Swans Preview - Adelaide (July 2, 2011)

Once upon a time, going down to play the Adelaide Crows at AAMI Stadium was as daunting a prospect for Swans fans as, say, facing off with Collingwood. The Crows were a real bogey team, even when the Swans were beating just about everyone else. I’ve lost track of how many frustrating Sydney vs. Adelaide games I’ve sat through in my life. It used to be rough up here, but an away game was enough to make you want to pull your hair out. For whatever reason, they could never seem to get it together.

The Crows used to be at the very top of the AFL food chain. Let’s not forget that they were just one win away from playing the Swans in the 2005 Grand Final, falling short against the West Coast Eagles in an entertaining and hotly-contested Preliminary Final the day after the fast-finishing Swans had run over the top of St Kilda in the final quarter on an amazing night at the MCG.

Now, Adelaide are mired right down the ladder, without a hope or a prayer of playing finals football this year, despite having perhaps the most favourable schedule of any team in the league. It’s an interesting parallel in Football Department skill and mentality for the Swans have never really left the finals picture, despite one year where we didn't play September football, but the Crows, in recent years, have lost a lot of star players and have suffered.

Huge kudos here to the Swans, who’ve dealt with the loss of key cogs – Kirk, Roos, O’Loughlin, Crouch – and continue to make smart trades, turning guys who had been fringe players elsewhere into regular, solid contributors in red and white. At the same time they’ve selected draft choices with an incredible amount of wizardry, finding guys like Hannebery, Jetta, Dennis-Lane, Jack and Johnston and turning them into strong players. 

That considerable one-two punch has kept us there or thereabouts in terms of finals contention. And it’s what will ensure that the Swans go into this game as warm-to-hot favourites, even though it’s at AAMI Park. After last week’s spirited performance against Collingwood, I see no reason why the Swans can’t notch up a pretty solid win here. A win we need after an insipid performance two weeks ago vs. Carlton and last week's narrow defeeat.

It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that Adelaide is on the ropes. Their coach is under siege from fans and media alike, their new kids aren't as good as the guys who’ve departed recently, their execution is poor, and the bottom line is that their football department hasn’t handled the transition as well as the Swans have. 

The Crows looked somewhere between marginal and downright horrible for most of the season. In Round One, they scored a surprising victory against Hawthorn. On the flip side are horrible performances like the one against Collingwood, where they gave up a fourth-quarter lead of nearly four goals. The Pies smashed them late, putting eleven between the big sticks to turn a hard loss into a crushing win.

A few thoughts on the Swans side:

I hate to say it, because I really had high hopes for the guy, but I think the Jesse White ship has sailed. The big man with the impressive tattoo isn't going to be the next Barry Hall. At least, not from where I’m sitting, watching the games. He drifted somewhere between ineffectual and uncertain on the field on Saturday night. As my good friend Ben Carter suggested, maybe the tattoo down one arm has left him off balance. Thanks for that, BC. Watching footy next to you is never boring. All aboard the Comeback Train?

What the Swans need to regain is a killer presence up forward, someone who puts the fear of you-know-what into the opposition. Barry Hall used to give opposition defences fits every week and, with all due respect to the ever-growing Sam Reid, the kid doesn't quite do that just yet. We need another target up forward. When Mumford is back, I vote for pushing Seaby forward, with Roberts-Thompson secondary ruckman. He might be the tall timber we need, at least until we can chase a real key forward.

Good news on the Kieran Jack injury. It’s not as bad as first thought, which is a serious relief, because KJ is vital to the cause. He’s one of those guys you need to have on the field as much as possible, a vital player in the engine room that is our midfield. If he doesn't go, often the Swans don't, either. We need him doing his thing whenever possible. I for one noticed a difference in the midfield in the weeks when he wasn't there. 

Also, props to Kieran Jack for bouncing back after being nearly knocked cold by Jude Bolton very early last week. He looked pretty rough after the clash, and perhaps thought, dazed and confused, that he was playing rugby in Hawaii. The footage definitely wasn't pretty, but he got off the carpet, came back into the game and did his thing. Everyone says that Bolton is tough and has a hard head. Now, Kieran can tell you just how hard.

We have a good stretch coming up: Adelaide this week, Gold Coast next week and Fremantle at home the week following. Three eminently winnable football games. If we want to at least have a shot at doing something other than making up the numbers come finals time, we need solid, winning performances for all three.

Play hard this week, Swans. Play with the same commitment and grit that you showed us on Saturday night and you’ll win.

Fearless Prediction: Swans by 24

There’s No Place For Racism in the AFL

 

 

It’s been a rough year on the PR front for the AFL. The St Kilda Schoolgirl/Ricky Nixon saga broke after the Grand Final and lasted most of a long Melbournian summer. It was pretty bad, perhaps one of the worst ‘bad publicity’ stories in the history of Australian sport. And just when it seemed that the league’s public image couldn't get any worse, along comes a race-fuelled conflagration.

There’ve been three separate incidents of on-field sledging that’s crossed into the dangerous and despicable area of racism. Three incidents in as many months in a league that has been lauded internationally for it’s strong anti-racism programs is nothing short of a disaster. If ever there’s been a season where the AFL needs everyone in the media to focus on the on-field product, which is arguably as good as it’s ever been, it’s this year after the mess we’ve endured with Ricky Nixon and co through summer and into the heart of the season. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened that way, and now the AFL is embroiled in a new racial scandal.

