A sad day in Germany

If you’re a fan of futbol, you probably already know that Hannover 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke took his own life earlier this week.

We do hear the occasional sad story about a player who has long retired who can’t deal with the strain of being away from the spotlight, we hear about players who end in financial straits or alcoholism or what have you…but you so rarely see a sportsman in the prime of their life and their career reaching a point like this. I won’t get overly parochial about it, but it does serve as a reminder that these guys are human beings and sometimes bad things happen to decent people.

I only hope that if there’s anyone else who is in a similar situation, they see the tragedy of this and get help before it’s too late.

Class is in session…

Even if you’re not a Canadiens fan, you should absolutely read this if you want to have any understanding at all about how much you can actually blame goaltenders for goals conceded. I have at times been especially harsh on both Price and Halak in this space – if you take away Halak’s brain-dead giveaway behind the net against the Islanders, the upshot of this piece is “Sean is going to shut the fuck up about our goalies for a while”.

Seriously, it’s an amazing read.

 

http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/11/9/1120413/price-halak-the-stats-october-2009

To prove the below point…

…go down one post and read Brendan’s piece, then come on back.

OK, that done, here’s a real-world example that happened just today. If Birmingham City get relegated by 2 points or less this season, a certain percentage of the blame has to go to Peter Walton buying what everyone on the planet (who doesn’t know the words to You’ll Never Walk Alone) is saying was an absolutely egregious dive from David N’Gog. All of a sudden, Liverpool 1-2 Birmingham becomes Liverpool 2-2 Birmingham. Hell, if Liverpool sneak into 4th by a point or two, this will have been a major contributor as well.

Boogeyman

I imagine that Brendan will be by at some point to go over the post-mortem of the Strikeforce show. Admittedly, I spent a lot of the time wearing an Armenian flag while drinking McSorely’s and conversing with friends…so, there isn’t much I can tell you about the Miller-Shields fight other than it drained much of my will to live.

However, what I can say is that I am now convinced that parents in Russia tell their children that if they misbehave, Fedor will come and eat them. That is a scary, scary man.

Fair-weather fans

Dear everyone:

Can we all agree to stop pretending that the Yankees have some kind of monopoly on irritating fair-weather fans who buy their official team gear ten minutes before the parade? There’s no question that the streets of NYC are absolutely crawling with them…I’m not disputing that. What gets me though is the sheer volume of whining and bitching and moaning from fans of other teams sadly bemoaning either a) the amount of money the Yankees spent to win the championship and b) the existence of said fair-weather fans.

Before I go any further, let me make it abundantly clear that I am no Yankee fan – nominally, I root for the SF Giants but the reality of my current situation is that baseball is somewhere between water polo and curling among my list of favorite sports. I care infinitely more about soccer, hockey, MMA, etc. I speak from a position of more or less complete neutrality.

That said, as a thought exercise, pretend you’re walking down the streets of Kansas City right now. Take a note of the relative percentage of people wearing Kansas City Chiefs gear. If you prefer, replace that with the Royals – they both suck and they both aren’t expected to win a championship any time this millenium. Anyway, call that percentage (x). Now, say the hand of god comes down and their next season plays out like a sports movie. Despite the wacky personalities and underdog status, they go on to win the big game…the Royals or Chiefs are now the champions. Now, do that same thought exercise – walk down the streets of KC, note the percentage of Royals/Chiefs gear, and call that percentage (y).

Y IS GOING TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY FUCKING BIGGER THAN X BECAUSE PEOPLE LOVE WINNERS, YOU IDIOTS.

And, for the record, spending money doesn’t necessary correlate to winning. It’s a necessary part of winning, but you still have to do it right. If you’re a Mets fan and you bitch about the Yankees’ spending, you’re a moron. The Mets’ payroll could still fund the administration of Guam for 6 months, but the Yankees have historically been pretty good at identifying value for money. Yes, they spend big, but they spend big ON THE RIGHT GUYS. While my idiots are paying a king’s ransom to Barry Zito every season, while they pay big money to stiffs like Randy Winn and has-beens like Edgar Renteria, the Yankees have gotten the right pieces in place to consistently contend for a title every season.

That said, I don’t want to be too nice to Yankee fans. So, I will say that the people bitching that it took them 9 years to win can go fuck themselves, too. Seriously, if you look closely enough at King Tut’s tomb, there are hieroglyphs that translate to “The Yankees made the playoffs once again”. All you can ask of a regular season is to make it to the big dance at the end, and no one has done that with more consistency than the Bombers. The idea that losing in a short-series tournament means that their salaries aren’t justified is just the stupidest goddamned thing ever. The year they didn’t make the playoffs, you can somewhat argue that since they didn’t do their job well enough over 162 games. Over 5 games or over 7 though, it’s a fucking crapshoot and wacky things happen. While it’s not as loopy as a single-elimination tournament like March Madness or the FA Cup (whose final last season was contested between Portsmouth FC – fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the Premier League table this term – and Cardiff City, who are from the second division), you’re still 1 or 2 bad games away from going home. That can happen to anyone, and it often does.

