Radio Iowa

Is Dion Phaneuf the most overrated player in the NHL?

Sports Illustrated (they still exist?) has conducted a poll of 161 NHL players who could vote in secret for the player they think is the most overrated in the NHL.

So who was #1? Dion Phaneuf.

It is truly hard to believe that other players didn't make it over him for being the most overrated. Just think of the list of these players that clearly take the cake in terms of their reputation and skill. Try these NHL players for size:

Jarome Iginla, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Richards, Ryan Kessler, Alex Burrows, Jeff Carter, Jason Spezza, Scott Gomez, Carey Price, James Reimer, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, 

From the top 15 players that don't deserve to be on that list include Dany Heatley and Chris Pronger. These are 2 great players, Heatley is always scoring goals and has a knack for playing on winning teams, mind you they don't win the cup. Chris Pronger only has one downside which is bad luck that has caused him so many injuries it isn't funny. When healthy, give me a team that doesn't want him besides Edmonton or rather he doesn't want them. These players are not overrated but rather players don't like playing against them.

Phaneuf is a player who doesn't belong on that list of 15. This season he is one of the league leaders in defenceman in points and Toronto players better with him than without. 

http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/1114135--leafs-dion-phaneuf-voted-most-overrated-in-the-nhl-brian-burke-not-amused?bn=1

RIP Joe Frazier, the boxing legend

Joe Frazier, the boxing legend, passes away at age 67. He is acknowledged as one of the greatest boxers of all time and the only one to beat Muhammed Ali where others felt he was untouchable. The news has spread fast and is more than just sports news as it has been covered by BBC News and CNN. Although Joe Frazier seemed to live in the shadows of Ali, he was a heavyweight champion.

His boxing record is an impressive one:

37 fights
32 wins
27 Knock outs
4 Losses

1964 Gold Medal in Boxing

Frazier's first fight against Ali drew all sorts of hype and had the world watching this fight as it was the first time 2 undisputed champions were to face each other to determine the true champion.

In that fight it went 15 rounds with Ali getting the better of Frazier in the early rounds. In the later rounds Ali was slowed and Frazier was able to use his strategy to knock Ali down. He won that fight and he cemented his status as one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Twitter has been buzzing recently of the news with boxers and boxing fans around the world shared their thoughts about the legend passing away.

Rest in Peace Joe Frazier, sharp as a Razor

NBA lockout on the horizon

The NBA is set for a lockout which will surely cost the players and owners plenty of money. The players are already getting too much money but the question is, how much is an NBA franchise worth? The answer might lie in the fact that no teams is seeming to be going bankrupt any time soon so this implies the NBA as a whole is worth a lot of money and far more than the NHL. 

Who knows what the problem is whether it is the players or the owners that are pushing for the lockout. The reality is NBA owners are getting far less income and if player salaries are still increasing, then there is definitely a problem. 

You could call the fans the biggest losers of them all but if they lose 50% of a season, the fans will take longer to come back and this is going to hurt the owners even more, which eventually will come back to hurt the players. Say aren't most NBA retired players going bankrupt anyways? Will more money really help or just delay the problem from 5 years to 6?

Do NBA and NFL players earn too much money? Lockout!

The NBA and NFL both look like they are going to go on strike, or rather a lockout is best called. I think the NFL players either make $9 billion USD or at least that is how much income comes in from the NFL.  The sad state of affairs is how are people expected to show up to these games to support these rich players? The answer is you should expect public attendance to drop for both leagues and also expect less corporate sponsors.  This means owners are going to make less money while the players want to earn more of it.  Not exactly the best situation for anybody, the owners or the fans but the players seem concerned about getting richer at the expense of their fans and owners. 

So what will happen if a lockout occurs in either league?

Just look at NHL and MLB as examples of the damage. Baseball was practically wiped out of Canada with the 1994 strike with Canadian fans not caring any more.  The special elite teams in New York and Boston are the big spenders and are really destroying the rest of the teams out there. Don't expect some of these teams to survive: Los Angeles, Oakland, Kansas City, Seattle. Actually aren't some of these MLB teams already gone? I have no clue.

The NHL took a good 6 years to recover from a completely lost season and still haven't recovered. Ironic enough is NBA has surpassed the NHL in popularity but maybe this will change. You have too many NBA players getting $20 million US per season and this is just criminal.

Tampa Bay Lightning advance to conference finals

The Tampa Bay Lightning have punched their tickets for the conference finals and will face the Boston Bruins who have raced to a 3-0 series lead with little doubt they would make the same mistake they did last year and become the 3rd team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead.

Tampa Bay took out a strong Pittsburgh Penguins team in 7 games in round 1. Against the #1 ranked Washington Capitals they were embarassed and swept them off the ice with the broom. Washington which is usually a strong team will probably have their team ripped apart and maybe they didn't deserve it however their performance against the lightning will put their coach, captain and other star players into question if this is a team built to win the Stanley Cup or not.

