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My beloved Leafs are done for the season, but they still played longer than the man who “…left to win a Stanley Cup.”

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Looks good on ya, Curtis!

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Go Leafs, go!

Game 7, Tonight!
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Go Leafs, go!

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Curtis left Toronto to play in Detroit as he felt they had a better shot at winning The Stanley Cup. In a beautiful twist of fate it is because of him that they lost. Congratulations Curtis! Meanwhile, the Leafs play on. GO LEAFS, GO!

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Goalie Curtis Joseph fails to stop the final shot of the Red Wings’ season — a blast from Steve Rucchin that gave Anaheim a 3-2 overtime victory Wednesday night. The Ducks won the series in a sweep.

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It’s Opening Day! Woooo hoooooo!

Baseball Has Been Beddy Beddy Good To Me!
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Go Jays, go!

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Ahh, if only they would “actually” sing instead of lip syncing

Super Halftime Show Lined Up
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SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – The halftime entertainment for Super Bowl I was handled by the University of Michigan and Arizona marching bands and cost the NFL almost nothing.
Thirty-six Super Bowls later, this year’s halftime show will require a budget in the millions, it’s own title sponsor, an Emmy Award-winning producer, a production crew that numbers in the hundreds and some of the record industry’s hottest acts.
Sultry Grammy-winning singer and country diva, Shania Twain, will front Sunday’s extravaganza between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders.
The Canadian will add her name to a long list of Super Bowl halftime alumni that includes Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys, Cher, the Beach Boys, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and U2.
Over the years, former-presidents, astronauts, Olympic figure skaters and even OJ Simpson have played varying roles in Super Bowl halftime and pregame shows.
“We are connecting the music world with the world of sport,” declared producer Joel Gallen.
As the Super Bowl has grown in stature, so have the halftime shows — in many cases rivaling the game itself for the spotlight.
A media conference Thursday with this year’s headliners attracted over 40 television crews, or about four times as many as those who attended the NFL’s rookie of year announcement one day earlier.
In an adjoining room, a press briefing jointly held by Milt Ahlerich, NFL vice-president for security, and the San Diego police chief could attract only 15 reporters.
Twain will perform two songs and producers have assured that the singer would not lip synch her hits as she did last November during her performance at the Grey Cup — Canada’s version of the Super Bowl.
The Canadian diva will certainly have a tough act to follow when she steps on stage in front of a worldwide television audience that is expected to exceed 800 million.
International superstars Paul McCartney and U2 appeared at last year’s halftime show to offer their support to the American public at the first Super Bowl to be staged after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

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“The Kid” (finally) got it! Woo hoo!

Murray, Carter Elected to Hall of Fame
NEW YORK – When Cooperstown came calling for Gary Carter and Eddie Murray, they answered in vastly different ways.
Carter shouted and punched the air in joy when he heard the words “Hall of Fame.”
Murray could hardly speak, but for a much more somber reason.
The only switch-hitter with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits, Murray became just the 38th player to be elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility Tuesday.
The steady, silent first baseman of the Baltimore Orioles could not enjoy the moment. Later in the day in Southern California, he was to attend the funeral of his sister, who died Jan. 2 at 38.
“Unfortunately, I cannot speak with you today because of the passing of my younger sister, Tanja, after her long-fought battle with kidney disease,” Murray said in a statement.
“Although I dedicated my professional career to the game, I have dedicated my life to my family. The elation I feel by being recognized for my achievements on the field is overshadowed by the anguish of losing someone so dear to me,” he said.
Always exuberant, Carter finally made it on his sixth try. An 11-time All-Star catcher with Montreal and the New York Mets, he may become the first player inducted with an Expos cap on his plaque.
“I got overly excited and screamed,” Carter said. “Now we can do a little celebrating.”
Murray easily exceeded the 75 percent necessary for election, getting chosen on 85 percent of the ballots (423 of 496).
Carter got in with 78 percent (387). He fell 11 votes short last year at 72.7 percent.
Murray and Carter played together for Los Angeles in 1991. They became the sixth set of teammates to be elected together; Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield made it in 2001.
No one else came close in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Carry-over candidates Bruce Sutter, Jim Rice and Andre Dawson were right around 50 percent, and first-timers Ryne Sandberg and Lee Smith didn’t even reach that mark. Darryl Kile, the St. Louis pitcher who died last season, got token support.
Pete Rose, ineligible for the ballot because he’s on baseball’s permanently banned list, got 18 write-in votes √≥ the same as last year. Rose and commissioner Bud Selig’s aides have been negotiating terms of a possible reinstatement for the career hits leader.
Kile, who got seven votes, was among several players who did not receive the necessary 5 percent to stay on the ballot. Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams was among four players who did not get a vote.

