Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
-Stephen Brunt & Dave Perkins join on the roundtable
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Bill Watters is on vacation in Florida so Greg Brady is solo today
- Ron Wilson, head coach of the Leafs
- hockey insider Darren Dreger at 6:10
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
5:25 EJ Hradek, ESPN.com
5:45 Daryl Jones, Ice Edge Holdings
6:05 Paul Beeston, Jays CEO
6:30 Kevin McDonald, CFL’s Director of Football Ops in Studio
6:45 Don Banks, SI.COM
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Larry Brooks of the New York Post
- Cliff Fletcher, member of the Maple Leafs front office
- Bruce Boudreau, head coach of the Capitals
- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Ray Ferraro at 6:10
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Stephen Brunt
- Bob Mccown takes calls
- Roundtable with guests Gord Kirke and Bruce Arthur
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Pat Quinn, head coach of the Oilers
- Ron Wilson, head coach of the Leafs
- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Scott Morrison at 6:10
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Jeff Blair
- David Shoalts, Mike Zeisberger, and Mike Cvitkovic on the roundtable
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Dean Brown, broadcaster for the Ottawa Senators
- Jason Spezza
- Ron Wilson, head coach of the Leafs
- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Scott Morrison at 6:10
Thanks to Greg Brady for posting this on Twitter tonight as I wouldn’t have seen it. Irrespective of what you think of Martin Brodeur’s play the other night, I don’t think anyone got overly personal with him. I mean everything I read was pretty respectful, noting what an incredible career he has had, stating that he absolutely had to make the Olympic team etc. This article, which I can only suspect was written by Damien Cox, there is no author attribution is way off side and one can only assume it has too much to do with Damien’s personal relationship with Brodeur. Cox on twitter took a shot at anyone criticizing Brodeur Sunday night stating that they “don’t understand the game”. This article goes beyond:
“Martin Brodeur doesn’t feel like he was lied to. Just blamed unfairly, and undoubtedly disrespected by head coach Mike Babcock.
Not only did Babcock call out Brodeur for his play in a 5-3 loss to the United States on Sunday, he then told Roberto Luongo he would be in goal for the qualification match against Germany a few hours after the game but waited to deliver the news to Brodeur, the winningest goalie in the history of the sport, until before practice on Monday.”
What’s odd about that is that there isn’t a quote from Brodeur in the piece at all!
“So it’s gold or bust with the Vancouver Canucks netminder, a sizeable risk given that outside of some fine work at the world championships the 30-year-old has never defined himself as a winner.
Now’s his chance. The last time Luongo had a chance to step forward an assert himself as Canada’s top netminder he coughed up the bit in the deciding game of last year’s playoffs for the Canucks and surrendered seven goals to the Chicago Blackhawks.”
Ok, Brodeur is your buddy, but really, is he so low that he would want someone taking shots at Luongo? I mean did Luongo do anything wrong here?
‘Babcock better be right on this or he deserves to be roasted on the spit of Canadian hockey opinion for all the unhelpful waffling he’s done on this issue.”
Wow. No, really Wow. Hypothetically speaking, Luongo pitches a shutout tomorrow, Canada doesn’t score and the German’s win 1-0 in a shootout. Should the spit we spinning because of this choice? Come on! These guys are professionals. No, Brodeur didn’t let in any Toskala’s but still, he had to know the possibility of getting replaced was real.
“For reasons he declined to explained, he then gave the opening start against Norway to Luongo.
In the next game, Brodeur’s brilliance saved Canada in the shootout against Switzerland, and Babcock praised the veteran for his play and his leadership. But after the loss to the U.S. on Sunday, Babcock identified Brodeur as the problem, saying “tonight was a night we’d have liked to have been better in that area.”
Wasn’t Babock in the wrong then for pulling Luongo in favour of Brodeur for the Switzerland game? I didn’t hear the entire Babcock session after the game, but I don’t think he threw Brodeur under the bus at all. Did he say that they would have preferred to be better in net? Yes. Isn’t that true? I mean, wouldn’t Brodeur have preferred to have been better in net? Hell Cox’s article in today’s Toronto Star sang the praise out of Ryan Miller. Wouldn’t we have preferred that it was Brodeur’s play we were all yapping about today? Ooops, I mean in the positive not the negative.
