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      Four early season storylines in the NHL

      October 1, 2008 /

      The opening of the NHL season will take place overseas this weekend, and there are a few key storylines to keep an eye on during the first week of the season:

      NHL invasion of Europe
      A year ago, the Anaheim Ducks opened the season against the Los Angeles Kings in London, England. This season, four teams are kicking off the 2008-09 season in Europe: the Ottawa Senators will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm, and the Tampa Bay Lightning open their season against the New York Rangers in Praque. The National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) President Paul Kelly announced that the number of teams opening the season in Europe could double next year, as multiple European cities have expressed interest in hosting NHL games next season.

      Selanne resigns with the Ducks
      Forward Teemu Selanne signed a two-year contract worth $5.25 million with the Ducks after the club traded defenseman Mathieu Schneider to the Atlanta Thrashers to free up the necessary cap space. Selanne didn’t want to miss time in training camp like last season when he was contemplating retirement from the sport. With a two-year commitment to the team, Selanne is committed to getting the Ducks back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

      Possible trades due to salary cap restrictions
      Rumors have been circulating that a number of teams are looking to deal players due to salary cap restrictions. The Chicago Blackhawks have solved their salary cap problem by putting goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers this week. The writing was on the wall that his days were numbered in Chicago when the team signed free agent goalie Cristobal Huet to a four-year deal worth $22.5 million in July. The San Jose Sharks are looking to trade defenseman Kyle McLaren and his 2.5 million dollar contract to avoid starting the season $225,000 over the salary cap. McLaren became expendable after the team added Dan Boyle and Rob Blake to the backline in the offseason.

      Inventive marketing plan on the West Coast
      In an unusual joint venture, the Ducks and Kings announced a ticket-sales package for games that will be played Oct. 14 in Anaheim and Nov. 16 in Los Angeles. The package will be called the “Freeway Face-Off” and $60 will get fans tickets to both games.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, General Sports, NHL

      Athlete Profile: Alfonso Soriano

      October 1, 2008 /

      Alfonso SorianoThe unique combination of speed and power in Alfonso Soriano’s offensive game has only been rivaled in baseball by a youthful Barry Bonds. His critics have compared him to Juan Samuel, a free-swinging line drive hitter with power, but who also lacks patience at the plate.

      Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Soriano lived by the island’s adage “You cannot walk off the island.” And he developed into a free swinger as a hitter, with speed to stretch doubles into triples. Most major league scouts have noted that Soriano needs to cut down on his strikeouts to be effective in the post-season. Pitchers will expand the strike zone on him come October, as Soriano rarely takes a walk.

      Soriano slipped by all of Major League Baseball, to sign with the Hiroshima Carp in the Japanese League at the age of 18. His first professional season was not a success, as he batted only .191 on the year and technically “retired” from Japanese baseball.

      Whatever he accomplished overseas caught an eye in the New York Yankee organization, as they signed him to a minor-league deal before the start of the 1998 season. And Soriano did not disappoint, as he hit .305 with 15 HRs, 68 RBIs, and 24 SBs for the Yankees’ double-A affiliate. Next season, his advancement through the organization included Soriano’s MLB debut on September 14, 1999.

      He became a serious option to stay in the big leagues during spring training prior to the 2001 season. Being a SS by trade and Derek Jeter anchoring the position for the club, the Yankee front office decided Soriano should begin by taking fly balls in the outfield. However, 2B Chuck Knoblauch was still having difficulty throwing over to first base, and manager Joe Torre made the move to switch their positions. Suddenly, Soriano became the starting second basemen for the New York Yankees.

      And once again he did not disappoint, as Soriano finished third in the American League Rookie-of-the-Year voting. His post-season was memorable, as Soriano hit a dramatic ninth inning home run to win Game Four of the 2001 ALCS against the Seattle Mariners. Do not forget his home run off of Curt Schilling in the top of the ninth that gave the Yankees a brief lead in Game Seven of the 2001 World Series. Only to be overshadowed by Luis Gonzalez’s bloop single to leftfield that gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a World Series championship.

      His breakout season came the following year, as Soriano led the American League with 209 hits; he batted .300 with 39 HRs, 102 RBIs, scored 128 runs, stole 41 bases and was named to his first All-Star team. The following season, his inadequacies were exposed during the 2003 post-season, as Soriano batted .132 during the ALCS and World Series. Torre benched him in Game Five against the Florida Marlins due to his struggles at the plate.

      After the season, the Yankees traded him to Texas in the deal that brought A-Rod to New York. Following two seasons in Texas, Soriano was shuffled off to Washington and subsequently moved to the outfield. His errors in the infield prompted his move to LF (under protest). It was one season in our Nation’s Capital, but what a season, as Soriano had the fourth 40-40 (HR-SB) season in baseball history. And he cashed in, as the Chicago Cubs signed him to an eight-year, 136 million dollar contract in the following off-season.

      Soriano on the Web

      Official Chicago Cubs Player Bio: Alfonso Soriano

      Team’s official page; contains short bio, stats, and link to recent video highlights

      Alfonso Soriano Wikipedia Page

      Wikipedia page; contains short bio, career stats, and external links

      Soriano’s News and Commentary

      Soriano May Miss 4 to 6 Weeks

      Soriano’s leg injury that sidelined him for six weeks

      In Center Field, Soriano Has no Place to Hide

      Soriano discusses his approach to the centerfield position

      In Chicago, the $136 million question

      Why Soriano was the answer to the Cubs playoff woes

      Alfonso Says

      Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella on the importance of Soriano in the lineup:
      ”We’ve played four months of baseball — 16 weeks. Soriano’s been out for eight of them [including two weeks in April], and basically, he’s our biggest home-run bat. We were able to overcome it, to these guys’ credit, the way they’ve played. But sooner or later, it starts showing up, and it has.”