Tampa Bay right now is on fire: Vincent Lecavalier is basically leading the playoffs in scoring. Martin St-Louis is having another MVP year just like in 2004 when he won the Hart trophy. Steve Stamkos is looking stronger as the playoffs carry on and he is starting to snipe a few goals. Dominic Moore is stepping up huge and Steve Yzerman looks like a genius as a result. Sean Bergenheim is providing excellent secondary scoring and his timely goals just zapped the Caps of any sort of confidence.

Last but not least, Dwayne Roloson is 41 but has robbed the Capitals of sure goals and is proving he is definitely the real deal. Not only a great pickup but another mastermind play from general manager Steve Yzerman that has this team feeling like they can win the cup this year.

Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadians playoffs

The first round of the NHL playoffs begins soon with one rivalry heating up as the #3 seed Boston Bruins take on the #6 seed Montreal Canadiens. Boston finished the season ahead of Montreal by just 7 points but won their last game and completely embarassed the Habs. As the series starts people will be talking about the Max Pacioretty hit that has left him with possibly a concussion and a broken neck.

The edge has to go to Boston on this series. Cary Price has had a very good year but that doesn't even compare to what Tim Thomas has done for the Boston Bruins. The goalie edge goes there. In terms of forwards Boston has a bigger lineup and players that can all put the puck in the net. You can't exactly say the same for the Habs who are struggling with players like Pouliot and Scott Gomez. Gomez is probably preventing the team from achieving bigger heights with a lot of money going towards the players who has the worst plus/minus on the team. If they didn't have so many top injured defenceman they would be a tough team to play against.

Series prediction: Boston wins in 6 games. This series will be dictated not by the goalies but more by the 3 solid lines of scoring that Boston have.

March Madness updates

UNC Tar Heels make it to the round of 16 for a record 24th time.

Marquette takes out number 3 Syracuse. Marquette ranked 11 now will face number 2 ranked UnC. 

Kentucky knocks out 5th ranked WVU

Duke helps coach K get his 900th win with a 2 point victory over #8 Michigan.

#1 OSU now takes on #4 UK

#3 Connecticut takes on #2 San Diego State University in a boring matchup.

#2 Florida takes on #3 BYU where BYU are probably over ranked after losing a player this year because he had sex, wtf.

#8 Butler caused the first upset of the tournament taking out #1 Pittsburgh. They now take on #4 Wisconsin which should be an exciting game.

#1 Kansas takes on #12 Rich while cinderella story VCU takes on #10 FSU.

For up to date details visit the link below:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket

Matt Cooke gets suspension for elbow headshot

Matt Cooke has in person hearing with Colin Campbell which is a guaranteed suspension. Mario Lemieux asked the league to deliver tougher punishment for headshots and he got his wish as Matt Cooke is getting suspended for his headshot and dirty elbow on New York Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh. It is poetic justice that Mario Lemieux cries to the league because his star player is injured from a concussion yet he has one of the cheapest dirties players in the game on his team in Matt Cooke, the same player who received a 4 game suspension earlier this year for another dirty dangerous play: a hit from behind.

Matt Cooke is famously known for being a dirty player and has a reputation of being someone who goes for headshots. Just ask Marc Savard, the league did nothing about that cheap hit that has nearly ruined his career. It is a crime that these players risk having to retire due to serious injury while Matt Cooke gets a free ticket. 

All of this drama comes after a general manager summit to discuss headshots which was just after the Chara hit on Pacioretty. 

 

Matt Cooke elbow on Ryan McDonagh

Matt Cooke's career on cheapshots

Shogun vs Jones, bookies favor Jones

Betting on Jon Bones Jones might not seem like the best idea. The public things Jones is going to win yet he is the underdog and the guy trying to become the champion. If you are looking for value bets take the champion Mauricio Shogun Rua who is a living legend in the world of mixed martial arts. One of these days a new younger champion will emerge however Jones still has to prove himself the better fighter in this match and the winner might be the guy who has a bit more experience.

Either way it will be an exciting fight that leads up to the next big UFC event taking place in Toronto featuring George St. Pierre taking on Jake Shields for another title. The UFC event in Toronto will be probably the most watched UFC event and the largest in attendance to date as the sports continues to grow worldwide.

March Madness top seeds: Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Duke

The top seeds have been announced with the top seeds in the 2011 NCAA basketball tournament going to Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh and Duke. There were some surprise teams that were left out of the tournament which has some people wondering how stuff like this can happen. These are the top 4 teams of the tournament and everyone wants to know who is going to get knocked out first.

Probably the first upset you can bet money on would be Pittsburgh getting out of the tournament early. Pittsburgh walks in with a sad 27-5 record which is not bad but they did lose a few games that were totally unnecessary. Now it stands that the top contenders are legit and that being Ohio State and Kansas sporting 32-2 records going into the tournament. 

Duke are the defending champions but this tournament is too difficult to repeat as champions as typically these winning teams tend to lose players to the NBA. It hasn't been since Florida that won back to back titles and Duke are hoping to take their 30-4 record to push for a repeat championship.