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If only she wouldn’t lip sync

Shania to play at Super Bowl
Shania Twain will be getting her football kicks once again — this time at Super Bowl XXXVII.
Fresh off her Grey Cup half-time performance last November, Twain is now set to play the half-time show at Super Bowl XXXVII at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Jan. 26.
So far, Shania is the only artist announced for this year’s game, although other acts are expected. Last year’s Super Bowl included performances by U2, Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Marc Anthony, Barry Manilow, Wynonna, Yolanda Adams, James Ingram and Patti LaBelle.
The annual sporting extravaganza is perennially the most-watched TV show of the year, and FOX boasts that up to 131 million people in the U.S. will watch at least a portion of the contest that should claim a total of 800 million viewers worldwide.
Twain’s latest album “Up!” is currently sitting at No. 1 on the Canadian charts for a sixth straight week.

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Top 10 2002 celebrity excuses

Here Are The Nominees For Hollywood’s Best Performances In A Defending Role
2002 was the year that the celebrity mea culpa became an art form.
In fact, Whitney Houston’s recent interview with Diane Sawyer provided enough classic excuses to fill a top-10 list all by itself. However, we didn’t want to shortchange the creativity, ingenuity, and chutzpah of the many worthy stars who spent so much of the year explaining away their misdeeds.
So, in that giving spirit, EW.com offers the 10 best celebrity excuses of the year:
10) ”I’ve killed enough of the world’s trees.”
— Stephen King, on his planned retirement from publishing
9) ”People think it’s s—.”
— Guy Ritchie, telling Oxford students why his ”Swept Away,” starring wife Madonna, is going straight to video in England
8) ”Tom Sizemore is a popular and nice guy. An individual became unruly when asked to leave and was escorted out of Mr. Sizemore’s house. Subsequently, the individual asked me, Mr. Sizemore’s attorney, for money. This is a shakedown and we are confident that it will go away.”
— Robert Barta, attorney for Tom Sizemore, on the actor’s misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly assaulting a woman claiming to be his fiancee
7) ”All I needed was, like, five hours’ sleep.”
— Mariah Carey, on her hospitalization for ”exhaustion” last year
6) ”All I know is, I woke up and I am covered in cream.”
— R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, testifying that he couldn’t remember an alleged air-rage incident in which he was accused of overturning a breakfast cart, because of a blackout he blamed on a drink and a sleeping pill taken on an empty stomach; he was ultimately acquitted
5) ”Sometimes when I’m sleeping, you know, it’s, like, in the middle of the night I’m not, like, totally clear. I’m thinking I’m sleeping with my wife…. I’m not even attracted to you! I am 150 to 200 percent happy with the wife that I have.”
— ”Survivor: Thailand” castaway Ted Rogers Jr., apologizing to tribemate Ghandia Johnson, in response to her accusation that he was ”grinding” against her in her sleep
4) ”It was the goal of these people to eliminate me. This business would have worked except for these five or six guys. They wanted to kill Michael Ovitz. If they could have taken my wife and kids, they would have.”
— Former Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz, blaming his fall from grace on what he called the industry’s ”gay mafia”
3) ”Crack is cheap. I make too much money to use crack. Crack is wack.”
— Whitney Houston, on why crack was absent from the otherwise lengthy list of drugs she admitted to having used
2) ”I made a terrible mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.”
— Michael Jackson, apologizing for dangling his baby outside a Berlin hotel window, several stories above a crowd of fans on the street
1) ”I was told that I should shoplift. The director said I should try it out.”
— Saks Fifth Avenue guard Colleen Rainey, testifying during Winona Ryder’s trial, quoting the actress’ explanation that she was preparing for a movie role.

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That’s the best they (The NHL) could do?!?

Sheryl Crow and Goo-Goo Dolls to Perform at NHL All-Star Game
The NHL has booked musicians Sheryl Crow and the Goo-Goo Dolls to perform between periods during the NHL All-Star Game on February 2. The Goo-Goos will perform “Sympathy” after the first period. Crow will sing “C’mon C’mon” after the second. Crow will also be featured at an outdoor concert after the game.

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Doo be doo be-ball

HIS WAY
The family of Frank Sinatra allowing the NBA to resurrect Ol’ Blue Eyes for a promotional spot depicting a digitally-enhanced Sinatra singing “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” that will debut at a hoops match doubleheader on ABC on Christmas Day.