The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

So tonight, the usual mischief is planned...beer....wings...hockey (World Juniors)...and I'm going to unveil my LIGHTSABER to my friends. Eh...is this thing on?!

Anyway, have a safe and Happy New Year's today. Man, 2005 just flew by. Too fast for my tastes! Little Brittany, sporting her fancy Christmas dress, would also like to tell you be safe and have fun tonight, and here's to 2006!

The unfortunate release date in theatres of this movie, June 2005, wasn't the best idea. Although counterprogramming for the mega-blockbusters of the summer (Fantastic Snore, Mr. & Mrs. Sh*t) is never a bad idea, June isn't the time. Most of the "smarter" films that are offered in summer usually are released in late July or August, perhaps because with little Billy out of school begging to see the next installment of Star Wars, parents don't have a chance to go see something they want to see that early in summer. I mention this because late summer/fall is the time to release the award contenders, and Cinderella Man's early release and lackluster box office will probably rob it of any Oscar considerations when the nominees are announced in the next few weeks.

The story of champion boxer Jim Braddock, a rags-to-riches-to-rags-back-to-riches story, is a trip we have visited before. But the angle this one takes: first, that it's a true story, second, it's about a guy America got behind as he fought during the Great Depression and was looking to get a second chance. He put his family above everything else during these hard times, something everyone could relate too. His kind demeanour and his never-quit work ethic spoke to the public. In other words, Braddock was fighting for them. Today, athletes that get the headlines are quite frankly a**holes like the NHL's Sean Avery or the NFL's Tyrell Owens. These guys, quite high on themselves, do not have a trace of humility or grace in them, and there big paycheques and unquestionable talent make them feel "above" everyone else. When was the last time there was a true hero the public admired?

Russell Crowe, an interesting choice to play the role as he comes across time and time again as an a**hole in real life, plays Braddock with strong conviction. His accent sometimes is inconsistent, but nonetheless you root for him so does his job right. Paul Giamatti, steals the show as Joe Gould, Braddock's manager and best friend. I felt Giamatti was robbed of a nomination last year for his work in Sideways, but this is Cinderella Man's strongest chance for at least a nomination.

As I mentioned before, the only real drawback to this picture is the "been there, done that" feel to it, which is ashame because athletes like Jim Braddock should not be forgotten and it's terrific that a picture comes along like this to introduce to the movie public the heroes of yesteryear that today's sportsmen should strive to be. Rocky, Raging Bull...I like these boxing pictures better, but still, Cinderella Man definitely merits viewing.

While sitting back and taking it easy by not going to work :), I've been watching the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. And it's reminded me why I've started playing in the first place.

You have a chance to sit down and play against some of the world's greats: Doyle Brunson, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu. They're all there. Can you sign up to play hockey and skate with Joe Sakic? Can you try to go up to bat and hit a home run in the World Series while Roger Clemmons is throwing rockets at you? No chance, but in poker, it's possible. And not only that, you even have a chance to win.

Some of the best poker players are white, black, Asian, male, female...doesn't matter. They come from all corners of the globe. I think the only continent not represented is Antarctica.

Some are immigrants with little education and have become world champions, like Scotty Nguyen. Some have earned their PhDs, like 2000 champion Chris Ferguson, who graduated from UCLA majoring in computer science, specializing in artificial intelligence.

I've read about a poker player who is blind. His wife accompanies him to the table, and whispers in his ear the cards played and what bets are being made.

I watch in amazement when I see amateur Thomas Rockwell play. He lost the use of his arms in a motorcycle accident. He brings a small wooden ramp to the table, and he uses his feet to slide the cards up the ramp so he can see what he's holding, as well as push the chips back and forth when he's betting.

There's Buddy Williams, a 30 year pro who has been bound to a wheelchair since childhood. And he's made it to the final table on the World Poker Tour.

Age is irrelevant. Of course, you need to be at least 21 years old if you play in Las Vegas, but the 2005 World Series featured the oldest entrant ever, at 90 years of age. Think he's not feisty? He got a 10 minute penalty for cursing at one point. They also showed a hand he won, making quad 5s. I dream of making quads!

A real dream I have though is to one day play at the World Series or World Poker Tour, and it's not an unrealistic goal, either. No matter how many bad beats I get, or how long a streak of cold cards I'm dealt, the charm of poker will always be there, and I will always be at the table in hopes to get lucky.

Poker: All welcome.

NICE!

I'll probably take a few days off from my blog to enjoy Christmas, so all my friends out there if I don't see you before the holidays are up have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all the best!!!

