So we're doing documentaries about mediocre athletes and wasted talent now?
Connor McGregor's record in the UFC is 22-6-0. Since 2016, he has lost four of seven MMA fights, plus a one-sided boxing exhibition against a retired 40-year old Floyd Mayweather. Sure he is the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, but he has never successfully defended a world title...not once.
Compare that to Jon Jones's 11 title defences, and Anderson Silva's 10, and Georges St. Pierre's nine. Even Tito Ortiz defended his title five times.
You might be able to get away with saying that McGregor is an incomparable self-promoter who changed MMA forever. But you'd be just as accurate if you called him a throbbing blowhard whose largely unfulfilled swagger contributed to significantly the UFC's shift away from a legitimate sport to sports entertainment.
McGregor is a three-ring circus in bicycle shorts. So I guess its only natural that Netflix would give him a television show.
Alex Pietrangelo of the Golden Knights got away with one of the most vicious and blatant attempts to injure in NHL history last week. In the dying seconds of an Oilers victory in game 4 of the Western Conference semi-final series, Pietrangelo tomahawked Leon Draisaitl across the arms with his hockey stick. And, when I say tomahawked, I mean he raised his stick above his head and swung it with all of his might into Draisaitl's wrists and forearms.
The punishment for the slash? A measly one-game suspension issued by NHL's Department of Player Safety. The decision was universally mocked and condemned by everyone in hockey. The league chose to ignore "player safety" in order to avoid having too much of an impact on the series by removing one of Las Vegas' best players from the series for an extended period of time. It was what athletes refer to as a chicken shit move.
The Golden Knights went on to eliminate the Oilers from the playoffs on Sunday night. It was another disappointment for Edmonton as Draisaitl and Connor McDavid failed to deliver in the playoffs...again.
Whether or not the league's decision to suspend Pietrangelo for just one game affected the result of the series is a debate that will rage on. Some people will say that if Edmonton couldn't beat the Golden Knights with their full lineup then they didn't deserve to move on to the next round.
But what if Pietrangelo's hack was more than just an act of frustration. What if he injured Draisaitl and, in addition to getting away with missing just one game, he knocked Edmonton's top scorer out of the series?
Before the slash, Draisaitl led the playoffs in scoring with 17 points in nine games played, including six points in the first two games of the Vegas series. After the slash he was held to a single point and had a plus/minus rating of -5. Draisaitl disappeared from the series.
And he wasn't very happy about it.Let's say it turns out that Pietrangelo did injure Draisaitl and the NHL did nothing about it, there could be some players on the Oilers that might decide to take matters into their own hands. What if Evander Kane or Vincent Deharnais decide, during a meaningless regular season game next season, that they want to get some payback. Revenge is ingrained in the DNA of hockey players who have done crazier things in the past.
Remember Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore? How about Marty McSorley and Donald Brashear? And the real oldies will remember Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey.
The best athlete nickname of all-time belongs to John Anthony Eales.
What's that? Who the hell is John Eales?
With 86 international test caps, 55 as team captain, he is one of Australia's greatest rugby players of all time. He also led the Wallabies to two World Cup championships - as a debutant in 1991 and then again as captain in 1999. The annual award for the best rugby union player in Australia is called the John Eales Medal.
His nickname? NOBODY
Why? BECAUSE NOBODY'S PERFECT
But, because most of you know nothing outside of football, baseball, basketball and hockey, none of you have ever heard of John Eales. So here are the best sports nicknames you've heard of...
Good selections by the Dog Walk: MAGIC [Earvin Johnson], SWEETNESS [Walter Payton], HITMAN [Thomas Hearns, not Brett Hart 🤦] and SAY HEY KID [Willie Mays].
The NHL will hold its annual draft lottery tonight. Special attention is being paid this year because of Connor Bedard - an anticipated generational talent who is certain to be picked first overall.
Here are the teams that have a chance of getting the first pick with their records from last season and odds of winning the lottery...