      Soriano on his work ethic:
      I’m working every day. I don’t have any choice. I just work hard every day and try to get ready.”

      Soriano on hitting a game-winning home run:
      “It’s great. I work hard for those moments. I like those moments. It’s special today. … That’s what I want to do, try to help the team win.”

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, General Sports, MLB, Television

      Will James Blake ever win a Grand Slam?

      October 1, 2008 /

      A recent Deuce Magazine article takes a close look at the career of James Blake. He’s been America’s second-ranked male tennis player for the past seven years. However, he’s yet to win a Grand Slam. In the piece, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal critique Blake’s game, as well as offer insight as to why he hasn’t taken it to the next level.

      What’s always been tricky in that department is Blake’s playing style. Blake’s A-game is a sizzling set of big forehands, aggressive returns, extraordinary movement and enough shotmaking for tons of highlight reels. Few players in the past 20 years have better personified the notion of a dangerous player. Watch Blake versus the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and you’ll see a man extremely capable of going toe-to-toe with giants. As Nadal said earlier this year after earning his first win over Blake in four tries at the ATP Masters Series event in Indian Wells, “He’s a very difficult player for me to play against… very aggressive player all the time.”

      Though Blake is pleased with the consistency of his play in 2008 – he’s maintained a Top 10 ranking all year – there have also been some beguiling losses, including a five-setter in the second round of Wimbledon versus Rainer Schuettler and defeats in finals to first-time winners Kei Nishikori and Marcel Granollers. “This year’s been a little strange,” says Blake. “I’ve had some ups and downs.”

      It’s astonishing that Blake used to dominate Nadal a few years back. He also beat Federer in Beijing before a heart-breaking loss to Fernando Gonzalez, which would have at least guaranteed him a bronze medal. At 29 years-old, Blake’s years are numbered on the ATP Tour. Hopefully both he and Andy Roddick will be prepared for the Australian Open in January. As another year goes by without a dominant male American player, one begins to wonder if legends such as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Pete Sampras were just Europeans with really good Yankee accents.

      Tennis

      Brewers’ unorthodox move pays off

      October 1, 2008 /

      It’s not often that a team fighting for a playoff spot fires its manager in the waning moments of the season, but that’s exactly what the Milwaukee Brewers did when they fired Ned Yost on September 15th, with just 12 games remaining on the schedule. At the time, the club had lost 11 of its last 14 games and the front office felt that the team’s postseason chances were slipping away.

      Third base coach Dale Sveum took over, and it looked like the move was for naught as the Brewers lost four of their next five games and fell behind in the NL Wild Card race. However, the club surged down the stretch, winning six of seven games, including a sweep of the Pirates and winning two out of three from the Cubs, to clinch a playoff berth.

      This is the first time the Brewers have made the most season in 25 years, and the management change now looks like a brilliant move. It was unorthodox, but it worked.

      The Brewers face the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLDS today at 3 PM ET on TBS.

      MLB, Television

      Are Lane Kiffin and Al Davis the same guy?

      October 1, 2008 /

      SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has an interesting take on the Lane Kiffin firing and reminds us that not everybody was on board when Al Davis hired the young buck from USC two years ago.

      Al DavisBut if you were reading SbB when Kiffin was hired by the Raiders in 2007, you know that he is every bit the bad guy Davis is. Former USC football captain Petros Papadakis, now a sports radio guy for KLAC-AM and college football analyst for FSN, is as close as anyone to the Trojan program. Here’s what he said about the former assistant coach at USC when Kiffin was hired by Davis:

      “Hiring Lane Kiffin is not fair to the players and fans of the Oakland Raiders. It’s a desperate hire by a desperate man, Al Davis. Comparing Kiffin to John Gruden is ridiculous, Gruden had eight years of legitimate coaching experience in the NFL, and had been interviewing for head coaching jobs in the league when he was hired by the Raiders.

      “What’s his (Kiffin’s) most significant NFL experience to draw from? One year of a defensive gofership seven years ago with the Jacksonville Jaguars.”

      “I know him personally and he doesn’t command a lot of respect from the players or other coaches. I never looked at him as head coach material or even offensive coordinator material. He couldn’t even manage players at USC, how can he manage players in NFL?

      “Watching him call the plays for the offense of the 2005 team, with Leinart, Bush, and Lendale White was like watching a little kid trying to drive a Ferrari.

      “He was coaching at USC because of Pete Carroll, who was mentored by his father, (longtime NFL assistant coach) Monte Kiffin. So Carroll basically parented Lane at USC.

      “Coaching the Raiders isnt going to be an uphill battle for Kiffin, it’s an up-cliff battle.“

      Sounds a lot like the guy Davis described today at his press conference.

      And even well before Kiffin was hired by Davis, and still under the employ of USC, Papadakis made abundantly clear on former USC football flagship KMPC-AM in Los Angeles that Kiffin was personally disdained by USC players, and commanded little-to-no respect on and off-the-field. Kiffin was a borderline laughingstock who only had his job with the Trojans because he was Monte Kiffin’s son (per Monte’s close personal relationship with Carroll).

      Now, I by no means am defending Davis’ actions. It’s clear that when Kiffin would not submit to the owner’s every oft-misguided whim, he was doomed. But as Davis gets demonized in a one-sided manner today all over the main media, it’s clear to me that Kiffin isn’t much different than the man who showed him the door.

      Interesting. There were many media members who felt that hiring Kiffin was a horrible idea because of his youth and inexperience – which it was. As it turns out, Kiffin not only was a bad hire because of those things, but also because the guy doesn’t know how to communicate with players (as noted by Papadakis). The Kiffin hiring was a train wreck from the start and Davis has nobody to blame but himself.

      NFL

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