schenn and Grabovski, as well as Mike Van Ryn and Jeff Finger, are viewed through a different lens than players who were here previously. And that’s how it should be. Wilson gets a pass for this season because of the mess he inherited, and while he won’t be expected to win the Stanley Cup next season, he and his staff will be judged on how Schenn and Grabovski improve. Will Schenn better know how to read the flow of the game? Will Grabovski improve on faceoffs and, in Wilson’s words, “learn to stomp on a loose puck, particularly in the defensive zone?”That will be the beginning of Wilson’s body of work with the Maple Leafs, the way the success or failure of him and his staff is measured. That, too, is how it should be.”

I once worked at a place where after the “season” ended (it was a seasonal place) the new manager said that the only way that the business would run efficiently was when all the old employees were gone. He was right. Whenever you try and instill change you have people who are resistant to it. Those who have been around the longest seem to make the most noise because the tend to lose (not loose) their “seniority”. It is easy for them to say, “That’s not the way we do it around here” or “That is not the way _________ used to do it.” Wilson and Burke will probably find it a lot easier to get buy in from new leafs then from old for the same reason.

6-7 rookies next year- how awesome does that sound???? Bring on 09-10!

you can read Blair here

Was listening to Wilbur talking to Brady this afternoon and I really can’t believe how brutal it was. It is one thing to say that Sundin is having a tough time, it’s another to say let’s give this some more time. I have no problem with giving Mats time. However, to change what Sundin said about having to be with a team from the beginning is an absolute insult to those of us who speak English.

In case you missed it, Wilbur said that what Sundin meant was he had to be there from the start of HIS training camp, and for him that started when he (Sundin) joined the team. What a farce. What a crock. What a joke. I have no problem with Mats being your boy Bill. Just call a spade a spade and be done with it. To go back in time and try to change history is downright insulting. What Mats said back then was he didn’t want to be a rental player. That is fine. What Mats is, if this is a one year deal, is a rental player. That’s fine too. Don’t attempt to change what he meant to say…it’s garbage.

Speaking of garbage, this whole issue of pansification is total garbage. The fact that CBC is spending one second on this is a joke. We all know Milbury is a cement head. We all know where he is coming from on this. Does it make it right? No. Does it make it acceptable? No. Does it mean we should waste a breath on it? Hell no. Look the CBC’s own Scott Morrison who I like a lot is on 640 Toronto numerous times a week. The main sports guy on 640 Toronto, Bill Watters uses the derogatory term “Gook” on occasion. Now Wilbur isn’t bright enough to use it the way it is to be used to be derogatory. However, rest assured IF Mr. Watters used the term that Michael Richard’s used in a night club one night, causing Kramer to feel shame, to describe the people he calls “Gooks” Mr. Watters would be out of a job. Now, Watters hasn’t used that word. But he uses a derogatory one. So before we go nuts about what the CBC does and doesn’t do with respect to pansification, let’s take a deep breath and consider the environment and all that is around us.

“Ask a National Hockey League general manager to draft any three players from across the league, and it’s not impossible that the three names that come out would be Alexander Ovechkin, Vinny Lecavalier, and Henrik Zetterberg. Sure, Roberto Luongo or Sidney Crosby or Luke Schenn could jump in there – this last possibility is assuming the GM in question only listens to talk radio in Toronto, and then only in the first month of the season – but any GM would be thrilled to sign those first three players to a lot of dollars and for plenty of years.” Bruce Arthur in the National Post

“I’d blow up his defense.” Keith Jones on what he would do if he were the GM of the Ottawa Senators

“Either this group plays better or we have to change the group” Brian Burke

“And for me, it all started with Pat (Burns). I don’t know what it was about him, but he had this way of looking at me, he intimidated me without even saying a word. He’d just stare at me and I knew what he was saying. I had to be better. We just had this thing. He knew how to push. He worked for me. I worked for him.” Doug Gilmour on Pat Burns

I don’t know what happened,” Burns said. “I don’t know why that time was better than any other? We just knew how to work together, had really good communication. People often ask me: “Who’s the player? Who gave you the most of himself?” And the answer’s easy. Without a doubt it’s Doug, you look at his size, his weight, his heart. You couldn’t ask for anything more in a player. “If you ask me, for those two years, he was the best player in hockey.” Pat Burns on Doug Gilmour

Both of those from Steve Simmons. i couldn’t agree with you more. Those two years were the most fun I have ever had being a leaf fan. The old photo of Pat’s garage, the coaches, the players the gardens. I wish I were going to the ACC on Saturday night. I hope the fans really give it up for Doug. Any idea on who from the old squad will be there? How amazing if Burns was there?