As father fights terminal cancer, NHL fan slams lockout in jarring clip (VIDEO)

19 Oct
2012

There are provocative videos about the NHL, made by angry fans with a message for both owners and players.

And then there's this video by "eamu99" on YouTube: stunning, jarring minute-long clip in which a son laments the lockout at the bedside of his father, whom he says is fighting terminal cancer:

"I hope that the doctors and nurses that keep my dad alive get a raise. And that you get your asses back on the ice before it's too late." Man …

Here's a bit more from "eamu99":

Just wanna catch a game with my dad. There is a deal for the players within the NHL. But there is a contract with the communities that these players come from as well. When you are mentally strong enough to become an elite athlete you are a special human being (in most cases anyways) . A human being that can lead and inspire the people around them and their communities. The NHL take these extraordinary people and display them so their effect is amplified. Because of this lockout we have displaced inspiration and it is sad. I am sure that whoever misses out on their little piece of inspiration wont be refunded. Seems there is no deal for the fans in the NHL.

The video was put together by Canada native John Dick, 31, who studied journalism at the University of Queensland in Australia. While attending school, his father Bruce was diagnosed with cancer back in Canada.

"My dad wouldn't allow me to come back. He made me finish university," said John Dick.

The last time John saw his father was several years ago; i.e. the last time the NHL locked out its players. He traveled to see him again because Bruce was given just weeks to live.

Knowing that his son was a filmmaker, Bruce suggested they do a project together. "You're not going to be picking up any chicks the way you're looking," quipped John at the time.

The two finally settled on a mutual animosity for the NHL, the NHLPA and the lockout as their subject. John played hockey growing up and remains a fan; Bruce was an Edmonton Oilers dynasty fan that continued to follow the game.

John's premise was simple: Delivering a gut-punch of a message, underscored by his father's condition.

"How many tickets have me and my dad bought? How many times have we seen [the NHL]?" he asked. "You don't play hockey for other hockey players. You don't play for the owners. You play for the fans."

John said he hopes the NHL's top brass, including Gary Bettman, sees the video. And that maybe, just maybe, it has an impact on their desire to lock out the players.

As for his father, John said he's spending as much time as he can with him. Instead of the NHL, they'll watch CFL football games in the hospital.

Admittedly, it's difficult to hear his father talk about watching the NHL upon conclusion of the football game, knowing that the League won't be playing any time soon.

"He forgets. He's on a lot of pain killers," said John.

Tags: being, clip, , eamu, , John Dick, , , terminal cancer
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Tour Report: Snedeker becomes dad for second time (PGA Tour)

15 Oct
2012
The year just keeps getting better for Brandt Snedeker. First, he won the FedExCup and its $10 million bonus, as well as the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. A week later, he got to play in his first Ryder Cup. Then on Sunday, Snedeker became a father for the second time when his wife Mandy gave [...]
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Best of Midnight Madness: Wagner forward leaps over his mom and dad

13 Oct
2012

Midnight Madness produces some memorable moments each year, so The Dagger is chronicling the best ones from Friday's lineup all weekend. If you spot something we missed, let us know here or .

At Wagner's Midnight Madness event last year, Josh Thompson earned top play honors on SportsCenter by leaping over his mom and throwing down a vicious one-handed dunk. This year, the 6-foot-5 forward decided to try to one-up himself. Thompson had both his mom and his dad courageously stand back-to-back, arms folded, in front of the rim, then attempted the same one-handed slam. It didn't go quite as smoothly this year — his right leg caught his dad in the back of the head — but he nonetheless managed to complete the dunk cleanly. And if he was going to catch one of his parents, better it be his dad than his mom.

More from Best of Midnight Madness Series:

• Wagner forward leaps over his mom and dad for dunk
• Kentucky transforms Rupp Arena floor into a projector screen
• D.J. Byrd pulls one over on unsuspecting Purdue crowd
• Jamie Dixon's 'Jackie Moon' costume wins the night

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Joe Girardi’s father Jerry dies at age 81

11 Oct
2012

There will be a lot of heavy hearts at Yankees Stadium for Thursday night's ALDS Game 4 as it has been announced that Jerry Girardi, the father of New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, has died at age 81.

Jerry Girardi actually died Saturday which means, obviously, that his family has been dealing with his loss for several days. Joe Girardi told reporters before Game 4 that he preferred to not have the death reported promptly in order to keep the focus of any questions on baseball.