- The Ol' SBP

The other day, I heard a story that really got me mad. At my work, we're divided into teams. For Christmas, it is a tradition that each team will "adopt" a family for Christmas: Each team member will donate food, gifts, money etc. to a needy family to hopefully put some Christmas cheer for the holidays for these poor families. The generosity is never in short supply.

But I was shocked to hear one of the adopted families DIDN'T appreciate the charity. The mother complained about the food items...apparently her kids don't eat soup. No name brands aren't good enough (hey, I'm the king of purchasing Loeb's "Merit Selection" line). The toys were cheap. The mother actually got hold of the personal home phone number of the person who took the time to drive the stuff up to the family's home to complain. This same lady called the charity organizers to complain some more. Are you frickin' kidding me? Unfortunately, no.

This is the first time anything like this happened as far as I know. Every other family has been kind and grateful for being sponsored as co-ordinated by their local church or charity. This year, my team's family took the time to get a thank you card for us and all the family signed it. They can't really afford something simple as a gift card and we knew it was the only way they could thank all of us, and we all appreciated that small gesture of thanks.

You're left with a bad taste in your mouth when you give and it's not appreciated. And the bad thing is some people get fed up that they won't participate in something like this anymore.

I hope this doesn't discourage my fellow team from doing it again next year.

Let's recap the 23 man roster Hockey Canada has elected to go with at the 2006 Olympics:

Goalies: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Marty Turco

I thought Curtis Joseph would be the #3 especially with Wayne Gretzky's endorsement, but that didn't work in 2002 when he tried to have Sean Burke play in Salt Lake, either. I have no beefs with these selections.

SBP score: 2 for 3 correct

Defense: Rob Blake, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Robyn Regehr, Adam Foote, Wade Redden, Ed Jovanovski

The big ice surface and a lousy -1 for a #1 D on an NHL squad outweighed Bryan McCabe's power play production, and team brass opted instead to go with tried & true Adam Foote. I think Foote has seen better days and Dan Boyle or Dion Phaneuf would have been a better pick, but not a big issue for me.

SBP score: 6 for 7 correct

Forwards: Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Joe Sakic, Kris Draper, Shane Doan, Brad Richards, Martin St-Louis, Ryan Smyth, Simon Gagne, Rick Nash, Todd Bertuzzi, Jarome Iginla, Dany Heatley

This team is lacking the "youth injection" Jacques Martin thought was important in the 2002 Olympic team selection when he vouched for Simon Gagne. Rick Nash is a young kid, but I still contend Martin St-Louis and Shane Doan have no business being included with their sub-par seasons. Martin St-Louis was also brutal in the 2004 World Cup, but because he won the Hart Trophy that same year he is given carte blanche. I'm also not too crazy about the inevitable selection of Kris Draper. Apparently he had a strong summer camp, but check out his stats for this season: 1 goal, 6 assists and a MINUS 6. Dreadful stats for a supposed top checking centre on the #1 Western Conference team. But, he's been good when called upon for Canada, so obviously it is felt his season is a bump in the road and he's good to go for Turin.

SBP score: 12 for 13 correct

"Taxi Squad": Eric Staal, Jason Spezza, Bryan McCabe

At least Wayne Gretzky picked up the phone to call Spezza to explain his rationale on leaving him off the team. This "squad" also helps ease criticism for not allowing the youth to give it a shot. And it also allows lots of Leafs fans to purchase Team Canada jerseys with McCabe on the back.

If Canada wins gold, no one will care about who was and wasn't left off the team, but for now, I hope Doan and St-Louis trip over their luggage at the airport, allowing Staal and Spezza to play with Heatley to light things up in Italy.

Well, I forgot to do my post today until now! Normal enough day at work, tuned in for the Team Canada roster announcement (I'll talk about that tomorrow, in sum no real surprises) then headed to Alex and Kerri's w/Kim for some pizza n' poker action. I bought these downloaded 2005 World Series of Poker main event DVDs and watched the first two episodes as well, pretty sweet. I also had three beers, and those who know me know that I rarely drink, much less on a weeknight. Anyway, I was feeling pretty lightheaded and I blame that for Kim taking the win over me heads up. :) (How can you hold Ace-King when I'm holding Ace-Queen!!!?!!!)

I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the holidays. Friday is my last day then it's 10 days off! Awesome!

I don't even smoke and I could use a cigarette about now! :)

Oh baby, it doesn't get much sweeter than this! These force f/x lightsabers (which come in Darth Vader red, Anakin Skywalker blue, Luke Skywalker green and Mace Windu purple, I like the blue one best) have all the sound effects...the humming...the clashing...the "power-up" and "power-down" sounds...and doesn't it glow oh-so-bright!?! These bad boys are ON SALE at TOYS-R-US for $129.99 right now, $50 off! The perfect gift for SBP if you're looking... :)

What Sens fan didn't love the 8-2 spanking of the Leafs last night?

