So Glen Healy will finally speak. And then we will probably wish we could mute him! No really, it will be very interesting to watch him when he takes to the air on Hockey Night in Canada. I, personally have new found respect for Healy and I think it will be fascinating to listen to what he has to say. He has always picked sides, and worn his biases on his sleeve. You always know where he is coming from, love it or hate it. Can’t wait for the first Matt Stajan episode.

HNIC has also added Guy Carbonneau and Kevin Weekes. Curious what Hab fans think of Carbonneau. As for Weekes, another goalie turned broadcaster ugh!

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Sorry folks, having tech issues with wordpress. IF you want to go listen to podcasts here is who was on the lunch time shows.

On Hockey Central at Noon:

DAVE MORRISON LEAFS DIR OF SCOUTING
JOHN SHANNON LEAVES NHL
DAN BYLSMA

On Leafs Lunch:

Jamie Tawill is hosting
12:20 – Glenn Healy – nhlpa
12:40 – Evander Kane

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
t’s a repeat of last season’s World Series as the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Tampa Bay Rays i the first of a three game set. Unlike last postseason, the Phillies limp into this one losers of their last six, getting back-to-back broom treatments by the Blue Jays and Orioles. The Rays come in on a two game winning streak taking two of three from the Mets. The starting pitchers in this one are on opposite ends of their careers. Father-time Jamie Moyer (4-6) toes the rubber for Philly and rookie David Price (1-1) gets the call for Tampa. With homerun and RBI leader Raul Ibanez on the 15-day DL, the Phillies hope slugger Ryan Howard is over the flu and back in the line-up.

Like Denis Lemieux in Slapshot, Gord Stellick and Don Landry on the Fan 590 this morning asked NHLPA guru Glen Healy, WHO OWN DA Coyotes? Unfortunately, Healey’s response wasn’t “Owwwwnsa, Owwwwnsa” as it would have been a hell of a lot more entertaining then the “no comment” that it took the better part of 25 minutes to get out of Healey. Do you remember hearing the stories about the concoction that Darcy Tucker used to drink before a game, 1/2 coffee, 1/2 diet coke to get the Sideshow Bob thing going? One has to wonder what it is that Healy ingests before getting his day going as well.

His tirade on NBC’s decision to show game one of the Caps vs. Pens series with the understanding that the game be moved over if it runs late because of “a horse race” was pathetic. IT’S THE KENTUCKY DERBY!! This isn’t just some horse race. He is upset they aren’t showing game 2. I get that. Versus isn’t the greatest network on the dial. I get that too. IT’s THE KENTUCKY DERBY! I love Healey’s line “and we get all this for free”. It’s pretty easy throwing darts from his lofty PA position, isn’t it.

After all the bs, the guys tried to nail him down on the Coyotes ownership and all he would really say was no comment. IT’s THE KENTUCKY DERBY! Just kidding. The reality is, Healy all but confirmed what the Glendale City Manager said 2 days ago when he claimed that the NHL is running the team. I don’t care what anyone affiliated with the team has to say. Healy told Landry and Stellick to call Bettman’s own radio show and ask him if the league likes paying the bills for a franchise. The best, of course is the new line du jour for Healy, “our job, the job of the PA is to put the best product on the ice. We have no say in where teams play or any of that.” So remember folks, the next time there is a horseshit game, it’s the PA’s fault.

Meanwhile, things in Arizona should get pretty interesting. Whether they like it or not. The cat is out of the bag. The value of the team (the one that made other potential owners run when they saw the books) just dropped BIG TIME. There is nothing Bettman Inc. can do about that now.

I am off to Detroit this afternoon. Will write more from Hockeytown. Anyone else notice how the Red Wings are the forgotten team in this years playoffs. All the mention of the Caps, Penguins, Blackhawks, Canucks, Bruins and oh yeah, that other team that seems to win the cup every year…

Glen Healey Come Playoff Time-Fore

“We can’t do anything, but we do question why franchises are in certain places,” Healy said. “We care because they are tied to us with the [salary-cap] system we’re in and the cost certainty. Some of these franchises are like an anchor, or even the Titanic, and we’re going down with them.”