As many Yankees fans learned over the years, Jerry Girardi suffered from Alzheimer's disease and resided at an assisted-care center in Girardi's hometown of Peoria, Ill. Joe is the fourth of five children and he has credited Jerry for giving him a love of baseball and sports as they'd both listen to Chicago Cubs games on the radio while Joe was growing up.

From a 2009 MLB.com article on the father and son:

"I think about my father all the time," Girardi says in a room adjacent to his Yankee Stadium office, leaning back in a padded chair after completing a pregame interview session with reporters.

"I think about all the things that he taught me about hard work, and fighting through adversity, and toughness. I carry all the things that he taught me as a little boy growing up. He was always there for me."

So it is now Girardi's vow to be there for his father.

"You have to understand, it's not something they want to do, and our job is to take care of them," Girardi said. "That's the least I can do. My dad took care of me forever."

A recent Girardi profile that Gay Talese wrote in The New Yorker (subscription req'd) tagged along with Joe as he visited  Jerry this season. Joe would routinely make the 16o-mile drive south to Peoria whenever the Yankees visited Chicago and the profile made clear that the two shared a special relationship.

Girardi talked more about his father at a press conference on Thursday and relished the thought that his parents had finally been reunited. Girardi's mother Angela died in 1984.

"You know, when I think about it, it's the first time in over 28 years that my mom and dad have seen a game together," Girardi said. "So they'll be watching, and they'll be mad if I'm not doing my job, I know that."

Make sure all your bases are covered this postseason ...
Follow @bigleaguestew, @KevinKaduk and the BLS Facebook page!

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Dolphins’ Reggie Bush to become first-time dad (Yahoo! Sports)

09 Oct
2012

Miami Dolphins running back Reggie Bush (22) runs past Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson (93) in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Michael Keating)

MIAMI (AP) -- Reggie Bush is going to become a first-time father.


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Patriot League Preview: C.J. McCollum returned to Lehigh to fulfill a promise to his parents

08 Oct
2012

He went from little-known to leading SportsCenter. He went from lightly recruited to likely first-round pick. He went from too small to play Division I basketball to too good for one of the nation's glamor programs to defend.

College Hoops Countdown, No. 17: Patriot League

• Lehigh's C.J. McCollum returned to school to fulfill a promise to his mom and dad
• Patriot League Capsule Preview: Expect another two-way battle between Lehigh and Bucknell

For more news on the Patriot League, visit Rivals.com

In the wake of C.J. McCollum's brilliant 30-point performance against Duke in last year's NCAA tournament, every factor seemed to suggest he'd use the exposure from that game as a springboard into the NBA draft with one exception: The junior guard didn't want to break the promise he'd made to his parents years earlier.

Since McCollum's mom, Kathy Andrews, and dad, Errick McCollum, had to work longer hours for less pay to support their families because they didn't graduate from college, they were adamant their two sons needed to earn their degrees.

Andrews dropped out of Akron University as a sophomore and abandoned her dreams of becoming a newscaster because she couldn't afford to put herself through college after the death of her mom. And Errick McCollum became the man of his house at age eight when his own father died, which meant supporting his mothers and sisters by taking a job at a steel mill after graduating high school.

"People that just know me as an athlete probably thought I'd jump for the money and enter the draft, but people that really know me probably suspected I'd come back because of the way my family values education," McCollum said. "My mom and dad didn't have an opportunity to finish their degrees, so they made sure they did everything in their power to preach the importance of it to me and my brother. I definitely kept that in my head."

Keeping his promise to his parents wasn't a simple decision for McCollum because of the risk involved.

Had he left school last spring with Lehigh's memorable upset against Duke still fresh in the minds of scouts, he had a good chance to be selected in the mid-to-late first round according to the feedback NBA executives game him. Now an army of NBA scouts will flock to Bethlehem, Pa., this winter to scrutinize every aspect of his game and evaluate whether he's worthy of a first-round pick.

McCollum decided that's a gamble he's willing to take after returning home to Ohio last April to discuss his options with his mother, father and older brother. He's confident enough in himself that he believes he can improve his game and solidify or even elevate his draft stock as a senior while finishing his degree in journalism.

"He'll never have to say, 'I wish I would have gotten my degree,'" Andrews said. "That piece of paper, even though it doesn't look like it's worth a lot, it's worth more than people think. I've always told him he can't play basketball forever. Even if he doesn't have an injury and he doesn't get cut, he's going to get old enough one day where he's not going to be able to produce. That's when he's got to have something to lean back on."

