Top Ten NHL Enforcers of All Time: No. 10 Wade Belak

Some people will probably question why I’m putting Wade Belak as number 10. Your probably going to say just because he is my favourite I had to stick him in the list somewhere. You should watch some of his fights. He rarely looses. He’s never been knocked out, or even just dropped by a punch. The guy is a monster on the ice and has beaten everyone he’s fought sometime or other, for the most part anyway. The native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is 6’5", 228 lbs. Now that’s a big guy. Believe it or not, Wade was chosen 12th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 Entry Draft. Belak was then traded to Calgary during the 1998-99 season. He played two and a half seasons with the Flames before being placed on waivers. The Leafs picked him up from Calgary and it would be where he spent most of his playing career. With seven seasons under his belt with the Leafs, they surprisingly traded him to the Florida Panthers this past season. He has now signed a two-year deal with the Panthers.Playing a total of 442 games in the so far, Belak has 131 fighting majors, 1108 penalty minutes, and only 29 points. Belak only has eight goals throughout his career, but the funny thing is that he has scored on some of the games greatest goalies - Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, and Chris Mason, just to name a few. Not only does Belak protect his teammates. He is said to be a great leader on and off the ice. He is great with the guys in the dressing room and can do some hilarious interviews with the media. Belak becomes a fan favourite everywhere he plays and was a big part of the Toronto Maple Leafs. We will be watching Belak drop the gloves with the best of them for at least another two years.Source

MLB 2K8 Yankees vs Mets

MLB 2K8 Yankees vs Mets Any sports videogame fanatic knows that the right analog stick has been infiltrating the likes of Madden, NHL, Fight Night and even EA's skate to create a more immersive gaming experience. Now MLB 2K8 is following suit with a revamped gameplay system that employs the right analog stick for just about every action in the sport of baseball. You throw to bases with it, you bat with it, you slide with it, and you even pitch by making a sequence of motions with the right analog stick. Tossing to the bases used to be as simple as holding a face button and releasing it at a proper point. While the process is still a hold and release affair, it's much more geared to the accuracy of the throw. You can now release the ball too early and send it over your teammate's head or you can hold it too late and short-hop the base. Not only do you have to worry about releasing the right analog stick just so, but you also need to be mindful of the direction that you're pointing. MLB 2K8 places a lot of importance on nailing the cardinal direction and if you don't, that's when you'll see some errant throws. If you're semi-close to being dead-on then the person covering the base will be able to make adjustments, just be sure not to pull them off the bag by too much. While the throwing mechanic is new, it still harkens back to the old method of holding a button and timing your release. The pitching mechanic is completely new and different from anything that baseball has seen prior. It's a three-step process. After deciding which pitch you're going to throw (the catcher will always call a sign but you don't have to follow his advice) it's time to start your motion. The first right analog movement starts the expanding circle that fans of 2K7 will recognize. The longer you hold the stick in that position, the harder it will be to hit your spot with the pitch. Cut it short and your pitch won't have much on it (either movement or speed, depending on what you're throwing). The second motion is where things can get tricky. A fastball is obviously a straight back, then straight forward motion, but when throwing curveballs and sliders you get into half and three-quarter circle motions that need to be timed just right. The third part of the pitching process is the release. After the aforementioned circle expands to its desired circumference and you've made the second motion you'll need to time the release of the right stick with the circle which will be contracting back down to the center. Stop it when it's small and you'll have made the perfect pitch, but stop it too late or too early and you'll throw up a fat meatball. There's no question that the new right analog movements with both throwing and pitching take some getting used to, but if you can power through the early stages you'll find that the new mechanic works pretty well. There are moments of inaccuracy but hopefully those will be cleaned up by the time the game ships on March 3. If nothing else, the feeling of winding up a pitch and unleashing it is a vast improvement in terms of immersion from what we've seen in the past