Two, count em two separate article in tomorrow’s globe about the NHLPA’s displeasure with the NHL’s lack of urgency to move a second team to southern Ontario. Paul Kelley is quoted, with respect to the Vaughn meetings. The rest of the material comes from Healey. Rest assured that Healey is speaking with the compete blessing of Kelly. Anyone who speaks out of turn is out at the NHLPA- just ask Eric Lindros. Not a word comes out of Healey’s mouth that Kelly hasn’t blessed – count on it. Kelley is that smart.

“They have been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole for a lot of years,” Healy said yesterday, in reference to the failure of the Sun Belt teams in the NHL. “They have tried everything in the world to sell the game, market the game, put fans in the seats and it doesn’t work for a lot of reasons. You can go down a laundry list of why it hasn’t worked — it doesn’t have the corporate backing, management has been ineffective in putting a winning team on the ice, and so on.”

Hello fans of the Sunbelt teams- anything to say? I don’t often come to Bettman’s defense, but how long ago was it that the number of Canadian teams struggling outnumbered those south of the border? Things are more dire today because of the economy (stupid). I am left wondering what Healey would have to say to moving one team to southern ontario and folding 2-3. Consider if you will:

“The players’ responsibility is to put the best product on the ice,” Healy said. “I think we’ve done that this year; whistle to whistle it has been excellent. I think the league has the responsibility to put teams in viable markets that you know are going to succeed. If the product is lousy then we have to revamp the game. But that’s not the case.”

Can’t suck and blow at the same time. If you want us to believe that anywhere from 5-7 teams are in dire straits, we can buy that. However, you can’t really believe that there are 5-7 markets ready to take them on can you (there certainly aren’t in Canada for sure!)? So why not fold a couple. I mean in the spirit of putting the best product on the ice, wouldn’t the product be that much better if there were fewer teams???? Uh-huh, I thought so…..

Bettman, meanwhile has enrolled in the JP Ricciardi school of fine public relations:

“I didn’t know who he was sitting down with,” Bettman said of Daly on his weekly radio show. “I couldn’t care less. He had the meeting, he reported back that there was another group interested in a team in Southern Ontario, which doesn’t come as a shock or a news bulletin to me.”

The tone and tenor of that comment is just pathetic. He wonders why he gets booed at every public event he goes to. Or maybe he thinks that is the sign of a good commissioner. Lose the tude Gary, it’s not becoming.

“But now that revenues — and soon enough, the cap — are tumbling down, the players and their union seem prepared to demand more of a say in how the NHL is operated, in an attempt at least to mitigate the damage. Specifically, they are becoming more and more vocal in questioning the wisdom of keeping franchises in places where they aren’t being supported, where tickets are given away or sell for next to nothing, while the biggest and best hockey market on the continent seems woefully underexploited.”

Partners…whatever that meant at the time hasn’t given the PA the ammunition it needs. To get it, they made need to endure another work stoppage. With Buzz on board, they have the right man in place. Let’s see how that works out for all involved should they go that route.

“It’s not a selfless gesture. Anything but. The players are thinking about their own bank accounts first and foremost. And as has been discussed already at length, there are other, significant obstacles to a second Southern Ontario team. But add the players’ newfound engagement to the crumbling economy, to the problems specific to Phoenix and Tampa and Atlanta, to the creditors hovering over several franchises, to individual owners not so keen to throw good money after bad, and the commissioner seems an increasingly lonely figure, trying to stem an inevitably rising tide.”

He may be alone, but he has the conch. This isn’t going to change anytime soon. He has the support of his owners. When was the last time one of them yapped out of turn? Which year was that again? In Gary they trust. The PA can make all the noise they want. They will win the PR battle in these parts for the short term. Will they go the work stoppage route over this issue??? If they do, they had better use a better PR firm then the one they used last time. The end of the day, they can say all they want to say. Talk is cheap and Bettman has the power.

