Payback's a Bitch! - NOT!

ROCKDAY, MAY 15, 2011

We came, we played, we dished out some sweet revenge!

It was by no means a shoe-in. This was thrilling entertainment personified.

Toronto scored early, ending the first quarter with a 3-1 lead. By halftime The Rock led 7-2. But this is lacrosse, and a 5 goal lead is nothing!

Toronto only scored once in the second half (thank you Monsieur Leblanc!) but it turned out to be enough. Good thing too...my heart couldn't have survived much more! This was one stress-inducing game!

And loud!

I have attended matches of virtually every sport played at the Air Canada Centre - and Maple Leaf Garden's before it, but I have never experienced the shear volume that the crowd of only 14,488 fans (double last year's attendance in Washington) gnerated at the game today! My ears are still ringing....which is OK because it goes well with the high I feel! Watching your home team win the Championship LIVE is...well most Toronto sports fans just wouldn't understand...because it Rocks!

Final Score:  Toronto Rock 8 - Washington Stealth 7

a nerve-racking 32 seconds to go!

Note to Leafs...

This is what is supposed to happen at the conclusion of a "Rebuilding Year"!

The Rock managed to rebuild a Championship team in two short years - with no money.

The Leafs have had 44 rebuilding years as the richest team in the NHL, and they're still an embarrassment! (What exactly does Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment do with all that money??)

Finally, a HUGE congratulations (with a tear in my eye) to Bob "The Whipper" Watson. He got his "Final Denial" and hoisted the Champion's Cup above his head for the 6th and final time, in his amazing 12 year run as a Rock. Although Stealth goalkeeper Tyler Richardson played an equally impressive game (final shots on goal 58/53 Toronto), no one would argue with Watson being named MVP, in a game that brings his career to a brilliant finish.

Next stop, Hall of Fame.

The 2011 NLL Champion's Cup Rocks!

Season's tickets for the 2012 season go on sale in June, and anyone not buying them is missing out on seeing the best damned sport's franchise this city has to offer, playing the hottest sport on the planet!

And winning!

The Leaf's and Raptors had better shape up! The A.C.C. is now an arena for winners!

Rock On!

(This game had better be on the front page of every Toronto sports section tomorrow, 
or I will be firing off some lively and livid letters-to-the-editor!)

Revenge Rocks the Air Canada Centre

SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2011 

The National Lacrosse League's Championship Final takes place at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow afternoon at 2pm

...and hardly anyone will notice.

The Toronto Rock will take on the Washington Stealth in an avenging rematch of last year's heartbreaker 15-11 Stealth Championship win!

...and the game won't be on any non-subscription local TV channels.

That's right...a Toronto(!) sports franchise has made it to their championship final for two consecutive years! In fact, except for 2008 and 2009 where staff and coaching changes saw The Rock struggle, they've won the Championship 5 years out of 7 and made it into the playoffs 9 years out of 11!

For over a decade The Rock has been Toronto's most impressive professional sports team .

...and most Torontonians couldn't tell you what they play. (which also just happens to be Canada's National Sport!)

The Rock clinched the Championship their first season (1999), then again in  2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. They ended regular season in first place in 1999, 2000, 2001 (where they also made it to the final round losing to Philadelphia), 2002, 2003, and 2005.

It should be noted that in the NLL only one team is eliminated per division, but even with that considered, The Rock have earned the right to call themselves a "Dynasty" team within their sport. (certainly more than The Leafs have for the past 44 years!)

In 2008, even though they were eliminated in regular season, veteran Rock goalie Bob Watson* still managed to be named Goaltender of the Year! (But check out the man's stats!)

Yes folks, this is a truly amazing franchise!

Yet Toronto sports fans largely ignore them, chosing to shower adoration (and money) on all the teams that couldn't win a championship if Tony Soprano paid them to. Of course MLSE DO pay them to, but I wasn't suggesting anything.

The near-total disinterest shown to this great sport is abysmal!

Now, I could understand this if Lacrosse was Cricket, or Lawn Bowling (or, god forbid, Curling)... For a sport to be successful, it's got to offer some excitement. Well, I can honestly not think of any team sport that is MORE exciting than Lacrosse.

In the high scoring games, tides can turn  an instant -  a 6 point lead can be lost within a minute or two (as the insanely stressful divisional final against Buffalo showed us last Sunday).

