2010年5月15日星期六

Unsung heroes

A simple name search on the soccer jerseys Internet provides extensive accounts of today's star players; the information available on people like Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter or Ryan Howard is boundless.
The big names get the books, the biographies, and the sabre-metric essays. The journeymen get next to nothing. But that doesn't mean they do nothing.
Think of Matt Stairs. In last year's playoffs, he had only four at-bats and just one hit. But that hit -- a game-altering bomb at Dodger Stadium in the National League Championship Series -- will draw smiles in Philadelphia for decades.
Over in the American League we find catcher Jeff Mathis. He may never amount to anything more than a serviceable back-up in the big leagues, but one good throw and two late-game at-bats turned the Angels on the Yankees Monday. Yes, the Angels have shown borderline disinterest in their series, but when the club's best playoff moments are revisited in years to come, Mathis' moment will shine.
Durbin was called in to face Manny Ramirez, who represented the tying run in the fifth inning. Durbin's second pitch -- a sinker at the ankles -- was fouled off Manny's shin. A little later, Durbin jammed the great slugger, followed with a 1-2-3 sixth and killed any hope the Dodgers had of staging a rally. It was a critical performance, one that will not jump out in the boxscore.
Jayson Werth got the curtain call, Brad Lidge got the nationally broadcast post-game interview, and Howard got the MVP trophy. Durbin got nothing more then handshakes and hugs. Heck, he probably had to pay for his drinks after the game too.
But if the Phillies are having their fingers sized for World Series rings -- again -- in a few weeks time, you can bet the team's big stars will pay Durbin a sizeable tribute.
Others will get little recognition for critical contributions because no home run is hit, no side is struck-out, no miraculous double-play is turned.
Take Chad Durbin, a non-descript right-handed pitcher who will never be mistaken for an all-star. A few years back, he was an unsuccessful starter for a bad Kansas City team before beginning the journey of a big-league survivor. But a simple inning-and-a-third in Wednesday's game was imperative to a Phillies victory.

2010年5月14日星期五

LIFE AFTER DOC

And the absence of NBA jerseys Halladay has also left a leadership void. Early indications are that Vernon Wells, the longest-tenured, home-grown Blue Jay in camp and Aaron Hill have stepped up and are the most vocal players in camp.
It always troubled me that, going back to the Carlos Delgado/Shawn Green days, no one wanted to be called "the leader," including Halladay. Hopefully those days are now ancient history.
Every good team always has visible leader. Maybe Wells and Hill are the ones to lead the Jays back into contention.
It’s interesting to hear that during his time with the Blue Jays, Roy Halladay cast quite an intimidating shadow over the rest of the pitching staff, especially the young starters. It seems things are a lot looser this spring with Halladay now plying his trade five minutes away by car in Clearwater. Not that anyone is glad that their former ace is no longer around, it’s just that they have moved on, and with what they received from the Phillies in return, it seems like the Jays may be better off in the long run, if losing a perennial Cy Young Award contender makes that at all possible.

Rush to judgment

First of all, no it’s not good that Brandon Morrow, expected to NBA jerseys be the Jays’ No. 3 starter after the Dec. 23 trade with the Mariners, couldn’t make his start on Friday due to a sore shoulder. Let’s all take a step away from this news and don’t gather around the burning garbage can, breaking into a serenade of "Here we go again."
Now, before you all start getting red in the face and hyper-ventilating; let’s take stock of exactly what has transpired over the last couple of days.
And it was also not good news when Dustin McGowan, making his first appearance in a game since July 8, 2008, couldn’t break 89 m.p.h. on the radar gun in a Triple-A start on Friday, throwing 36 pitches. In what is being described as going through a "dead arm" period, something that happens to many pitchers during spring training, the Jay are going to shut McGowan down for a week before he steps up on the hill again. There’s nothing wrong with that. Having him make the Opening Day roster was overly ambitious and not realistic.
According to the 25-year-old right-hander, he’s gone through bouts of soreness in previous pre-seasons, so it’s nothing new for him and his new team to worry about. Morrow will see a doctor on Sunday and he is likely to make his next assignment, scheduled for Wednesday against division-rival Tampa Bay in nearby St. Petersburg. Of course, the Blue Jays are going to err on the side of caution, seeing as this is Morrow’s first spring with the team and they don’t have intimate knowledge of his past health. So it will be up to the doctors to give Morrow the clearance before he toes the rubber again.