Long story short – OHMYGOD, SHUT UP ALL OF YOU.

Too good not to share

OK, look. Goalkeepers in any sport are absolutely bonkers as a whole…I know this from personal experience. However, this has to be the wackiest thing yet – a hockey goalie in Finland gets down with his bad self after his team wins.

I have no words.

Ominous…

Hi all.

I’ve been busy lately (and as of yesterday recovering from a fairly nasty kick/knee to the head…not sure which it was). Anyway, I wish I could comment on Arsenal’s evisceration of Tottenham up at the Lane, but I sadly missed the match to play in a soccer tournament…the one where I picked up the aforementioned injury. I did see a GIF of Cesc’s goal to make it 2-0 though, and while there was some dozy defending and it did start with a horrendous going-nowhere square ball, the run and the decision-making from the Captain were sublime. The only other player on the squad who could potentially score that goal is Andrei Arshavin. What a finish, too…keep in mind that Gomes made some stellar saves before that, and Cesc didn’t give him a prayer of stopping that shot – near post or not.

But, of course, that’s not why I’ve titled this post in the manner that I have. It’s not even about the Canadiens, whose record is abnormally inflated with two heavy-weather wins over the Islanders combined with two wins over Toronto that had to go to OT or the shootout (Really? Conceding the tying goal in the last minute of the 3rd? Jacques Martin team, my bunghole). Instead, I refer to the New York Giants, who on the back of the last three weeks look in danger of having been sussed out by the rest of the league.

Today’s 40-17 loss to the Eagles highlighted the same old problems – the secondary, Eli Manning and special teams in that order – but I think we may have underrated just how deep those problems lie. It’s nice to thump Oakland’s skulls for them, but on the other hand, what does that prove? The Giants sit at 5-3 (albeit with a 3-game losing streak), but they have only played four teams with a pulse. They are 1-3 in those 4 games – a fortunate-in-retrospect win at Dallas; and losses at New Orleans, at home to Arizona and now away to Philly. The loss in Louisiana was expected in a lot of ways, as our troubled secondary was always going to struggle against the best QB in the league (and New Orleans is a tough place to play in general). But, the loss at home to Arizona was fucking DREADFUL, and may have been the first real sign that this team may not be what we thought they were.

Meanwhile, while there isn’t much shame in losing at Philadelphia, you would expect our guys to at least put up more of a fight than they did today. Going down 13-0 inside the first few minutes is frankly inexcusable for a team with Super Bowl pretensions. As for the DeSean Jackson TD pass, it says it all when at the time of the reception, the only other player visible on the screen was C.C. Brown – the safety on the other side of the field. There’s almost no point in wasting any further keystrokes on this – it was yet another awful performance on both sides of the ball.

Here’s where the visions of doom really start to kick in, though. As mentioned, we’re 1-3 in games against above-average or better opposition, with 94 points scored against 143 conceded in those matchups. The bye week is thankfully coming up in 2 weeks, but first our guys travel out to Cali to take on the San Diego Chargers.  They have some problems of their own, and they admittedly did just luck out to beat the same Oakland Raiders that we demolished so comprehensively. However, they have a quality QB in Phillip Rivers and a dangerous wideout in Vincent Jackson. Any team that is comfortable going to the air more than half the time is a terrible matchup for us at present, and that’s what the Chargers do. Any way you look at it, this is another one that we may struggle in. After the bye week, it doesn’t get any easier – home vs. Atlanta, away to Denver, then the return games against Dallas and Philly (both at home, thankfully). Two should-be gimmies follow against Washington and Carolina before a hellaciously-tough season finale away to Minnesota. Even if you assume victories in the Washington and Carolina tilts, the G-Men would still need to win 3 of the other games to get to 10-6, which I imagine will probably be the minimum to get into the playoffs. To win the division, they’ll probably have to win at least 4. Other than perhaps Dallas at home and perhaps Atlanta, where are those other wins coming from?

I don’t know, frankly.