It's no surprise to anyone close to McCollum that he'd delay NBA riches because academics have always been his family's top priority.

When McCollum was growing up, his mom required him to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA in order to participate in basketball and other sports. She even sweetened the pot a bit, promising McCollum and older brother Errick $20 for every 'A' they received on their report cards.

"Errick would get an 'A' in every class and it started getting expensive," Andrews said with a chuckle. "After a while it was like, 'OK, this is no longer something you get paid for. It's now what you're expected to do.'"

Since McCollum's mother is a decorated former softball and basketball player and his dad is a knowledgeable hoops fan, the threat of not being able to play sports carried a lot of weight in his family.

Errick, who's three years older than his brother, earned mostly A's in school, attended a lower-division college and now plays basketball professionally overseas. McCollum was never quite as studious as his older brother, but he kept his grades up enough to enable him to play basketball, football and baseball growing up before choosing to focus exclusively on hoops at Glen Oak High School in Canton, Ohio.

Unlike most recruits who go overlooked in high school, McCollum didn't suffer from a lack of exposure. He made all-star teams and set county scoring records at Glen Oak and played on the same prominent AAU team as elite 7-footer Kosta Koufos, yet he might as well have been invisible to many of the Division I coaches who saw him play.

What kept interest in McCollum low were concerns about his lack of size and strength. Entering his freshman year at Glen Oak, McCollum was all of 5-foot-2, 108 pounds. He didn't outgrow his 5-7 mother until midway through his sophomore year and he still stood 5-11 early in his senior year, hardly the ideal size for a scoring guard who played off ball more than he ran the point.

"I think my size was the No. 1 concern for a lot of people," McCollum said. "They questioned if I could withstand the physicality of the high-major level. A lot of schools said, 'He can score but can he guard his position? What position is he? He's a 5-11 combo guard.' I think that definitely held me back a little bit."

One of the first coaches who saw past McCollum's spindly physique and lack of height was former Lehigh assistant Matt Logie, now head coach at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash.

Logie arranged for game film from McCollum's junior season at Glen Oak to be sent to Lehigh coach Brett Reed. Not long after that, Reed flew to West Virginia to watch McCollum play at an AAU tournament.

What Reed saw in McCollum was a skilled guard who overcame his lack of size with his ball handling, perimeter shooting and knack for finishing at the rim. He also learned there was a chance McCollum might be a late bloomer since older brother Errick grew a few inches taller after graduating high school.

"We were hoping perhaps C.J. would have a similar growth pattern, but even had he not, I felt he was the perfect player for us," Reed said. "He was on the smaller side and thinner side, but I saw a player who really had a great feel for the game and a unique ability to score the basketball. While others may have been concerned with what he couldn't do or what he wasn't, we were very sure of what he could be and what he was."

McCollum signed a letter of intent with Lehigh before his senior year at Glen Oak, choosing the Mountain Hawks over in-state programs Bowling Green and Toledo in part because they were the first to show interest. He never wavered in his decision even after a brilliant senior season in which he averaged 29.3 points and was named Ohio's state of player of the year.

Amazingly, McCollum kept growing too. He sprouted all the way to 6-foot-3 by the time he played his first game at Lehigh.

Aided by the extra inches and the fierce desire to show schools who didn't recruit him that they made a mistake, McCollum quickly became an impact player in college. He averaged 19.1 points per game, more than any other freshman nationally. That was enough to propel Lehigh to the NCAA tournament and to make him the Patriot League's first player ever to win rookie and player of the year in the same season.

Even 25-win seasons and 30-point scoring barrages don't typically get players from the Patriot League much national recognition, so McCollum was still largely unknown when 15th-seeded Lehigh met second-seeded Duke in the opening round of the NCAA tournament last March. That changed in a hurry, however, when McCollum torched the Blue Devils for 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists en route to a stunning 75-70 upset.

"It was surreal," Andrews recalled. "You watch March Madness on TV all these years, you see other families and other players who are doing a phenomenal job, and you never imagine in a million years that someday it will be your child. A lot of people had never even heard of Lehigh. Actually, I had never heard of it until C.J. went there. So he did put them on the map in basketball."

