The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Lamest Class Ever?
Boy, you can make a strong case for it. I mean, come on: George Harrison as a solo artist? I mean, talk about overblown! One 3 Lp all star jam [All Things Must Pass, the most overblown of ALL the Beatles solo albums], a couple hits in the mid 70s, one good alum in 1988...what is George Harrison's solo legacy? Bob Seger, MAYYYYYBE... Traffic, MAYYYYYBE again;... Jackson Browne? Great songwriter, had some good bands... Prince? What has Prince done in the last 10 years? ZZ TOp? What have they done in the last 15 years? Are any of these guys STILL RELEVANT? The Dells? So they've been around for 50 years... What have they contributed to the overall grandness of Rock and Roll? Jann Wenner? Yeah, I'd induct Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone from 1967 - 1978/79... I'd make him give back his trophy for Rolling Stone from 1984 to the present.
What is wrong with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is EXACTLY what's wrong with Rolling Stone. It takes itself too seriously. It thinks it is relevant! Why not just induct say Bob Seger, Jackson Browne and Prince and ZZ Top and Wenner and say "That's it. There are no more relevant candidates this year." Oh, I am looking forward to the 80s years coming up: U2, yeah, the Cars, okay... Duran Duran? Eurythmics? Thompson Twins?
Oh, if you get a chance to see the ceremony on VH1, watch Keith Richards ramble about ZZ Top for five minutes... it's so terrible it's funny.
Having said that, I picked up the new 2CD Jackson Browne Very Best of. I had been interested, but watching Bruce talk about Jackson pushed me over the edge. And it's a pretty good collection, even it is 'missing' That Grl Could Sing [I SWEAR I saw that lsited!] from Hold on, Hold Out, On the Day, Downtown and For A Rocker from the great Lawyers In Love, and the anthemic For America from Lives in the Balance. I really can't comment too much on the early stuff because this IS my introduction to that. May need to heavily investigate the stuff before Running On Empty, which is just a fantastic album.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
TRADE DAY! Hot Sports Opinions on the NHL and the upcoming playoffs:
1. Todd Bertuzzi gives NHL a black eye and a broken neck and?
Todd Bertuzzi, who was suspended 10 games LAST YEAR for an incident, [coming off the BENCH to join a fight, I believe] just totally disgraced the NHL with a sucker punch from behind and riding down the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore 'in reatliation' for a hit on Vancouver's [ice cold] scorer Marcus Nasland that put Nasland out for three games in February. The Canucks had been vowing revenge, but skipped it last game, attenfded by NHL commisioner Gary Betteman.
Moore will miss the rest of the season and had all ready fought with Matt Cooke earlier in the game when Bertuzzi jumped him at 8:41 of the third period. Sure Vancouver was having its ass handed to them 8-2 at the time. SO WHAT?
If you haven't seen the footage, Moore is skating away, Bertuzzi grabs his jersey then leans in with a full force roundhouse right to the right side of Moore's haed. Moore falls face first [onto his visor] onto the ice with Bertuzzi literally riding him down to the ice, pounding him a couple more times before another Av jumps in to push him off. Steve Moore has a neck fracture, concussion and facial cuts and will miss the rest of the seaon.
"It doesn't matter what the score was, what the time was, what the place was, what the history was, there's no room in our game for that,'' Colorado coach Tony Granato said. [Yahoo Sports]
Hockey is a beautiful game most of the time, fast and flowing, with an occasional fight between two toughs to send messages ["don't mess with OUR guy." "Says who?" "Says ME!"]. I am not against fighting in the NHL, it helps keep the game clean, believe it or not. But THIS is going over the line.
ESPN just ran some of the lengthiest suspensions: 23 games for Dale Hunter for cheap shotting Pierre Turgeon in 93, Marty McSorley's 20 games for smashing Donald Brashear in the side of the head with his stick [another ugly mark on the game that the Vancouver police investigated, charged AND convicted McSorely for]... Let me say right now, IF TODD BERTUZZI LACES THEM UP BEFORE THE STANLEY CUP IS PRESENTED THIS YEAR, IT IS TOO SOON. Todd Bertuzzi should be suspended for the rest of the regular season [13 games] and EVERY GAME the Vancouver Canucks play in the playoffs. AND probably should not be re-instated NEXT YEAR [whenever the season starts] without having gone through an anger management class or three...