You can read the articles from the globe here and here

“Check the accompanying sidebar, which combines the won-lost percentages for the current season of the 15 cities with both NHL and NBA teams. Yep, there is Team Tanenbaum, right down there in 15th place.” Dave Perkins…
“To be getting dressed in the Canadiens room is something I always wanted to see,” he said in French.” Vincent Lecavalier
“When I walked through those doors and saw the hundreds of people there for autographs and waiting for the players arrive — my hair was all over the place, and I really didn’t expect to have it,” he said Friday. “I don’t think anybody expected to have a welcome like that.” Vincent Lecavalier
“”For someone being born here, to play here, obviously people add a little bit of pressure,” said Lecavalier. “But I think a good pressure.” Vincent Lecavalier

Sure sounds like Vinny has Montreal on the mind, and no it doesn’t sound like it’s not his kind of town….

“Bettman and his bosses used a hammer to try to fix something that wasn’t necessarily broken in the first place — and what was really broken, they couldn’t acknowledge, let alone fix.” Stephen Brunt on the NHLPA declining to re-open the CBA

“The problem was — and the problem is — there is a wider disparity in NHL markets than in any other sport when it comes to how much people actually care about the product. Hockey is front of mind everywhere in Canada and in a handful of U.S. cities (now, for the first time in years, including Boston and Chicago). There people will pay large amounts of money for a seat, and produce big television audiences that are attractive to advertisers. it didn’t do a thing for the Phoenix Coyotes or Atlanta Thrashers or Nashville Predators or Florida Panthers. If anything, those clubs are in worse shape now than they were before the lockout, their decline accelerated by the credit crunch and ensuing recession, coupled with shaky ownership. If they’re still in business come 2011 — and who would like to bet their life on that right now? — the next labour war won’t cure what’s wrong with them, either.” Stephen Brunt

“Each and every player, NHL Players Association boss Paul Kelly said today, should expect a 13.5 per cent pay cut this season because of declining league revenues. The cut takes the form of escrow payments, monies withheld from players to make sure the union collectively does not make more than its share of the money the league takes in. the league’s revenue growth has dropped to about two per cent from 12 per cent a year ago..”The players aren’t happy about it,” said Kelly. “But they understand it.” Kelly admitted that in this case, the escrow will have the effect of being a salary rollback the same as that the players were forced to accept after the 2004-05 lockout.” Damien Cox-

Who would have guessed that the PA would elect to extend the deal that all the majority of pundits called a loser (not looser) for the players. Perhaps, just perhaps the players have gotten a tad bit smarter this time around….

The best quote of the day however was from PA slappy Glen Healy on the NHL suspension of those players who aren’t in Montreal for the All Star festivities:

” ”

Somewhere, Healy must be a caged dog. Just wait till he gets a few pops in him on St. Catherine tonight… Kelly may have the duct tape on his mouth for now…it won’t last, and when it ends, get ready for quotes like you can’t believe.

OK Leaf fans, for some reason we are being inundated with stories that Vincent Lecavalier may be available. I would love to hear Glen Healy on the Bolts trading a guy who has signed an extension with a no trade clause that doesn’t kick in until after the season before the season ends. So, you, Leaf Fan are Brian Burke. Your team is devoid of a superstar forward:

1. Would you make a play to get him
2. If so, who would you offer up (jason blake submissions will be deleted)

Remember Leaf Fans, a few short years ago Vinny was ours. All that stopped the deal was the president of the Bolts not joining the league call to confirm it. In that deal the buds were sending Tomas Kaberle, wingers Nik Antropov and Jonas Hoglund and either Brad Boyesor a first-round draft pick in 2002. We still have the first two guys

A happy Sunday evening to all. I had a great time on the radio today. Murray and his crew were terrific. Little TSM and I enjoyed ourselves and I would love to do it again. Murray has promised me a copy of the segment and I will put it up as soon as I get it. For those of you who were kind enough to both listen and email me privately thanks for kind words, they are greatly appreciated.

