Say what!?!?      I thought he was a second baseman.   

My goodness - that page didn't last long. Here's our girl.

Owen
“ Bobby Richardson was a well-known and prominent Christian speaker who preached at various venues, including churches, Billy Graham Crusades, and even a White House worship service at President Nixon's request. He was an outspoken Christian, a key figure in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and preached Mickey Mantle's funeral service.”

And yet he never sang Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side”…. he won the MVP in the 1960 World Series for the losing team,,, yep, the series where “Maz” hit the winning homer. Go figger…

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quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

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One of the things I love about the game, and how it's progressing, is that it's become more and more of a cultural melting pot. It may not have been so back in the Willy O'Ree days, but nowadays, nobody cares about your heritage provided that you can skate, shoot, and carry a big chip on your shoulder.

From a site called Canada Uncovered >> my Facebook page >> BHO:

When Jacques Lemaire took the helm of the New Jersey Devils in the mid-’90s, he coached Russian forward Valeri Zelepukin who, in his early NHL days, didn’t speak much English. One memorable moment occurred during a mid-season slump when Lemaire told his players in no uncertain terms that things were going poorly“ players get traded, some players get called up, a lot things can happen.” After a hush fell over the room, Zelepukin, ever the quiet fellow, raised his hand and deadpanned, “Coach get fired?” The whole room, including Lemaire, burst into laughter.

Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Vladimir Guerrero Sr.

Sad news: Ken Dryden has passed.

Truly one of the all-time greats. Not just in hockey - as a human being.

R.I.P.

Condolences to the Dryden family and Ken’s friends. He was a one-off.
btw, Skip.. he was drafted by the Broons in 1964,,, a trade sent him to Moan-ray-all

Rudy was GM for the St. Catharines TeePees when they won the Memorial Cup in 1960, then coached the Chicago Black Hawks to a Stanley Cup win the next year.

And now for the important stuff.

Rookie camps start tomorrow. The prospect challenge games start in several days.

Training camps start a week from tomorrow, and the pre-season games start several days after that.

All of which means we are now exactly four weeks away from puck drop on the '25-26 season. Can't wait.

An interesting wrinkle on this season: the league and the NHLPA have agreed to fast-track several provisions of the new CBA, most of which kicks in next season. The one that could have a real impact on the season is that teams will be subject to salary caps during the playoffs - they can certainly add players to their rosters, but on any game day the 20 players dressed must cumulatively not exceed the cap. And that means that certain teams - won't mention names, but their initials are Tampa Bay and Las Vegas - won't be able to sandbag things by keeping impact players on LTIR for large parts of the season and then engineering a March medical miracle to return them to playoff-level health.

What's the rationale for the "not guilty five" being eligible in Dec. rather than now?  [Inquiring minds want to know!!   ]

Fwiw, Blue Jays black uniforms so UG-LEE that I had to watch Astros-Braves, even when it was 11-1.  I hope they don't have any Friday nite games come playoff time ... or that there's a CFL game on another channel.    Where there's life there's hope?????

Black matches the tenor of the times, I guess…

I've heard that this guy was pretty good .... popped up on my Facebook page just now:

^^^^^ McCarver said he avoided making trips to the mound , BG would growl at him with a few choice words thrown in…ha
But, but, but, when did they lower the mound ? Methinks it was BG that caused them to make it easier for hitters.

ok, I got unlazy & looked it up

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/why-was-the-mound-lowered-in-1968/c-158689966

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Originally posted by Owen

What's the rationale for the "not guilty five" being eligible in Dec. rather than now?  [Inquiring minds want to know!!   ]

 

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I don't have Gary Bettman or Bill Daly in my address book, so I'm merely speculating.

But I would bet that it's to give the teams enough time to quietly test the amount of fan blowback in their markets if they take one of them on. Seems to me that Canadian markets might be a LOT more sensitive to this than the US, so any that get picked up are likely to do so on this side of the border. Have seen some analysis indicating that might be the case.

Have read that two teams are already kicking tires on Carter Hart. One of the five - can't remember who - has already signed to a team in Europe.

Thanks Skip, that sounds plausible.    But, but, but the teams have already had mucho time to ponder their path forward (?) w.r.t. any/all [anticipated] court decisions.  Shirley/surely the individual teams don't need league direction on how their own particular fan bases would react???

Interesting commentary that Cdn. fans might be more demanding (?) than US fans .... but fwiw, I think  [hope? ]  you're right.