Unfortunately for myself and maybe some others out there, I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

With less than 5 minutes left and Ottawa already up 7-2, the unwritten rule about "sending a message" when you're getting your a** kicked came into full effect when the Leafs' Wade Belak found it appropriate to spear Chris Neil in the groin. Belak, too much of a coward to just drop the gloves and risk a suspension and fine, thought using his stick as a weapon was the way to go. Weird how an action whose sole intent is to injure doesn't have more dire consequences for the offender in question. Which leads me to my next point.

Toronto D Carlo Colaiacovo, taking a lead from Belak no doubt, decided he was going to take matters into his own hands too. Although completely unprovoked, Colaiacovo decided Ottawa's #1 centre, Jason Spezza, deserved some pain, and Spezza got speared in the gut and collapsed to the ice. A penalty was forthcoming (although the referee called it slashing) but obviously very upset that such liberties were taken with him, Spezza went after Colaiacovo and got an instigator and fighting major. Because there was less than five minutes remaining in the game, there's a good chance Spezza will face a one game suspension, and his coach Bryan Murray will face a fine.

I hope the league takes a good hard look at what happened and realizes this was an incident Jason did not want to get involved with in the first place. He was not on the ice looking to go after anyone. Colaiacovo clearly tried to hurt Spezza, period. When something like that happens to you, you are going to get upset.

If they're going to suspend Spezza then Mr. Colaiacovo, at the very least, should face the same fate. If justice is served, the league will realize Spezza was at the wrong end of goon tactics by an outmatched and outplayed hockey club and should let Spezza continuing playing.

More reason why the Toronto Maple Leafs can GET BENT.

UPDATE - December 19/05: The league has ruled that Spezza will NOT get suspended, as they reviewed the incident and believed the spear was the instigator for the fight. Justice has been served!

Over the Christmas holidays, I am going to try to cram in as many movies as I can as it seems there are a lot of titles that are finally catching my interest. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe isn't one that I was dying to see or anything, but the reviews had been strong and there was some interest among my friends, so why not give it a go?

I found out something rather interesting when reading up some reviews on the newest franchise endorsed by the people at Disney. The writer of the Narnia books, C.S. Lewis, was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien (guess they shared the same affection for initializing their first names) who wrote the Lord of the Rings books. They were both professors at Oxford at the same time. The comparisons between the two films are inevitable, but I didn't think it could be as more direct as that.

The running time is about 2 hours and 20 minutes and to its credit, it doesn't feel that long at all. The pacing is great. The story doesn't take too much time to unfold when we first meet the characters of Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter. I had no problems with the acting, in fact, all the performances were quite strong and I was especially impressed with the young Lucy character portrayed by Georgie Henley. The costume and makeup work of the White Witch, who looked like a demonized Cate Blachette, was effective and coming out of a fairy tale is the perfect villainess for this type of story.

I commented to my friends it seems weird that the author would have the lead villain be female. Did he have issues with women? Lucy and Susan start off so sweet and innocent, but maybe Lewis feels that as a girl matures, she becomes more vindictive and distrusting. I'm getting sidetracked, back to the movie!

CGI is always flawed. Most movies heavenly invested in CGI always have points in the film where it is blatantly obvious it is run by a computer program. But for the most part, Narnia succeeds in having believable animals and other imagined creatures play their speaking parts.

The comparisons to Lord of the Rings are just. The main plot of Narnia, a circle of friends/family not unlike the Fellowship of the Ring, come together to save their kingdom. The sacrifices and decisions each character can be paralleled with a point in the LOTR movies. The battle sequence goes for that epic feel too, with wide sweeping shots and tons of CGI. But it's not done as well.

I like the characters better in the LOTR movies. The fight sequences in Narnia can't match those in LOTR either. They are more intense, longer and just plain more exciting. Seeing that the main characters in Narnia are children doesn't help it's case either. Guys like Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom are more mature and skilled than any newcomer can be, although those newcomers have the potential to lead long careers in the acting business. And I found to be more emotionally invested in Frodo, Legolas, Sam, Aragon, Gandalf, etc. than any character in Narnia. But with more movies to come, maybe that will change.

We'll call this flick LOTR light but it's still worth the price of admission. If you had problems with LOTR or just fantasy movies in general, take a pass, but you probably already knew that.

The NHL Board of Govenors convened the other day to discuss a couple of things. First thing is that projected revenues are expected to increase to over $2 billion, more than the originally thought $1.8 billion, and that means the salary cap will go up next year and the players will receive back the majority of the escrow fund they have contributed to over the course of the season. That's a good thing.