With the Blue Jays not expected to challenge for the post-season in 2010, rushing McGowan back makes absolutely no sense. He should start the season on the disabled list, stay in warm weather Florida to build up his stamina, and then make several rehab starts before they think about making any regular season appearances. Unfortunately, the Jays no longer have any options allowing them to send McGowan to Triple-A Las Vegas to get game-ready. He wouldn’t be the first pitcher to need extra time to return from shoulder surgery, so an extremely cautious approach makes the most sense.
Am I the only one that feels that Saturday’s starting lineup against the Braves might very well be the one Cito Gaston has stand alongside him on the third baseline at The Ballpark in Arlington when the Blue Jays open their 34th season against the Rangers in Texas? I would have no problem if the following nine is handed to umpires before the game:
With Edwin Encarnacion still bothered by a sore wrist after off-season surgery and yet to take part in exhibition games with two weeks left on the schedule, it would make sense if he starts the season on the bench or even the disabled list. That would allow Bautista to play third, Lind left field and Ruiz, who has done nothing but hit this spring, to get some early action as the designated hitter. In fact, Saturday’s starting lineup might be the best nine that the Jays can put out there.

2010年5月11日星期二

All-Star gazing

This weekend, I have the 2010 World Cup Jerseys opportunity to cover the NHL All-Star Game for the very first time in my career. I get to rub shoulders with some of the greatest players in the game like Joe Thornton, Alexander Ovechkin and Stephane Robidas.
Years before he gave away Roberto Luongo and Zdeno Chara for nothing, Mike Milbury caused an uproar when he named tough guy Chris Nilan to the All-Star team in 1991. As a result, the board of governors changed the rules for naming the All-Star team and took away that privilege from the head coach. Ironically enough, Nilan broke his ankle just before the mid-season classic, preventing us from seeing him dropping the gloves and pummeling Vincent Damphousse before he scored his four goals in the All-Star Game that year.
At the 1998 All-Star Game in Vancouver, the league introduced the unpopular "North America vs. The World" format. The NHL expected Canadian fans to cheer for Tony Amonte, Keith Tkachuk, Chris Chelios and a bunch of other American stars, just a few weeks before the Winter Olympics in Nagano. Like that was going to happen. My favourite moment from the game came when the World Team made a complete five-man change during the play, causing Bob Cole to say, "Harry, the World is changing." Truer words were never spoken.

At the Skills Competition at the 1993 All-Star Game, Al Iafrate blew everyone away with his 105-mph slapshot. But did anyone really care? We were all too focused on Iafrate's bizarre combination of a rapidly-receding hairline with an extra-long mullet. It was one of the strangest sights I've ever seen in hockey. Iafrate could have blasted a 200-mph slapshot and it wouldn't have mattered. I was too focused on The Skullet.
There is no way that anybody remembers that Eric Daze won the All-Star Game MVP in 2002 in Los Angeles. In doing so, Daze becomes arguably the shadiest player to win an MVP award at an All-Star Game in the four major sports. Other candidates for this dubious distinction: Tom Chambers (NBA), Terry Steinbach (MLB) and anyone who has won a Pro-Bowl MVP.

- Rendez-Vous '87 Instead of the usual All-Star Game, the NHL decided to have a two-game exhibition challenge with the Russians at the Colisee in Quebec City. A big controversy erupted in Canada when the Soviet referee for Game 1 of the series only called one penalty against the Russians for the entire game. For the record, the referee's name was Sergei Morozov, which loosely translated in English is "Kerry Fraser."

Owen Nolan had one of the most memorable performances in All-Star Game history in 1997. Playing in front of his home crowd in San Jose, Nolan scored a hat trick, including his famous "called shot" on Dominik Hasek on a breakaway. And yet for some reason, Nolan didn't win the MVP award. The guy had one of the all-time great Babe Ruth moments and he gets beat to the award by Mark Recchi.

ng goaltender I've ever seen in my life. And yet, Irbe was the first goalie to ever be credited with a point at an All-Star Game, when he picked up an assist on a goal by Teemu Selanne in 1999. It's amazing that with all of the great puck-handling goalies that have played in the All-Star Game (Ron Hextall, Martin Brodeur, etc…), that the guy who treated the puck like a hand grenade is the only one to ever get a point.
A member of the Panthers, Sandis Ozolinsh was named to the All-Star Team and was going to get the chance to play in front of his home crowd in Florida. However, the night before the game, the Panthers traded him to Anaheim. So when he came onto the ice for the pre-game introductions, the PA announcer had this awkward phrase to read off: "From your Florida Panthers, but now playing for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, here is No. 8 Sandis Ozolinsh." Could the Panthers and Ducks not have waited one extra day to make that trade? It's not like either of them were playing any games.

The last time I watched any part of the YoungStars game was back in 2004, when goaltender Philippe Sauve was named the MVP of the game. In case you are wondering, he is currently a goaltender for the Hamburg Freezers in the German Elite League, proving that the YoungStars Game isn't necessarily a great barometer for future success in the NHL.
The first time I was allowed to stay up late and watch a full All-Star Game was the 1985 game played in Calgary. Most people will remember Mario Lemieux's performance as a rookie, as he won the MVP award. But my defining moment from that game was watching Miroslav Frycer score a goal for the Campbell Conference. Frycer was the only representative from a brutal Toronto Maple Leafs team. And quite frankly, I've been waiting almost two years to make a random Miroslav Frycer reference in one of my blogs.

