CHL News etc.

-Last week Joe Ori signed a new contract with the Mudbugs only to jump the pond and sign with a team in Europe. But, since he did sign with the bugs first, if he does decide to come back to the US and play, he would either have to play for bugs or get traded. (link). He was one of the players I had hoped to see return, but really, I wouldn't be all that sad if no one from the past two season came back to play for us again.......unless they can figure out how to play playoff hockey, of course.

- The Corpus Christi Rayz have a new logo and name- "new" IceRays logo
- so do the Tulsa Oilers.......about the logo, not the name- as seen on the chl website

- I found this article on sportingnews.com, which goes along with another article in ranking the top non-conference schedules in the nation, here's an excerpt

"LSU and Kentucky should be embarrassed. Kentucky, to a point, is understandable: three gimme games are a must to reach bowl status. But LSU? Shameful."

Here is LSU's non conference schedule : Appalachian State, Troy, North Texas and Tulane. First, after last season, I'm a little nervous about Appy State coming into Louisiana's version of the Big House, on the season opener no less.......the other 3 teams may be shameful, but at least mention the first potential landmine, eh? and 2nd, how many good teams really want to play LSU? even playing the first game of the "home and home" is just putting off the inevitable showdown in Death Valley....which will most likely be at night since CBS is out of the picture (not an SEC game). In case you didn't know, LSU loses a home night game about as often as you hear someone say something good about George W Bush.....unless you live in Texas, obviously. So, any school that signs a contract to play LSU knows before hand that A) They are ending their chances at undefeated season, years before that particular season even starts, or B) Should they happen to win, they know for a fact that they better schedule their bye week for the week following the game vs LSU because of the toll it will take on their players. Just ask Virginia Tech.

Of course, USC was ranked at the top....funny they didn't mention their conference schedule, or LSU/Kentucky's for that matter. Oh well....

check the link of the day for the greatest chant ever, brought to you by the students of Wisconsin University(warning, may not be suitable for children)

end of the week tidbits

From the NHL:
-Scott Niedermayer has put off retirement and will play for the Ducks next season
-Loui Ericksson earned a two year contract extension from the Stars worth 3 million-ish.
-Vincent Lecavalier reportedly has a new 9 year 77 million dollar contract with the Lightning....thats way too much money, but its good to see a player stay with the same team for that long.

From the NBA:
-that draft thing was last night. Rose, Beasley and Mayo were the first 3 picks in that order
-OJ Mayo and Kevin Love were traded. For those scoring at home, Mayo is a now a Memphis Grizzley
-the Celtics won the Championship...oh wait....a little late on that.

From the NFL:
-trying to figure out where Pacman went and who this Adam Jones guy is.

From Europe:
- Spain beat Russia 3-0 and will play Germany in the Euro 08 final on Sunday

College Football.....still 60 some odd days away

I was carefully reading through the college football page on ESPN.com to see if I had somehow missed anything interesting to read, and lucky for me, I had. A great article by Pat Forde about the dead zone that is the month of June concerning college football, and Mark Schlabach's uselessly early bowl prediction...... both of which apparently either had been recently added or went unnoticed the last time I checked the site. I also re-read Schlabach's preseason top-25, which has LSU at #12. That doesn't bother me given the quarterback situation and the tough road schedule, what does bother me is that Clemson and Texas Tech are ranked ahead of the Bayou Bengals. Not to discount the .....ahem.....other Tigers, or the Red Raiders, but when is the last time Clemson actually lived up to preseason expectations? And really Mark? Texas Tech? An adequate QB in a spread formation with a flashy wide receiver and a supposedly "improving" defense doesn't impress me. I'm not saying they don't deserve to be in the Top 25, but they aren't in the same league of talent that division rivals Texas and Oklahoma inhabit, while LSU most certainly is.

Anyway, back to Schlabach's bowl predictions. He predicts Georgia and Ohio State (ugh) for the national championship game. He also thinks LSU will play Texas in the Cotton Bowl, which I think is an accurate estimation of where both teams should expect this year: Good, but one win short of a BCS game.

Check out the links of the day for the articles mentioned, or go to the college football page on espn.com and look for "midsummer nights dream", " revised top 25" and "bowl predictions".

Mudbugs-2 Rayz-1

Okay so my prediction was wrong. I knew I shouldn't have gone out on a limb and predict the Bugs would actually play up to their potential, but w/e, we won. The team completely gave up after in the 3rd period, and if luck hadn't been on our side, the Rayz would have come away with a win. Mudbug Nation has been in an uproar lately about our non-physical play and the need for an enforcer, but I'll say there is one thing we need more than an enforcer. That one thing is a killer instinct. We're great at knocking the opponent down, and gaining an advantage, but we lack that drive to "go for the juggular" or "kick em' when their down". I want to see us go into the 3rd period with a 1 goal lead and come out with a 5 goal victory, I want to see us take a 3-0 lead and not stop scoring until the final horn sounds. Most importantly, I think coach Scott Muscutt wants to see the same thing. He made it known after the game that he was very upset, and promised that they will be looking at a lot of video on the trip up to Y-town.

The Bugs play in Youngstown on Friday and Saturday for the Steelhounds home opener.