With that review of my foray into the medium, lets switch gears and start to focus on the first media power rankings. Here is a review of the folks on the two radio stations that cover sports in the city:

On the Fan: Rick Ralph, Don Landry, Gord Stellick, Daren Millard, Nick Kypreos,Mike Brophy,Doug Farraway,Jack Armstrong, Doug MacLean, Bob McCown, Stephen Brunt, Jim Kelly, Roger Lajoie, Norm Rumack and throw in Eric Smith, Paul Jones, Paul Johnson, Sherman Hamilton and Jack Armstrong, Howard Berger, Rob Faulds, James Deacon and a myriad of regular guests(Dan Shulman, Rob Becker, Peter King, Brian Cooper, Jeff Blair, Richard Griffin, Bob Elliot, Michael Grange, Mary Ormsby, Keith Law, Iain Page, Gord Kirke, John Wells, David Shoalts, Glen Healy, Scotty Bowman, Jay Triano, Chris Schultz, Damien Cox, Elliott Friedman, Nick Kypreos, Pierre Mcguire, Adrion Smith, Eric Smith
On 640: Bill Watters, Darren Dreger, Greg Brady, Jonas Siegel, Andy Frost and their guests(Bob the Bear Cowan, Darren Dreger, Scott Morrison, BoB McKenzie, Christine Simpson,Brian Duff, Rob Higgins, Jim Ralph, Joe Bowen, Sean Baligian,
The first caveat is obvious, one is a 24 hour sports station, the other, well, it’s a talk radio station that does several hours of sports a day. The Fan is the measuring stick in this town. They have been here the longest, built an established brand and continue to create and host excellent programming. Are they perfect? Of course not. One of their biggest problems, in my opinion anyway, is that there simply is not that much to talk about 24/7. Having said that they do a damn good job filling the hours. I am not an Argo’s fan nor do i follow soccer or high school sports. I don’t bet on football either so there are times that I just have no real reason to listen. To either stations when those topics are being discussed.
I am not listening to the fan early enough to listen to Rick Ralph start the day, so I can’t comment on his show. I think he does a great job on his news updates though. Stellick and Landry, in my opinion are a big tease. They own the morning drive when it comes to sports. They are on a sports station but I feel that they do more sizzle and less steak. They don’t talk hardcore sports as much as they do hi-jinx. The odd joke or “bit” is fine. In my opinion it is just over kill. The John Gibbons, Ken Dryden, Vito from Woodbridge and the mind reader schtick are just lame now – again in my opinion. Their insiders can be great. When they talk sports they are terrific. The segments they used to do with Sam Mitchell were the best on the station. I could do without Kathryn Humphreys to be honest.

You listen to Mike Hogan and Mike Tooth, you can’t help but think these are two good guys. They love all things Canadian, junior and college athletics and of course the CFL. Unfortunately, and maybe it’s just for me, but, very little of that makes for interesting radio. Like I said, they sound like nice guys talking sports. They have some decent guests who seem to know a lot about the CFL and Canadian college football. They do get some good NFL guests as well, however I think I am the only sports fan in this city who is not enamored with Chris Schultz. From my perspective, he is way too technical and relies too much on that from his playing days. He too, seems like a nice enough guy, just not compelling enough to listen to. I find their hockey and baseball coverage lacking. They do spend at least an hour each and every week during the season on the Raptors and that is great to listen to. As I have said though, by virtue of not being an Argo/CFL guy there are at least 2 days a week where I will instantly change the channel because that is all they talk about.