Indrid’s Son A Star

from the Kingston Whig-Standard, The youngster referred to the goalie as a “famous Canadian,” which might be a stretch but not in the north country. In this neck of the woods, Smith is a bona fide star, a local puckster who learned his trade in the shivering confines of the nearby tin-walled shinny barn in Piccadilly and now performs in grand arenas of North America, with and against the finest players on the planet.Make no mistake, these are indeed heady days for Ron and Ingrid’s strapping son, the 161st player drafted in the 2001 NHL draft. Traded from the Dallas Stars to the Tampa Bay Lightning midway through last season, Smith recently inked a two-year, $4.4-million contract extension. More importantly, he now has an opportunity to become a No. 1 goaltender, something he would not have had in Texas as long as good friend and all-star netminder Marty Turco was turning aside pucks.“It goes without saying that Mike has a bright future in the Lightning organization,” said the team’s vice-president of hockey operations, Brian Lawton.more

MLS: A look at All-Star games past

Like the league itself, the Major League Soccer All-Star Game has seen many changes over the years and has included a number of memorable highs and lows. The mid-season showpiece has been held every year since MLS began in 1996 and has taken a few different forms. Similar to traditional all-star games in other North American sports like the NFL, NBA and MLB, the MLS All-Star Game has pitted the East and West Conferences against each other on six out of eleven occasions with the East winning four and one match ending in a draw (2001). The league also experimented twice with an American Hockey League-type model with the teams being divided into an all-American squad and a World squad in 1998 (Team USA won 6-1) and, in 2002, the MLS all-stars faced the U.S. national squad with the all-stars winning 3-2.But in 2003, MLS tried what has since become a successful set-up of having the league's best XI (as voted by fans, coaches and media) play a top international team. Since the All-Stars' 3-1 victory over Mexico's Guadalajara that year, they have beaten England's Fulham and Chelsea and Scottish giants Celtic. Here is a look at the past 12 all-star contests: Year Winners Losers Score Location Attendance 1996 East West 3-2 Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. 78,416 1997 East West 5-4 Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. 74,816 1998 MLS USA MLS World 6-1 Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Fla. 34,416 1999 West East 6-4 Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, Cali. 23,227 2000 East West 9-4 Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio 23,495 2001 East West 6-6 Spartan Stadium, San Jose, Calif. 23,512 2002 MLS All-Stars U.S. 3-2 RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. 31,096 2003 MLS All-Stars Guadalajara 3-1 Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif. 27,000 2004 East West 3-2 RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. 21,378 2005 MLS All-Stars Fulham F.C. 4-1 Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio 23,309 2006 MLS All-Stars Chelsea 1-0 Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill. 21,210 2007 MLS All-Stars Celtic 2-0 Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Col. 18,661 Source

On the Radio: Recent local radio news overshadowed by travel

By: Art Vuolo, Jr.

First of all, I would like to thank Susan Whitall at The Detroit News for the nice words she put in her column last Thursday July 17th regarding this column on this web site. Nice move Sue and greatly appreciated.

• • • • • • • •

Forgive me for not covering as much local radio news as some of you might want, but my summer travel schedule has had me seemingly out of town more than in town, but I've been listening and learning about what people are saying about the radio business and their changing habits regarding how they use "the wireless."

• • • • • • • •

A couple of weeks ago I returned from a week in Minnesota. I attended the annual Conclave, where (rather than electing a Pope) radio folks gather for a regional Midwest confab that now attracts people from all over the nation. After the conference, which is tied in with the Specs Howard School locally, I drove up to a friend's spectacular lake home about three hours north of the Twin Cities. The land of 10,000 lakes is similar to Michigan and Wisconsin, but each state west of ours is a bit further north. Look on a map. If you draw a straight line east from Minneapolis you are on a par with Traverse City! When I was up in Crosslake, MN due west of Duluth it placed me (if it was in our state) north of Marquette in the U.P. No wonder the lake was too cold to swim in, but the R&R was a real treat.