This could be the turning point of the season, if we work hard for a full game, and do it consistently, we can beat Y-town in their barn. Normally I might feel a little sympathy for a team that we beat in their home opener, but it happened to us for the first 4 home games of the season. Sorry, no sympathy here. I'm not saying that the games in Y-town will define our season, but we are in a big hole in our division and if we expect to dig ourselves out of it we need to start now.

On another note, I'll be at the LSU vs Arkansas game on Friday and will post a recap, potentially on Friday night if I'm lucky.

Bugs vs Rayz, Pregame

Over the past 2 seasons the Rayz have come to town only a few times, but its a great game every time they do. Don't pay attention to the records, this game will most likely be decided by 1 goal, the last 5 games between these two have been. One of the most memorable games of the 05-06 season came on a Tuesday night, against Corpus Christi. The Rayz were nearing the end of a terrible season, while the Mudbugs were riding one of their usual mid-season winning streaks. The Bugs played well in the first period, racking up 19 shots, but Scott Reid was up to the task and the game was scoreless after 1. The Rayz took the lead early in the 2nd period, and despite getting more shots, the Bugs couldn't tie it up and the Rayz had the lead going into the 3rd period. Jason Campbell(who has been activated for tonights game) scored early in the 3rd and the game was tied until the Rayz took the lead again, with under 10 minutes left. The Bugs kept getting shot after shot, but Reid kept making save after save for the Rayz. Finally, with 3:41 seconds left, Chris Brassard tied the game. With under a minute left on the clock, the Bugs had a face off just to the right of Reid, Blair Manning won the face off and sent the puck to the blue line where a waiting Dale Lupul blasted the one-time home and gave the Bugs the win. It was definitely a game that would have "hooked" a lot of casual fans, if it had been on a weekend, but unfortunately it wasn't and only the die-hards were there to witness it.

The Rayz are having another bad season (so far) and are a combined -75, and their goalies are giving up nearly 4 goals a game, while their offense is producing just over 2 per game. Even Austin is doing better so far this season.

My Prediction

Bugs-5 Rayz-0

Yes, I know the Rays have made a habit out of playing us close, but I think the facts that they are winless on the road, don't have a goalie to keep them in games and the Bugs have started to dominate teams on home ice, will doom the Rayz. I think Johnny gets the start and extends his shutout streak, and everybody in attendance gets root-44's for the first time this season.

Venues

I found an article online yesterday about the top 10 toughest places to play a sporting event in the world, and you know where(Tiger Stadium was #3. Most of the venues were soccer stadiums, including #8 Rangers' Ibrox Stadium, inexplicably, Celtic Park was left out of the list. Oh well, the guy must be a f***ing Rangers fan.

Here's a link.

After reading that it got me thinking about the sports venues I have gone to. I've been to 3 bowl games (Independence, Cotton and Peach). Out of those, my favorite venue was probably the Cotton Bowl, even though LSU lost the game(and won the other two). The seats were small and jammed together and felt closer to the field than either Independence Stadium or the Georgia Dome. I also realized after the Peach Bowl in 05', that football should be played outside, period. I've gone to 3 college football stadiums, LSU's Tiger Stadium, Ole Miss' Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium and Louisiana Tech's Joe Alliet Stadium.(pronounced eye-eh). Of course my favorite is Tiger Stadium, even sitting in the upper deck it feels like you're right on top of the field. The atmosphere around Vaught-Hemmingway was, as an LSU fan, very odd. It was very civilized and very festive at the same time, nothing at all like Baton Rouge (or Ruston for that matter). There are 3 Major League Baseball stadiums that I have experienced, in Dallas, Anaheim and San Diego. Definitely Petco Park in San Diego is my favorite, but that's not a knock on the other two. I have never been to an NHL game (hoping to go to my first in a few months), but I have watched minor league games in (you guessed it) 3 different arenas. The CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, the Desoto County Civic Center in Southaven MS. and the Nytex Sports Center in North Richland Hills. Certainly my opinion here is going to be biased but I can say, the most unique arena out of the 3 would be Nytex. Its really more a practice facility than an arena, 2,300 is the max attendance, and all of the seats are very close to the glass. The 1 time I was there, I was sitting on the first row of the upper "end zone" terrace and my feet were level with the glass, which was only about 6 feet in front of me. Needless to say, I had a pretty cool vantage point to watch the game from.

Anyway, I hope I can add to that list within the next year.

Football? Futbol? UEFA anybody?

So I've been keeping up with what the British call "football" lately, and I can say that I'm becoming a Celtic fan. They're in the Champions League group play right now and are 2-0-2(w-t-l) which gives them 6 points and a tie for 2nd place in their group. Both wins came at home, including a 2-1 upset of AC Milan. They play 2 more games in the group stage, 1 against Shakhtar (2nd place) at home and 1 against Milan(1st place), on the road. The top 2 in each group move on to a 16 team knockout stage. If Celtic wins both games, they're in. If they beat Shakhtar and they lose to Milan, they will need help to move on. They play on 11-28-07 against Shaktar at 1:30 in the afternoon, (CST). Or at least its something like that. I'm hoping that game will be on ESPN.

Here's a link. uefa.com