Let’s review the incidents. First it was Lance Franklin being yelled at from the bleachers by an ignorant fan in Tasmania, then the North Melbourne recruit Majak Daw, a Sudanese ruckman suffered similar treatment while playing in the VFL in May. Now, the news that Bulldog recruit Justin Sherman has been suspended four weeks for a racist sledge during his team’s win against the Gold Coast Suns over the weekend.

For the record, Sherman, a former Brisbane Lions player, becomes the first player since Peter Everitt to be suspended for abusing Melbourne’s Scott Chisholm during the 1999 season. The then-St Kilda Saint was deservedly handed a 4-game suspension, but it would be horribly naive of us to not think – assume, given comments from Adam Goodes on the subject, a few words to describe the racial sledge he was the recipient of a few years earlier – that there haven't been at least a handful of other cases since then that have been mediated off the record and in secret, a shame in of itself.

I digress; back to Sherman. Aside from spending four weeks in the VFL where I hope he will take a good, hard look at himself, the Bulldog will donate $5,000 to a charity chosen by the Suns and attend some form of education program. Apparently these sorts of program are necessary. Sill me, I just thought it was good, common sense that you never, ever attacked a guy’s heritage, especially not in the current climate, after two previous high-profile incidents. But no, you have to send ignorant football players to a class to teach them that it’s wrong. Really?

There’s that saying about a guy being a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and I think it applies well to Justin Sherman. It continues to amaze that players go down this road during their on-field banter. Sledging is a part of the game – it happens on the field and in the stands – and it’s something that players have to deal with, like they deal with morning-after recovery sessions in the cold ocean, but there’s a difference between taking a shot at a guy’s girlfriend or his kicking ability and his racial heritage. That sort of thing is not on. This isn't the 1930s or 1940s. We’re in an age of multicultural responsibility. Justin Sherman and others have set the league back many years with their stupid decisions.

In my mind, racially vilifying a guy is the most reprehensible thing a guy can do on the football field, worse, even, than a king hit behind the play or a gouge. I wish I knew what the guy was thinking when he thought it would be okay to go down that path. Of all the possible sledges you could pull out, why does someone insult a rival player’s race/heritage. It boggles the mind.

Adrian Anderson, the AFL’s Operations Manager, was incredulous during his press conference yesterday. “It does beggar belief a player in this day and age could racially vilify an opponent, and I hope to never see it again,” Anderson said before fielding tough questions from the media.

Well, that makes two of us, Adrian. Australia is known around the world as a proud multicultural nation. This is the sort of situation that’ll garner negative press in all parts of the world, and, beyond the world of football, it paints our nation in a very bad light. You have to believe that Anderson and his boss, Andrew Demetriou, must be fuming. Just when they thought it couldn't get worse...it went and got worse.

Four weeks isn't enough, for mine. I normally mostly agree with what the AFL does with regard to suspensions and such, but a month on AFL sidelines, while getting to play VFL football, isn't enough. Not nearly enough. So far as I’m concerned, if you’re found to be guilty of racially vilifying an opposition player, you should be suspended for the rest of the season and not be allowed to have any contact with a club or it’s feeder VFL team. 

Similarly, any fan found guilty of yelling something over the fence, as happened with Buddy Franklin in Launceston, should be banned for a season from attending any AFL-sanctioned event. 

A tough suspension, yes, but it’s probably the only thing that’ll make people sit up and learn that this sort of thing is not on.

NHL Draft Day Trades

Some interesting draft day moves in the National Hockey League:

Mike Richards to LA: So, the guy who didn't like to talk to reporters in Philly is off to the City of Angels, where the Kings are mostly an afterthought, where reporters aren't as strong in their demands of players as in the hockey-mad city of Philadelphia. This will probably make Richie happy. 

Having the former Flyers captain on the Kings team, perhaps as a second-line centre behind their established superstar Anze Kopitar instantly transforms this team into a competitor in the Western Conference. And that makes the Kings fan base happy. For mine, the Kings are as deep down the centre as anyone else out in the west, and perhaps this is the acquisition they needed to go from regular playoff appearances to the point where they’re vying for the Western Conference crown.

They gave up Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a draft pick. That’s pretty reasonable. Los Angeles fans should be happy with that.

Jeff Carter to Columbus: The second half of Philadelphia’s effort to clear house in order to sign their new favourite goalie. Jeff Carter is headed to C-Bus to join Rick Nash and the perennially under-achieving Blue Jackets, where he will probably be their top line centre, and perhaps, along with Canadian superstar Nash, the face of the team. Apparently they’re pretty happy in Ohio, and it’s fair to say that Carter’s trade may be the lifeblood that the franchise needed. After all, they get a guy who had 36 goals and 30 assists a year ago, along with a +27 rating. Not bad numbers.