All-Star gazing

This weekend, I have the 2010 World Cup Jerseys opportunity to cover the NHL All-Star Game for the very first time in my career. I get to rub shoulders with some of the greatest players in the game like Joe Thornton, Alexander Ovechkin and Stephane Robidas.
Years before he gave away Roberto Luongo and Zdeno Chara for nothing, Mike Milbury caused an uproar when he named tough guy Chris Nilan to the All-Star team in 1991. As a result, the board of governors changed the rules for naming the All-Star team and took away that privilege from the head coach. Ironically enough, Nilan broke his ankle just before the mid-season classic, preventing us from seeing him dropping the gloves and pummeling Vincent Damphousse before he scored his four goals in the All-Star Game that year.
At the 1998 All-Star Game in Vancouver, the league introduced the unpopular "North America vs. The World" format. The NHL expected Canadian fans to cheer for Tony Amonte, Keith Tkachuk, Chris Chelios and a bunch of other American stars, just a few weeks before the Winter Olympics in Nagano. Like that was going to happen. My favourite moment from the game came when the World Team made a complete five-man change during the play, causing Bob Cole to say, "Harry, the World is changing." Truer words were never spoken.

At the Skills Competition at the 1993 All-Star Game, Al Iafrate blew everyone away with his 105-mph slapshot. But did anyone really care? We were all too focused on Iafrate's bizarre combination of a rapidly-receding hairline with an extra-long mullet. It was one of the strangest sights I've ever seen in hockey. Iafrate could have blasted a 200-mph slapshot and it wouldn't have mattered. I was too focused on The Skullet.
There is no way that anybody remembers that Eric Daze won the All-Star Game MVP in 2002 in Los Angeles. In doing so, Daze becomes arguably the shadiest player to win an MVP award at an All-Star Game in the four major sports. Other candidates for this dubious distinction: Tom Chambers (NBA), Terry Steinbach (MLB) and anyone who has won a Pro-Bowl MVP.

- Rendez-Vous '87 Instead of the usual All-Star Game, the NHL decided to have a two-game exhibition challenge with the Russians at the Colisee in Quebec City. A big controversy erupted in Canada when the Soviet referee for Game 1 of the series only called one penalty against the Russians for the entire game. For the record, the referee's name was Sergei Morozov, which loosely translated in English is "Kerry Fraser."

Owen Nolan had one of the most memorable performances in All-Star Game history in 1997. Playing in front of his home crowd in San Jose, Nolan scored a hat trick, including his famous "called shot" on Dominik Hasek on a breakaway. And yet for some reason, Nolan didn't win the MVP award. The guy had one of the all-time great Babe Ruth moments and he gets beat to the award by Mark Recchi.

ng goaltender I've ever seen in my life. And yet, Irbe was the first goalie to ever be credited with a point at an All-Star Game, when he picked up an assist on a goal by Teemu Selanne in 1999. It's amazing that with all of the great puck-handling goalies that have played in the All-Star Game (Ron Hextall, Martin Brodeur, etc…), that the guy who treated the puck like a hand grenade is the only one to ever get a point.
A member of the Panthers, Sandis Ozolinsh was named to the All-Star Team and was going to get the chance to play in front of his home crowd in Florida. However, the night before the game, the Panthers traded him to Anaheim. So when he came onto the ice for the pre-game introductions, the PA announcer had this awkward phrase to read off: "From your Florida Panthers, but now playing for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, here is No. 8 Sandis Ozolinsh." Could the Panthers and Ducks not have waited one extra day to make that trade? It's not like either of them were playing any games.

The last time I watched any part of the YoungStars game was back in 2004, when goaltender Philippe Sauve was named the MVP of the game. In case you are wondering, he is currently a goaltender for the Hamburg Freezers in the German Elite League, proving that the YoungStars Game isn't necessarily a great barometer for future success in the NHL.
The first time I was allowed to stay up late and watch a full All-Star Game was the 1985 game played in Calgary. Most people will remember Mario Lemieux's performance as a rookie, as he won the MVP award. But my defining moment from that game was watching Miroslav Frycer score a goal for the Campbell Conference. Frycer was the only representative from a brutal Toronto Maple Leafs team. And quite frankly, I've been waiting almost two years to make a random Miroslav Frycer reference in one of my blogs.

2010年5月10日星期一

Why this Matters in the Blogging Classroom

For me, one of NHL jerseys my central pedagogical goals is always to teach students to critically engage media. As such, I feel it is important to teach students how to become critical navigators in the digital spaces where a majority of their information will be taken in. And for me, this is one of the reasons that blogging in the classroom can serve an important pedagogical role that writing in paper format alone cannot accomplish. If one simply transfers the "book-way" of writing onto the digital space, students have learned little that they could not have gained from more traditional writing assignments. The situation may even be worse than one of unnecessary reconfiguration, for in the digital medium, writing often produces technological frustrations which, if not offset by other gains, leads to negative experiences for the students. Since the context of writing has shifted in the digital, it is important to demonstrate to student how authorship itself has shifted in the age of the digital.

