Thoughts on the Vancouver Canucks and the riot.

I was hoping to write a post about how great it was that my hometown team had finally won a Cup 40 years after coming into existence. Seeing as I'm about the same age as the team, it would have been nice.

I've always supported my home town team. In 1994 I worked in a sports card store during our playoff run, and whenever someone asked me who was going to win that night, I'd always jokingly say "Not the Canucks!". It got us all the way to game 7, and we all know what happened after that.

After the lockout of 2004/05, I gave up watching hockey. I still kept tabs on it, but I quickly went from being a guy who knew every player in the league to a guy who didn't miss it at all. In fact, aside from the Olympics, I didn't watch a full game until this season's playoffs.

Surprisingly enough, I found that the game had changed somewhat for the better. No line changes on icings sped things up a lot, and despite the usual idiocy by players like Matt Cooke, the league seemed to be moving in the right direction.

Being a real Canucks fan isn't easy. People here love to hate a player if he isn't perfect. For years the Sedins have been called "The Sisters", and whenever Roberto Luongo gives up a goal it's as if he's personally letting down everyone in the city. Basically the city is full of bandwagon jumpers.

So anyways, we got past Chicago this year (finally), dispatched Nashville and San Jose pretty easily, and won the first 2 games against the Bruins. There was talk of a sweep, people were saying that they should purposely lose one in Boston so they could win it on home ice in game 5. Seemingly these people didn't realize that we barely won the 1st 2 games, that the Sedins were completely nullified, and that Ryan Kesler was playing hurt and without effectiveness.

So sure enough we got bombed in Boston. We scored one goal in 2 games, but all the blame was on the goalie. Hello people, you don't win games when you average half a goal per. It just doesn't happen. Without Luongo's play, the Canucks don't win games 1 and 2 and the series is over in 4.

So back to Vancouver for game 5, and we fluke a goal and Luongo holds the fort and we win another 1-0 game. And again, everything is roses. Ankles healed, the bandwagon jumpers are back aboard, predicting an easy win in game 6. Forgetting that Boston has a better defense, and actually has more than 1 scoring line. Heck, the Canucks didn't even have 1 scoring line. And we lose, and yes in game 6 Luongo let in 2 bad goals. Again though, we only score twice late, and you can't consistently win while barely scoring.

So back home for game 7. I was nervous, couldn't sleep even. I didn't have a good feeling though. And the pest Marchand set up one goal, scored another on a wrap around, then they scored short handed, and really that was it. No comeback was in the offing. The crowd was completely dead, which compared with the level of noise in Boston was shameful. I can truly say I've never seen a worse effort in a game 7 in a final series in any sport, ever. And yeah, people will complain about the officiating, but in reality, we only scored 8 goals in 7 games. The fact that we won 3 of those games was completely because of Roberto Luongo. That we lost the other 4 and only scored 3 goals in those games was down to Boston's great D and of course Tim Thomas. We just weren't good enough.

So, who knows how long until we get back to a final? Could be next year, but that's what we said in 1994. Could be another 17 years.

And we have another riot to pick up after, a horrible pre-planned riot that was going to happen win or lose. The rioters weren't concerned about the result of the game, they wanted to wreak havoc. They wanted to burn stuff. They wanted to steal stuff. Our Police were naive enough to assume that having 150000 people in the downtown core watching the game on big screens was going to end peacefully, despite what happened in 1994. What would have happened at the 2010 Olympics if they hadn't arrested many of the troublemakers early on. It was a sad and horrible night. I hope those guilty and stupid enough to show their faces and brag on social media actually do some time, but I don't have much faith in the system really punishing them. Just the incredible stupidity of so many people is enlightening and very sad at the same time.

On the bright side, a lot of people came out this morning and helped clean things up, thanks to a facebook page and the goodness of their hearts. Real sports fans didn't commit these acts, but real sports fans came out in droves to pick up the pieces, and to try and identify the perpetrators online. You can easily find the facebook groups involved if you so wish.

So I leave with congratulations to the Bruins and their fans. It was at times an ugly series, and the sad fact that 2 players suffered career threatening injuries during it is almost unforgiveable. Hockey needs to change, yet I don't think it will ever change enough to rise above the level of pro wrestling and roller derby in most people's eyes. And that's sad.

And I leave with this great shot of a young fan last night, not understanding why the third goal counted, and our coach who could see the dream disintegrating in front of his eyes.

That look was on a lot of people's faces while watching the riots.

There are Toronto Blue Jays fans who think that John McDonald should play every day.

No, really. I'm not kidding. They mean have him start, not just come in as a late inning defensive replacement or a pinch runner or something. Really, if he gets to hit, he's no longer a useful member of any team.

Not a major league hitter! ^^^^

TSN.ca Jays story. Read the comments for some good laughs.

Derek Jeter update.

On a sunny and beautiful day in Arlington, Derek went 4 for 6 with 2 home runs, 2 runs, 3 RBI and 1 stolen base. That gives him 6 hits in his last 11 AB's, with 1 double on Saturday added to the 2 dingers on Sunday.

Saturday was a night game, his double was in the 3rd inning and his single in the 7th.

Is Derek Jeter finished? I say no.

Don't get me wrong, I've never been a big fan of the man, but I don't believe he's done.

A glance at his splits this year show a few interesting things.

He's hitting .432 in the first 2 innings. (37 AB's)

He's hitting .440 the first time he faces the SP.

In 10 day games, he's hitting .270  .356  .324, with both his doubles, 4 RBI and 5 BB.

While he is hitting a lot of groundballs, his average on them is .292.

In my opinion, this shows that Jeter has two potential problems. One is that he loses energy early in the game. I doubt that's it. The other and most obvious problem is that his eyesight is giving him problems. He's hitting better in day games, and early in night games. As the natural light diminishes, so does his ability to hit.

Most players have problems at age 32, Jeter's seem to have started last year at age 36. If I was in Yankee management, I'd be sending him to the best eye doctor in town.