“None of this had to happen. Babcock could have announced in Calgary that it was time for the youngsters to take over and anointed Luongo and Fleury as the two goalies, with Brodeur in reserve.
Failing that, he could’ve made it clear once in Vancouver that Luongo would be the starter Again, that would have been an entirely defensible strategy.
Instead, he dithered, and in so doing has made the country’s national goaltender the lightning rod for all criticism about the team.”
Sorry, I’m not buying that. Brodeur earned his spot. Played well, or was “brilliant” in his last game vs. Switzerland. So he didn’t have a great game last night. if Babcock goes back to him and he has another off night then what? Babcock has three good alternatives. One of those guys is a future hall of famer. Babcock has the right to be undecided in net and chose to ride the hot or not goalie. If Brodeur pitched a gem last night, do you think he wouldn’t ride him going forward? How can we be surprised that given the performance last night it be so wrong or so surprising that a change is coming?
“But by making his goaltending choice a game-by-game proposition, Babcock has created great uncertainty where stability was necessary.”
I don’t know, I would rather Babcock rides his guys based upon his gut feeling. Not based on history, not based on bias, but on who he feels should be in net. Babcock needs to choose the guy who he thinks gives him the best shot at winning each game. I sense there is too much bias in this article.
The article is here
In a previous life I coached kids hockey with some buddies in Detroit. None of us had kids on the team, rather we thought it was a good way to give back to the community, work with some kids and have a good time. We did it for three or four years working our way up the travel program in Michigan. By the end of our run, we were coaching at a fairly senior level. I stopped coaching for a couple of reasons. First, I moved, first back to Toronto and then shortly thereafter to Miami for law school. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I realized at the ripe old age of 25 that I was way too competitive.
When my son asked me to coach his soccer team some 10 years later I reluctantly gave in, again for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I didn’t know the first thing about soccer (how much trouble could I get in?), secondly, I was bored out of my mind whenever we went to the field for his games, thirdly, I hoped I had mellowed a little bit and could use this as a test for hockey should he ever ask me to coach his hockey team and finally and more importantly, for the simple reason that he asked.
So, this past spring when we signed up for the 2009-2010 hockey season when he asked me to coach him, I agreed. This time for 2 reasons. One, cause I learned in soccer that indeed I had mellowed and yes, more importantly, because he asked. To date I have had a complete blast. I am not the head coach so I have been fortunate enough to only play a small role as one of two assistant coaches. The coaches and parents on our team are extremely lucky. There isn’t a bad kid or parent amongst us. There isn’t a parent or kid in the group that doesn’t have their head in the right place. Everyone is there 100% for their kids to have fun. We all want our kids to learn the importance of team sports, and want our kids to have fun. i have yet to see with this group any thoughts, notions or ideas of grandeur. It’s a relief to say the least.
Tonight, I was reminded however, of the evils that lurke in arenas teaching our kids. I saw first hand the reason why we have problems in hockey here in Canada. I saw a coach with such an ego that he has lost all grip on reality. It was the prototypical case of what we as hockey parents should avoid like the plague, the worst part is the person exhibiting these behaviors has no clue what exactly he is.
Here is what happened. My team, a group of 7 and 8 year old house league boys had a practice scheduled at a local arena for 6:10pm. Our head coach wasn’t going to attend. So myself and the other assistant coach showed up to run the practice. We got to the rink early and immediately found there was a problem. We found a scheduling problem existed on the specific rink we had been told was reserved for us. Another team from our league was also there getting ready to practice. Now, in the grand scheme of things, this type of “conflict” isn’t a big deal right? I mean, keeping in mind the purpose of the exercise, the focus on the kids, how hard could it be to resolve the issue? I mean, even the 7 year old boys could suggest a proposed solution- split the ice.
So when the other assistant coach and I approached the coach from the other team, one would think that given reasonable minds a resolution could be achieved quickly. Instead, this coach, decided in less than 3 seconds, that his team was more important than ours, and that there was NO WAY his team wasn’t going to practice as scheduled. He looked at us and said, without batting an eye, oh no, my team is practicing, we have a playoff game tomorrow. He turned away, walked in to his locker room and slammed the door.