Ilya Bryzgalov to Philadelphia: There was a reason why Carter and Richards were shipped out. The Flyers need a good goalie, not Leighton or Bobrovsky or Boucher, all of whom are mediocre at best, and they believe that former Coyotes net minder Ilya Bryzgalov is their guy. So out they went, signed a guy who really hasn’t shown much in the post-season to a nine-year deal, reportedly worth $51 million. This could be a killer, especially given that they’ve had to let go two great guys – Richards and Carter – to land this deal. I guess time will tell.

Brian Campbell to Florida: The Blackhawks have been looking to jettison their expensive veteran defenseman for some time. Last season, Campbell was the third most expensive player on the Hawks roster, behind Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith.  I don't care what language you speak, that’s just crazy. Stan Bowman, Chicago GM, knew a move had to be made, and he made it. Done and done.

Campbell is working the third year of an eight-year deal that will pay more than $56 million. It seemed a crazy deal at the time, and still is. But he’ll be a good player for the Florida Panthers, who need a nice veteran guy patrolling the blue line, a Stanley Cup champion, a recognised star, and the sort of player you’d want to have guiding and counselling the young team that the Panthers are building down south.

Let’s be honest, the Blackhawks defensive corps is strong, with guys like Keith and Seabrook and Hjalmarsson on the team, Campbell won't be missed so much. His cap hit certainly will not be. Basically he was wasted money, at more than $7 million a season. Consider why: he didn't ever skate on the Power Play, didn't kill penalties and not one of the top 4 defensemen on the roster.

Troy Brouwer to Washington: Another interesting one from the Blackhawks, who were busy on Day One of the 2011 Entry Draft. Of course, Chicago traded away half their team after the 2010 Stanley Cup run – Byfuglien, Versteeg, Ladd, Niemi – and definitely felt the effects for much of last season. But a first round pick isn't easy to come by in this day and age, so getting the Caps’ 26^th selection was a pretty good trade-off for someone of Brouwer’s skill. Now, with some space cleared, the Chicago Blackhawks are poised to be real players when free agency begins on July 1.

On the flip side, it’s definitely an interesting move for Washington, a smart franchise known for holding onto their first rounders, and getting solid players – Karl Alzner, anyone? – with them. Not that I’m going to doubt George McPhee, one of the most brilliant GMs in the business.

Brent Burns to San Jose: The San Jose Sharks apparently decided that it was another prime defender that had thus far kept them from winning a Western Conference title. To remedy that, they went out and got Minnesota’s All-Star Brent Burns, trading the recently re-signed Devin Setoguchi, a first rounder from last year, Charlie Coyle, the 28^th pick in this year’s draft and a second round pick in next year’s draft.

Yeah, a pretty big price to pay, especially considering that Setoguchi hasn’t yet reached his prime, but San Jose badly need another blue-liner, and there are few better in the league than Burns. Whether or not they will suffer without Setoguchi and his offensive output – 22 goals and 19 assists in the 2010-11 regular season – remains to be seen. At least they get a high-scoring defenseman in Burns, who scored 17 goals and had 29 helpers. In a tough, even Western Conference, this might be a really shrewd trade. Of course, it might crash and burn, too.

Up north in Minnesota, the diehard fans will be disappointed to be losing another fan favourite. It was Derek Boogaard last year – RIP Boogey – and now their all-star defenseman, Burns, one of the most recognisable faces on the Wild roster has departed, and will leave something of a PR hole, aside from his obvious on-ice talent. That’s not to say that they won't come to love Setoguchi as the San Jose Sharks fans have.

All of this before the start of the always-interesting National Hockey League free agency period on 01 July.

Amazing Rolex Sports Car Series accident at Road America

It has not been a good few weeks for sports car racing in terms of accidents. We saw two Audis fly at Circuit de la Sarthe during the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans – Alan McNish went into the catch fence at the Dunlop bridge early, and Mike Rockenfeller had a horrible accident during the night that destroyed his car – and this accident today at Road America during the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.

Road America is one of my favourite race tracks in the world, perhaps the closest circuit in North America to the Circuit de la Sarthe. It’s 4.048 miles of asphalt through the Wisconsin countryside, long straights connected to fast corners with lots of overtaking opportunities. It’s a rarity among racetracks these days, and a real throwback to the old days.

And it’s fast. Lethally fast, as we saw in today’s race. The video below shows what happens when a Chevrolet Camaro runs out of breaks into turn one at RA, slamming into the Mazda in front of him. See the Chevy destroy the tire wall, then, sickeningly, flip up and over the catch fence, and down off the race circuit into the Wisconsin countryside. See what I mean:

Incredibly, the driver of that machine, Gunter Schaldach, walked away without a scratch. He climbed back up the reverse wall, through the hole that his car punched on the way through, and walked back to the pit. It’s an incredible testament to the strong car that the Pratt and Miller organisation built to come and race. This accident could’ve been a lot worse.

The driver of the Mazda, Joe Foster, was extricated from his car after the track workers cut through the front windscreen and the roof, and was taken to a nearby hospital on a stretcher for further evaluation. The good news was that he was talking to the track crew, begging them not to cut through the rest of the car. There’s a typical race car owner for you!

Swans Review: Collingwood (June 25, 2011)

COLLINGWOOD 5.5  7.10  11.15  13.21 (99)
SYDNEY 4.3  5.5  11.6  14.9 (93)

Goals - Collingwood: T Cloke 6 C Dawes D Swan J Blair L Ball S Pendlebury S Sidebottom S Wellingham. Sydney: J McVeigh 4 A Goodes 3 J Bolton 2 R O’Keefe 2 J White K Jack M Mattner.