Writing in the age of the digital is no longer a matter of being the absolute genius creator who gives birth to an idea and writes it all down for the world to see (as if it ever was); managing context on the web for writers has become a significantly different task. To write “well” in this space students need to learn not only how to cite and link, but indeed to package their writings in a different way. RSS helps accomplish this goal.
Helping Students to Become Better Readers to Become Better Writers

The amount of information on the web is overwhelming to say the least. I could spend the rest of my life reading Wikipedia and would probably never finish. While this is also true of a large library (say here at the University at Albany) as well, the tools one uses to navigate the library, a static electronic database easily searchable by author, title, or book, is clearly inadequate for the web. RSS helps to give students control over content on the web, reducing time spent navigating from site to site to see what has changed, and instead allowing them to receive updates about the content they are interested in tracking or material that is relevant to class. For example, if you were teaching a class on the Holocaust you could require that students subscribe to feeds that related to the recent trials of Holocaust deniers in Germany, and to the situation in Darfur. In this way students would get regular updates and could read the most relevant content without getting lost in a quagmire of information.

But more important than staying up to date on information is the ability RSS provides to sort what one wants to read from what is not of interest, not only in terms of selecting to receive only certain feeds, but also as a matter of reading only in detail a few of the feeds you receive: sorting again the information you receive, separating what is not of interest from that which is (an invaluable skill for students who will increasingly rely on digital information). For example, I subscribe to somewhere over 100 feeds that allow me to monitor somewhere close to 200 websites (some of the feeds are just a collection of websites all in one feed), which means that on any given day I can receive over 500 new items in my feed reader. This clearly means that I cannot read them all, or even half of them. What a good feed reader does is allow you to quickly scan the headlines, mark the ones you want to read, toss out the ones you don't, and return either immediately, or at a later more convenient time, to carefully read the ones you have selected.

So here is one of my big pedagogical and theoretical claims: The speed of reading in the age of the digital has changed, and we need to help students navigate this. Being able to “surf” around countless webpages, scanning information, might be a good practice for cursory knowledge acquisition, but it does not lend itself to in-depth reading. In fact, I would argue that these are almost two separate mental practices. And it is important to teach students to distinguish between these two. Reading on the internet requires two separate skills: one, the quick analysis to find what is worth reading, and the second, a switch to slow analysis to carefully consider what has been found. What RSS does is allow students to make this distinction, to receive content as "bits" easy to scan, and then to select what they want to read. In a library, notice how these two operations are separated by the act of walking to the stacks and checking out the books. You first scan the database for book titles, copy down the call numbers, walk to the shelves, scan the book to see if you want to read it, and check it out, taking it home to read slowly. The distinction between scanning and careful reading is reinforced in this model by the change in venue: the process of checking the book out and leaving the library. On the computer, since all of this happens in one place and through one interface, it is all too easy to conflate the two. What I tell students to do is actually make a mental separation between tagging items to be read, and then reading items. I even go as so far as to suggest that they take a break between these two processes. And learning to use RSS (along with tabbed browsing) greatly aids this type of reading practice.

One of the most significant concerns about using blogs in the classroom is that students often feel as if they are doing the same writing, just placing it on the web. Since context determines meaning, the method and message of writing necessarily changes as students compose for the internet; however, many academics fail to convey this information to students. Recently, there has been a significant amount of hype about “Web 2.0,” the idea that the Web has changed from a reading space to a read-write space. Regardless of the intellectually spurious claim to absolutely separate out reading from writing, web content in recent years has changed, most significantly with regard to the increase in wikis, blogs, social sites, and even the speed at which traditional sites now get updated.