Anaheim Ducks, 23-47-12 (58 points) - 18.5%
Columbus Blue Jackets, 25-48-9 (59) - 13.5%
Chicago Blackhawks, 26-49-7 (59) - 11.5%
San Jose Sharks, 22-44-16 (60) - 9.5%
Montreal Canadiens, 31-45-6 (68) - 8.5%
Arizona Coyotes, 28-40-14 (70) - 7.5%
Philadelphia Flyers, 31-38-13 (75) - 6.5%
Washington Capitals, 35-37-10 (80) - 6.0%
Detroit Red Wings, 35-37-10 (80) 5.0%
St. Louis Blues, 37-38-7 (81) - 3.5%
Vancouver Canucks, 38-37-7 (83) - 3.0%
Which team deserves Connor Bedard? Who the hell knows. But there are four teams that shouldn't be in the running...
The Chicago Blackhawks should be disqualified from the draft lottery. Not only were they the most obvious about tanking the 2022-23 season, the organization is made up of good-for-nothing reprobates who looked the other way while a young prospect was sexually abused right in front of them.
GM Stan Bowman. Coach Joel Quenneville. Captain Jonathan Toews. They all chose the team and their own personal interests over doing the right thing.
And, in case you think that those people are all gone and the team has learned its lesson, here is team owner Rocky Wirtz's response to a question about the situation...
If no one wants to kick the Arizona Coyotes out of the NHL, they should at least be ruled out of the draft lottery so the greatest prospect since Sidney Crosby doesn't have to be a part of the biggest travesty in professional sport.
Last year, the Coyotes played their home games in a college arena with a capacity of less than 5,000 and still didn;t sell out every game! Compare that to Bedard's junior team, playing in Regina Saskatchewan (population >230,000), who averaged 4,500 fans per game for crying out loud.
On 17 June 2022, The Philadelphia Flyers hired John Tortorella to be their head coach. Not only is he a terrible coach, he has a well-earned reputation for ruining players and destroying teams. In 20 seasons in the league he has been fired by four teams and his teams have missed the playoffs or been eliminated in the first round 11 times. John Turturro would have been a better choice.
Subjecting Bedard to Tortorella would be cruel and unusual punishment.
Finally, the organizational incompetence of the St. Louis Blues should prfecluding them from drafting first overall in June. Peter Chiarelli (who loses everywhere he goes) and Doug Armstrong managed to turn a Stanley Cup champion into a non-contender in just four years. They went from Ryan O'Reilly, Alex Pietrangelo and Vladimir Tarasenko to Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich and Brayden Schenn. Imagine what they could do with Connor Bedard.
Apparently the San Francisco Giants were left reeling after being swept in a two-game series in Mexico City by the Padres over the weekend.
Starting pitcher, Logan Webb, lamented the physical and mental grind he and his teammates went through over the past week in an interview after his five-hit victory on Wednesday. Webb also took the opportunity to reinforce stereotypes about Mexico and Mexican food.
If Webb (who makes US$18 million per year) thinks this is a grind then he is softer than the poop he and his teammates are painting all over the clubhouse porcelain.
I mean the four-hour, first-class charter flight from San Francisco to Mexico City must have been absolute torture. Can you imagine if MLB hadn't given the Giants an entire day off to travel. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!
And then to be forced to eat in a city that is widely considered to be one of the world's top foodie destinations. THE HUMANITY!!!
As if that weren't enough, Webb (who makes US$18 million per year) and the Giants then had to fly all the way to Houston - another two hours on a first-class charter. MY GOD!!!
It's no wonder half the Giants' clubhouse has the Hershey squirts. What a bunch of warriors. It's a miracle they survived at all.
While listening to Spittin' Chiclets this morning, I heard Ryan Whitney glibly comment that this year's Bruins are the greatest regular season team in NHL history.
He's wrong. It's not even close. Here are the stats:
While Boston had five more wins and three more points, the Canadiens played two fewer games and had only eight losses.
Therefore, under current NHL rules, the Canadiens would have had a 69-11 record in 1976-77. That would have given them four more wins and six more points (141) than this year's Bruins...in two fewer games.
Good selections by the Dog Walk: BADA BING (Sopranos), COPACABANA and THE BAMBOO LOUNGE (Goodfellas), THE DOUBLE DEUCE (Roadhouse) and RICK'S AMERICAN CAFÉ (Casablanca).