The buzz surrounding McCollum was pervasive enough after that victory that it was easy to envision him riding that wave to the NBA. Now that he has decided not to go that route, the challenge he faces is building on that performance.

McCollum took a big step toward that goal this summer by impressing NBA scouts at the Nike-sponsored LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas. He also put on extra muscle and improved his explosiveness and lateral quickness by working with a personal trainer during the offseason.

Although McCollum certainly isn't blind to the risks of returning for his senior year at Lehigh, he prefers to point out the positives.

He can fulfill his promise to his mom and dad by earning his degree. He can lead the Mountain Hawks back to the NCAA tournament. And perhaps he can even parlay his hard work during the summer into even more interest from the NBA next spring.

"At the end of the day, I'm confident in myself and the work I'm going to put in," McCollum said. "I'm not afraid to be under that microscope. I always say it's better for everybody to be watching than nobody at all."

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Patrick Willis has a special understanding of what it takes to succeed

04 Oct
2012

It's hard to become one of the best players in the NFL at any position, and much tougher to do it over an entire career. But if you ask San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis about toughness, and what can really be hard in life, he can tell you a story that makes the NFL's go-round seem like a day at the beach.

Born into extreme poverty in rural Tennessee, the five-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro -- he's never missed a Pro Bowl in his career since the 49ers selected him 11th overall in the 2007 NFL draft -- has overcome challenges that would bring most people to their knees. At various instances through his childhood, Willis and his three siblings went without running water and electricity, and Willis' father Ernest was a longtime drug addict who was so abusive, the state of Tennessee had to become involved.

But when you ask Willis about his father, all he'll say is that he's grateful for lessons learned. And that's the most remarkable part of Willis' story -- not only has he managed to avoid the bitterness that would hold him back, he's managed to find a positive in nearly everything that has happened through his life.

Willis first made his story public in an episode of ESPN's "E:60" documentaries last year, and he's reaching out to inspire others once again through his campaign with Duracell. it's called "Trust Your Power," and it's hard to imagine a better subject for that concept.

"I feel it's just the way I was raised. Not having much and not coming from much, I saw my dad go out and work," Willis recently told me. "Despite some of the things he was doing, one of the things my dad told us was that he had to go out and work. He taught us that at a young age -- that if we wanted something, we had to go out and work for it. For me, it was just having that dream of someday getting away and making it out of there and into the pros. I've always wanted to be a professional athlete, whether it was in baseball, basketball, or football -- that was my dream and that was my reality. That was my approach; it had to be more than a dream, and I was always one step closer to reaching my goal."

But as much as Willis has learned to forgive, it's hard to reconcile what he and his brothers and his sister had to go through. Willis would spend summers working at logging camps and in cotton fields to supplement his family's meager income, and that money started draining away as Patrick's father started asking for "loans." Everybody knew where that money was going. That left Willis to act as caretaker for his family, even as he was trying to keep his focus on the dream of life in the NFL. How one small child could grow up and go through such obstacles with such an unstoppable vision boggles the mind, but it certainly makes Willis' amazing focus and productivity on the field easy to understand.

When I asked him what it was that allowed him to stay on the path when so many others might have bailed, Willis responded as if the concept of escape was a foreign one, except if it was earned the right way.

"I never allowed myself to think anything negative like that," he told me. "I just used the circumstances around me as a positive. It would have been so much easier to take the easy way out and say, 'I can't do it,' but I just stuck to live experience. My grandmother was a big churchgoer; she always used to make me and my brothers go to church on Sundays, even when we didn't want to -- sometimes, we would run into the woods. But she was big on that, and we would just pray. Just trust in God, and just believe in Him.

"So, for me, I always had that as my crutch. A foundation, or a tool to use -- to get on my knees at nighttime and pray. I would ask Him to watch over my family, and to give me the strength to do the things I needed to do. And I just always kept that type of mentality, from the time I was yay-high until now. Just knowing that the Lord works in mysterious ways, and sometimes, He may not be there when you want him to be, but He'll always be on time. That's always been the foundation for me, and everything's just worked around that."

Still, there were things that would have tested anybody's faith. Willis' younger brother Detris drowned when Willis was away starring at Ole Miss, and had it not been for the intervention of people who cared enough to take the children in, Willis and his siblings -- Detris, brother Orey, and sister Ernicka -- would have been separated by the foster care system when Willis was a teenager.