2010年5月9日星期日

NHL-worst Oilers stun Kings for 3rd straight win

Michal Handzus scored the NFL jerseys tying goal with 2:34 left in regulation and connected again in the shootout for the Kings, who hurt their chances of finishing fifth in the Western Conference heading into their first postseason since 2002.
Mike Comrie scored two early goals as the Oilers spoiled the Kings' home finale, making the most of their meager scoring chances. With just its second win in the past 23 road games, Edmonton snapped a 10-game winless streak on the road since Feb. 11, when the Oilers beat the Kings in another shootout.
Comrie got both of his goals in the first two periods on long passes up the middle of the ice, beating Quick for his 11th and 12th scores. Los Angeles otherwise dominated play, generating 39 shots in the first two periods, but had few great scoring chances against Dubnyk.
The Staples Center crowd booed its team when Gilbert scored just his fifth goal of the season early in the third period on a stoppable shot that somehow eluded Quick, whose shakiness is a major source of concern for the Kings heading into the postseason.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rookie Devan Dubnyk made 52 saves and denied the Kings' last two shootout attempts, leading the league-worst Edmonton Oilers past playoff-bound Los Angeles 4-3 Saturday.
Tom Gilbert had a short-handed goal and two assists for the Oilers, who have won three straight near the close of their worst season since 1994. Edmonton blew a three-goal lead in the third period against the playoff-bound Kings, but Ryan Potulny and Shawn Horcoff scored in the
Brown ended Dubnyk's bid for his first career shutout with an easy rebound goal on the Kings' 46th shot with 13:21 to play, and Stoll fired a shot over Dubnyk's glove for his 15th goal 5 1/2 minutes later.
After Los Angeles took two penalties and killed off the ensuing two-man disadvantage, Rob Scuderi's shot from the point hit Edmonton's Jason Strudwick and fell to Handzus. His blind backhand shot slipped underneath Dubnyk for his 20th goal on the Kings' 52nd shot, matching their season high.
NOTES: The Kings went to a shootout in a franchise-record fourth straight game. ... Gilbert has three goals in nine games after scoring just two in his first 72. ... Edmonton can match the 1993-94 club's 64 points with a win at Anaheim on Sunday night, though the 1994 club didn't have the benefit of shootout and points from overtime losses. ... C Jeff Halpern returned to the Kings' lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

NHL will hold 2011 draft in Minnesota

Wild owner Craig Leipold is also lobbying the league to bring an outdoor game to Minnesota within the next few years. The team will start next season playing in Finland, another part of Leipold's push to expand the Wild's profile.
This year's draft will be held in Los Angeles.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The NHL will hold the 2011 draft in Minnesota.
The award of the annual event was announced by the league at a news conference on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center, the home of the Minnesota Wild. The draft is set for Friday and Saturday, June 24-25.
This is the first time the Wild have hosted the World Cup Soccer Jersey draft since entering the NHL 10 years ago. They had the All-Star game in 2004. The Minnesota North Stars also hosted the draft in 1989.

2010年5月7日星期五

Canadiens win 6th straight, hand Rangers key loss

NEW YORK (AP) - Sergei Kostitsyn snapped a third-period tie with a deflected goal and the Montreal Canadiens stretched their winning streak to six with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night in the 600th meeting between the Original Six rivals. soccer jerseys
Kostitsyn nudged the puck in front and was rewarded when it caromed in off the skate of Rangers forward Artem Anisimov at 5:59. Frustrated goalie Henrik Lundqvist bent over backward and stared at the ceiling in disgust.
Montreal's winning streak is its longest since an eight-game spurt in 2006. The Canadiens built their playoff cushion over the ninth-place Rangers to seven points. New York dropped three points behind Boston and the Eastern Conference's postseason cutoff.
Glen Metropolit staked the Canadiens to a 1-0 lead in the first with a power-play goal. Sean Avery made it 1-1 in the second for New York, which was outshot 35-20.
Jaroslav Halak has been in goal for each victory in the Canadiens' streak. Tomas Plekanec's empty-net, short-handed goal with 35.5 seconds left sealed the win.
Lundqvist was tested heavily after needing to make only 17 saves in a 3-1 win over Philadelphia on Sunday. The Rangers will face St. Louis at home Thursday and then play eight of their final 11 on the road.
Avery tied it 2:02 into the second on New York's first shot of the period and seventh of the game. Avery got credit for the goal when defenseman Matt Gilroy's shot from the right point hit him while Avery was being knocked to the ice by hulking defenseman Hal Gill.
It was Avery's 11th goal of the season and third in two games since he was benched for the Rangers' win at Atlanta on Friday. Avery scored twice Sunday in his return to the lineup.
Montreal used its NHL-best road power play to take a 1-0 lead. While Brandon Prust was off for holding, former Rangers center Scott Gomez cleanly won a faceoff against Chris Drury and got the puck to Andrei Markov in the slot. Markov's drive clipped Metropolit and caromed past the surprised Lundqvist at 3:34 for his 16th this season _ 10th on the power play.
The Canadiens finished the pedestrian first period with a 9-6 shots advantage. The game played out much differently than the teams' previous two meetings: a 6-0 Canadiens win in Montreal on Jan. 23, and New York's 6-2 home victory six days earlier.
Metropolit nearly netted another goal in the second, but his hard drive was deflected at the last moment by Lundqvist's quick glove. A later drive by Markov was deflected off the crossbar behind the Rangers goalie and into the protective netting out of play.
Despite getting even, the Rangers recorded only five shots on Halak in the middle frame. Montreal posted 18, but couldn't get a puck past Lundqvist.
NOTES: Montreal is 318-185-94-3 against the Rangers, including a 122-122-54-2 mark in 300 games at New York. ... Halak was 1-3 with a 4.11 goals-against average in four previous starts at Madison Square Garden. ... The Rangers are 37-19-10 against Original Six teams the 2005-06 season. They are 10-7-3 vs. Montreal in that span.