• • • • • • • •

Back at The Conclave, we were treated to keynotes from luminaries like: NAB president David Rehr, programming guru Lee Abrams (who was WRIF's second PD in the early 70's), LA's famous DJ Rick Dees, Progressive talk host Ed Schultz, former MSNBC news anchor Rita Cosby and industry "prophet" Jerry Del Colliano, who I've quoted numerous times in this space. I archived much of "the learning conference" on videotape and it is all good stuff. Del Colliano spoke to a packed room, even at 8 a.m. and reflected on the two years he taught at USC in Los Angeles. College age (and younger) students do NOT listen to regular radio. They hate radio, Jerry preached, and they are completely addicted to their cell phones and computers. It is impossible to get them to give up these new technologies, even for a day. It was a riveting 95 minutes session and we were all awakened to many truths we didn't really want to hear. NAB president David Rehr painted a picture that was much more optimistic, but some would say less realistic. He, of course, condemned the XM/Sirius merger and was positive about HD Radio. Rehr, however, was the only one who was. Interestingly, yours truly won mini-iPod shuffle. I'm not sure how it works yet.

• • • • • • • •

The next convention on my calendar is the Morning Show Boot Camp, which this year celebrates its 20th Anniversary in the Mile High City of Denver, CO where the (mostly highly paid) morning radio show jocks gather to steal ideas from another and see what outrageous stunts they can have their "danger-boy" cast member do in order to garner TV publicity and higher ratings. Wish me luck. I'll let you know if I spot any Detroit radio people in attendance.

• • • • • • • •

My last column spoke about the condition of legendary engineering genius Ed Buterbaugh who is fighting bladder cancer across the river in Canada. Among those who I heard from was one of Ed's old friends Ed Gursky, now working for the Voice of America in Washington, DC.

He worked with Ed at WEAM Arlington, VA (Washington) in the late-60s and played a role in his getting hired at CKLW. It was 1973. Paul Drew was living in and running his consultancy from Potomac, Maryland, after the WGMS-AM debacle in 1972 (a long story for another time). Paul had hired Gursky to be his Music Director at WGMS-AM. Paul, who was again consulting CKLW at the time, was impressed with the audio processing at WEAM-AM (1390), and asked Ed if he knew the Chief Engineer. So Ed Gursky arranged a meeting between Paul Drew and Ed Buterbaugh, at WEAM one late Sunday night when the station was off the air for regular weekly maintenance. Shortly thereafter, Ed was hired by CKLW and what he did for the big sound of the Big 8 is well documented. It was featured in the radio special "The Rise and Fall of The Big 8...CKLW," which has aired a couple of times on Detroit Public TV Channel 56.

Gursky remarked "Ed's a good guy, and was always among the top chief engineers in Radio Ink's annual rankings." We will keep Ed Gursky and all of Mr. Buterbaugh's many friends and admirers posted on his condition. Ed did go home from the Windsor hospital this past week, but it's a waiting game now. Rush a card or note of support to Ed at PO Box 1107, Harrow, Ontario, Canada N0R 1G0.

• • • • • • • •

It is being heavily rumored that the merger between the two satellite companies will finally happen this coming week, or certainly before the end of July.

Honestly, at first I was very much against this action, because I knew that many people would lose their jobs. A merger will surely cause a major "thinning of the herd" and consolidating of channels. I don't want any of my close friends at either company to be a recipient of the dreaded "pink slip."

Since the two sat-casters are as incompatible as Beta and VHS were, insiders feel that both systems will have the same channels simultaneously. Example: the popular 60's channel on XM features three full-time LIVE DJ's and Sirius has two and both are voice-tracked (pre-recorded). If you combine XM's Phlash Phelps, Pat Clarke and Terry Young with Sirius jocks Pat St. John and Jim Kerr (both of whom are Detroit area natives) it would make for a damn good line-up of top talent. I'm just not sure if they would retain that much staff. Phelps at XM has over 1,200 members in his Phan-Clan (fan club) and seemingly knows every square mile of this country from years of radio jobs and extensive traveling.