He did this in front of his players, his players parents, our players and our players parents. I mean isn’t this the guy you want to leave your kids with to teach life lessons? This guy had his priorities completely out of whack. Trying to talk to him was like trying to reason with a baby. It didn’t matter that we tried to tell him that he wasn’t in the wrong. It didn’t matter that we suggested that our association double booked the ice. The coach on multiple occasions actually wanted to fight over the ice! Can you imagine that this guy is allowed 10 seconds with the youth of today? In less than 30 seconds he decided that we were wrong and that his team was more important than his.
Finally, he asked us, what exactly we would suggest as a compromise. When we suggested something novel I guess, i mean a really innovative idea called SHARING the ice; splitting it in half, his response was, “that’s really tough to do”! Have you ever heard anything more inane? Unless his kids are lining up for the provincial championship that will decide their entire fate, no 1 practice can be that important to a group of under 10 year olds! I mean who was this guy at the rink for, his kids or his own ego? If this is as freaked as he gets about something so stupid as this, how does he react on the bench when a kid, i don’t know, scores on his own net (you know kids sometimes do that)?
Thankfully, the parents on his team, who were watching this all unfold, were able to speak some sense into this guy. The damage, was already done. While someone was talking to him on his team, we told our kids to go home. It wasn’t really worth it. After about five minutes, we were waiting to make sure that no more of parents showed up, he approached and said that we could share his ice. This was after he showed us his blackberry with the email confirming his ice time. We tried to explain to him that we never questioned whether or not he was told he had the ice. We told him that weren’t made about the mix up. Shit, as they say, happens. We were mad that a fellow coach would act as immaturely has he had. The message appeared to be lost on him. it wasn’t until 5-10 minutes passed and some more folks from his team talked to him that he tried to apologize to us. The damage was, already done.
This is where the problems in hockey start. Within each organization is a person like this. It’s not that they don’t have the right credentials. They aren’t bad people per se. They just don’t see the big picture. They don’t understand that there lessons are being monitored by the kids they are coaching. Their words and actions have huge impacts on the kids. It really isn’t only about winning. Teaching kids how to win and how to lose is equally important.
Proof? I have tried to tell my kids that falling in sports isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When they first learned to skate or ski, I told them that when they fell it meant that they did so because they were trying really hard. In fact, not falling could at times be a sign that they weren’t trying hard enough. I have told my son that practice in hockey for him is more important than the games themselves. It is in these practices where he learns the most. Our coaching group talked up this practice as being important because it was on the eve of our last regular season game. So, as my son and I walked out of the arena, my son looked and me and said, “if we lose tomorrow dad, will it be because we didn’t practice tonight?” Our kids listen, they hear everything we say, even in jest or in passing. The next time you hear the question, whats wrong with hockey in this country, take a look inside the locker room of your nearest arena. I suggest that inside you will find someone coaching a team like I did tonight. That my friend is the problem, that is the evil face of youth hockey. That is where this lack of respect starts. If it is happening at this age, can you imagine how much worse it is as the kids get older?
TSM
@yyzsportsmedia
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
- Stepanie Wei of weiunderpar.com
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Bill Watters is on vacation in Florida so Greg Brady is solo today
- trying to get an interview with Ron Wilson, head coach of Team USA
- a hockey insider (either Scott Morrison or Steve Kouleas) at 6:10
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
- News & notes from around the NHL w/ Eddie Olczyk of NBC
-TBA
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- James Duthie of TSN
- Dave Naylor of the Globe & Mail on football
- Jonathan Vilma of the Saints
- Ron Wilson, head coach of the Leafs
- Hockey insider Pierre McGuire at 6:10
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
- Nick Kyreos
TBA
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Brian Duff of NHL Network on hockey
- Jim Barker, new Argos head coach
- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10
Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com
On Fan 590 Tonight-
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
- Ken Hitchcock,
- Conrad Dobler, the ‘Dirtiest man in football’
- Gary Bernard, the new Executive Director of the CPGA
On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:
- Santonio Holmes, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver
- Dave Naylor of the Globe & Mail on football
- Ron Wilson, head coach of the Leafs
- Hockey insider Pierre McGuire at 6:10
Twitter: yyzsportsmedia