The first daily battle starts at the noon hour. This is a war that is starting to get more interesting as the days go by. Every time Kypreos and Watters are on the tv together they look like they are going to kill each other. Watters the ex-agent, assistant GM, high school coach and color commentator vs. Kypreos the ex touch guy player turned analyst/insider. You can’t help but believe that they truly want to cream the other every chance they get and they go head to head on most days at the noon hour. Mallard and Brophy are there with Kypreos and a ton of quality guests. The one nice thing about this show is that it pretty unstructured. In this case it sounds like a couple of guys talking about hockey the same way we all do with our own friends. Brophy lost of respect from me this past week when he went toe to toe with Pat Quinn, tried to embarrass him and was wrong. Up the dial, you throw in Dreger and another great group of guests and you have a show that is quite good too. Dreger seems to the new(er) boy wonder on the scene. He breaks a ton of stories and where he used to have to sit in McKenzie’s shadow he has his own track record now and people look to see what he is going to have to say when a story seems to be breaking, if he wasn’t the one to break it. Kypreos is a little too pro-player and Wilbur too ignorant (I prefer bigoted but I am flexible Mike S.) and his anti-MLSE stance has just about run its course. Truth is, I try to listen to who and what each are going to be talking about on a given day and listen based on that information. If you don’t care about listening live then you can do what I tend to do and pick after the fact by listening in on the web late at night.
Doug Fairway is the Fan’s DH. I have no clue if this true, but I get the feeling that he is the go to guy at the fan. He does an admirable job filling in WHENEVER. He ihas some good opinions and I love listening to his sarcasm when he does the deadline show or other big event shows. I have never heard his 1pm show so I can’t comment on it.
The one show I really like on the Fan is Maclean who just needs to stop talking about his own wealth for a segment and Armstrong who seems to know his basketball (hell if I know) and makes a great effort to talk shop in all the other sports, including hockey. These guys work really well together, they get good guests and both bring unique perspectives to the events as they unfold each and every afternoon.
The big boys come out during the drive home show. As I wrote this past week, when McCown and Wilbur are ON their respective games, both are excellent. McCown with Burke this week was the best interview I have heard with Burke since he took the job. When Wilbur actually interviewed Collangelo and didn’t try to use jokes and innuendo to prove to his listeners how close he is to the guests as he usually does he proved to be a great interviewer. It was the first time I had heard that in him. He should go that route more often. The shows are very different if you think about it though. McCown is the host on Prime Time Sports. Kelly or Brunt (or anyone else sitting in as co-host) fill in with opinion while McCown leads the discussions and directs the show. On 640, it is almost as if Brady is driving the ship. That is not to suggest there is no deference on the air, it is clear it is Wilbur’s show (hell, look at the name). Brady is driving the show though; Brady leads the show through, calls, breaks, news traffic etc. He is the one who introduces guests. Neither format is right, but they are different. Kelly is McCown’s Ed McMahon, Brunt much less so. There is no real sense of that on 640. The guys disagree quite often and there seems to be a mutual amount of respect for the opinion of the other. To me again, it comes down to the guests. In this category McCown wins for diversity. Whom is best is based on opinion of course. Put Mckenzie on with McCown up against the combo of Dreger and Morrission on 640 and you have a pretty difficult decision. 2 nights a week McCown does round tables. I think the format used to be great. I am not overly fond of a lot of the folks who have been around the table recently. Nothing personal, but Rob Faulds, and Mary Ormsby just don’t interest me that much, and a result I seem to be flipping more often away from them as I did before. The same can be said for having Morrison and Dreger on every night. I know, this is a leaf town, and we all love to talk LEAFS, LEAFS, LEAFS…but I would like to have a little variety. As with the lunch hour, my listening depends greatly on who is going to be on the show (both hosting and guesting!) I look every night to see who was on the show I didn’t listen to and try to catch parts of what they put on the web.

There is no better interviewer in the game, in this city then Bob McCown. We all know if big news breaks in the world of sports McCown will have a take on it, and someone involved at a high level will be on PTS to talk about it. It’s hard to compete with that. When it is hockey related, especially the Leafs 640 is the place to go. Wilbur and Brady do a great job breaking down all things Maple Leafs. With Burke in town they are providing much more balanced opinions on the Leafs and despite the fact they are on each and every night, Morrison and Dreger have the league covered. I will take Jonas’s green-ness over Howie’s editorials every day. If Berger could just report on the facts he would be a good beat guy. Jonas needs to spend more time in front of the mirror and work on his own material.

After 7pm, I don’t listen that much unless I am in the car. I listen to pre, post and live games. If I have twitter on, the Fan does a phenomenal job keeping folks up to date as to what is coming up on the air. If any of the shows have interesting topics/guests I tune in. Norm Rumack (I know, I sound like a broken record)does get some interesting people on who just don’t get called upon during the normal business day. He is much easier to listen to know that he adopted a team other then the Leafs and his rah rah Syracuse is pretty funny. I will say this, I will take the personality of Andy Frost vs. Mike Wilner any day. Both guys have the worst jobs in sports media, taking post game calls. It has become more apparent that this has taken a toll on Wilner as he gets more crotchety each and every year. Frost seems to have the right demeanor for the gig and man no better a voice for radio exists in this town.
So, there you have it. A fairly comprehensive run down on sports radio here in Toronto. I am going to try to provide the weekly media power rankings. Everyone is fair game. Radio, TV, print, play-by play etc. So many of you send me clips, links and articles, I will need more of the same so keep em coming.