My hope also is that specialty channels like XM's Escape Channel 78 with it's lush easy listening will remain and one of my favorite regional channels 173 with 700 WLW radio from Cincinnati, a great news-talk station that keeps me connected to the Midwest while traveling across the USA. Edgy radio fans would have both Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony swearing on the air and sports fans would have a "field day." Since Sirius has the NFL and NBA, and XM has MLB and, together the combined service would have all pro football, baseball, basketball and hockey!

Lastly I wonder where the company will be and what it will be called. XM owns their building in Washington, DC, while Sirius rents a considerable amount of space in mid-town Manhattan. Perhaps the programming will come from both cities with additional efforts from Nashville and L.A. Finally what will they call it? Each company has its own fans and supporters. True they represent only about 12% of all radio listeners compared to terrestrial radios vast audience, but if oil company giants Exxon and Mobile can merge and be called Exxon/Mobil, why not keep both well-established names as Sirius XM? This way, fans of both stay happy, and it will help the public learn how to pronounce Sirius (which is like the word serious.)

• • • • • • • •

I promise more LOCAL news in two weeks. Stay tuned. This is going to be interesting.

Art Vuolo has published the Radio Guide for more than 30 years and runs Vuolovideo.com. Contact him at artvuolo@aol.com.

Source

Matt McHale tributes

Reactions to yesterday's death of former Daily News (plus Register, Star-News and AP) sports writer and editor Matt McHale include an obituary by Los Angeles Newspaper Group Sports Editor Kevin Modesti, a column by Steve Dilbeck and Rich Hammond's post at his Kings blog, which has become wildly popular among hockey fans here and across the. Hammond posts:

Matt was my predecessor on the Kings beat, as well as my predecessor as deputy sports editor, but he had health issues for a number of years. It's impossible to put into words what Matt meant to my career. He was a friend and a mentor. He guided me through so many stories and through some tough times when I questioned whether I should find another line of work. He was patient, generous and such a tremendous writer. When Matt wrote a long feature, I would read every word. The subject didn't matter, because Matt would make it compelling. I think he took pride in helping young writers, and I will forever owe him a debt of gratitude. So thanks for indulging me on that.

McHale, who was diabetic, was allowed to take disability during the March round of Daily News buyouts and layoffs, Dilbeck says.
Source

Concert Review: Feist and Juana Molina at Starlight, 7/13/08

Feist and Juana Molina
Date: July 13, 2008
Venue: Starlight Theatre
Better Than: International bootlegs of “The Sifl and Olly Show.”
By GRANT SNIDER

It’s not viral indie rock journalism that propelled Feist to stardom. It’s not her Canadian camaraderie with the art commune Broken Social Scene or the vulgar genius Peaches. It’s not even that damn iPod commercial you heard some fifth grader whistling a month after you bought The Reminder. It’s her voice. As a desperate-to-be-quoted friend remarked, “Feist has a voice that could save the.”

Pontificate all you want about how she doesn’t even write all of her own songs (including the one in that commercial), and how the ones she does write can be the lyrical equivalent of a sugarcube marinated in syrup. But tear out a page from your favorite pop songbook and Feist will craft a cherubic arrangement, summon her seraphic vocal cords, and transubstantiate it into her own tune. Give her a guitar, and she can simultaneously raise hell.

More after the jump.

I first saw Feist live three years ago. She was the opener at a crowded bar in Lawrence, playing a captivating solo set with only a guitar and a looping pedal. A similarly intimate approach was taken by Juana Molina, the Argentinean television comic turned avant-garde singer/songwriter. Alone on the vast Starlight stage with an acoustic guitar, a couple keyboards, and some essential looping equipment, she played a set of brilliantly bipolar electronic/acoustic folk. Layering sounds in mid-song, she rivaled fellow multi-instrumental-weaver Andrew Bird in dizzying solo orchestration. Molina’s voice made every song a cryptic lullaby. Though she sings mostly in Spanish, her music is abstract and beautiful enough to dissolve the language barrier.

