From the time Brent Parker stepped down as Pats GM, it was thought by many as if he would hire Chad Lang to be his replacement. That is exactly what has happened. The former Warriors GM who watched his team lose to Vancouver in the finals a few years ago has the task of building the Pats back to the playoffs. The hiring has caused a fierce debate amongst Pats fans. Some who believe Parker has hired a "puppet" in Lang and others who believe the right choice has been made. Where are you in this debate? I've stated before that I think Chad is a good candidate, but perhaps at the wrong time because of the "puppet" references that will be made. I have previously stated that to avoid that scenario, Brent needed to look elsewhere. That hasn't happened. Its now imperative that Brent lets Chad do his thing. If he does than a change could result. If he doesn't, have things really changed? Once again. the ball is in Brent's court.
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The SC finals begin tonight. After a few days without hockey, I am ready to see the Hawks and Flyers get things going. I think that first game will be very interesting. I can't see the young Hawks being that nervous considering Toews, Kane, Seabrook and Keith all played at the Olympics. I expect the Flyers to step up their physical game to try and keep Chicago at bay. If they are able to do that, we will have a series. If they don't, Chicago wins this one going away.
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CTV had a story Friday night as to how many people have been caught by police using their cellphones. The answer wasn't many. I guess police either aren't looking hard enough or are too busy giving out tickets for other chintzy reasons. The reason I say that is I see at least one or two people a day yapping on their phone while driving. I dropped my daughter off at school today and was waiting to cross the street only to have a car go by with the woman driver talking away on her phone making no attempt to hide what she was doing.
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Since the Lotto Max lottery started, I don't think I have won a single cent. I had stopped buying tickets because of this, but I bought some Friday night because the jackpot was at 40 million. Once again, I don't even get a free play.
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Hedo Turkoglu has told the Toronto Raptors he doesn't want to come back. The team might lose Chris Bosh in free agency. I would not want to be GM Bryan Colangelo right now. He is under the gun to perhaps make two big trades to bring some big-time talent to Toronto. Methinks his legacy is about to be defined.
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The Riders release single game tickets on Tuesday. I'm thinking many of those will be swallowed up very quickly. Is it too early to predict that every home game will be sold out and then some this year?
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A sporting record that I thought would never be broke is close to being broken. Garrett Wittels of Florida International singled in an NCAA Sun Belt Conference game to give him a 52 game hitting streak. Joe Dimaggio has the major league record at 56 while former White Sox 3rd baseman Robin Ventura has the college record at 58. I don't think a major league player will ever break Dimaggio's record and I didn't think anyone would come this close to Ventura's. Speaking of records that will never be broken, do you think anyone will ever get close to Wayne's 92 goal season. How about in the WHL where Ray Ferraro scored over 100 times. That's just incomprehensible when you see the way the game is played today.
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Graham DeLaet has made another cut in his rookie season on the PGA Tour. He is well back of the leaders after two rounds of the Colonial, but you just never know how high he might be able to get. Here's hoping we get to see him hit a few shots this weekend.
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The Celtics are in. Will the Lakers join them? Chances are they will, but I would love to see that series go 7 with Phoenix and Mr. Nash taking it. I think the series can go 7, but I think Phoenix blew their chance at winning the series Thursday.
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ESPN's Adam Schefter reported this week that New England Patriots players have a clause in their contract saying they must make at least 10 charitable appearances a season. More teams should adopt that.
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Have a great weekend. Stay dry!
Why is everyone hanging their hat on the fact Chad was the GM when the Warriors made the final. Brouwer, Boyd and McArdle were the team's three best players that year and they were there before Chad became the GM. Did Chad make any moves that year to put the team over the top? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side of the coin though, he was there when guys like Howden, McIlrath, Bast, Honesek, etc, etc came into the fold. Is that a product of him or great scouting? I think the Warriors have better scouts than the Pats and that is why that team succeeds and this team doesn't. Lang needs to tell Ripplinger goodbye and poach some scouts from his old workplace. Doing that might accomplish something.
CM