The bad thing they're talking about is increasing the number of teams that qualify for the playoffs...sort of. Instead of just allowing the top 8 teams in each conference reach the playoffs, they'll move it up to 10 teams, where the teams that place 7 thru 10 will play a three game elimination matchup to see if the can reach the original 8 team playoff series.

This is a horrible idea. The lockout was supposed to fix things that were wrong with the game. Did anyone every say we need more than 16 out of the 30 teams to make the playoffs? NO!!! This move has nothing to do about improving the game or strengthening the integrity of it. It's a move designed to try to make a few more bucks for the owners and that's all.

It may not come to fruition, and hopefully that'll be the end result. We don't want to be playing hockey until July, and we don't want to see the Anaheim Mighty Ducks or New York Islanders squeeze through the cracks when they have no business being in the post-season after placing so low in the standings.

Well, it isn't set in stone, but it's fun to guess what Wayne Gretzky and the gang will announce in about a week's time. Here's who I think they'll take. This doesn't mean this is the team I'd go with, but simply who I think Wayne will announce on the final roster:

Goalies: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Curtis Joseph

There's been a lot of talk about guys like Marty Turco playing well and Jose Theodore NOT playing up to par, but it really doesn't matter. Brodeur will get the start despite a shaky season.

Defence: Rob Blake, Ed Jovanovski, Bryan Mccabe, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Wade Redden, Robyn Regehr

You simply can't ignore Mccabe's production on the powerplay and that's why I think he'll go with him...it doesn't hurt Pat Quinn is Team Canada head coach, either. Personally, I'd take the Flames' Dion Phaneuf over Mccabe; he's simply too unreliable on defence.

Forwards: Todd Bertuzzi, Shane Doan, Kris Draper, Simon Gagne, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Joe Sakic, Jason Spezza, Martin St-Louis, Joe Thornton.

This is where it gets really hard. Because Nash has been hurt most of the season, they may not pick him but it is unlikely as if he re-injures himself, apparently you are allowed to replace him. I'm being optimistic and thinking Gretzky WILL take Spezza as he has played his way onto the team, not unlike the same way Jarome Iginla did back in 2001-02. Personally, I'd love to see Gretzky dump Shane Doan and Martin St-Louis and include both Eric Staal AND Sydney Crosby. Have a kid line...Sydney, Staal and Spezza. They'd be unbelievable together. Can you imagine how exciting it would be to see them as a line on the ice? It will never happen, but, you never know.

Next week the official roster will be announced.

The Killers: Hot Fuss. I just borrowed this CD from my good friend Jo and this CD is awesome! Apparently the disc has been around since the summer of 2004, but leave it to me to not be up to date with what the kids are listening to these days. Anyway, my two faves are "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me". And as a tie-in to the Sens...remember that game where TSN mic'd Dany Heatley and he kept on singing to himself? WELL, it was the Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" tune he was belting out (at least I'm pretty sure that was the song). Anyway, pick it up! (Get the Controller Controller CDs first though, yeesh, that's obvious!) :)

Sports fans always have the "What have you done for me lately?" attitude. Rightly or wrongly, no one remembers what you have accomplished in the past while in the present. Instead, the athlete in question must run with the ball as best as he can to keep his job and earn the fans' approval.

G Patrick Lalime will probably only be remembered as the goalie who turned in the worst game 7 performance in Senators' franchise history. After a stellar 2002-2003 season, where he was named to the All-Star team and led his team to game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, a lot of people (myself included) only thought he could get better. At 28 years old, most goalies peak at around age 30. The sky was the limit for Lalime.

For whatever reason, Lalime had a 2003-2004 season marred by inconsistency and didn't perform nearly as well as the previous season. GM John Muckler still gave him the vote of confidence heading into the playoffs, but Lalime could never make the big save to keep his team in and in game 7 let in the softest of goals I can ever recall in a Senators playoff game. To no one's surprise, he was traded to St. Louis, the Blues perhaps thinking a change of scenery could bring Lalime back to his competitive self.

Well, it didn't work out. In fact, Lalime posted some of the worst stats of all starting goaltenders in the league. The icing on the cake was his last game where the Blues lost to the NY Rangers in overtime after a hard shot hit the back boards, bounced off of Lalime's a** and went into the net for the winning goal. Poetry-in-motion, indeed.

Lalime made a somewhat weird comment when he said to a journalist just before this season started that losing game 7 against the Leafs could be thought of as a "good" thing, as it allows him a fresh start for a new team. Huh? This took me off guard. Since when does choking in perhaps the most important game in your team's young franchise history a "good" thing? Did he just not like the pressure and want out of Ottawa or something?