Willis kept his eyes forward at all times -- his selflessness was so appreciated by his family that Ernicka still sends him Father's Day cards, and Willis told me that the E:60 piece gave his teammates an entirely new insight into what he had been through. It simply never occurred to Willis to complain about what had happened; there was too much to get done.

"A lot of guys didn't know about my situation," he told me. "A lot of times, that's how it goes. People know you how they get to know you, and what I mean by that is that a lot of the world had just seen me as a football player. People assume that because you do what you do on the field, things must be great, and it had to be pretty easy in my life. What a lot of people don't know is that there are people who go through things and have pain, and they use it as motivation.

"I really think that sometimes, it's hard to go through something and accomplish it and really be good at it if you've never experienced the downfall -- the bad side of things. I thank God that it really opened up people's eyes to why I am the person I am today; going through those things as a kid."

As for how the challenges he's overcome set the tone for his NFL career, that was easy for Willis to express.

"How does it drive me? Just knowing that this game you play -- it's the same game I was playing on backyard football, in high school, in college, and the same game I play now. It's just a higher level. Through it all, it's always been fun. It's a job now, but it's still fun. It's still a place you can go and get away from the world and be a kid again, laughing and enjoying life with your teammates. I've always kept that in perspective. It's the passion I play with.

"I've said before, and I tell people all the time -- I love the game of football so much, that if they told me I could play the game, but I'd have to go work a job at night to have a means of living, I would do that. That's how much I love playing football. So, me having the passion I have for the game of football, just overrides everything.

"I don't know if I answered your question to a T..."

On the contrary. As he has done with most things in his remarkable life, Patrick Willis answered in the best possible way.

About the Duracell "Trust Your Power" Campaign: Consumers can use the #TrustYourPower hashtag on Twitter or share a story of trusting their power on Duracell's Facebook page to trigger a $1 commitment (up to $200,000) from Duracell, providing disadvantaged youth with scholarships to ProCamps, an organization that runs professional athletes' personal sports camps for children ages 7-14. If the goal is reached, consumers will help send 1,000 underprivileged kids across the country to one of the approximate 40 different ProCamps of professional athletes.

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The Vent: Locked out military NHL fans; 200 things we love about hockey

30 Sep
2012

THE VENT is a forum to rants, raves, pleas and laments from hockey fans across the world about the NHL lockout. It runs every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. If you've got a take on the lockout and need to let it out, email us at .)

Our first rant comes from reader Timothy, a military man that's sickened by the lockout:

As a member of the US armed forces, I am greatly disappointed over the NHL's decision to pose a lockout on its players this year.  These people are fighting over a few percentage points in a revenue split that adds up way more than I make risking my life defending my country.  I'm not angry over the fact that greed has taken over intelligence in this matter. What bothers me is the potential of not having an NHL season when I return from my tour of duty in the Middle East.

Even before the lockout was imposed and became a topic of my daily life, I fully realize that this was going to already be a shorten season for me.  Furthermore, I have done accepted the fact that the first month or two of the season will be missed due to my career and inability to watch games.  What I don't like is a shorten season (if there even is one) because of revenue. This is not a game changing formula affecting how the players play, or a new division structure in which team rivalries may be gone for good. It's only about money, and money I'm willing to spend if there is hockey in time for Christmas.

The NHL doesn't realize how bad it is affecting its fan base here.  I for one will be deeply affected if there is no season.  I am already coming home to an empty apartment in which the girlfriend left with the dog, it will be winter so there is little in terms of outdoors activities to do, and the Steelers look like they are on their way to a poor football season.

So what's left? Well, as of right now it's not hockey.

So my homecoming this year after defending my country will be to sit around in a silent apartment with no interesting sports on during what is now looking like the worst time of the year.

Thank you very much NHL GMs and owners for locking out the players.  Thank you very much NHLPA for being thick headed and not starting the CBA talks earlier at the owners' request. I am left coming home to nothing but basketball. This by the way is not on my top sports list.

Our men and women in the Armed Forces are not risking their necks to come home and watch flippin' basketball. For shame, catalysts of the lockout. For shame.

Matt Painter would like to thank Gary Bettman for his lockout. Because it made him love hockey again:

Hi Mr. Bettman,

I am a lifelong hockey fan who is having a decidedly different experience with the lockout than the general fan.

I am in my 30s with a household income above 200k, likely your target demographic. I tend to spend a couple of thousand dollars a year on the NHL between tickets, jerseys and the center ice package.

