Weekly TGIF Entry

2005-08-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Friday's here. Guess that's a good thing. Here goes the daily barrage of random thoughts:

Been some discussion on the Oregonlive Hawks forum about who on the Hawks should wear the "C" and the "A" for the upcoming season. Here is my 2 cents for what it is worth. I think that the coaches would like to see Dan DaSilva wearing the C this year. From everything I hear the kid is a natural leader in the dressing room and is the type of player that coaches love to have on their team. He has been one of the scoring leaders on a team that, quite frankly hasn't had much of a reputation as a offensive powerhouse. But there are other aspects of Dan's game that lead me to think he is the front runner for the Captain's chair. He almost never takes stupid penalties, he uses his head when he's on the ice, and he seems to have a good relationship with the officials. So what is the most important quality for a Captian to have? IMO that is respect, respect from his team mates, respect from the coaching staff, and respect from the officials. I believe that this is where Dan is the team leader, he has the respect needed for the position and he has the smarts to do a good job as Captain. Now if Dan could improve his skating and learn to score the clutch goal he would be the perfect player.

If Dan gets the C, then who should wear the A's? There typically have been three players that have been assigned assistant captain's in recent years. My choices would be Michael Funk, Michael Sauer and Brian Woolger. Why these three? Again it boils down to the respect factor, I believe these three players have the needed respect from the players, the coaches, and the officials. There are certainly other players on the roster that are more than capable of being an assistant captain, but I feel that these three players fit my description of what I would look for in assistant captains better than others on the team.

I'm sure that there are going to be people asking me "Why don't you feel Dubinsky deserves to be either the Captain or Assistant"? It is a good question, here is the answer. Part of Brandon's game is being an agitator, he get's under the skin of the other team and quite often gets under the skin of the officials as well. If we assign him a C or an A I feel that it would take away part of what makes Brandon a more effective player on the ice. I want him to play with an edge, with a chip on his shoulder, it is part of what makes him a special player.

Well, that's all the Hawks talk I have for today, here are a couple of other sports related thoughts:

Did you see the collision between Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran of the Mets yesterday? Absolutely brutal, maybe one of the worst collisions I have ever seen in baseball, you can check it out here http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=250811125. Cameron took the worst of it, here's hoping for a quick recovery and I look forward to seeing Mike back in action soon.

Some people are saying that they would like to see Brian Grant back in a Blazers uniform, my question is why? Sure, he is a good guy, lots of good community service, but the guy hasn't been the same player on the court for the last couple of years. I am not convinced that Zack Randolph will make it through the whole season healthy, so I think the Blazers need someone that will give them a solid presence on the front line in the event that Zack misses time, I'm not convinced that Grant is that guy. I'm not sure who that player would be right now, but I just don't think it is Grant.

The NHL free agent signing frenzy seems to be slowing down to a simmer. Almost all fans are going to need to get line-up cards to figure out who is who on what teams to start the season. Man, what a crazy, mixed-up signing period it has been. What's the plus side to all of this? It sure has generated a lot of fan interest in the game that is sorely needed after losing last season to the lockout. When was the last time you saw this much interest in the NHL during the summer?

That's all I've got for now, like I said before don't expect anything on the weekends, but will be back on Monday for another spew of random thoughts.

First Blog Entry

2005-08-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

What is this blog about?

Good question.

This blog will be filled with random thoughts and my take on the local, and sometimes national sports scene. By local I mean the greater Portland, OR area. While I'm sure the Trailblazers will be mentioned in here on occasion they will not be the focus of my entries. I am an avid hockey fan and season ticket holder to the Portland Winterhawks and a good portion of my entries will be focused on them. But I will not put limits on what I might or might not address going forward. If you are prepared for anything, then you will most likely get nothing, if you are prepared for nothing, then you might get anything.

Constructive criticism is encouraged, but everything that I post is my opinion and I will stand behind it fiercely.

I am choosing to remain anonymous, I could be someone famous, or I might be no one at all. I only hope that through this blog I can become something to someone and at the very least provide some entertainment and fun for myself if not for others.

Random sports thoughts of the day:

- It is the dog days of summer, the only sport actively competing right now is baseball, can't wait until fall.

- Thank God the NHL and the players finally pulled their collective head out of their collective backside and is going to be playing again this year. Whatever happened to playing "for the love of the game"? Now, no more crying about money, no more whining about contracts, let's see some good old hard hitting, bone crunching checks, some end-to-end rushes, highlight reel goals, and spectacular saves. Mark October 5th on your calendars.

- To the radio broadcaster in San Fran that was fired for making racial comments about the Giants hitters, Good Riddance. You deserve to be fired, if not for making those kind of statements, but at the very least for the stupidity to make them about the team that your station relies on. If you thought the players had cream of wheat for brains maybe you should look in the mirror.

- To Rhett Rhakshani, Eric Gryba, Ryan Fuller, Ryan Santana, Jon Sigalet, maybe you should reconsider your decision to come play for the Winterhawks. This is a class organization, and would give you a great opportunity to make your dreams of playing in the NHL a reality. I am sure that you would not regret your decision. I am not affiliated with the Hawks in any way, other that being a fan, but the positives for playing for this organization are well documented. If you need some convincing maybe you should contact the following current NHL players for their take: Andy Ference, Brendan Morrow, Dave Scatchard, Brad Isbister, Byron Dafoe, Jeff Finley, Nolan Pratt, Marion Hossa, Josh Green, Jason Weimer, or Glen Wesley (note: this is only a partial list).

- One last thought, here are a couple of other local, and more famous sports blogs, maybe if I mention them they might return the favor sometime. Ian Furness of 1080 the fan has a blog at www.ian1080.blogspot.com, and local sports columnist John Canzano has his blog at www.oregonlive.com/canzano

Well, that is all for today. I will usually try to post once a day during the week, weekends are tough for me, but I might get a few posts in on the weekends here and there. See you tomorrow.

Stumptown Sports

Weekly TGIF Entry

First Blog Entry