Feist took the stage with a lantern and began singing silhouetted by a silk screen. Thus began a night of seductive music and unabashed visual stimuli. Throughout the set, a couple of assistants wielded intricate shadow puppets, fingerpaint, and a video camera, projecting images onto a large onstage canvas. While this could have easily deteriorated into an overblown gimmick, these happy-to-be-employed multimedia art majors made the effects perfectly poetic.

Outside the confines of the studio album, Feist’s voice sounds remarkably more delicate and expressive. The ‘delicate’ quality may have been due to the strenuous effects of touring, but her words were light and never strained. Simple lines on the record were occasionally riffed or repeated for dramatic effect. But enough about that voice.

Backed by bearded men in white jumpsuits, Feist resembled a glamorous socialite flirting with a crew of house painters. They provided standard rock and incidental instruments, as well as glistening vocal harmonies. The band was at its best on tribal folk numbers like “When I was a Young Girl,” “My Moon My Man,” and “Sea Lion Woman.” Turning up the amps and channeling Nina Simone, Feist barely resembled the cloying pop songstress of “1 2 3 4” and “Brandy Alexander.” Unaccompanied, she played the haunting, minimalist “Honey Honey” and “The Water,” and “Intuition” – yet another intriguing facet of Feist.

From 2004’s Let it Die, she did an excellent take of “Mushaboom.” Devoid of the annoying-ass French production, it’s even better. The Bee Gees’ “Inside and Out” was performed at an anesthetized tempo, though a disco ball was winking throughout the song. Unfortunately, “Gatekeeper” maintained its lounge stylings. Before closing the encore with “Let it Die,” Feist played a rollicking call-and-response number called “Phantoms,” complete with the night’s first red-blooded guitar solo. If she buys a few more rock ‘n’ roll albums, she might just become the female Richard Manuel.

Critics Notebook
Personal Bias: If you are both female and an extremely talented indie rocker, I will fall in love with you by the end of your set.

Random Detail: Add Feist to the long list of artists to make the Kansas/Missouri faux pas. As if state lines weren’t marked by black-painted borders visible from space.

By the way: I have seen the future of folk music, and she is Juana Molina.

Set List
When I Was A Young Girl
Mushaboom
My Moon My Man
Limit To Your Love
I Feel It All
Honey Honey
Intuition
1 2 3 4
Gatekeeper
How My Heart Behaves
Inside And Out
Sea Lion Woman

Encore:
The Water
Phantoms
Let It Die

Source

News from Canada

It may be July, but this guy ain't sweating.

That's because I'm in Canada, where the locals complain about 45 percent humidity and temps in the high 70s. That's seventies kids.

Which is nothing to sneeze at, but it's also nothing to sweat at if you know what I mean.

And since they laugh at us when we break out the leather coats when it hits 62 on Fort Lauderdale beach, I can laugh at them when it hits 84 degrees here and everyone talks about a heat wave. No, this isn't a heat wave. It's spring.

Anywho, didn't come here to play Brian Norcross and talk about the weather.

I came here to talk about the Panthers schedule.

Got a call today from someone within the whom I trust. They had the Cats schedule scribbled down, so I asked some questions. Let's hope I got the right answers.

As I said before, the Panthers are kicking off the season on Oct. 10 at Carolina, the home opener (with an additional $25 tagged on to single tickets) coming the next night (Oct. 11 for those who aren't real good at math) against the ATL.

Now, on to the good stuff.

Florida, after playing on back-to-back nights, will not play its third game until the Minnesota Russos come to town on Thursday, Oct. 16.

Key points to the Flo Rida schedule:

The Cats will be at home come Thanksgiving, playing host to New Jersey on Wednesday, Nov. 26; the Rangers come to SoFla post-TurkeyDay, on Friday, Nov. 28. Florida will also be home for Christmas, Florida playing host to Nashville on Dec. 23, and Tampa Bay on Dec. 26. Florida will travel to the west coast for a Devil Rays (OK, Lightning) rematch on Dec. 27.

Teams coming to the Arena in east Naples: Detroit (Nov. 14), Minnysota, Colorado, Chicago, San Jose and Columbus.