With the birth of my daughter a few years ago, I have gotten fairly lazy and just enjoy hockey by watching the NHL games. With this most recent lockout, I have been forced to find other ways to get my hockey fix. I have taken the same money that I would have spent on your league and invested it in my local hockey rink, joining a rec team.  I haven't played in years and I am loving every second of it.

Your lockout has showed me that being a loyal hockey fan doesn't have to mean sitting on the couch and watching your games religiously. I am getting back into shape and growing an even deeper love for hockey. Frankly, if the NHL were not to come back at all, it wouldn't spoil hockey for me or many other fans.

I hope you are able to work something out before too many of your die hard fans find alternative hockey outlets either through local leagues or following international leagues. These are not the same times as the mid nineties or even the early 2000s, the fans and players will find other avenues in this increasingly global world.

Best of luck ...

Great stuff, Matt. And we imagine he's not alone.

Musical Interlude: Here's Hockey Sock Rock, going where only Bloge Salming has gone before, with a Gary Bettman-ized "Mama Said Lock You Out!"

Reader Jennie Ryan Luptak is pretty angry with the work stoppage, and wonders if anyone behind it remembers why we love the Game.

In fact, she's given us close to 200 reasons why we do love the game:

Does anyone remember why we love hockey? Not the NHL, not #theplayers, not #BoycottBettman — the game. I was so angry at everyone involved in the lockout that I forgot for a while.

But then I walked into a rink to catch a rec league game (because it's hockey) and it was so cold. That's a stupid observation, on the face of it — of course it's cold, it's an ice rink. But in the big, austere NHL arenas, you don't feel it like you do in the old barns. You don't get the smell of the cold or feel the slight searing in your lungs when you take a deep breath.

And then I remembered. Like a scene out of some bullshit coming-of-age movie, I remembered watching the games in high school, and the usher who let my brother and I sneak up to the glass at the Civic Arena, and the time my dad gave our spare tickets to a total stranger who was trying to take his son to his first hockey game.

Those are the reasons I love the game.

These are the reasons you love hockey. Wysh and Sean and Alyonka and Harrison and Lambert — you guys (and a bunch more) wrote these during the hockey-less summer months:

1987, 1972 Summit Series, 1981-82 O Pee Chee Hockey Cards, 1987 Canada Cup, 1987-88 New Jersey Devils, 1990-91; 1991-92, 2008-2009, 1995 Stanley Cup Championship, 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche, a clean sheet of ice, April-June 2006, Athleticism, Backyard Rinks, Beer, Blades of Steel, Bobby Orr, Bonding with dad, Broad Street Bullies, Bruins vs. Canadiens, Canada, Celebrations, Charity, Charles Schultz, Chicago Blackhawks logo, Chicago Blackhawks' red sweater, Chicago Stadium, Chicago's National anthem tradition, CIS hockey, Clark Gillies/Dave Schultz fight on national TV, Clean ice, College hockey, Cooperalls, Dad, Defensive forwards, Dome, rod, slot or whatever-you-prefer-to-call-it hockey, Don Cherry, Don't have to watch ESPN. Drinking in the glory, Dynamo Moscow.

EA Sports NHL Series, Empty-net goals, End-of-playoff series handshake, Family, Fans and players, Fathers and sons, Female hockey bloggers, Fighting, Five minutes for fighting, Fresh ice, Frozen ponds, Game 4, 1992 Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Goalie masks. Growing up with the game, Gump Worsely, Habit, "Here Come the Hawks", Hersheypark Arena, Hockey as the red-headed step child of the sports world, Hockey blogosphere, Hockey books, Hockey cards, Hockey fans and hockey rivalries, Hockey gives life a purpose during the winter, Hockey hair, Hockey history, Hockey holidays, Hockey in HD, Hockey in South Florida, Hockey jerseys, Hockey movies, Hockey Night in Canada, Hockey people, "The Hockey Show", Hockey sweaters, Hockey video games, Homer announcers, Hoser, How the players hone their skills, How the players interact with fans.