As an aside, I like Patrick Lalime. I've met him on a few occasions and he is an extremely pleasant person. Never hesitates to shake hands, sign autographs, talk to the kids, or even just chat a little about whatever you want to talk about. Unfortunately, his charisma is not reflected in his on-ice performance. For some reason, he's struggling, and there's a good chance his NHL career is over after the Blues put him on waivers and no one has put in a claim for him and his $2.5 million salary.

I guess I just don't like seeing bad things happen to good people like this. Admitedly, Dominik Hasek is head and shoulders above in talent compared to Lalime and I'm glad Ottawa decided to go with him this season, but quite frankly on the ice he's usually an a**hole. He's arrogant, whiny and has little respect for the officials. But man, can he stop a puck.

Patrick, I'll remember you and thank you for your 2002-03 season. And I hope you can get past whatever it is you need to get past to get back to your old self and play some good hockey again.

If you have 1/2 or more of your chips in the pot, you're going with it. It doesn't matter what two cards you're holding, but if you've found yourself in a situation where you are either one of the blinds and you have so few chips left it pretty much represents your entire stack, or if you enter a pot with a call or raise that leaves you few chips to play with, you're essentially announcing to the table you're in the hand and you're going to see all five cards in the community if someone elects to play with you.

I see so often players who limp into the pot when they hardly have any chips left, but then fold if someone raises them. So if they limped in with a 150 chip bet, and someone raises on top of that, they decide to fold their hand and keep their remaining 75 chips. This doesn't make any sense. When you have a severely low chip stack, you are either all-in or all-out.

The other night when playing three handed, the big blind was down to a few remaining chips. The first player folded and the small blind went all-in, essentially forcing the big blind to put her remaining chips in the pot (a correct play, regardless of what the small blind was holding). Instead, she decided to fold. With her big blind already in the pot, that represented about 2/3 of her remaining stack. Her next hand she would be the small blind and she couldn't even cover that. No matter what two cards she held as the small blind for the next hand, she'd be forced to play it. So why not just put your remaining chips in the middle, and at the very least if you get lucky and do win the hand, you win a decent sized pot that'll allow you to continue? Put it this way: if on the next hand you land pocket Aces, how much can you really win? Since you're down to LESS the small blind, in my example if all three players enter the pot and the short stack did win, she'd win an amount about the size of one big blind. But if she just went all-in with her big blind and her remaining chips the hand previous, she'd have an opportunity to win a pot more than 2x the big blind and could survive a few more hands.

In the above example, the raiser held pocket 8s. The big blind held 10-7. In any other circumstance I'd say fold, but if you're pot commited, you're pot commmited. For fun, we played out the cards, and three tens hit the board! If she had went all-in with her remaining chips, she would have had the winning hand with quad tens!!! But her overtly-conservative play cost her, and she was out the next hand when her opponent (me!) made a full house.

You might not like it, but sometimes you have no choice. You would have likely busted out later anyway, so you might as well put your remaining chips in when your stack commits you to do so.

Fellow Sens fan, what did your hair look like after the Vancouver and Calgary games?

When I get frustrated, I tend to run my hand through my hair several times until I see a result that makes me less irritated. Of course if you saw Friday and Saturday's game, the hand-through-the-hair manouver was pretty much on automatic pilot. My hair was practically touching the ceiling.

I don't ever recall Ottawa taking so many trips to the penalty box Friday. It's hard to score goals when you have to sit the leading scorer, Jason Spezza, for more than 1/2 the game because he doesn't kill penalties.

Yesterday, the Sens just seemed disinterested. They were coasting in the third period and overtime, and Emery, much like Hasek the night before, was the only reason they managed to get a point.

Perhaps the team was getting frustrated with the "trap" style Calgary was playing that made for some boring hockey. But a theory I'll put forward is the notion Calgary, and Vancouver for that matter, could easily stop the scoring because there's only one line to worry about. With Martin Havlat out, coach Brian Murray has left the Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson combonation intact. I don't think this is the way to go. The other lines aren't really at offensively threatening.

Drop Alfie to the 2nd line and give Bochenski another chance with Heatley and Spezza. Or someone else more appropriate, doesn't matter. Bottom line: Don't make the 1st line so top heavy now. With Havlat out, it's time to make some minor adjustments.

If a team is going to have a deep run into the playoffs, there are a few components that I feel are absolutely vital to ensure success:

1. A top notch goalie. Your team will need their goalkeeper to steal a game here and there as well as give confidence for the players to take chances and not be afraid to forecheck.