Florida visits the Phoenix JokinenGretzkys on Nov. 8, and also travel to Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver (Dec. 15).

The Panthers will visit -- and also have home games against -- St. Louis and Dallas.

Montreal, this clown's Stanley Cup pick, comes to town Dec. 29 and Jan. 29.

There will be more details come Wednesday when the entire schedule comes out.

There are plenty of holes here (the Panthers will probably play home-and-home against at least one more team aside from STL and DAL), and the Dunnville folks want to know when the Florida DeBoers travel to Buffalo and Toronto.

Hey, this is a start.

-- Burger King is running the "we got rid of the Whopper" commercials up here in Canada. Some of the best, most effective commercials ever, IMHO.

Of course, BK would be struggling for business if Tim Hortons were all over the states. Sure, Timmys doesn't sell burgers, but everything else they offer is top notch.

-- Love the Blue Jays wearing their old-school road unis during home weekend games at SkyDome. Those were so-bad-they're-cool looks by the Jays and good for them for bringing them back.

-- Chicken wings at Hooters in Canada are quite expensive. But they were good, so whatever...

Source

Canucks sign Jason Krog

I haven't heard any dollar figures or terms for this signing yet.

-Born in Fernie, BC
-32 years old
-5'11" 191 pounds.
-it appears that he wasn't drafted.
-lives out of a suitcase. Krog has played for Islanders, Ducks, Thrashers, Rangers and now the Canucks.
-since he busted out of the NCAA in 1999, Krog has only played 198 games, scoring 21 goals and 58 points.-Krog's best season was with the Mighty Ducks in 2002-03, where he played 67 games and scored 10 goals and 25 points. He played 21 games with the miracle Ducks team that season that went 7 games into the Stanley Cup Finals. He had 4 points.
-Krog excels at the AHL level. Last season with the Chicago Wolves he scored 39 goals and 112 points in 80 games. In the playoffs, he scored 10 goals and 36 points in 24 games. In 303 games played with several teams in the AHL, Krog has scored 127 goals and 362 points. Impressive. He won the Hobey Baker Award in 1999 as the Top U.S. collegiate player. But why can't his production translate into the?
When asked in May about why he couldn't crack the Thrashers' lineup even though he was having a masterful season with the Wolves Krog replied:

"There are a lot of reasons why," Krog told Tim Wharnsby of the Globe and Mail. "Drafted players get more opportunity. There are so many guys who are good enough to play in the who aren't playing there."

Then-Wolves coach John Anderson said about Krog:

“The thing with Jason, is he good enough to play among a team's top six players with an team and/or is he good enough to play in the bottom six as a checker?”
“Jason is good at both,” Anderson added, “but teams want someone outstanding. I think he's caught somewhere in between.”

Anderson then mentioned that Krog would have to accept a role a checker on an team and then possibly crack the top 6 if injuries ensued.

“I know with Rob (Brown), he figured it out that it was better to have a smaller paycheque than a minor-league cheque,” Anderson said. “Jason has to figure that out, too. The other thing he needs is a coach in the who believes in him.”

Check out the rest of the Globe and Mail article on Krog here.
So it looks as though Krog will be a member of the Moose and await his chance at a spot on the Nucks. If what John Anderson is saying is true, then Krog will fit right into Alain Vigneault's structure, if Krog is willing.
At the same time, Alanah from Canucks and Beyond is mentioning that Krog's contract is a one-way deal.

More of Krog's accomplishments at the AHL, European and NCAA levels can be found here at Wikipedia.

KrogTube

-Krog scores a goal against the Marlies that keeps his streak alive. Listen to what the play-by-play guys say about him in the background.
-Ben Eager shows Krog to his bench while Krog played for the Rangers.

T Tags: Canucks+sign+Jason+Krog Unrestricted+free+agent Krog+info Krog+bio videos stats

Source

Let's buy two!

Apparently a minority ownership stake in one franchise wasn’t enough for Fort Lauderdale advertising executive Jordan Zimmerman and St. Louis orthopedic surgeon Rick Lehman.