I'm Canadian, Ice girls, International hockey, Jersey collecting, Jerseys, John Davidson, Lake Placid, Line combinations, Locker room antics, Maple Leaf Gardens, Mario Lemieux, Max Talbot, Memorial Cup Final, Mike Lange, Minor league hockey, Miracles, Moms and sisters who love hockey, Mr. Hockey, My brothers, Nassau Coliseum, National anthems, NHL 94, Nicknames, Not being part of a hoard, Passion, Patrick Roy, People who can't see the puck, Playing pond hockey, Playoff hockey , Pure athleticism and coordination, Rink burgers, Rivalries, Road trips, Roch Carriere's "The Hockey Sweater", Rod Phillips.

Sean Burke v. Mark LaForest, Section 326/Row 12/Seat 11, Seeing your team win the ultimate prize, Shot blocking, Singing the Canadian national anthem, Skating, Skating with the Winnipeg Jets, "Slap Shot", Snoopy's (Redwood Empire Ice Arena), Society for International Hockey Research, Sons and fathers, Stick tapping, Street hockey, Sudden-death overtime, Terry O'Reilly, That old garage door, The arena experience, The breakthrough, The brotherhood, The camaraderie, The community, The fans, The feeling you get when you step out onto a fresh sheet of ice, The good kind of "Ting!", The Hartford Whalers, The hat trick, The hate, The heart, The hockey code, The human story, The ice surface, The Indian-head sweater, The Islanders' four Stanley Cups, The Jets/Oilers rivalry, The Kamloops Blazers and junior hockey, The Mario vs. Gretzky argument, The Miracle on Ice, The Moments, The New York Islanders, The New York Rangers, The NHL 2K Franchise, The old Adams Division, The one-timer, The pace and drama.

The Patrick Division, The penalty kill, The people you meet, The personalities, The players , The puckhead passion, The roller coaster of "oo's" and "aahs", The San Jose Sharks, The short-handed goal, The sights and sounds, The simultaneous bench pop-up, The sounds of the game, The speed of the game, The Stanley Cup, The Summit Series, The trade deadline, The truth, The underdog status, The uniqueness of the sport, The videogames, The voices, The Winnipeg Jets, the Minnesota North Stars, Quebec Nordiques and, Hartford Whalers, The Wives Room, The world of hockey, Tie Domi knocking out Ulf Samuelson, Tournaments, Tradition, Trash talk, Twitter, UC Davis Ice Hockey, Wendel Clark punched Marty McSorley in the face, Winning the Stanley Cup, Zambonis …

A lot of those are NHL-specific, but a lot more aren't — family, fathers and sons, fresh ice, frozen ponds.

The hate. The heart.

I'm not saying don't be mad. Be mad as hell, especially if Alfredsson and Selanne hang them up before one last go-around. Be mad that owners are handing out $98 million contracts while crying poor. Be mad that fans can exert no real pressure on the NHL or the players' association, that we can't end the lockout.

Just don't be so mad that you forget to go skate.

Can't believe she left out Jack O'Lantern smiles, the Golden Seals and Bruce Boudreau's cheeks. Inexcusable! (But seriously, great list.)

Finally, here's a perfect representation of the NHLPA's difficulties in trying to rally fans, using a 2-year-old eating pizza:

Tags: , , , Ice, , rink,
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Dwight Howard dances, goofs around, is 100 percent in his element on ‘Ellen’ (VIDEO)

27 Sep
2012

I mean, why not keep what has apparently become Dance Day here at BDL going? New Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard joined daytime talk show megastar Ellen DeGeneres on her peaceful, easy red chairs on Thursday, and man, did he seem at home.

From the second he walked out to the strains of "Gangnam Style" and began pretending he was riding a horse as studio audience cheers cascaded down upon him, the six-time All-Star looked completely in his element, as comfortable as he's been in ages and totally removed from the turmoil that's followed him for most of the past year (largely because he's been dragging it, kicking and screaming, by its leash). And why shouldn't he have? While Ellen is a fantastic stand-up and comedic trailblazer, "Ellen" is a place ruled by broad smiles, loud capital-L laughs, demonstrative dancing, unbridled enthusiasm and things that generally approximate comedy, even if they don't always really get there. It's the kind of place Dwight probably hopes to occupy once his playing days are over, and he showed Thursday that he is really good at being there.

After PSYing around like a champ, Howard appropriately kissed up to his host: "Can you pinch me? [Ellen obliges] I'm not dreaming!" Here is why he thought and said that, courtesy of intrepid and loin-girded reporter Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times:

[...] Howard revealed on the show that he's had a crush on Ellen DeGeneres ever since hearing her "sexy" voice as Dory in "Finding Nemo."

