MLS vs CONCACAF Champions League.

Last night TFC came out with pressure and earned themselves a 1-1 tie against one of Mexico's top clubs.
A good result, and hopefully there is some more gas in the tank come next Wednesday .
I won't talk about the game today, I was just very happy that TFC got the result and showed that MLS does have some quality in the league.
Here's what I really don't get though. Saturday TFC lost to the San Jose Earthquakes by a score of 3 - 0. So how does TFC loose to San Jose and then draw one of Mexico's best clubs? I just don't get it.

Winter Classic

So it was announced earlier this year. The Leafs are heading down to the Big House on new year's day of 2013 to take on the Red Wings.
So the question is: what should they wear? The winter classic has become a place for teams to create what are known as "faux-backs", jerseys that are inspired by a past look that the team used to use but aren't quite replicas of those jerseys.
My suggestion is to go back to 1926/27.
At the time, a newly formed team in Detroit, known as the Cougars, entered the league. Actually, to be historically accurate they were the remains of a WCHL team, the Victoria Cougars, but the NHL recognizes them as an expansion team. That same team would be re-named the Falcons for the 1930/31 season and finally, the Red Wings for the 1932/33 season.
I'd like to see the Red Wings wear the old Cougars jersey that is seen in this famous picture:

As you can imagine, the stripes were red. You can also see player #12 on the ice, with the number and the team name (on the front) fitting perfectly in the thick stripe.

As for the visitor's side of the ice, in 1917 a team by the name of the Toronto Arenas came to be, in 1919 they were sold and re-named the St. Pats, trying to appeal to the Irish-Canadian community. It wasn't until 1927 that they finally became the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 2002 the Leafs wore a version of the famous green and white St. Pat's jersey, and this new years I believe that it should be revived.

A battle of the 1926/27 season revived outdoors. Another interesting note about the 1926/27 season was that the Detroit Cougars actually played all their home games in Windsor, Ontario at Boarder Cities Arena, which went on to become the famous home of the Windsor Spitfires from 1975 until 2008 and will become a market this year.

For all the reasons listed, I believe that a tip of the cap to the 1926/27 NHL season should be the underlying theme for the 2013 Winter Classic.

Why Bother?

Keeping on the Leafs,
Everyone is calling for the coach's head. I just don't get the point of firing Ron Wilson this late in the season.
There is 18 games left, and a hot run is very unlikely. If there is 30 games left then I'd get the point but now it's too late.
Just finish the season and then send Ron to the unemployment line.

Talking Leafs Again

Seems like talking about the Maple Leafs is all the rage this week. At least, more so than normal.
Last night the Leafs manage to once more shit the bed at a critical time of the season, a trend that has become the norm ever since the NHL returned from the lockout. I fully expect this to be the trend until it gets to a point where they have 5 to 10 games left and must win every one of them in regulation to get the points needed to make the playoffs. At that point they'll go on a winning streak that will end 1 or 2 games short of what they need to make the playoffs and 9th place in the east will be theirs.

I'm jaded, and I'm tired of this hockey team. It's been some time since I decided I'd watch a game on TV beyond just "flipping over to check the score". Last night I chose to watch the TFC game (no surprise there) and then play video games instead of even flipping over to check the score. Twitter basically exploded with negative comments about the Leafs and, today I hear the crowd chanted "fire Wilson". That stuff is not appealing to me.

I bet by now you are saying "no shit Jeremy, we all know this." So what am I getting at?

This is what I'm getting at Toronto: I think it's time to just accept it and calm down or turn the TV off and stop buying tickets. I get it, anyone who knows me can easily say "sure, easy for you to say. You're a Colorado fan who follows the Leafs only because you live in Toronto.".
Yes, it's true. But here's why I say what I say: normally, when a team sucks people stop going to the games. They stop watching on TV and the message is sent to the management and ownership "time to rebuild this thing".
Burke had a chance to rebuild this thing the right way when he came in and didn't go the route of blowing the hell out of this team and starting from scratch, much like the Edmonton Oilers have. That's fine, that's his choice. In fact he ended up scoring huge by getting Joffrey Lupul for almost nothing and stealing Dion Phaneuf from Calgary. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I were Burke. But now everyone is saying "Burke didn't make a deal at the deadline and we don't like that.". Well, you can't have it both ways. Nothing was out there that Burke liked so he didn't make a deal. Why is this a problem?

I just don't get it Toronto, if everyone is so flipping upset about this, turn off the TV, don't buy tickets, go see the Raptors, the Rock or, TFC instead. No happy with those options? What about the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors, the Brampton Battalion, or the Oshawa Generals? Maybe even go see the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL, there's no lack of hockey in the area. Send a message because frankly, Twitter messages aren't the kind of message that make the Leafs think "hmm, maybe we need to come at this from a different angle.".
Because frankly, if the message is "yeah, the fans keep coming out and watching the games so we must be doing ok." then what's the motivation for any GM to win here ever?

Yeah right Diaz!

For those of you who don't know, this past Saturday night Nick Diaz lost to Carlos Condit for the interim Welterweight championship at UFC 143.
Here's the video:




My first reaction to this was "what a baby!". I mean to loose a fight, that personally I thought he only won 1 round, and then retire because he didn't like loosing is just stupid. I maintain that still. My thought process hasn't really changed, but that's not my main point in posting today.

I was thinking about it more yesterday and I realized that with Brock Lesnar, Mirko Cro Cop, Chris Lytle and, Randy Couture all retiring and with GSP out with injury there is a small void for starts in UFC right now. Chael Sonnen has been taking advantage of that by being very vocal and kind of playing a heel type role (to relate it to wrestling). On the other hand Anderson Silva hasn't been around for some time due to injury and he has never been a big personality. Josh Koscheck has not been a very vocal guy ever since loosing to GSP but I feel he's been a bit of a fan favorite because he's a hard working guy who just keeps taking fight after fight.
What UFC is sorely missing is a personality like the one Diaz has recently become, a guy who can be a little cocky, provoke people, but back it up and not be a complete jerk like Sonnen likes to be.

Retiring now is just that much more stupid for Diaz as his time was/is now, he could have made even more of that crazy money he referred to and could have become one of the big names that the UFC featured.

Stupid move Nick