Umpires: Jacob Mollison, Brett Rosebury, Luke Farmer.
Official Crowd: 38,053 at ANZ Stadium.

Almost but not quite this evening at ANZ Stadium, but no true Swans fan should be at all disappointed with the way the game went. 

Thanks in part to some woefully inaccurate kicking that will probably see Dale Thomas – at sea for most of the night, and never looked comfortable in front of the sticks – and Travis Cloke – he kicked six, but could’ve had nine or ten – spending some extra time taking set shots on the training paddock this week, and to the tenacity of a young, rising football team, the Swans took the reigning premiers Collingwood on at their own game, and very nearly came away with perhaps the upset of the season.

After many years of watching the Pies completely shut the Swans down, and take them to school, this contest was a breath of fresh air, and the best evidence yet that the red-and-whites aren't far away from beating Collingwood. Perhaps this will be the nucleus of players who finally get the watershed victory. They showed resilience tonight, coming back from 30 points down in the third quarter to be within a kick of victory.

Ultimately, the Swans went down by one straight goal, 13.21 (93) to 14.9 (93), in what was an electric final quarter, definitely one of the best of the year. It’s sad to report that the Collingwood win streak against the Swans stretches to six years, and ten games, but unlike in previous years, when we haven't been anywhere near close to notching a victory, a lot of supporters

There were passages of brilliance, the midfield cranking nicely even without Kieran Jack, whose ankle injury is of great concern, but there were the blinding moments of madness and indecision, fumbling the football in front of goal and the fact that it seemed to take a herculean effort to kick the ball. A risky chain of handpasses was apparently more appealing. But not so much of us with nervous tendencies.

Unfortunately, Collingwood had Travis Cloke who kicked 6.4 and Sydney just didn't have a comparable tall target. Sam Reid, who gets better with every game and will be a superstar pretty soon, was almost completely smothered by his brother, Ben, and Jesse White was mostly a non-factor. Goodes and McVeigh led the goal-kicking for the Swans, but it would’ve been nice to have another tall forward.

I wrote in this blog earlier in the week that losing by 6-8 goals would be almost acceptable, given the beatings we’ve taken from the Pies in the past. Tonight’s game was a wonderful example of this football club heading in the right direction. It wasn't a win, but we came close and showed a lot of heart and guts. They had a crack, fought hard to the end and, most importantly, we didn't wilt in the face of Collingwood, as we’ve done in the past. The walk back to the train station wasn't nearly as disappointing as it’s been in previous years.

If the Swans come out and play like they did tonight for the rest of the season, we’ll win more than we lose, and we’ll get to play finals football. With a young team, that’s a great thing. We’re constructing a jigsaw puzzle, if you will, and tonight, a large piece damn near fell into place for us tonight. We had Collingwood rattled tonight. Mick Malthouse’s final quarter expressions and actions were priceless, and indicate exactly that. He was worried. And Mick isn’t one given to unnecessary theatrics. Next year, maybe? Hopefully...

Should be interesting next week, the Collingwood vs. Hawthorn match.

Go Swans! You did us proud tonight!

Rebirth of the Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets are back!!

A great day for NHL traditionalists such as myself, with news of the rebirth of a classic Canadian hockey franchise, the Winnipeg Jets. Owners of the recently-moved Atlanta Thrashers franchise True North Sports and Entertainment have bowed to public pressure, announcing that they will name the new team like the old team. Thus, the Jets, a staple in the league until they became the Phoenix Coyotes after the 1996 season, are back and everyone around the league seems to be very happy because of it. 

The new Winnipeg jersey is still being created – the Jets’ first-round pick in today’s draft, eighteen-year-old Mark Scheifele was given a generic black-and-grey number with the familiar NHL logo on the front – and will feature a new logo, instead of the old one(s) you see at the top of this post. To me, that doesn't matter so much. The important thing is that the franchise name is back, and with it returns some of the great Jet names of days gone by, names like Dale Hawerchuk, Doug Smail, Pokey Reddick.

This is the perfect choice, and a popular one, based on the way Jets fans took over the draft with chants of “Go, Jets, go!” when the name was announced. Really, the franchise couldn't be called anything else. It just wouldn't have sounded right. The Jets and Winnipeg are tied together. To name the team anything else would almost certainly have not captured the town’s attention, and with so much focus league-wide on the second coming of this franchise, and specifically it’s popularity with regard to crowds and television ratings, connecting with the fans who’ll be the lifeblood of this hockey team is very important.

In other Winnipeg Jets news, the team has named Claude Noel, former coach of the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose team – the franchise that had previously occupied the Jet’s new home, the 15,015-seat MTS Centre – as the reborn franchise’s first head coach, beating out Mile Haviland, a former interim coach of both the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets. 

This glowing character reference from Pittsburgh Penguins GM, Ray Shero: "Claude is smart, competitive and communicates well with players. He's also very good at changing things tactically during a game."

Just like choosing the Jets to be the team’s name, this was a solid choice by General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, a smart front office operatot whose presence in Winnipeg figures to make this franchise a success.