2010年5月5日星期三

Desperate Flames dominate NHL-leading Capitals 5-3

WASHINGTON (AP) - Well, that was quite a 24-hour swing. One day after the Calgary Flames looked done for the soccer jerseys season, they went out and dominated the league's top team.
Having reached the desperation point in their bid to make the playoffs, the Flames scored four goals in the first period Sunday and beat the Washington Capitals 5-3.
Captain Jarome Iginla had said the Flames needed to "run the table" to get into the postseason after a 5-0 loss at Boston on Saturday. He and his teammates responded by salvaging a three-game road trip that began with two losses.
"We played with the effort that we're supposed to," defenseman Robyn Regehr said, "and we have to do that for the rest of the year."
The win moved Calgary within four points of eighth-place Colorado and within five of seventh-place Los Angeles in the Western Conference, pending the result of Colorado's game later Sunday.
Ales Kotalik, Ian White, Jay Bouwmeester, Niklas Hagman and Rene Bourque scored for the Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff, who was pulled in the third period of the loss to the Bruins, made 31 saves against the Capitals as Calgary won in Washington for the first time in 11 years.
"We're all talking about that we want to be in the playoffs," Iginla said. "But we've got to go earn it and earn a chance. Now we're in position where we're just trying to earn a chance and see what other teams do."
Alex Ovechkin got his 46th goal for Washington and also had an assist to reach the 100-point mark for the fourth time in his five-year career. David Steckel and Mathieu Perreault also scored for the Capitals, who lost at home in regulation for only the fifth time in 36 games this season.
"We didn't have any energy," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It looked like we were skating in quicksand. Their sense of urgency was so tremendous. They'd been embarrassed in Boston. We didn't meet their push."
Washington's Jose Theodore was pulled at 10:34 of the first period after allowing three goals on nine shots, but his franchise-record 19-game streak without a regulation loss (17-0-2) remains intact because the Capitals later scored three goals. That made Semyon Varlamov, who gave up the fourth goal, the goalie of record.
"For the first time in a long time," Boudreau said, "it looked like Theo was struggling a little bit."
The Flames also spoiled a chance for the Capitals to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history, but Washington claimed the No. 1 spot when New Jersey lost 5-1 at Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Three of the Flames' goals were carom shots off Capitals goaltenders, including the first two. Kotalik stuffed in a rebound off Theodore's left leg just 2:35 into the game, and White put a rebound off Theodore's side as the goalie was falling on his back during the power play at the 8:28 mark.
Bouwmeester's tip-in of Bourque's pass made the score 3-0, chasing Theodore. The Flames kept scoring, however, with Hagman putting a backhander from the right circle inside the near post. The goal put the Capitals behind by four goals, a deficit they'd faced for a combined 4:32 on the entire season coming into the game.
First period summation: Calgary had four goals; Washington had four shots. Even more stunning was the fickle display by some Capitals fans. The runaway top team in the standings actually heard boos on the way to the locker room.
"When you've lost four out of 35 at home, give the guys at break," Boudreau said. "I could see it if we were doing this on a regular basis."
Ovechkin's wrister from the right circle on a power play made it 4-1, but Bourque and Steckel traded goals to make it 5-2 going into the third. Perreault, recalled from the AHL earlier in the day, pulled the Capitals within two again when he put in the rebound off Ovechkin's shot during a power play early in the third.
"You just put that one behind you and live for the next day," Washington right wing Mike Knuble said. "It's no indication of anything. It's just one of those games you're probably due for. It's probably good for us at this point."
Notes: The Flames' last previous win in Washington was a 5-4 overtime tally on March 13, 1999. They had gone 0-4 with a tie in five trips since. ... Perreault was recalled because C Brendan Morrison was out with a lower body injury that appears to be minor, and C Brooks Laich remains sidelined with facial injuries after getting struck in the face by a puck in practice last week. ... Washington D Shaone Morrisonn missed the game after having his wisdom teeth removed.

Glen Johnson: We Have To Work As A Team

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 -- Liverpool full-back Glen Johnson says that they have to work together to pull themselves out of the pit they have fallen into.

Liverpool are in woeful form at the moment and are virtually out of the Champions League. They have slipped down the table in the Premier League and are outside the top four at the moment.

Speaking to the Press Association, Liverpool defender Glen Johnson said:

"The record [one win in nine games] sounds awful and it is awful for a club like Liverpool. But things like this happen in football. You stick together and keep fighting.

"We have seen in the league that everyone can beat everyone - if someone had told you at the start of the season that we'd win one in nine, you'd have laughed your head off.

"We will just look to get as many points as we can as quickly as possible then have a look at the end of the NHL jerseys season and see where we are."