My arguement is this: The team was threatening to bounty Moore AND he had fought when challenged earlier. If Bertuzzi had squared off and offered the kid a chance to defend himself or decline to fight the towering Todd [6'3" 245], the Bertuzzi might have just been guilty of a punch of frustration: five games worth. But this is inexcusable and just plain WRONG.
TRADE DAY: Buyers and Sellers and Last Chances
All right, let's look at who has improved:
BOSTON BRUINS: The addition of lethal shot from the point of Sergei Gonchar will improve this team. Gonchar has been one of the top scoring defenseman in the NHL for the last five years, but he was hidden in Washington. In Boston, he can make the PP LETHAL with his shot or passing to Joe Thorton, Glenn Murray et al.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS: They will not be able to replace 6'3" Todd Bertuzzi in fromt of the net, but they have depth previously unknown since they went to the finals in 94. Marc Bergevin adds depth on the blueline and Rucinsky and Sanderson make their second and third lines very strong.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Brian Leetch will exponentially improve their defensive depth and the swap of Ric Jackman for Drake Berehowsky has worked out for the Leafs and Pens. The Leafs add depth by adding Ron Francis and luring Calle Johansson out of retirement. Suddenly, the Leafs HAVE a defensive group in front of Ed Belfour. The Senators and Devils remain unimpressed.
DETROIT RED WINGS and PHILLADELPHIA FLYERS: The Wings shopped early and landed Robert Lang [though now injured]. Detroit contines to improve as their players come off IR: Datyuk, Derian Hatcher, Chris Chelios, Kris Draper. Philly also shopped earlier due to their injuries and got Alexei Zhamanov and their blueline is sufficiently strong to allow them to flip Eric Weinrich and Chris Therrien.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS: aslo shopped early getting Steve Sullivan for a song, but also added Sergei Zholtok and Brad Bombadirfrom the faltering Minnesota Wild. This team said when the time was right they would make their move. They just did.
OTTAWA SENATORS: Add another sniper in Peter Bondra and upgrade their D adding two time Cup champ Greg de Vries.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Stay pat, re-acquiring Stan Neckar, counting on being hot going into the playoffs. This years Mighty Ducks?
Jury is out on:
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Added Mathew Barnaby, Chris Gratton Tommy Salo, Bob Boughner, Kurt Sauer and Ossi Vaananen [losing big Derek Morris] after adding Steve Konowalchuk earlier this year... but the much touted addition of Paul Karia and Teammu Sellane has not really lit up the league the way it should have, partially because super center Peter Forsberg has been on and off injured reserve all year, partially because Selanne can't find the net with both hands. Did the Avs just cash their check?
DALLAS STARS: Coming off a 9 game win streak, you want to add Chris Therrien and Lubamir Sekaras on D and Valeri Bure on the right wing and lure Shane Corson out of retirement... why not put Jere Leihtinen back on Mike Modano's right side and Brendan Morrow on his left? Great depth that didn't cost you a roster player, but WHO SITS?
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Adding Viktor Kozlov and Jan Hrdina is nice, but they needed a biG defenseman to take up where Scott Stevens left off.
1. Todd Bertuzzi gives NHL a black eye and a broken neck and?
Todd Bertuzzi, who was suspended 10 games LAST YEAR for an incident, [coming off the BENCH to join a fight, I believe] just totally disgraced the NHL with a sucker punch from behind and riding down the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore 'in reatliation' for a hit on Vancouver's [ice cold] scorer Marcus Nasland that put Nasland out for three games in February. The Canucks had been vowing revenge, but skipped it last game, attenfded by NHL commisioner Gary Betteman.
Moore will miss the rest of the season and had all ready fought with Matt Cooke earlier in the game when Bertuzzi jumped him at 8:41 of the third period. Sure Vancouver was having its ass handed to them 8-2 at the time. SO WHAT?
If you haven't seen the footage, Moore is skating away, Bertuzzi grabs his jersey then leans in with a full force roundhouse right to the right side of Moore's haed. Moore falls face first [onto his visor] onto the ice with Bertuzzi literally riding him down to the ice, pounding him a couple more times before another Av jumps in to push him off. Steve Moore has a neck fracture, concussion and facial cuts and will miss the rest of the seaon.