2. A defined #1 line. 37 seconds left and your team needs one goal to force overtime? It should be automatic as to who hits the ice at this moment.

3. A deep defensive corps. You need a clearly defined #1 and #2 defenseman, as well as dependable guys who average 10 minutes a game who aren't prone to mistakes.

4. A #1 and #2 centre. Not in terms of just making with what you have, but in comparison to other NHL teams, two powerhouse centres who can be difference makers when it counts.

I think the Ottawa Senators have addressed points 1 to 3. The one tweak I think they need is to make is to address centre Bryan Smolinki, as clearly he is not performing up to standards with his $2.25 million a year contract.

If you look at the contending teams around the league, they have a 1-2 punch down the middle that makes it difficult for opposing teams to check. In Toronto, you have Mats Sundin & Eric Lindros (and to a lesser extent, Jason Allison). In Tampa Bay, you have Vincent Lecavalier & Brad Richards. In Philadelphia, you have Peter Forsberg & Keith Primeau (if he ever gets back from injury). You see where I'm going with this? Jason Spezza is the MAN in Ottawa, but Smolinski, clearly, is not.

Earlier this season, Smolinski started playing with Alfredsson. Alfie flourished...Bryan struggled. When the lines were juggled after Brandon Bochenski was sent back to the AHL, he got to play alongside scorer Martin Havlat. Again, not much was made of that. Now that Havlat is out, he plays alternatively with lesser players and he simply doesn't consistently contribute. When was the last time you said "Wow, Bryan Smolinski saved the day for us!"?

Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun put forth the rumour Ottawa may be going after Blues' centreman Doug Weight. St. Louis pays Weight a lot of money and it looks like they won't make the playoffs, and considering Weight will be an unrestricted free agent next season, it wouldn't make much sense to keep him. If the Blues wanted, they could trade him now and get something in return, then try to re-sign him for next season if they still value his services. If Ottawa were to make a trade for him, maybe for a prospect and/or draft pick, there's a one-two punch you can be confident about: Spezza & Weight. I doubt any team would trade for Smolinski straight up for his perennial underperforming, but that's the one move that should be made come the tradeline a few months away.

There have been rumours Ottawa will make a pitch for guys like Todd Bertuzzi, Owen Nolan and Steve Reinprecht. But Weight is an established veteran, perfect for the #2 centreman job and as a playmaker can be put on the power player and can compliment on a regular shift a guy like Martin Havlat. A trade for Doug Weight, for me, makes the most sense.

People love suited cards. You look down at say, an 8 and 7 of diamonds (suited connectors). If they were mixed suits you'd probably throw them away. But they look so pretty all suited like that! You imagine winning a monster pot once you hit your flush. It's definitely tempting. But think twice about it.

Depending on how late in the stage of the game you're at, how many players at your table, your position at the table, your stack size and if there have been any pre-flop raises (yes, a lot to take into consideration), you may decide to gamble and play your suited cards. It's part of a well-balanced strategy to keep your opponent guessing as to what cards you are holding.

HOWEVER, suited cards do not increase your odds of winning as much as you may think. Put it this way: how often in a night do you hit a full house? Once maybe? Twice if you're really lucky? Odds are probably not at all. A flush ranks just below a full house in terms of what hand wins in a showdown. People don't make flushes as often as it seems. In fact, if you start with Ace-King suited as opposed to unsuited, your chances of winning the hand increase a mere 3%.

Play those suited cards, but only when the time is right. You will lose a lot of chips quickly if you decide to call every time you start with two cards of the same suit. Most winning hands are determined by ranks. A pair of aces beats a pair of anything else. A pair of Aces combined with a pair of deuces beats someone holding a pair of Kings & Queens. That's why you see a lot of players play with their aces very aggressively. The average winning pot is someone holding two pair, not by someone holding all suited cards.

Play creatively, but minimally, with your suited connectors.

My buddy Steve wrote this up and I thought it was so well done, it deserved a place in the SBP Archives.






Dear Wayne,

Stop being so grumpy with all the young kids who want to play for your team. Stop saying things like: "I think the biggest change on our team today compared to 2002 and over the years is that we could take centremen and move them to the wing. You can't move these centremen to the wing now. We have so many good wingers now, there's no room to move them."

That's a lie Wayne, you know it. Of course there is room. I've got two names for you: Shane Doan & Marty St. Louis. They both play wing and they both can be moved at any time to the nearest couch so they can watch the Olympics on TV in total comfort. In your heart you know it, Wayne. You see Doan every day and so do we with NHL Centre Ice. He'll be lucky to score 30 this year, Gagne already has that many. He's an energy guy you say, so is Eric Staal, except the difference is that Staal makes a difference and scores points in bunches while Doan takes penalties in bunches. As for Marty The Party, he's a former MVP you'll tell us. Who cares? So is Lindros, and he ain't planning a trip to Turin unless he's planning a vacation. So is Theodore and we know you're giving his spot to your buddy Cujo. When Marty The Party played at the World Cup, he anchored the fourth line but started the tournament on the first line. He couldn't keep up Wayne, and on Olympic ice, you gotta keep up.