The shot clock forces aggressive play, while 15 minute quarters and short intermissions keeps play tight and attentions focused.

The league is the right size for real team rivalries rather than the manufactured ones seen in wealth-financed super-leagues. With only 5 teams per Division (East/West) and a 3 week playoff season, Lacrosse is perfectly positioned to be about the sport rather than the profit. (note to Jim Balsillie - why not invest in a sport that could use the influx of cash!)

Unfortunately this also means that no one is going to get rich playing lacrosse. NLL players make an average of only $25,000 a season (in the MLL it's closer to $10,000!!), and most have full-time jobs to support their lacrosse careers. Remember this is a U.S./Canada professional sports league playing games in world-class stadiums.

$10,000 - $25,000 average salaries! These guys WANT to play! And it is the fans who are the beneficiaries of both clearly superior sport and unparalleled entertainment value.

Treating your family to an NLL game is about the same price as taking them to Macdonald's for dinner!

Really! I'm not kidding! Live professional lacrosse is THAT affordable! Tickets for Sunday's Championship final start at $15!!! A pair of seasons tickets will cost you less than tickets to a single Leafs' game!!! My tickets for the 1st game of the playoffs were 6th row Platinums just off centre-field. They cost me $75 ea (including Ticketmaster fees - don't get me started on those!!). My Championship Final tickets (Golds this time) $63.

In my view, lacrosse is the best entertainment you can buy. It's a refreshing throwback to what sports used to be about, before the days of 7 figure contracts, megabuck media deals, and bloated leagues. When one factors in that Toronto is one of the best teams in the league, Lacrosse's near obscurity calls for a hearty "what the f..."

Planning on going to see a movie on Sunday? Why not opt to see a professional league championship final for about the same price? Thrill for thrill live lacrosse will beat any cinematic distraction!

And the 3D is REAL!

*Sunday will be Bob Watson's last appearance as a professional lacrosse player.


After 15 years as one of the most celebrated goalies in professional league lacrosse (12 of those wearing a Rock jersey), he will be retiring at the end of this season. Outside of lacrosse, Watson is a night shift duty officer with the Waterloo Regional Police Service.


Guess he decided to quit his day job (the pay sucked anyway!) to protect more than a net.

Good Luck Bob! Your contribution to the game is an eternal legacy.

WARD, I THINK WALLY IS A COMMUNIST!

W E D N E S D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   0 5 ,   2 0 1 1

Congratulations to the kids from Russia, who played an amazing 20 minutes of hockey.

All kidding aside, the way Russia's Junior Team played in the 3rd, they deserved the win. They underplayed the Canadians into a dangerous complacency over the first 40 minutes, and then pounced.

Cunning pricks.

They did it to the Finns, they did it to the Swedes, you'd think Cameron would have prepared our boys for a 3rd period Commie comeback. He must have known it was going to happen.

And Tarasenko?? Wow - from lying on the ice not moving, to putting his team on the board - I sure didn't see that one coming. Vladimir's triumphant return stirred the hearts of his team mates, and sparked one of the most passionate periods of Junior hockey in my experience.

But it was Canada's over-confidence that created a third period complacency, and when our boys realized what had happened, their high-energy first 2 periods didn't leave them with enough adrenaline to keep up. They folded.

Russia didn't have a better team....they had a better strategy.

This was Dave Cameron's loss, plain and simple. Did he even look at Russia's previous 2 games? How do they win three games in a row, in exactly the same way, without their final opposing coach being prepared for it?? Gimme a break!

Water cooler talk will no doubt damn Cameron for not switching goalies. Bullpoop! A change of goalies would not have effected the results one iota. A goalie is the LAST line of defense, and last night, Visentin was the only person playing defense - with virtually no support from his teammates. As much as I would have loved to see the young Monsieur Roy given a chance to turn things around, this loss was the fault of a coach not anticipating his opponent's end game... even though  they used it in every game they played. Do NOT blame Visentin, who was simply overhwhelmed by the insane onslaught...5 goals in 20 minutes(!), we should question where the rest of the team was!

But Canada's Offense has not been a problem this series...it was a defense deficit, and non-intuitive coaching, that lost them the series.

I must ask though...what was more inspiring? Was it the Russian win, or the series long performance by our own Brayden Schenn?

I'll be long gone when his star finally fades. I often complain about professional sports, but when you get to watch raw talent, it's a poetry in motion that can only culminate in superstar status in this young man's future.