"It doesn't matter what the score was, what the time was, what the place was, what the history was, there's no room in our game for that,'' Colorado coach Tony Granato said. [Yahoo Sports]
Hockey is a beautiful game most of the time, fast and flowing, with an occasional fight between two toughs to send messages ["don't mess with OUR guy." "Says who?" "Says ME!"]. I am not against fighting in the NHL, it helps keep the game clean, believe it or not. But THIS is going over the line.
ESPN just ran some of the lengthiest suspensions: 23 games for Dale Hunter for cheap shotting Pierre Turgeon in 93, Marty McSorley's 20 games for smashing Donald Brashear in the side of the head with his stick [another ugly mark on the game that the Vancouver police investigated, charged AND convicted McSorely for]... Let me say right now, IF TODD BERTUZZI LACES THEM UP BEFORE THE STANLEY CUP IS PRESENTED THIS YEAR, IT IS TOO SOON. Todd Bertuzzi should be suspended for the rest of the regular season [13 games] and EVERY GAME the Vancouver Canucks play in the playoffs. AND probably should not be re-instated NEXT YEAR [whenever the season starts] without having gone through an anger management class or three...
My arguement is this: The team was threatening to bounty Moore AND he had fought when challenged earlier. If Bertuzzi had squared off and offered the kid a chance to defend himself or decline to fight the towering Todd [6'3" 245], the Bertuzzi might have just been guilty of a punch of frustration: five games worth. But this is inexcusable and just plain WRONG.
TRADE DAY: Buyers and Sellers and Last Chances
All right, let's look at who has improved:
BOSTON BRUINS: The addition of lethal shot from the point of Sergei Gonchar will improve this team. Gonchar has been one of the top scoring defenseman in the NHL for the last five years, but he was hidden in Washington. In Boston, he can make the PP LETHAL with his shot or passing to Joe Thorton, Glenn Murray et al.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS: They will not be able to replace 6'3" Todd Bertuzzi in fromt of the net, but they have depth previously unknown since they went to the finals in 94. Marc Bergevin adds depth on the blueline and Rucinsky and Sanderson make their second and third lines very strong.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Brian Leetch will exponentially improve their defensive depth and the swap of Ric Jackman for Drake Berehowsky has worked out for the Leafs and Pens. The Leafs add depth by adding Ron Francis and luring Calle Johansson out of retirement. Suddenly, the Leafs HAVE a defensive group in front of Ed Belfour. The Senators and Devils remain unimpressed.
DETROIT RED WINGS and PHILLADELPHIA FLYERS: The Wings shopped early and landed Robert Lang [though now injured]. Detroit contines to improve as their players come off IR: Datyuk, Derian Hatcher, Chris Chelios, Kris Draper. Philly also shopped earlier due to their injuries and got Alexei Zhamanov and their blueline is sufficiently strong to allow them to flip Eric Weinrich and Chris Therrien.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS: aslo shopped early getting Steve Sullivan for a song, but also added Sergei Zholtok and Brad Bombadirfrom the faltering Minnesota Wild. This team said when the time was right they would make their move. They just did.
OTTAWA SENATORS: Add another sniper in Peter Bondra and upgrade their D adding two time Cup champ Greg de Vries.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Stay pat, re-acquiring Stan Neckar, counting on being hot going into the playoffs. This years Mighty Ducks?
Jury is out on:
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Added Mathew Barnaby, Chris Gratton Tommy Salo, Bob Boughner, Kurt Sauer and Ossi Vaananen [losing big Derek Morris] after adding Steve Konowalchuk earlier this year... but the much touted addition of Paul Karia and Teammu Sellane has not really lit up the league the way it should have, partially because super center Peter Forsberg has been on and off injured reserve all year, partially because Selanne can't find the net with both hands. Did the Avs just cash their check?
DALLAS STARS: Coming off a 9 game win streak, you want to add Chris Therrien and Lubamir Sekaras on D and Valeri Bure on the right wing and lure Shane Corson out of retirement... why not put Jere Leihtinen back on Mike Modano's right side and Brendan Morrow on his left? Great depth that didn't cost you a roster player, but WHO SITS?
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Adding Viktor Kozlov and Jan Hrdina is nice, but they needed a biG defenseman to take up where Scott Stevens left off.