He then let out his infectious smile and even teared up.

"Ellen is hot," Howard recalled thinking to himself. "I have to get on the show someday. Now that I'm here, it's a dream come true."

Congratulations to Dwight on his dream coming true. Mine haven't yet, but I still have hope, because I have been informed that rock 'n' roll dreams'll come through.

DeGeneres later complimented Howard for always smiling while he is on the court as opposed to scowling and snorting, which now has me dying to find out what a Kevin Garnett appearance on "Ellen" might look like. As evidence, she showed a picture of Dwight smiling as he corralled a one-hand rebound from Zach Randolph with his right hand during what appears to have been the 2010 All-Star game.

"And you see, I was still posing with the guns, and then I was smiling, so like, everybody enjoyed it," Howard said. "Like the crowd — they enjoy people who have fun. I love what I do, I've been playing basketball since I was 3 years old, and my dad told me when I was 10, 'Dwight, you smile too much. Stop smiling.' And I said, 'Dad, I just love to smile! It just brings joy, this is what I love to do. And then he watched me play; we won the game. He said, 'Dwight, you're smiling — I like when you smile. It's good.'"

"Good, well, keep smiling," DeGeneres said. "We love to see you smile."

Very Buddy the Elf of Dwight, and a perfect distillation of what makes Howard so marketable and likable to so many people off the court and, to some, a bit too "likable" on it.

Later, Dwight did his Kobe impression, because of course he did, and showed Ellen how to Dougie, because of course he did. Classic Dwight jokes.

In other Howard news, he's back on the court, working on post-ups and hooks with the likes of Lakers assistants Darvin Ham and Chuck Person, which will likely bring a smile to Lakers fans' faces:

Between all the dancing and those post moves, it sure seems like Dwight's getting some of that lower-back stiffness taken care of, huh?

Fantasy Football video from Yahoo! Sports:

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Tags: , DANCE, dancing, dream, element, ,
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Outside the Game: Former Bengals player Pat McInally is now the coach with a big idea

25 Sep
2012

Pat McInally played in the NFL as a punter and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1976 through 1985. But now, as the coach of the Brethren Christian Academy football team in Orange County, Calif., he has a higher responsibility -- his son Jack is the team's quarterback. That caused a problem in McInally's mind, and set a solution in motion.

"I had to figure out a way to not coach my own son at quarterback," he told Yahoo! Sports. "Because I didn't want to alter his relationship. I wanted to enhance his experience."

So, McInally hired offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Ryan O'Hara to spend specific time with his son.

"That's what he brought me here for; he tells me that all the time," O'Hara said. "He just wants to be the dad and the head coach. And we keep that barrier."

"He's perfect -- just like a regular coach," Jack McInally said of his father.

McInally is able to pursue his passion for youth coaching because he came up with the idea for the Starting Lineup sports action figures, a highly successful product.

"I picked up a G.I. Joe one day, and I thought, 'Why don't they make action figures of the football, baseball and basketball players? So, I got my quarterly checks for 13 years, and that's the reason we're able to live where we live and do what we want to do. Not because of football -- it was because of Starting Lineup. Fantastic toy."

The elder McInally is noted for his intelligence -- a noted scholar-athlete at Harvard, he is the only person in NFL history to complete the Wonderlic test, given each year at the NFL scouting combine to gauge basic intelligence, with a perfect score of 50.

"My dad pushed me really hard athletically, but my mom pushed me hard academically," Pat said.

McInally, who wrote a nationally syndicated column for years in which he answered the questions of parents whose children were playing competitive youth sports, now puts those thoughts into motion every day. Coaching the Warriors has become a family affair for the McInallys.

"Our school is very small," Pat McInally said. "Every school we play is two or three times bigger than us. Or 10 times bigger than us. So, my wife tapes all the games and many of the practices. [Daughter] Abby does the water, and she's always on the sideline. It's really fun to share it as a family."

Pat McInally can't emphasize enough that he wants no part of being a Little League parent. He always classified himself as a person who plays football as opposed to a football player, and he imparts that philosophy to those he coaches and mentors.

"It's only part of their lives," McInally said of the game. "And that's how it should be. We have 18 football players who will hopefully stay healthy, and it will work."

More Outside the Game:
Larry Fitzgerald
Michael Robinson
LaMarr Woodley

Tags: , , , , football player, , , Pat McInally, ,
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