Friends, if you only read one thing today, read Michael Farber on Sean Avery. This is the type of work we hunger for and should demand more of. For every time we hear “there must be more to the story” there should be an article like this. Brilliant work Michael!

Here is the gist and some highlights:

Avery is a team killer. A train wreck. In complete opposition to what his dad, the NHLPA and other supporters have tried to say before, he is not just a good boy… Farber, at the end of the 3 page must read comes to the realization that someone will one day take a flier on Avery….

” Avery was guilty of hockey’s deadliest sin: being a lousy teammate. There can be room for personal agendas in other sports—think Terrell Owens with the Cowboys—but hockey takes a dim view of square pegs in their perfectly rounded holes. The ethos is different. Unlike baseball clubhouses, where players sit facing their stalls, or football locker rooms, where players are segregated by position, a hockey dressing room is designed so all players face toward the center, gazing at one another. Avery did not look at his teammates in Dallas. Between periods he would often sit by himself in the hallway, headphones on, a citizen of Planet Sean. When Avery was in the dressing room, according to Stars veteran Mike Modano, he was often on his phone, discussing a potential book deal or his movie project, a romantic comedy based on the life of the only NHL player to spend his summer as an intern at Vogue.”

One word….WOW

“Avery wore shorts with his sport coats to preseason games because, Modano said, “he didn’t feel he could express himself if he dressed the same as everybody [else]…. He just seemed unwilling to do what we were all asked to do, on and off the ice. He wanted to march to his own beat.” Avery was the iconoclast clown, throwing spitballs at hockey’s ways.”

To quote LT, “OMG” (oh my god)

“After he signed, I told him that now that he’d gotten the big contract, he could take it down a notch and just go out and play hockey,” said Red Wings forward Kris Draper, Avery’s friend and former teammate. “Unfortunately that’s not what happened.”

We all know it hurts the most when friends go on the record with stuff like this….

“POLL YOUR average American, suggests an NHL veteran, and Avery will draw higher name recognition than any active player aside from Sidney Crosby. Avery, who declined to be interviewed for this story, retains the services of a Hollywood public relations firm, the only active NHL player known to have a nonsports publicist. For him this is a reasonable investment. According to a former teammate, Avery was at a house party in New York City last summer when an actress from a popular television show started chatting him up. She said she didn’t know much about hockey, but she was mightily impressed that the NHL had made a rule just for him.”

It’s true but soooo sad. The guy is better known the Alexander Ovechkin.

“Dave Siciliano, his coach in Owen Sound, had his own Avery Rule, which he refers to as the 80/20: Siciliano devoted 80% of his time to Avery, while the other 20% went to the rest of the team. “You seemed to be dealing with something every day,” says Siciliano. “He had an overzealousness and a lack of discipline that would cause rifts on the ice, at practice, on bus trips.” On one trip Curtis Sanford, now a Canucks goalie, heard a scuffle at the back of the bus and wheeled in time to see captain Dan Snyder, upset by an Avery comment, being pulled off his mouthy teammate. Siciliano wanted to dump Avery, but Owen Sound G.M. Ray McKelvie recalls, “A lot of people had already gotten the idea that he wasn’t a team player. It was hard to make a deal that made sense for us, until one night in Kingston he had three [goals] and three [assists]. A couple of days later [Kingston G.M. Larry Mavety] and I had a deal. Sean could get people riled up, but he was an excellent player.”

Sounds just like the guy you want on your team….Me thinks LT was right on this one….

“after being traded in March 2003 to the Kings, a team less secure in its identity, Avery ran amok, by hockey’s standards. Even with a serendipitous do-over—he was kicked off the team with three games left in 2005–06 for refusing to participate in a drill and arguing with assistant coach Mark Hardy at practice but was allowed back after ownership replaced G.M. Dave Taylor with Lombardi that summer—he continued to roil teammates as much as opponents. He cruelly ridiculed the speech of left wing Dustin Brown, who has a slight lisp. “He was really hard on Brown, a quiet guy who just shut down,” says Conroy, now with Calgary. “He didn’t come out of his shell until Sean was gone.”