Sir Alex Ferguson Hails Antonio Valencia

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 -- Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed the progress of winger Antonio Valencia at Old Trafford this season.
Valencia was signed from Premier League side Wigan Athletic in the summer after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Spanish and European giants Real Madrid and the Ecuadorian international winger has been quite impressive at the biggest club of England.

Club manager Sir Alex Ferguson told the Inside United magazine:

"Antonio has settled very well. He's been terrific, the lad. He's a good crosser of the ball. He gets the ball in the box and gets it in from tight positions too. Very seldom are his NHL Jerseys crosses blocked, which isn't easy to do."

2010年5月4日星期二

Rafa’s Reds Gone, Louis’ Bayern Survive

Rafa Benitez’s darkest chapter at NHL Jerseys Liverpool just got worse after the Reds were eliminated from this season’s Champions League, while Louis van Gaal’s Bayern live another day.

These two managers make for interesting reading, as the pair currently hold posts at two of the biggest clubs in Europe, where success is demanded and failure to deliver such expectations yields unprecedented amounts of pressure.

Indeed, following Fiorentina’s 1-0 win over Olympique Lyon on Tuesday, Liverpool were mathematically out of the running for the top two in Group E, and thus eliminated.

Liverpool boss Benitez has been under plenty of pressure with this elimination always likely after a slow start. But combine that with the Reds league woes and it’s clear the Spaniard is struggling for fans.

Van Gaal, similarly as a foreigner in a big European league, is under pressure in Bavaria.

The Dutchman hasn’t convinced since arriving in Germany, but his side’s 1-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa on Wednesday means they remain in the Champions League hunt.

But it won’t be easy for Bayern.

The Munich club must travel to Turin and defeat Juventus to qualify for the next round of the Champions League.

The Old Lady are currently second in Italy’s Serie A and seem determined to make a mark in Europe, so it will hardly be simple for Bayern.

But the good news for van Gaal is his team are still alive (for now, at least), unlike Benitez’s.


Nevertheless, Liverpool’s managing director Christian Purslow has reassured the Spaniard his role is safe despite the club’s early Champions League exit.

“This has no bearing on Rafa whatsoever," Purslow revealed.

"He only signed a new five-year deal eight months ago and in those terms he is four months into a five-year journey. You don't deviate from long-term plans for people.

"We budget for a level of performance where, let's just say, as football fans is not where we would all want to be. We are prudent in what we budget.

"If we go into the Europa League and have three home games, we are financially equivalent on what we budgeted to achieve in the Champions League.

"Obviously, it feels terribly disappointing, but we could have gone into the next round of the Champions League, played one home leg, one away leg and been out," Purslow added.

"I like to think we'll be taking 40 or 50,000 to Hamburg in May (for the Europa League final), and if we get half-way to doing that, we will make more money than we would have from the next round of the Champions League.

"It's a missed opportunity financially, but it has no effect on budgeted performance and that's the key thing."

Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer, too, offered plenty of support to his embattled coach.

"Louis Van Gaal is an old hand and he has already been through many a battle," Beckenbauer told Sat 1 television.


Speaking about the Bundesliga prior to the winter break, as well as the Champions League, Beckenbauer added, "I hope that he also wins this battle. Our remaining games are all winnable and it doesn't look that bad at all really."

And while the head honchos at these massive clubs publicly remain calm and supportive, there’s no doubt there’s a few worried exchanges behind the scenes.

Failures like these can not be treated with ignorance.

It may not happen just yet, but the warning signs are there and change could be abound soon at two of Europe’s biggest and proudest clubs.

2010年5月2日星期日

Yaya Toure Happy At Barcelona

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 -- Barcelona midfielder Yaya Youre has once again insisted that he is happy playing for the reigning Spanish and European champions.


The Ivorian has been linked with a move away from Camp Nou for much of this campaign as he has often found himself on the sidelines. Premier League clubs such as Manchester City are reported to be eager to sign the player.

But Toure insists that he does not want to leave the Catalan giants and told a press conference:

"At this club we live football at a very intense level and play well. I am happy at Barcelona and there is no bigger clubNHL jerseys than this one."

Hint Of A Hangover At Barcelona?

After proudly showing off MLB jerseys their six trophies of 2009, FC Barcelona have begun 2010 slowly with a draw and a loss, suggesting the celebrations may have taken their toll.

Barcelona boss Josep Guardiola has warned against his side resting on their laurels, with their Copa del Rey title already at risk after Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Sevilla.

Guardiola revealed, “We don't want to live on what we have done up to now. We have to carry on working.”

His comments came after Barcelona's 1-1 draw with Villarreal on Saturday, opened the door for rivals Real Madrid to steal back the initiative in the La Liga title race.

Ultimately, Real blew the chance to go top after stumbling against Osasuna, but the warning is there for Barca.