Have you heard the Spezza interviews Wayne? He's DYING to play for this team. If he's this excited now, what's he gonna be like in February? Contrast that with Mario who barely has the energy to give his patented cliche ridden interview about Canadian hockey and how it's an honour to play for your country, and how playing for Canada helped his career...ZZZZZZZ.

Yesterday, Steve Yzerman did the right thing and took his name off of Olympic consideration. Now, it's time for you to do the right thing and name someone deserving in his place. But, don't just name one, throw Doan or St. Louis to the curb and take two: Spezza & Staal.

Yours truly,

Friend who is engaged to the girl who took the picture of SBP that is on this blog

The one band that I must, must see before any other is coming to Ottawa! Nine Inch Nails will play at the Corel Centre on March 3, 2006. I've heard nothing but good things about their live performances and hopefully this won't disappoint. Tickets aren't on sale yet but you know SBP is all over that!

Who doesn't like Steve Yzerman? In his prime, he was one of the best. Passionate, hard-working, Canadian and commanded a respect from every player in the NHL. Still does, actually. No one likes to see a star perfom as a shadow of their former self, and most prefer that when their time is done, they graciously exit stage left and not try to hang on to the limelight when clearly their time has passed.

TSN reported Yzerman has asked to be removed from consideration to play for Team Canada in the upcoming Olympics. Wayne Gretzky has always said a spot is his should he want it, but Yzerman obviously sees all the potential candidates around him and realizes it isn't fair for Gretzky to pick him instead of a player who truly deserves to be there.

This will likely be Steve Yzerman's last year in the NHL, and although he isn't a detriment to the Red Wings, Team Canada is an entirely different story. Canada is just packed with talent, and the intangibles Stevie Y brings can still be provided by guys like Joe Sakic who still have the offensive flair to contribute as well.

Steve Yzerman proved his class one more time by stepping aside and letting the younger guys get their chance to shine in front of the world. This isn't an easy decision. You get to play for your country in front of hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide for a shot at gold, and for him it would have definitely been his last time to do it.

Your past contributions to Team Canada won't be forgotten, Stevie. Not by a longshot. Now the question is, will Mario Lemieux follow suit?

Ok, so I said I wouldn't be political. Well I lied! We have an election coming up and I have no idea who to vote for.

I consider myself a Liberal at heart, but the sponsorship scandal still sticks with me. Not just for the obvious blatant stealing of taxpayer money, but the idea somehow comes across that by spending money on ads and propaganda, we can buy Quebecers into not separating from the country. I think a lot of Quebecers interpreted the scandal in that light as well, thus the Liberals unnecessarily risked tearing Quebec apart from the rest of Canada.

No way I'll vote Conservative. Their dinosaur ideas on stuff like gay marriage just turns me off of them completely, even if it does come with a 2% cut to the GST. As a human race, we need to progress, and to me it's a giant step backward with this party.

Do I vote for the NDP? Is it a wasted vote? More times than not, it's red or blue, not orange. With Ed Broadbent no longer in my riding, it gives me less incentive to do so.

I voted for the Green Party in the last provincial election simply because I didn't like the choice of candidates in my riding. Maybe this is the way to go?

Anyway, if you have a thought I'd love to hear it.

Friday's L.A. game had it all: thrills, chills, spills, kills (well, no one died) but four fights in my last count. I disagree with having Chara fight in the last 4 minutes, though. They already got their point across, now he's been suspended a game with Redden already out and Murray got fined $10,000...If you read the papers, they make it sound like Ottawa's never dropped the gloves before. Ottawa has had no less than two other brawls against the L.A. Kings. Don't you remember when former Sens goalie Jani Hurme skated over to the bench to get his glove off so he could start punching the other goalie?...Dominik Hasek just can't help himself. He's earned FOUR delay of game penalties for playing the puck in the trapezoid "forbidden" zone. He always gives me a heart attack everytime he leaves the net...The accolades just keep rolling in for the Senators. Jason Spezza is named player of the week, then a few days later captain Daniel Alfredsson is named player of the month for November...An extra loud cheer was heard in the Corel Centre when Chris Neil earned an assist the first game back after his mom passed away just a week earlier...Would you give up Martin Havlat, Wade Redden & Peter Schaefer for Joe Thornton? (I wouldn't)... Everything went wrong in the loss against Boston. Lousy powerplay, too many stupid penalties, turnovers, the lot. At the very least, I was hoping Dany Heatley could still get his point-streak going, but it was not to be...Centre Chris Kelly wears no. 22 as an homage to Shaun Van Allen for being his mentor while playing in Binghamton. I mention his name because he is steadily improving as the season unfolds...Use the code DALLAS for some capitaltickets.ca discounts for their game against the Stars on the 14th. It'll be the last time they come into town for 3 years.