This is a good day for hockey!

Blog Flashback: Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull and...Kitch

Chicago, IL; October 23, 2010

Chicago’s United Centre is a wonderful place to watch hockey. I’d go so far as to say that it’s my favourite venue aside from Madison Square Garden. In the Windy City, you have passionate and knowledge fans, more than 20,000 of them, screaming from the first note of the national anthem through the final siren of the game. It’s not known as the Madhouse on Madison for nothing.

I’m continuing my tradition – unintended, but cool nonetheless – of seeing a game in the home arena of the defending Stanley Cup champs. The 2010 banner, the first for the ‘Hawks in too many years for fans in this hockey-mad city, was only raised to the rafters a few weeks ago, and the gloss is still there for the fans. Tonight’s opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets. The rookie goaltender, Corey Crawford pulled spot duty tonight, relieving free agent acquisition Marty Turco.

It’s been a long day. I left Vegas on a 6.00am flight to Chicago, feeling better when I got off the plane in the Windy City than I did managed to squeeze in a tour of Wheaton, IL, lunch and drinks at Buffalo Wild Wings (where I almost had whiplash from trying to keep track of a dozen games in a dozen screens around the restaurant/bar) a stroll along the Illinois Prairie Path, and a few minutes of unplanned but much-needed sleep on the couch – Cam Newton’s latest round of gridiron heroics weren’t enough to keep me awake this afternoon – before we headed downtown to United Centre.

 In front of the Michael Jordan statue outside of United Centre

We got to the arena in time for warm-ups, which we watched from the glass. We had awesome seats, maybe twelve rows back, down in the corner, on the opposite side of the ice to the benches, and just above and to the right of the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions banner. Standing on the edge of the rink, we got close-ups of Sharp, Kane, Toews, Bolland, and all the other stars of the 2010 Stanley Cup run. These guys are all legitimate superstars now, thanks to the epically magical playoff run of the last spring. No complaints. I was looked after so incredibly well by people whom I barely know, really, and it’s a credit to them. As I always say, hockey people are some of the best people on earth.

Patrick Sharp

Johnathan Toews and Patrick Kane

The first period was rather uneventful. In light of events in the second, I can't recall the score, though I know the ‘Hawks netted one, because we all went crazy singing Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis – an awesome goal song. Brian disappeared during the first intermission, while I got to try an awesome Chicago-style beef sandwich and some equally awesome 312 beer, a local brew. 312 is the local phone prefix, by the way.

During the second period, things got amazingly and wonderfully trippy. Suddenly, Brian’s telling us that we’ve gotta vacate our seats. I’m following along, wondering what is going on, doing what I’m told. We’re about to get in a lift on the concourse, and suddenly, from the balcony above, a familiar face looks down and says something to Brian. It’s Stan Mikita, Hall of Famer, Chicago legend, and our new best friend, for at least the duration of the middle period.

So here we are, up in his awesome suite – Stan is now a Blackhawks ambassador, and has a wonderful perspective on the game from where he watches – talking about Australia and my love of the game. I’m tripping out. Then it gets better. In a blaze of coolness, walks the Golden Jet, Bobby Hull. Bobby freakin’ Hull! Someone asks if I know who he is. What sort of a hockey fan would I be if I didn't? I’m speechless, amazingly, and I was feeling pretty dizzy. Stan and Bobby, holdovers from the 1961 Blackhawks team, the last to win Lord Stanley before Toews, Sharp, Kane and co., are talking to me. To me!

Both Bobby and Stan wear their Stanley Cup rings, from 1961 and 2010. I’m looking at both and suddenly Bobby’s offering me a chance to wear his ring. It’s crazy! I’m wearing a 2010 Stanley Cup Champions ring. The fact that players strive for years and years and sometimes never get this close to the jewellery on my finger definitely spun crazily through my mind as I posed for photos. Brian had a photo with both rings on, just to make the boys at the office jealous. I felt like I wanted to pinch myself, it was that surreal.

Me wearing the 2010 Stanley Cup Championship ring

Everywhere these guys go, a professional photographer follows them. So in he comes, with a camera with a giant lens, and snaps a few photos. There’s me, arm resting easily on Bobby Hull’s shoulder, listening to him put the silky smooth moves in Debbie, who was close to tears – who wasn't?! – and doubtless feeling as blessed as I was to be there, with those guys, watching hockey from the best seats in the house. Some of us inquired about Jonathan Toews. Others, myself included, found it hard to say anything! The Golden freakin’ Jet! Who’d have guessed? It made me so badly want to be a Blackhawks fan. But I still love you, New York Rangers!

The photo. I have a copy in my room and in my office. Never fails to make me smile!

A photo of us taking a photo of Bobby's rings, with Stan watching over from behind

The third period was a blur. We went back to our seats, and, of course, showed the shots on our cameras to everyone around. Sort of like, Hah! We met Bobby and Stan and you didn't. They showed Bobby on the big screen in the third, from the very suite where we’d been twenty minutes before. Everyone cheered, myself included.

As close as I'll probably come to Lord Stanley. But, after tonight, who knows?