Emperor Palpatine said it best...

"And you young Skywalker, we will watch
your career with great interest..." 

So to the Russian Juniors, поздравления!! Превосходная игра!! See you next year. We will always share the bond of friendship that is the excitement of Canada/Russia hockey!

As for the North West Passage, it's ours - back the hell off.  We founded this nation trading bear skins you commie pinko bastards! 

Vive la companie! 

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER...

W E D N E S D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   0 5 ,   2 0 1 1

We taught those pigheaded Yankies that WE are the dominating force in North America, now let's send them pesky Rusky's a bit of a lesson about Arctic Sovereignty!!

GO!CANADAGO!

He Shoots. He Scores!!! Crosby nails it for Canada!

S U N D A Y,  F E B R U A R Y  2 8,   2 0 1 0

In what has got to be one of the more elegant plays I've seen on ice, Sidney Crosby brought it home on a pass from Jarome Iginia... A first attempt from the pass failed, but he skated around the net, caught the rebound he had just caused, repositioned and fired directly into Olympic glory.

It was a nail-bitter of a game, with Canada taking an early lead, which lasted throughout the first period.  They took a 2 goal lead in the second  with the Americans finally getting on the board shortly thereafter, when Ryan Kesler redirected a pass from Patrick Kane (So nasty! And to do this to his Canucks' teammate Luongo!! Whadda guy!)

Canada kept the one goal lead until Zach Praise was in the right place at the right time to tap in a rebound with only 24 seconds left in the third, sending the game into sudden death overtime.

Luckily Sidney Crosby is way to young to die!

Somehow though, the fact that it was Sidney Crosby who scored the winning goal, especially with such an awe-inspiring play, makes the victory even sweeter. Sidney represents what we like to think of as Canadian. He's infused with that genuine-down-home-east-coast-nice-kid persona, without a speck of ego. Very few of us are actually like that, but it's the way we like to envision ourselves. Sidney embodies it naturally.

When asked about the winning goal, he simply said, "I don't know... I didn't see it".

And how about the banner held by the troops watching the game in Kandahar!!! I'm paraphrasing but I think it said....

"Brothers in Arms. Enemies on Ice!"

Gotta Love it! Speaking of loving it...

           ● 14 Gold ● 7 Silver ● 5 Bronze ●            

Stephen Harper is going to be so full of himself about his "Own The-Podium" strategy, but anything that helps finance the athletes, and brings home more gold than any other country, works for me! So I'll give him this one! (But can they all go back to work now, we aren't paying them to watch sports!)

13 golds and 3rd ain't too shabby, but what tune does the fat lady sing today???

S U N D A Y,  F E B R U A R Y  2 8,   2 0 1 0

go team canada.

thanks for making me nearly have a heart attack on Friday (even when you were up 2-0....I relaxed at 3-0, but not completely). I'm actually terrified to watch you play today, so get your frakkin' shit together. Don't you dare embarrass us with a reverse of what Russia allowed you to do to them. If you play like you did Friday, that's what's gonna happen, you overpaid baboons!!! Maybe we should send the women's team in! Those ladies would show you how it's done (Hell, the National Ballet of Canada could play a better game of hockey than you did on Friday!)

Whatza matta? (please insert standard Arnie accent.) Are you girly boys?

Dohn let a bunch of guhls play beta den you? Practice your Ahnie face!

Will you be bested by a bunch of Damned Yankey's? The same folks who have stolen our game and sold it to companies like Walt Disney or re-packaged it for consumption in places like frakkin' FLORIDA????? Oh ya like that's a good place for a winter sport! At least it's mostly Quebecers down there. And why are they down there? TO GET AWAY FROM THE MAUDITS HIVER, TABARNAK!!!!!

So, get out there and fight for your country! Fuck!

You can go back to pimping Lord Stanley's Cup (you know, the one he gave Canada as an award for  AMATEUR hockey) for a bunch of filthy-rich (mostly American) corporate overlords next week. Today, you jocks are professionals representing Canada at an amateur sporting event, so try to get it right. That Maple Leaf on your chest does not mean you should play like you got traded to Toronto!!

Play like you're on Jim Balsillie's payroll instead of Gary Bettman's, or
to steal from the Olympic Hockey ads...

REMEMBER JUST WHO'S GAME
IT IS YOU'RE PLAYING!!!