"We didn't come here for a hug, we're here to win a f***ing gold medal"

Starting the DVD, the 'R' rated warning appeared with an advisory the film contains profanity, violence and sexuality. Sexuality? Did this story of quadriplegic rugby players get directed by David Cronenberg? Well no, it didn't. But that 'R' rating sums up what the viewer is in for.

Murderball is the nickname for the sport of wheelchair rugby. A quick lesson on the rules and regulations is given, and it is pretty simple: get that ball across the other's teams goal line, and if it means crashing your wheelchair (specially modified to look mean and take punishment) and sending your opponent to the floor, so be it. The intensity and competitiveness surprised me. Make no mistake, these guys are in it to win, and a silver medal might as well be labeled "First Loser".

There is some melodrama that real life can be counted on to bring in this film. Team Canada's coach is an ex-patriot of the United States, a former paralympic athlete himself who became bitter after being cut from Team USA after leading them to the gold medal in 1996. He took his knowledge and experience to Canada for no other reason than to beat the team he once considered his. Stories of the athletes and how they got to their wheelchairs are explored. Their interaction with everyday life is given camera time (my favourite is their talks with kids, and how dazzled the children are when they demonstrate how, for example, a person manipulates his meals using his elbows). These stories are provocative, but they take a backseat to the film's climax, the 2004 Paralympic games in Athens. When the buzzer sounds and winners and losers are declared, shouts of joy are heard and tears are shed.

Murderball throws away very stereotype you have about individuals in wheelchairs. If they're playing the game, they're talking trash and playing hard. If they're off the court, they're out at the bars throwing back beers and picking up chicks. Some things you see will amaze you and tug at your heart, but most importantly earn your respect for those who once took walking for granted. Do yourself a favour, take a pass on Mr & Mrs Smith this evening, and pick this DVD up.

Not much to say today, so here's a pic of me getting rid of that 5 o'clock shadow during the 2004 World Cup. Hello ladies!!! :) Thank God I got rid of that shaver, it took forever to be finished with that thing.

The talk of the office today, as I suspect would be the same for most offices across Canada, was the big Joe Thornton trade where Thornton was shipped off to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart. Boston saved itself about $1.5 million in salary with this deal.

Both teams have been struggling. San Jose has dropped ten straight and Boston is 5 games below .500. For the Boston Bruins, is this really the answer?

Every team should strive to have a franchise player. Not just to put points on the board or to log the most minutes, but how about giving the fans a player they can look up to from the start of their career to the end? It simply doesn’t happen anymore. Steve Yzerman will retire a Red Wing. Joe Sakic has played for the same team but it’s a little bit cheating to include him since Colorado was based in Quebec previously. And as my bias with the Senators continue, I truly hope Daniel Alfredsson finishes his career in Ottawa as his devotion to the city is evident in his interviews and interaction with the fans.

And that’s about all I can think of.

From strictly a team standpoint, it is not Joe Thornton’s fault the Bruins are where they are. Boston signed free agent Alexei Zhamnov to help out with offence. He’s been injured and since coming back has no goals in nine games. Patrice Bergeron was supposed to have a breakout season this year. He is an awful -11 and a mediocre 15 points in 25 games. How about G Andrew Raycroft? A sub .900 save percentage and a GAA of 3.43. Did he sign a new contract this season? When I look at all this stuff, Thornton is the only bright spot on this squad and has had to carry it on his own.

Fans become cynical when this sort of thing happens. Regardless if you think it was a fair trade, this is another story of how there is no loyalty in pro sports, all players are meat and it sends a message to the fans not to get too attached to your star players, cause soon enough they’ll be back in your rink wearing a different sweater. Joe Thornton was the type of guy that plays an exciting style of hockey, loves to get his nose dirty and fans in other arenas pay to see. Boston fans have now been robbed of him.

It should be an interesting contest when Ottawa plays Boston in their hometown tonight. I think one of two things will happen…it will either be an absolute blowout by Ottawa or Boston will squeak by with an emotional win. And GM Mike O’Connell will be privy to chants of “O’Connell sucks!” throughout the game.