Big Lead Sports Bar

3/29/2007

All Sorts of Good Stuff

Sorry about the lack of posts on Thursday. Yours truly was severely overloaded with work. But I'll make it up to you with a nice long post to kick off your Friday. I'm verrry backed up with stuff for you. And by the way, thanks for all of the emails and news sent in this week for the Tekulve T-Shirt contest. All I can say is that this week's contest will be "hotly contested". On to the news...

--The Penguins won yet again, this time pulling into first place with a 4-2 win over the Bruins. Erik Christensen scored two goals and still refuses to smile.

--ESPN.com compares Sid with Wayne Gretzky in every way imaginable. Except for the part where Crosby's actress wife bets on sports.

--Thanks to Eric Wilbur and the Boston Globe for introducing Mondesi's House to Red Sox Nation on Wednesday. In Wilbur's 2007 MLB predictions, he picks the Pirates last with this brief blurb on the Buccos:

"Seventy-nine reasons why it’s hard to be a Pirates fan. Pittsburgh will add to that in ’07."

--In a Post Gazette reader poll, 93% of those responding think Barry Bonds took performance-enhancing drugs, 42% think the Pirates will be this year's version of the 2006 Tigers, and most not-surprisingly by Pirate fans, Adam LaRoche will be the player to have the biggest impact on his new team. Even more of an impact than Daisuke Matsuzaka, Alfonso Soriano, Barry Zito, or Jason Schmidt, who signed for a combined $1.9 trillion this off-season. I love their optimism.

--We have a John "Luigi" Leguizamo sighting in Pittsburgh! From our emailer Anthony:

"I'm not sure if you know it or not, but there are several Hollywood-types in town shooting a new TV show called "The Kill Pit". On Monday, I saw John Leguizamo walking his freakishly-large black poodle down Fifth Ave. across from the Souper Bowl."

So I looked into Kill Pit, and it turns out that it's an eight-hour miniseries for the Spike Network. I guess their stock of MXC is running low, and Matt Kennedy Gould isn't walking through the door anytime soon, so it was time for some fresh, original programming.

Says TV.com of Kill Pit:

"The drama follows a bank robbery that goes bad, resulting in a tense police standoff and a hostage situation. John Leguizamo plays the leader of the bank robbers, ex-US soldiers who have returned from Iraq."

Hey, if it's got the Souper Bowl involved, I'm watching.

--Pierre McGuire gives us a Sidney Crosby Valentine, which is a good read for Sid and Pens fans. But this line kinda threw me:

"There will always be detractors and people who are jealous, but when it is all said and done Crosby will be one of the players and people in the game who will have lived up to the hype and did it in a way that made a next generation of player try to emulate him -- just like Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Joe Sakic. "

OK...Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux...those were all NHL icons. I can live with that. But Joe Sakic? A great player, but that's the first I've ever heard him in the same breath as Orr, Gretzky, or Mario. He's won one MVP! Am I nuts? Of course, but does anyone agree with me?

--West Virginia won the NIT, clinching their spot as the NCAA's 66th-best team.

--The Onion News Network just kicked off. But judging from the amount of Onion-related links I receive, I'm sure most of you already knew that.

--The Eddie Griffin Ferrari crash...fake???

--Here's a link to the DialIdol software that allows you to predict who's getting voted off. Remember, Vote for Sanjaya! And don't forget, if Sanjaya wins, Simon is out.

--Anyone else catch the story about the toad as big as a small dog recently uncovered in Australia?

--This sounds awesomely awesome: there's talk of 7-11 making over 11 stores as Kwik-E-Marts in honor of The Simpsons Movie. Offerings will include KrustyO's cereal, Buzz Cola and iced Squishees. Seriously.

--"Sad Kermit the Frog" sings Nine Inch Nails/Johnny Cash's Hurt. Top-shelf stuff.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

he might not be Mario or Orr, but Sakic is money. and he's done it all consistently, and also with just one team. RESPECT.

AJ said...

Apparently, it's not easy being green.

The Drink said...

Joe Sakic definately deserves to be mentioned with Orr, Gretzky and Lemieux. If he plays 2 more years, he could finish in the top 10 all-time in goals scored, in the top 5 all-time in assists, and finish in the top 6 in all-time points.

He has won 2 Stanley Cups, with one Conn Smythe, and was out shined by Patrick Roy in the second Cup for what should have been Sakic's second Conn Smythe (although, if Roy hadn't played so poorly in the first 2 games he wouldn't have needed to shine to win the Conn Smythe...but that is splitting hairs).

To say that Joe Sakic doesn't belong in the list of NHL Greats is a slap in the face of NHL fans. Joe Sakic is going to be the last of the breed of players drafted, developed and retiring with the same team. For that alone he deserves respect and admiration.

I'm out.
DRINK

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

Drink,

Do you wear a helmet when you ride balls that hard?

Unknown said...

I don't know much but I would like to see a special on Sid at Mario's house during the season and during the arena debacle. "Damn you, will you pick up your clothes!"
Sid, "I'm sorry, it went to overtime and a shootout."
"Yeah, well I was squabbling with this dumbass from Philly that wants you to go to KC."
Now that is a show I would watch and Gretzky could never have handled.

Adam said...

I said Penn State should not be allowed to call itself a great
university
because it allowed Portland to stick around after making such haterful
statements.

More to the point, Penn State is not a great university. You should be
on
television where they throw the word ``great'' around like it's a
nickel-dime compliment.

Harvard is a great university. Oxford is a great university. Penn State
is
not. -- Bob Smizik

Adam said...

and my response

"Bob,
I understood full well what you meant. Penn State does not "nickel and dime" it's use of "great university".

I have statistics.

1. One of Newsweek's top 50 Global Colleges. (If that is not "great" what is?)

2. National Opinion Research Center: Universities Awarding Most Doctorates- Penn State ranks 8th

3. U.S. News and World Report: 4th best Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering school, 7th in Nuclear Engineering, 6th in Agricultural Engineering, 2nd in Administration/Supervision. These are just a few of MANY Penn State schools ranked in the top 10.

If you have any further questions about the educational integrity of the institution, take a look at this page. http://www.psu.edu/ur/rankings/

Bob, you blew the Portland story out of proportion to give PSU another black eye in the Pittsburgh media. If a college should not call itself "great" because someone on the staff said or did something less than impressive, I'm sure even Harvard would have it's fair share of minor scandals like this.

And yes, I said minor scandal. A women's basketball coach is not the president, nor a professor, not an athletic director. She is a women's basketball coach with little to no effect on the educational process. Again, to slam an entire state institution on it's women's basketball coach is #1 A sign you think to much of the world of women's college basketball and #2 A clear illustration of you anti-PSU bias.

Many from my family, aunts, uncles, and cousins, have earned degrees from Penn State. It has put food on many a Bittner's table for 3 generations. 1 in 117 graduates in this country hold a Penn State degree. Unless we are using New Math, I believe Penn State has done more for more average Americans than Harvard or Oxford. Maybe they've educated smarter and richer people, but that doesn't make them and "greater" than a school that boasts one of the strongest alumni associations on the planet.

Consider than before you blast an entire school because its WOMEN's college basketball coach has a screw loose.

Adam Bittner

P.S. I agree with your assertion that many colleges call themselves great schools that are not; however, Penn State's shear statistics show it IS a great university, especially considering it is a public institution."