The ‘Hawks lost the game. You know, it didn't really kill me. I wouldn't have cared if they’d gotten blown out 9-0 because I was basking in the whole Bobby/Stan experience that my amazing hosts managed to organise for me. I couldn't thank them enough for such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That was the third day of my trip, and I don't think that anything else I do will get better than this. That’s the sort of night it was! Just insanely cool. 

Chicago's United Centre - the Madhouse on Madison

Bobby and Stan – and Jonathan Toews, typically – were all we talked about on the way home to Wheaton, and all I thought about all night and into this morning, as I try to put it all down in my computer for safe keeping!

Bears game today!

Swans Preview - Collingwood (June 25, 2011)

Sydney Swans vs. Collingwood

Saturday June 25; 7.10pm; ANZ Stadium, Sydney

And so we come again to the weekend in June, the one that represents so much futility – or, at least, has in recent years – for diehard Swans fans. Yes, that’s right, the annual blockbuster against Collingwood, a home game that, with the disturbingly large influx of black and white-clad supporters, feels more like an away fixture. You have to give it to the Pies. We love to hate them, of course, but there are few teams anywhere in the world whose supporters rally as strongly during their away games. We’ll see it this Saturday night at Olympic Park.

There’ve been some amazing contests in this blockbuster fixture over the years. The first game at ANZ Stadium comes to mind, when the largest AFL crowd outside of Melbourne packed into the Olympic venue for a ripping contest, eventually won by the Pies, but not before a shootout of near-epic proportions. If you went to that game and didn't come away a footy convert...well, there’s something wrong with you.

Then there was the seesaw contest of 2004, the game that ebbed and flowed, and deserved the status of being the only game that night, the split round weekend. It was only the second Swans vs. Pies contest I’d ever seen, and it evoked memories of the debut clash at ANZ, except that the Swans managed to get on top then, and looked like they were building towards something.

Of course, that something was the 2005 premiership, breaking the long Swans/Bloods drought. Before Leo Barry’s fateful mark on that tense September afternoon at the MCG, there was the 2005 edition of the Swans vs. Collingwood epic, a game perhaps most famous for the handful of seconds of football that weren’t played – through a timekeeper’s error – as opposed to those that were. The Swans squeaked out victory by a solitary point, with less of the free-flowing football of the year before, but just as much energy and toughness.

I’ll always remember a friend of mine, a Collingwood supporter watching with us, who told me as he left the stadium that night, after the Swans got up, that I would never see my team win a premiership playing football like they played. No, my friend wasn't Andrew Demetriou, who famously and publically thought the same way. It was my distinct pleasure to prove my friend wrong, a few months later. Yeah, I’m looking at you Ronald Szancer.

That one-point decision to the Swans was the last time that we’ve beaten Collingwood. It’s been a long drought, and it’s not getting any easier, because, this year and last, the black-and-whites are the class of the AFL. Even when the Pies weren’t as good a football team as they currently are, I always felt that they were the first to really dissect and breakdown the Swans style of play, and put in place formation and structure to beat it. And beat it they did – and have. And may continue to for a while to come. It’s gotten to the point where the Swans are Daryl Cullinan and the Pies are Shane Warne.

It might be a long night at ANZ Stadium on Saturday. Not that we haven't all been there before, but this week has something of an ominous cloud hanging over it, after a rather uninspiring performance vs. Carlton last week at Etihad and the prospect of going into this game without Shane Mumford. I don't care what anyone says, we need Mummy like Springsteen needs Clarence Clemons – RIP Big Man – and we will suffer without him.

So far as I’m concerned, we needed to beat Carlton last week to legitimise our premiership credentials. That we didn't beat them suggests that we’re likely making up the numbers in the eight. I believe we’ll play finals football this year, but I don't know that we can challenge the big teams – Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Carlton. All teams who’ve beaten us quite handily this season, or, as is the case with the Pies, look poised to do so.

I badly want to think that the Swans can beat Collingwood on Saturday. I’m taking my dad to the game, his semi-annual appearance at a Swans contest, and he gives me grief for taking him to games when we don't win. Aside from that, it’s high time we broke our Collingwood duck, but unless there’s a drastic turnaround from last week’s performance – and the week before as well, which wasn't great – I believe we’ll be lucky to be beaten by 6-8 goals. But, by all means, boys, please prove me wrong. Feel free to prove me wrong! I'd really love it if you did!

You know I love you whether you win or lose, Swans. That’ll never be in doubt. It’s just that sometimes I get frustrated. I spend the week psyching myself up for this marquee contest, dragging non-AFL friends from all over the world along to this game, promising them a good game and a good atmosphere, only to land with a thud when we get drilled. Sometimes we play terrible, and it kills me because I know we can play better. Let’s face it, the Pies are good. They will probably win the flag this year, or at least go close. They look much better than us on paper. Even so, stranger things have happened, and that’s why they play the game on the field, not on paper.

Still, there is plenty of hope for the future of the Swans, and lots of reason to be very optimistic about our chances of being able to be a part of the upper echelon of teams in the near future. A lot of our roster is filled by talented kids – Sam Reid, Alex Johnston, and our Rising Star winner, Dan Hannebery among others – who’re learning on their feet, and who’ve played 50 games or less. They are growing, and they’re growing into really good players, and they’ll be the backbone of the club for years to come.