He’s just a nice guy eh Glen???? Did the PA offer to step in and assist Brown with this issue????

“There were dressing-room fisticuffs. Thornton and Avery had a “play fight” in Edmonton in late December 2006—it started when Avery hit Thornton with an exercise ball—and Thornton wound up breaking his wrist and missing 23 games. Lombardi, who after succeeding Taylor had announced that Avery was on “double secret probation,” traded him to New York five weeks after the Thornton incident, but not before warning Rangers president Glen Sather that “you’ll have him in your office once a week.”

Double Secret Probation??? That can only mean one thing TOGA PARTY!

“”Brett Hull criticized us when we traded Sean, saying our team was bad for Sean and bad for the game,” Lombardi recalls. “Freedom of expression. How does [Hull, the Stars' co-G.M. with Jackson,] like it today? They spent $15.5 million to protect the right of free speech. Adams and Jefferson would be proud.”

OUCH!!!! Seriously, can this be made into a tv show or a movie????

“I think the persona Sean took on”—the Vogue-interning, starlet-dating, crossover celebrity who feigned indifference to the game—”became more powerful than the real Sean,” Hull says. “You know the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man movie? Like that. It just overtook him. He decided to be Evil Sean.”

Ya think???????????

“We spend time psychoanalyzing Sean,” Lombardi muses. “Maybe we should be doing it to ourselves.”

Does anyone else get the impression that maybe, just maybe Lombardi is a tad bitter towards mister Avery or feeling a lot bit vilified?

Then, Farber ends with the conclusion that I and many others have drawn….

“Sometime, somewhere, there will be a comeback. Avery will do the requisite scraping and bowing because, as Calgary’s Michael Cammalleri, Avery’s friend and former Kings teammate, says, “Without hockey Sean would just be some guy doing some crazy stuff.” An e-mail message to SI from Nicole Chabot, Avery’s publicist, late last month read, in part, “We at this point are just trying to weather the storm as best we can. The comeback story will be amazing, but we are a ways away with all the details still to be sorted out.” Oprah, schedule some couch time.”

Pass this article along folks, when you read a Toronto daily today, remember it. This is sports journalism as we should demand. Thank you Michael.

Thanks to The Meatriarchy for pointing this out to me, Glen Healy was on the fan morning show yesterday am and had lots to say…

when asked how he would feel if he had to practice at 8am as the leafs had to yesterday am..

“What are these children? At some point the act is going to wear thin. I have never had that in my entire career. I had some great coaches, Al Arbor probably the best coach I had in my entire life, a wonderful man and not once did he pull something like that. Mike Keenan, as evil as he was…. never had the kindergarten approach where you had to be in school before 8am…. The boys will go through the practice and they will bad mouth him the rest of the day and nothing will get accomplished. The teams problems are the teams problems…it’s not a lack of work ethic, it’s just the team.”

He was asked about Kaberle, what was he learning while watching the entire first period from the bench?

“The same thing as your fans are from this interview. He’s their best defenceman and an all star..he is brilliant, he thinks the game better then anybody, he has deficiencies, he isn’t Chris Pronger, he isn’t going to stomp anybody. He’s a player you have to win. I can’t see how doing that to a player like Kaberle I don’t see how it is going to help him. He is like Brian Leetch, if you benched Leetch you would not see positive effects the next shift. Some guys you bench and they really improve, others they don’t. Kaberle is one of those guys where it won’t have the effect you want. I am not behind the bench making the decisions, and he has to live with the results of his actions and hey look, it worked really well, they only lost by a field goal. ”

Landry pointed out by reading a quote from Burke that Wilson has the support of his new GM.

“Well it’s still early and pretty soon this ship is going to get righted, this might be your mulligan year, lots of chances to play you little games, but you are playing your gm 3 million bucks and you are going to expect results at some point. He has the respect and support now, at some point he won’t have it, and the players are going to say we’ve had enough of this clown and Brian’s going to have some difficult choices to make. At the end of the day, we are going to have to see some results.

