Thursday, December 08, 2005

Point Shots


~ Saturday, December 10, 2005 expect this to be herd in Times Square: Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! It is Heisman time and Reggie Bush looks to be a lock for the trophy, and most likley the first overall pickin the NFL draft if and when he decides to leave school early. Vince Young will get his shot next year and Matt Leinart already has his so get ready for Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!

~ The Atlanta Braves have been vry active at the winter meetings, more so then any time in recent memory. The Braves have made a flurry of deals in the last few days that will hopefully help them compete with the many big names thatthe Mets have aquired. The Braves have picked up a little bullpen help by picking up Wes Obermueller, in somewhat of a bizzaar move forone time closer Dan Kolb. Kolb was traded last off season to become the closer for the Braves, that worked out not so well and was traded back to the Brewers less then 1 year later. The Braves, with the emergence of Brian McCann, were able to let go of Johnny Estrada and trade himto the Diamondbacks for a little more bullpen help in receiving Oscar Villarreal and Lance Cormier. The biggest deal thusfar would haveto be the aquisition of Edgar Renteria for third base prospect Andy Marte. Renteria will fill in a hole at shortstop that was made afterRafel Furcal signed with the Dodgers. The Braves are still in need of a quality proven closer but that could be a tall order after manyof the big names in the free agent market have all been snatched up. Will this be enough for the Braves to make yet another run for the pennent, only time willtell, but it is good to see the effort being made to boster the lineup.

~ J.P. Richardi has continued to place his stamp on the Blue Jays lineup. After 2 huge signings of closer B.J. Ryan and Starter A.J. Burnett, J.P. completed a deal thatbrought Lyle Overbay over from the brewers to solidify the first base position. Richardi made it clear that he wasn't done just yet and would like to getat least one more big bat. He has made some very bold moves that could prove to be a big gamble, but one thing is for sure, the Jays are at least putting thereneck out there. The most important deal is still yet to be made, and that is to dump Eric Hinskey and Miguel Batista and hope to get at leasta couple of bats and some pine tar.

~ What is wrong with the "New NHL"? Players are dropping like flys from an aray of various injuries. Groin pulls are the injury of most popularityof late, but it doesn't stop there. Many high profile players have missed much time or have been put on IR. The list continues to grow including such big names asMartin Havlat, Saku Koivu, Rick Nash, Danniel Brirre, Peter Bondra, Nick Boynton, and the better part of the Flyers lineup just to name a few.It is looking like teams lucky enough to avoid the plague of injuries will be able to position themselves into a possible playoff spot. Nothing can be won inthe first part of the season, but seasons can be lost in that same time period.

~ First Steve Yzerman declined an offer to play for Canada in the upcoming Turin Games, and now with recent heart problems Mario Lemieuxmay be forced out, the door may have opened just that much furthur for youngsters Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Sydney Crosby.

~ Steve Nash was named the Lou Marsh Trophy award winner as Canada's most outstanding athlete. Nash the NBA MVP from last season beat outSidney Crosby, diver Alexandre Despatie, curler Randy Ferbey, long-track speed skater Cindy Klassen and soccer player Christine Sinclair.Only 1 question, how does a soccer player make the list as an outstanding athlete? Doesn't an athleteneed to actualy need to participate in an actual sport? Apparently not.




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