The good thing is that, unlike some teams (Melbourne, Richmond...) we’re blooding new players and still playing finals football, and sort of being there or thereabouts on the ladder.  In that way, we’re progressing like the Collingwood FC of a few years back, back when players like Swan, Thomas, and Pendlebury were new on the scene and establishing themselves in the team and the league – and look where they are now.

Football aside, it’s a very important night on Saturday, as the Swans attempt to break the world record for the number of red noses in one place. Currently, the record is 15,900 so we need 16,000 plus wearing their wonderfully-coloured noses, supporting research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This is a great chance to do your part and help out a good cause.

 
So, get out there, buy your ticket, buy your red nose, eat some Gozleme pre-game and, most importantly of all, cheer, cheer the red and the white. There’s nothing better than that! Go Bloods! Go Swans!

RIP Clarence Clemons

A departure from my usual posts, to pay a somewhat belated farewell one of the great saxophonists to ever grace the earth, Clarence Clemons.

It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.


Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band. 

- Offical Bruce Springsteen (www.brucespringsteen.net)

I remember when I first delved into the classics, and heard Springsteen’s Born to Run. Not the album, just the song. It was intense, with the awesome saxophone solo in the middle.  No wonder the album was Springsteen’s ticket to the big time. Off the back of the title track, and the epic Thunder Road, it was lauded as one of the great albums of the 70’s.

Sadly, the great saxophonist – The Minister of Soul, the Biggest Man You Ever Seen, the King of the Universe, the Big Kahuna, Socrates of the Saxophone – whose haunting work on so many brilliant Springsteen songs from the Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ album in 1973 through The Promise in 2010 was lost to us this past Sunday afternoon, succumbing to the effects and complications of a serious stroke. That’s right, the Big Man has sadly left the building.

I came late to the Springsteen party. Sure, I’d heard Born in the USA, Dancing in the Dark, Hungry Heart and Glory Days, but there was so much more to hear of the Boss, and Clemons was right there. Part of the fabric of the E Street band, his haunting, brooding, and powerful saxophone solos giving so much voice and feeling to the epic words blaring at me through the speakers. Think of Jungleland, the sax solo that made the song, the sax solo that the Big Man spent sixteen hours crafting, his crowning glory.

A big piece of E Street is gone, the guy who helped. His death wasn't a huge surprise, given the reports of how serious his stroke had been, but the Big Man had pulled through a lot of bad situations, had been visibly in pain during the mammoth Working on a Dream Tour, arriving on the stage on a chair elevated up from underneath – a sort of mythical entrance form a mythical man – but the Big Man was the Big Man and as so many have said over the last few days, the only thing bigger than his hulking appearance was his heart. And you just figured he’d keep on keeping on, because of that big heart. 

Within minutes, the Big Man’s death was trending worldwide on Twitter, and there were all sorts of tributes pouring in – from Bill Clinton to Slash and everyone in between – which just goes to show what sort of a person he was. Clarence Clemons made a lot of people happy right across the world, and any future E Street Band tour will perhaps be a fitting tribute to the guy who seemed to love being up there and blowing on that sax more than anything else in the world.

I got to see Clemons on stage once, and it was perhaps the greatest concert I’ve ever seen. The show was awesome from the start, but boy did it rip into high gear when the first sax solo of the night occurred – Badlands. That was when you knew you were at an E Street gig. The crowd loved it, the band loved it, the Big Man loved it, and, dammit, I loved it. I’m so thankful for the money I paid now, because even if they continue to tour, it won't be the same, and I can't imagine anyone else getting up there to play the epic Jungleland solo.

God bless, Big Man and God speed. God’s putting together one heck of an all-star band up there now, and he just got the right sax guy for the job.

http://www.backstreets.com/clarence/

2011 Stanley Cup Final Reflections - Part Two

Part Two of my Stanley Cup reflections:

Good Guys

There’s a good story or three every year, guys who deserve the Stanley Cup, guys who’ve toiled for years, often without reward on subpar teams, who finally taste glory. This year is no different. 

The Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, has been a superstar in the league for 14 seasons, but had never scaled heights as high as a Stanley Cup until now. Seeing him skate over with the Cup – how funny was it, seeing midget Commissioner Bettman handing the silverware over to the mountainous Big Z? – and hold it aloft was a great thing for hockey. And especially for Slovakian hockey.

Chara is one of the best ambassadors for the game with a heart as big as his slapper is fast, and his captaincy of the marquee franchise represents a continued shift in the thinking of the league and it’s teams. Remember, it was only 2008 where Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European captain to hoist the Stanley Cup, when the Swede-loaded Red Wings won. 

Going out with a bang, winning his third Stanley Cup, is a sure-fire first year of eligibility Hall of Famer, Mark Recchi, who had said all along that he would retire if the Bruins won the championship this year. In some ways, the Recchin’ Ball is the Shaquille O’Neil of the NHL. He’s been on a half-dozen teams, but he’s never once burned his bridges, so much so that the former Penguin/Flyer/Thrasher/Hurricane is fondly and warmly welcomed back to arenas that he has once called home. What a fairytale, retiring after winning the Stanley Cup. See you in the Hall of Fame real soon, Mark!