“There are things we still have to work on and we will do that,” Guardiola added.

The weekend's 1-1 draw with the Yellow Submarine was something of an anti-climax for the 90-odd thousand fans who crammed into the Nou Camp to see their side showcase their six trophies.

Only last month, Barcelona completed their clean sweep in 2009 with victory in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.


But Villarreal crashed the party and Saturday's result ultimately saw Barca drop points at home for the first time in this league season.

After taking an early lead through Pedro, David Fuster equalised for the visitors, before Barcelona huffed and puffed towards the end, only to fail to really find any fluidity.

Nevertheless, Tuesday's Copa del Rey tie with Sevilla was next, and while Guardiola named a much-changed side for the contest, it still included stars Lionel Messi, Dani Alves and Andres Iniesta.

Indeed, Barcelona looked fresher in the opening part of the contest against Sevilla but failed to make significant inroads.

Sevilla weathered the storm and took the lead on the hour mark when an unmarked Diego Capel ghosted in to score at the back-post.

Barcelona did manage to find a response after a long-ball found Zlatan Ibrahimovic onside, before brilliantly netting after rounding the keeper.


But the Nou Camp's celebrations of drawing level were short-lived when Dmytro Chygrynskiy hauled down Capel inside the box a minute later, allowing Alvaro Negredo to net the winner from the spot.

Messi unusually failed with a late chance, with a hint of offside, as Barca slumped to a defeat which puts them in an awkward position ahead of the return-leg in Sevilla.

Nevertheless, it is hardly panic stations at the Nou Camp after a slow start to 2010, but the team know they need to snap into action.

In the league, Real Madrid won't normally be so generous as to slip up, while in the Copa del Rey, Sevilla will offer a very difficult test in the return-leg.

Whether or not Barcelona realistically think they can reproduce 2009's success remains to be seen, but the early signs are they might need a bit of work.

Not alot has changed in terms of personnel from last season's side (bar Samuel Eto'o who has been ably replaced by Ibrahimovic) so it is all about Barca's desire, considering their brilliance.

The La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League crown are the main goals, but as has been said before, staying at the top is harder than getting there in the first place.

2010年5月1日星期六

to confirm any investigation related to the April 5 accident. The real reasons why Apple silenced Lala (and bought it, too)

As dorky character Ned Ryerson said in movie "Groundhog Day": "Am I right or am I right? Or am I right? Am I right?" Apple is shuttering the Lala service on May 31. soccer jerseys While pundits galore said Apple was moving into the streaming music business, I asserted something else: That Apple bought Lala to improve music discovery and to combat Google music search.

Apple announced the Lala acquisition in December, when I blogged "Lala could make iTunes' Genius smarter." As I explained then, the acquisition is about "improving iTunes music discovery and competitively combating Google search." About two months before Apple bought Lala, Google improved its music search capabilities, which included free streams from various services, including Lala.
I sometimes complain about how bloated iTunes has become, but Apple can't be much faulted for music discovery. The iTunes player-store combination is simply one of the best mechanism's for new music discovery. However, Google music search put that discovery and underlying revenue stream at risk. Googling, say, Green Day or Ke$ha leads to free Lala streams of four songs. Lala charges for streams, too -- just 10 cents, which can be applied to purchase of the track.
Or Lala did. The service has stopped taking new subscribers, according to a notice on the Website: "Lala is shutting down. The Lala service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting new users." By buying Lala, Apple set the stage to remove a cheaper streaming alternative, with option to buy, backed by the power of Google search.
But Apple also acquired technology it can use to improve music discovery. One option: Within iTunes, offer one full-length stream per track, instead of the 30-second sample. Streaming then wouldn't be a separate business but means of improving the music purchase experience and even generate more sales.
In the days and weeks that followed the Lala acquisition announcement, commentator after commentator pontificated about how Apple would move into the streaming music business, ala Lala. But that business makes no sense for Apple, which generates revenue from selling music -- not giving it away or streaming it on the cheap. More importantly, streaming offers limited benefits to iPhone OS devices. Apple already sells low-margin content to generate sales of high-margin devices. Streaming doesn't make sense, particularly when Apple has done so well with content people own -- or in the case of movies, sometimes rent.

However, a TV subscription service would make sense because of its potential to disrupt how people consume the content. Hulu shows there is demand. If Apple offered the long-rumored TV subscription service for the rumored 30 bucks a month -- heck, even $50 -- I'd cancel my AT&T U-verse account the same day. Cheap portable TV is the logical next stage beyond DVRs. Apple has the devices to do just that, whether the content is streamed, downloaded with DRM protection -- or both.

For Apple, a TV or other video subscription service is a more logical use of Lala technology and staff than music streaming. I would watch for TV subscriptions long before Apple would set up a music streaming service. So that makes a third major reason -- and one I didn't give in December -- for Apple acquiring Lala.