He was asked about Avery:

“As the PA we are there to make sure things are fair, and Sean has rights as a player. He knows that he made a mistake and he used those 2 words in the wrong forum and in the wrong way, he knows it, he appologized, he is very humble, he’s made that mistake and he is going to move on. We are there to make sure that Gary isn’t going to be the judge and jury and jailer and eventually executioner and that is what can happen here. So, it’s more fairness here then anything. Try to defend Sean as best as possible, he is one of the 700 guys in our league, and off the ice he is a good kid and I mean he’s not a bad kid and so I look at it as he’s one of the marines, there is the few and the proud and he’s one of us and we have to make sure he knows he is wrong…”

Kudos to Don Landry for calling Healy out, “you just used the phrase clown and Sean Avery couldn’t be a bigger clown and you call him a good kid, it seems you are being rather partisan and a little too protective of a guy who, speaking of a hockey fan who has peeved me off time and time again and I am tired of it and sick of him.”

Healy: “And that is wonderful, I really appreciate your opinion Don, I think it is great to have that opinion about that player if that is what you truly believe. I mean my opinion about 8am skates and benching your best defenceman and when players get shots blocked on the foot and players ridicule them in practice in front of their teammates I have a different opinion of what happens when coaches do that and I have another opinion of what happens to players when they cross the line. I know Sean has crossed the line, I am not saying what he did was not right, or sorry, was not wrong, I have a different opinion of the 2 acts and we can’t mix them together. I appreciate your opinion though, you have the opinion that is the solid majority, and by solid I mean north of 90% so you are not in the wrong.”

Landry then said that he wasn’t sure about that, Landry has been surprised by how many people have said to him Avery said 2 words, big deal.

“Well, usually the 2 words players regret the most are I do. But 2 words used in the wrong forum and he knows it and he said them. He is going to pay the price. He knows it is not appropriate. Unfortunately for Sean, verbally he is quite quick, for other players they use violence in other ways. Today won’t be a great do for him. He is not getting a lot of support from fans, the league, his teammates nor his team.”

What if it is a 7 game suspension what is the reaction? Does everyone expect the PA will appeal it?

“That would be a legal question, I may be the only person in my office who isn’t a lawyer. I believe the appeal process goes to the board of governance so good luck with that. We want fairness, and that is the bottom line.”

I recommend you listen to this, and can do so here…

I will say this. The fact that he uses military terms to define his role and that of the PA is all you need to know about this guy and his union…. They act like combatants and as if everything is a war…

WARNING…THERE IS OFFENSIVE MATERIAL BELOW…

First watch the video- you can fast forward to the last couple of seconds, and you will see Avery end up in the box and a woman yapping at him….

Now, the rest of the story…

So a Fanhouse reporter was able to track down the lady in the video through one of her daughter’s who saw one of his earlier posts… The story goes that the woman in the video attends lots of games and has seen Avery “turtle” when getting in fights. She went so far as to blow up photo’s of Avery in the turtle position and called him Turtleman. Nothing out of the ordinary right????

Well, at a game thereafter Avery was in the box when the woman started to taunt him (she swears not being vulgar) and the following ensued:
“Avery said, “You’re nothing but an old f**king c*nt, I wouldn’t even c*m in your face.” After which he sprayed her with his water bottle. It was following that incident that the refs assessed Avery a second game misconduct, and the fan is pretty much convinced Avery’s reaction to the confrontation with her was the reason.”

So, the reporter decides to follow this up with both the team and then the league. The league confirmed that it was aware of the incident but that not contact had been made with the fan. The league representative was then asked if an incident like this would be considered when levying the penalty as a result of the actions of this past week. “In any matter such as this, the totality of the actions throughout the player’s career is taken into account.”

Seems like Avery is a real woman charmer…You can read the rest here..

Funny how Glen Healy is quoted as saying how apologetic Avery was today and that “lots of people have been taking shots at Avery”…You think maybe just maybe the shots are deserved???? Hey Brady, do you think if Avery was on camera saying the things he is accused of saying here that the women reporters would have been as kind as they were as reported in your blog???