Friday Fisticuffs - Stanley Cup Over/Unders

I hear you. "Stanley Cup over/unders? Lord Stanley's playoffs already ended. The Kings beat the Devils. You just wrote about it! Clown fisticuffs, bro." But no worries, this is a little different. These over/unders are actually about Lord Stanley's Cup. We all know about the Cup's rich tradition, crazy places its been, stories of what it's held, and tales of its undoubtedly unlikely survival amidst inordinate inebriation. So today we bring you over/unders on the Cup's 2012 summer journey with the Kings. Each player gets one day with it. What will happen? One can only guess...and we will.

Just A Lot of Jealousy

By now it's been well documented. The Kings have won the Stanley Cup! They haven't won since they entered the league in 1967! Congrats Wayne Gretzky! Congrats Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor, Luc Robitaille, Rogie Vachon, and Bob Berry! Congrats long time announcer Bob Miller and all other Kings legends! What a tortured fan base this has been, it's just been kept on the down low! 


The outpour of love for the Kings franchise and fan base has begun. And it's making me sick. This movie is miscast. This script was written for the Blues.


The Blues are now the only team of the NHL's 1967 Expansion 6 that haven't won a Cup. The Flyers won in '74 and '75 with the Broad Street Bullies. The Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993 and won their Cup in '99. The California Seals never won, disqualifying them in the Expansion 6 Cup-race. However, they eventually moved to Cleveland and merged with the North Stars, so you could say they got their Cup that way.The Penguins won in '91 and '92. The Kings are now the 2012 champs. The Blues? Still 0-12 in Stanley Cup Final games. Yup, swept by the Canadiens and Bruins three straight years from 1968-1970. 

Rapid Fire: 5 Easy Bullets of Yesterday's Happenings

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/

Sleep through yesterday? That's weird. Here's what you missed:

• Devil's beat the Rangers 4-1 thanks to Zach Parise's 2 goal and an assist performance. The soon to be UFA helped tie the series 2-2. 
• Rupp was rude. 
• Pete DeBoer isn't the media. Meaning, John Tortorella said more than one word to him when things got nasty between benches.
• Pete DeBoer looks like Kevin Spacey in Se7en. 
• The Thunder eliminated the Lakers in 5, despite 42 pts from Kobe.
• Kobe's running out of time to catch Michael. 
• Russell Westbrook did this. Cool bro. 
• My friends and I are of the opinion Russell Westbrook looks like a frog.
• The Celtic's beat the 76ers 101-85, and are up 3-2 in the series. 
• Think they have a shot to beat the Heat (assuming they advance)? 
• Someone lit a fire under Brandon's Bass. He had a team high 27 pts.
• Rondo had 14 assists, he's a crazy good passer. 
• Kevin Garnett looks (and acts) like Venom to me.  

• Stan Van Gundy was finally fired. Magic GM Otis Smith got the axe as well.
• Coaching Dwight Howard and the Magic these past years must have felt like purgatory for Stan. I imagine he's not too upset to be gone. 
• I know nothing about Otis Smith, except for that I heard a halftime interview with him once. He's pretty charismatic, and wears cool glasses. I can only assume they're from Malaysia. 
• I had to google Stan Van Gundy look-a-likes. This is what I got. Don't judge me. 
• The Dodgers and Red Sox have each won 8 of their last 10. 
• Yet the Dodgers are first in their division, while the Red Sox are tied for last in theirs. 
• The Dodgers look like a playoff contender. They do have arguably the best pitcher, and hitter in the game. 
•  The Red Sox look like they're paying $173 million for a lot of disappointment. Again. 

10 Reasons the Cup Is Close - Blues Edition

The 2010-2011 NHL season is officially over. Congratulations to the Bruins and their stuck up, spoiled Boston fans for winning yet another championship. It’s good to see guys like Timmy Thomas, Mark Recchi, and Zdeno Chara get their first rings. But as usual I couldn’t help but think about the Blues, their failure to reach the playoffs this year, and how I wish I was seeing a normal sized David Backes hoisting the Cup rather than Big Z Chara.

So naturally I began to wonder if the Blues have what it takes to get to the Cup (in the next 5 years-ish). It didn’t take me long to decide that the answer was a definite yes, and here’s why (in no particular order):

1.) Doug Armstrong – Blues GM

This past season was Dougie’s first year as Blues GM, and did he ever have the big shoes of Larry Pleau to fill. Pleau was the longest tenured and possibly most successful GM in Blues history from 1997-2010, posting a 260-153-63-16 record in the six year span between 1997-2003. Larry was involved in acquiring players such as Keith Tkachuk, Brad Boyes, Doug Weight, Scott Mellanby, Dallas Drake and Andy McDonald. If you’re keeping track, that’s two Hall of Famers, one assistant coach, one obnoxious backstabber, one net-missing Sabre, and one future Cup winner (fingers crossed). However Mr. Armstrong sees that list and raises it one Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk. There is no doubt he has the leadership, commitment, and straight up guts to lead this team. There’s no one that fits better with this team or I’d rather have runnin the ship. Doug’s cooler than the other side of the pillow and will make sure the Blues have the parts and pieces to make a Cup within reach.