Personally I suppose it's a chance to demonstrate walk-the-talk / walk-the-walk / talk-the-walk / ??? for "innocent until proven guilty" ....  but I think I'll be having my own suspicions [speculation?] re. how the whole thing went down,  for a l-o-n-g time.  Maybe it's a good thing that sports is decreasing in importance as I get old(er).

quote:

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Originally posted by Owen

Thanks Skip, that sounds plausible.    But, but, but the teams have already had mucho time to ponder their path forward (?) w.r.t. any/all [anticipated] court decisions.  Shirley/surely the individual teams don't need league direction on how their own particular fan bases would react???

 

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Perhaps. But I think there's more to it.

Certainly, the CHL didn't look great through any of this, and that has a direct impact on AHL/NHL teams that pick up players. The NHL almost certainly knew there was a possibility of a poopstorm from all of this, but it wasn't until these players were formally charged that the poopstorm emerged.

The NHL gave itself a certain measure of cover by waiting to see what would happen while the law enforcement investigation was going on, extended by the formal charges and court case. And at that point, it would strike me as logical that the league would effectively stand down until their legal status was determined.

The next curious thing, IMO, was that after the players were found not guilty the league made a rather public show of "completing" its own investigation. I suspect the league already new everything that it was going to, but one must remember that Bettman is an attorney by training, and attorneys are well-versed in the art of stalling for time - and time causes memory to fade and anger to die down.

I view the current delays (no contracts until mid-October, no signings before December) as part of that. But I do think that the teams who are potentially interested in these guys are in fact busy doing quiet market research amongst their fans to get a read on how much, if any, damage such a signing would create, reputationally. I suspect they're also looking carefully at their players and coaching staffs for the same thing. After they get a read on those things, the next thing to determine is if the potential value of one of these players exceeds the reputational damage (if any).

They may also be trying to get a read on whether any of these players (with the exception of Hart) are actually good enough at  this point to risk the signing. After all, these kids haven't played in two years. That's an awful lot of development time for young players.

Forgive me, but I’d like to resurrect my earlier comments about the cleavage promotion fad these days. It’s become an epidermic , methinks, however some discretion needs to be applied as witnessed here from the usually indefatigable Maddy Shipman - the hint at cleavage reminds me (ugh) of “plumber’s crack”…. egads

Is ^^ an illustration of discretion or a call for it?   [Inquiring minds want to know!!}

And furthermore and moreover, some of us have trouble taking a hint .... I [temporarily]  recuse myself from my typical insights (?) w.r.t black / white / gray.  

And speaking of having to have stuff spelled out ... Schulman just informed us that "...the Blue Jays like where they are in the standings."    

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Forgive me, but I’d like to resurrect my earlier comments about the cleavage promotion fad these days. It’s become an epidermic , methinks, however some discretion needs to be applied as witnessed here from the usually indefatigable Maddy Shipman - the hint at cleavage reminds me (ugh) of “plumber’s crack”…. egads

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All I see in that photo is a strand of blond hair that gives the ILLUSION of cleavage.

Back to our discussion on "the five" - here's an article from Sportsnet that impresses me as well-informed.

Well, don’t that beat all,, I never looked close enough to see that strand of hair,,, ok, I guess all’s well that ends well.
As fer groop sex being rampant in the hockey world, I’d have to throw my hat into the ring and agree with Gilhooly not by any experience on my part but likely his, knowing his history. (slightly tongue-in-cheek)

C'mon youse guys .... I don't see any  wayward hair, and even less cleavage.  

I know the judge's ruling deemed the sex as being consensual, but I'll bet the farm* that some was, some wasn't.  [And that's without even considering that courts have ruled that ree-wee, ree-wee drunk people can't give informed consent.]  

I agree with Gilhooly that the NHL is in a tough spot .... "how do you suspend an innocent person?"   But from out here in the boonies it's 100% optics and $$$ ... but I guess that's understandable in the entertainment business.   [What did the NHL actually do about, "... "woefully short of the standards and values .. yada, yada, yada" in the time between this coming to public attention and the court ruling?   Inquiring minds want to know!!  ].

I haven't been around dressing rooms for many years, so I don't know what messages are/aren't being given to players during their formative years ... though my suspicion is that for the most part, if messages are given they would be the bare minimum at best.

* the one we sold in 2000.

Edit:  And add into the mix that, according to DC/MD, hockey players are the best ...............  ?????