For a guy who was supposedly as good as cooked in Boston after the Bruins lost the opening two games – on home ice, no less – of their quarter final series against the Montreal Canadiens, Claude Julien has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence. From being the target of frustrated Bruins fans who were staring down the barrel against their most hated rival, to leading that same team to the Stanley Cup, it’s been a great playoff ride. Julien, for the most part, is a level-headed, smart and calm coach, who rarely goes off his rocker about anything. He’s worked hard to get where he is, and it’s nice to see that, sometimes, hard work and dedication does pay off.

And so to the success story of the playoffs. Tim Thomas was drafted deep in latter rounds by the now-defunct Quebec Nordiques in the mid-90’s but didn't play an NHL game until midway through the 2002-03 season. He’d spent many years stopping pucks in Europe and in minor league hockey in North America, striving to become an NHL goalie. 

Many would’ve shut up shop and abandoned their dream after years shuttling between ECHL and AHL cities, but not Thomas. The University of Vermont product kept trying, kept digging, and look where it’s gotten him now. As detailed in my earlier post, a nearly-flawless seven-game effort in the Cup final – after a nearly flawless effort through the first three rounds – earned Thomas the Conn Smythe Trophy and so much critical acclaim. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is your poster child for never giving up, for always working hard. Perseverance is a wonderful thing. Not all of us have it, but Tim Thomas did, does, and now he’s a Stanley Cup champion and the story of the playoffs. Well deserved!

2011 Stanley Cup Final Reflections - Part One

That’s right, it’s not a mirage. Camp Kitch is back – hopefully better than ever!

It’s been almost a week since the climactic Game Seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. This is always the toughest week, because you realise that the long off-season is ahead.

And there’s the problem with the Final. More often than not, it’s the best stretch of games in the season, but it’s also the last stretch of games for the season, and that’s depressing, because hockey’s one of the greatest sports on earth and I miss it when it’s off. Sadly, it’ll be October before another puck is fired in anger; October before Jack Edwards yells at Roman Hamrlik once more. 

I digress. And so, in one, two or three parts, some of my (late) thoughts on the final game of the season and the Final in general:

Heart and soul:

Of all the games in the season that you think you might get jacked up for, this would be it. Game Seven, the purest contest in sports. Think of it as the quintessential Penthouse or Outhouse Game. You win and you get Lord Stanley. You lose and it’s a long summer thinking about what might’ve been.

The problem was that Vancouver just didn't seem to turn up. Their big players went missing when they needed them the most – hello, LeBron James – and, overall, it was a lacklustre performance for a team who most, myself included, figured would bounce back from a rough trot in Boston and win the Cup on home ice.

Alas, it didn't happen like that. Boston were the team that came out and played hard, solid hockey. They played like they wanted to win the Stanley Cup, and it showed. They followed through on every check, played good team defence, took their chances where they could and, of course, had a stellar performance from Tim Thomas, whose Conn Smythe Trophy has to be one of the most deserved awards in a very long time.

Goalies:

This series will probably be defined by it’s goalies. 

Tim Thomas was excellent just about every minute of all seven games. The marker he gave up late in Game One was one of those unstoppable plays – as I like to say, not even God could’ve stopped the Hansen to Torres feed; it was that sweet – that are impossible to prevent. Sure, the OT incident in Game Two looked a little awkward, but Thomas bounced back nicely. It makes you wonder what the series might’ve been like had Boston gone up 2-0, which was a very real possibility, given the closeness of the first two games at Rogers Arena.

On the flip side...the confusing, contradictory Roberto Luongo. In Vancouver, a city where great goalies are appreciated and ineptitude between the pipes is soundly and roundly unappreciated, Luongo’s late-series meltdown is going to make for a long summer for the gold medal-winning goaltender, who seemed to be suffering from split personality for the first six games. I mean, he was lights-out good in Vancouver, and uber terrible in Boston.

It seemed like Luongo would get right for Game Seven because, after all, it was in Rogers Arena where he’d snuffed out just about every Bruin offensive foray, but the Bad Roberto turned up for Game Seven, just when the Canucks needed Good Roberto to stand between the pipes.

The goal Luongo gave up to Bergeron from the right dot was eminently stoppable. It seemed like that early Bruin tally just killed whatever mojo Luongo might’ve had going. At least he looked like he was in position to stone Bergeron’s short-handed attempt...until the trailing defensemen tripped the Bruins skater up and sent him tumbling into Luongo, the puck skittering through and into the net.

I get the feeling that Roberto Luongo is going to be the face of the team’s failure across a summer where there will be much consternation. No one seems happy with Luongo. Even when he was winning, you sensed there was uncertainty amongst the fan base. The doubters were proved right in Boston – 12 goals in a little less than two games, Games 3 and 4 – and again west in Vancouver in Game Seven. And so the Luongo conundrum continues, with no sign of an end in sight.

While the 2011 Stanley Cup Final will be forever immortalised in hockey lore as the triumph of hard-working Tim Thomas, it will probably also be remembered as Luongo’s shining chance to prove a city – nation – of doubters wrong. Sadly, he didn’t accomplish that. While Thomas solidified a fan base’s trust in him, Luongo did little to put Vancouver fans at ease.

Try to enjoy the summer, Luongo.