2.) John Davidson – President of Hockey Operations

If you have actually followed the Blues since at least 2005-2006 then you know that they went from miserably bad to promising/contending within very little time. You can thank John Davidson for that. He helped St. Louis out of the dumps rather than let them rot for a few years. Personally, I’m thankful that he just signed a multi-year extension. Now the perfect combo of Armstrong-Davidson is set for years to come. You can also thank these guys for the fan friendliness of the Blues organization. They’re truly classy and know what they’re doing in every aspect of the business, and if the Blues are gonna win a Cup, they’re going to lead them there.

NBA/NHL Finals Podcast

NHL Playoffs: Yes, This League Still Has Problems Edition

Hey again. I'd like to welcome myself back from a near month long, Simmons-like hiatus from writing. Sorry to all, got mixed up with the whole finals/summer is finally here thing. Mark wrote enough for 4 people anyway so glad to see the ship isn't sinking. Anyways..

If you’re not an NHL fan, well that’s not surprising. The NHL has been in the backseat of the car that the NFL has been driving for a while now. The NBA and MLB seem to take turns in the front depending on who calls shotgun fastest, while the MLS is stuffed in the trunk. As for tennis and golf, well they seem to be drug along something like this.

As an NHL fan myself, I cheer not only for the Blues but the league to do well. I wanna see game highlights on espn and amazing goals in the top 10. I want the league to generate revenue, expand, gain interest and become basically what the NFL is now.

Blues 2010-2011 Grades

As with any team in any sport, the season eventually comes to an end. Sometimes with a solid playoff appearance, many times not even that far and most rarely of all with a championship victory. Then comes the lull for the fans. Fans of a championship team have the privilege to celebrate for weeks before beginning to think about the next year. But for the rest of us, reflection of the season that was sets in. Excitement, optimism, worry and panic for the next year are a few months away. In order to gain closure on the Blues 2010-2011 season lets look at each individual, grading their performance. For the NHL challenged, each player will also be compared to another athlete so you can get a feel for what type of player each Blue is.

Order: # of games played, least to most

Ben Bishop: 7gp, 2.76 GAA .899 SV% - B-
Chaminade grad Bishop gets a B- on the year. This is the type of B- where you're sitting on a 79.5% but the teacher mercifully bumps you up. He had 2 outstanding games, 2 good games, and 3 stinkers. The potential is there but the consistency isn't. He's a lot like Rick Porcello of the Detroit Tigers. Potential is there but how much? You wouldn't be surprised if he becomes a solid #2 pitcher, (solid NHL starter) or a decent #3/4 pitcher (good NHL backup). Only time will tell.

Blues Wrap-Up

Anyone who watched the Blues 2010-2011 season rode the cliche "roller coaster" of ups and downs. However disturbingly the ride seemed to be a majority of down slopes after the impressive 9-1-2 start in October. Compared to the 2009 heroic late season surge to the playoffs and 2010's choking away of leads in the third, this season lacked the emotional toying of the heart but in the end was very predictable. Ever since Joe "I ruin young careers full of potential" Thornton elbowed Mr. Perron in the head, the team seemed to be going no where. But it wasn't just Perron's absence that lowered spirits. The team lost Jackman, Steen, McDonald, Halak, Coliaccovo, Polak, Sobotka and Oshie for extended periods of time. 2009 took on the youngsters with something to prove aura. They never gave up and made an improbable playoff push becoming one of the hottest teams in league within the last few months. Unfortunately they were swept by a the Canuckleheads in the first round. 2010 became a season full of promise, ultimately sliding away. Yet it was ok, the team was young, it was a learning experience. 2011 will be seen as the year of excuses. It started with great expectations. First as a dangerous playoff team, then as a legitimate contender. But that didn't last long. As soon as Perron went down and the injury bug bit a few players the team seemed to take on the "well this isn't our year either" attitude. You could see it coming a mile away. Unfortunately the pile of injuries only grew throughout, never giving the team a chance to regain confidence and surge back. Flashes of brillance hit here and there. The Blues beat some top notch teams, but then would fall to teams like the Blue Jackets. Yes, the Bjs. In the end it became pretty predictable. We weren't going to make the playoffs. We had already decided to give up. No worries, we can blame injuries. We lost our star in the making. We lost our veteran D-man. We lost our up and coming goaltender. We lost our spark plug. The forgiving St. Louis fans will be compassionate as always. Well time is running out. The fans, and ownership have given plenty of chances. It's time to start winning no matter how young, or injured the team is. If the Johnson/Stewart trade didn't send the message, i don't know what would. I have full confidence in this team, and really am full of optimism going into the offseason. I can't wait til next year, hopefully it will be an uphill ride.

Reimer Remix