Zimmerman and Lehman, who are both investors in the Panthers, bought into the Southeast division rival Tampa Bay Lightning last month. They are part of an eight-person ownership group led by Hollywood producer Oren Koules and former Panthers player Len Barrie. And as odd as it sounds, the league says: “multiple minority ownership interests are permitted by the Constitution.”

“It hasn’t been done,” said Zimmerman, founder of Zimmerman & Partners advertising in Fort Lauderdale. “We’re the first.”

The partners say they’re just improving their odds of winning.

“If I make enough investments, I’ve got a better chance of winning a cup and a ring,” Zimmerman said. “Why be typical? I built a whole ad agency of being untypical.”

Zimmerman said he was approached by Koules and Barrie about investing in the team: “I thought this was an opportunity to get involved in another team, help them build some of their ancillary revenue streams … my skill set is truly on the buiness side.”

He approached Lehman about joining the group.

“The first one was such a good idea, I figured I’d invest in another one,” said Lehman, who specializes in sports medicine. “They called and were looking for people to look after their medical in Tampa. I did it for the Panthers for a while.”

What will they do when the two teams play each other a half dozen times next year?

“In my arena, whoever wins," Zimmerman said, "that’s the team I’m rooting for."

Source

Owner says they're done; anyone believe it?

Owner Len Barrie punctuated a busy Monday night by saying that for all practical matters, the flurry of moves the team has made to reshape the franchise are over. I don't know about you, but seeing the breakneck pace Barrie and Oren Koules have set, best never to say never. Especially when you hear the scuttlebutt the team will be searching the waiver wires for a veteran stay-at-home defenseman, it just seems as if these guys can't help stockpiling players and Tampa Bay has 16 forwards right now with contracts.

There are several ways to cull the herd, so to speak: trades and sending players to the minors. The first option is much more likely given those who could be sent down have one-way contracts (so they will cost the same whether they play in the or minors). On the other hand, if a player can be shipped out on re-call waivers (in which half salary is paid by the original and the new teams), that might not be a bad option, given specific players.

So, who are the most likely to go? Consider these lines, which, as always, are subject to change:

Vinny Prospal-Vinny Lecavalier-Marty St. Louis

Ryan Malone-Steve Stamkos-Radim Vrbata

Gary Roberts-Jeff Halpern-Mark Recchi

Nick Tarnasky-Ryan Craig-Evgeny Artyukhin

That leaves Jason Ward, Adam Hall, Jussi Jokinen and Michel Ouellet.

Trades, trades, trades are coming, especially, it would seem, with Jokinen and Ouellet, both of whom could fetch draft choices, prospects and even more depth players for the minors. All of those things this organization has lacked recently. What a great opportunity to fill in the holes.

On defense, the top seven seems to be Matt Carle, Paul Ranger, Filip Kuba, Mike Lundin, Alex Picard, Shane O'Brien and Andrew Hutchinson with Janne Niskala and Matt Smaby trying to crack that group.

Lundin is an interesting case. He was 22 when he signed his contract in July 2006. Players who sign at that age, according to the CBA, can avoid waivers if they play no more than 70 games through their first three years. But Lundin played 81 games last season, hence he needs to clear waivers if he is sent to the minors. Seems Lundin is just the kind of player another team would snap up. So expect to see him with Tampa Bay unless he just tanks, though great training camps by Niskala or Smaby also could change the dynamic. Niskala, of course, has a European transfer option, meaning if he doesn't make the Lightning, he can be sent back to Europe with that team assuming a good part of his contract.

In other words, there are enough moving parts and enough of a track record when it comes to the new ownership's love of transactions to keep your seat belts fastened.

Source

e-Commerce in Friesland

Ondernemers heten een voorkeur voor hard werken te hebben boven slim werken. De redacteur van het regionale blad de Zakenspiegel heeft duidelijk een voorkeur voor slim werken. In het nummer voor de zomervakantie besteedde hij aandacht aan uitbesteden (outsourcing), en meldde in zijn redactioneel dat hij een deel van het dubbeldikke zomernummer had ... uitbesteed. Aan studenten van de Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden die onderzoek hadden gedaan naar e-commerce in Friesland. Zo heeft de betreffende redacteur met een gerichte inspanning een dubbeldikke uitgave en een lange vakantie. Slim werken in veel leuker dan hard werken.

e-Commerce, digitaal zakendoen middels het Internet, neemt een steeds hogere vlucht. Je kunt rustig stellen dat bedrijven waarmee niet digitaal zaken te doen valt gezien zijn. Er is geen ontkomen aan. Toch wisten de studenten van de slechts enkele tientallen webshops in Friesland op te sporen. Daaruit werd een toptien gedistilleerd. Wij hebben het overigens over een webshop wanneer er producten aan consumenten worden verkocht, B2C Business to Consumer. Digitale handel tussen bedrijven wordt doorgaans aangeduid met B2B, Business to Business. Ook dat kan via een website verlopen, alleen wordt dat meestal geen webshop genoemd.

Digitaal je waren aanprijzen is niet zo moeilijk. Er is veel software daarvoor te koop danwel te krijgen (in de vorm van open source software), het gaat er natuurlijk om dat spullen ook afgeleverd en betaald moeten worden. Kortom, het merendeel van het werk moet achter de (computer)schermen gebeuren. En wordt dat hard werken of slim werken? In de toptien van Friese e-commerce bedrijven staat een bedrijf dat een open source erp-pakket gebruikt. Erp, enterprise resource planning, roept in het algemeen geen associatie op met webshops maar met de bekende leverancier SAP. Die levert overigens geen open source software maar een peperduur pakket dat geen mkb-er zich kan permitteren.

Onlangs viel in de media een berichtje te lezen dat digitale handel nog steeds in omvang toeneemt maar dat de websites danwel webshops achterblijven. Dat komt omdat die slechts zelden op een erp-systeem zijn gebaseerd. Het schiet namelijk niet op wanneer bestellingen handmatig verwerkt moeten worden. Het Leeuwarder bedrijf dat handelt in energiebesparende producten is voor zover mij bekend een van de weinige bedrijven die een open source erp-pakket gebruikt als basis voor een webshop. Een van de dingen in Noord-Nederland die mij blijven verbazen is hoe het toch komt dat niet meer ondernemers gewoon gebruik maken van zaken die (gratis) zijn te krijgen. Wat minder hard werken en wat meer lezen zodat het blikveld wordt verbreed. Zoveel mogelijkheden voor meer welvaart en ze niet gebruiken. Typisch Fries?

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Big Apple Sports Birthday for July 1

Today’s featured Big Apple Sports Birthday is New York Ranger Hall of Fame right winger, Rod Gilbert, born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1941

Long time Ranger fans will tell you that the greatest era in Ranger hockey was the late sixties-early seventies and especially the years 1970 through 1973 when New York and the Bruins of Boston skated perhaps the greatest teams in the history of their respective franchises.

During that era, New York was famous for its GAG (goal a game) line featuring Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle, and today’s birthday boy. It was one of the most respected lines in the history of the. It was Gilbert who convinced the Rangers to sign his boyhood friend, Ratelle. In 1971, the GAG line became the first in league history to each score more than 40 goals.

I always felt that Gilbert was the Rangers Mickey Mantle, a superstar when in uniform and a patron of Big Apple nightlife when the games were over. He even wore Mickey’s number 7 and a severe back injury suffered during his junior hockey forced Gilbert to play in pain throughout his Ranger career.

In all, Gilbert played 18 seasons for New York, playing in 1,065 regular season games, scoring 406 goals and amassing 615 career assists. He was also a wonderful playoff performer and beginning in 1966, the Rangers made postseason play for ten straight seasons. That would not have been possible without Rod Gilbert.

I also need to wish my daughter Marissa a very happy birthday. I love you Rissie.
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