You have to be kidding me…

I have nothing further to add on the Machida-Rua debacle, other than that was the worst decision I’ve ever seen in my life (having far less experience in boxing and MMA than Brendan does). Steve Cofield’s snarky post at Cagewriter had some merit to it (it’s really not the end of the world, and I did roll my eyes when my co-worker said he’s not watching UFC again for a long time), but erred too far I think on the side of shrugging your shoulders and assuming that the fight was really that close. I was one of the ones who had it 4-1 for Shogun, and I only just barely gave that one round to the Dragon…5-0 Shogun is a much more defensible card than 3-2 Lyoto is in my opinion. While Lyoto intermittently tagged Shogun with some decent shots, I felt that Shogun a) connected more often and b) connected more often on power shots and in general controlled the bout as far as cage generalship goes. While it doesn’t necessarily automatically cost him rounds when Machida spends them backpedalling, he has tended to win in the past because his counter-striking was brutally effective. Saturday night, not so much.

But, anyway, the title of my post is because Jaroslav Halak is getting the start AGAIN in goal tonight against the Islanders. This would have been the perfect game to put Carey back in because a) JM could have cited the congested schedule as an excuse for giving Halak a rest and b) it would have been the perfect opponent to see if our recent improved play could jumpstart the goaltender that has a much higher talent ceiling. Look, JM has done a lot with a very little so far this season, and I’m beginning to kinda sorta maybe perhaps come around on these guys (they really are so much better than last season, and the effort levels are much higher from people not named Kostitsyn). But, I would be lying if I said I understood this insistence on playing Halak this often…not when he can’t make a single save without booming a rebound out back into the slot.

Papering over the Grand Canyon

Please note that I am about to bitch about a 5-1 win – if this makes me the world’s most miserable prick, then so be it.

Here’s the thing – when it comes to Arsenal and NY Giants, I am an absolute fountain of positivity. Whatever problems those sides have (goalkeeping/Abou Diaby on one hand, a decimated secondary on the other), they have an identity. In those cases, it’s easy to latch onto that identity and enjoy them for the moments of individual brilliance that they provide. When Andrey Arshavin makes a bottom-corner finish look as effortless as waking up in the morning, or when Brandon Jacobs smashes through the line as three or four dudes cling to him in a futile effort at tackling, it (at least for me) more than makes up for Diaby headed own-goals or dying-quail throws from Eli Manning.

The Canadiens, however, have no identity…at least not yet. It remains to be seen if Jacques Martin can reshape this collection of riffraff into his image, but in the meantime this team is horrifyingly frustrating to watch. Are we supposed to win games 1-0? Are we supposed to be a counter-attacking team? Are we supposed to be a lunchpail collection of grinders? There’s nothing to capture the imagination to make up for the times where, say, Jaro Halak decides to gift-wrap the opposition a goal to let them back into a game they should be completely out of. You know, theoretically speaking.

I was waiting for Mike Boone to post his About Last Night regarding this game, hoping it would express many of my current misgivings with this team (and with last night’s performance). Unfortunately, it seems to largely consist of “whew, glad we finally got a blowout” relief. On one hand, yes, it’s nice to finally see the Habs rack up a few goals on the scoreboard. However, that relief quickly turns into something more sinister when you stop looking at the single-game perspective and start thinking about what this relates to the overall narrative of the season.

Let’s not mince words – the Isles are a better hockey team than they were last season…they have some exciting talent, they’ve upgraded the goaltending position and they’ve given one or two teams a tough game this year. But, they were spectacularly dreadful on the night last night, and the fact is that the Canadiens should have laid a much larger beating on them.

The Islanders were disjointed and played like crap right from the opening faceoff – and while it was great that a lucky deflection (combined with a horrific attempt at batting down a puck in the air from the NY defenseman) gifted Scott Gomez with the easiest goal he’ll score this season 7:55 in, the truth is that it could and probably should have been 1-0 or 2-0 by then. The Isles continually gave the puck away, and both their forwards and their d-men couldn’t get their skates moving. Mike Cammellari had a wide-open shot in the slot, but panicked and hurried a slapper when he had time to move in alone on Martin Biron.

To be fair, the Habs picked it up from there, and from that point until the final buzzer of the second period, they jumped all over their opponents and barely let them into the game. Even when Hal Gill took a silly holding penalty, Brian Gionta was one heroic defensive catch-up moment away from firing home a short-handed goal. It was almost inevitable given the steady stream of Isles going to the sin bin that we’d finally see light on the PP. A pretty series of passes led to Marc-Andre Bergeron having a free look from the point. His slapper was on target, and Biron had no hope, what with his own defender screening him and all.

Have I mentioned that the Isles SUCKED last night?

Through two periods, the Canadiens outshot the Isles 30-12. If you factor in shots off the net or blocked, the domination was in even sharper relief. But, I remarked to Brendan as we watched the game that we never seem to score on any half-chances. Gomez got a gift, Bergeron’s shot is probably saved against better opponents, and as I said to Brendan, even Max Pacioretty on current form isn’t going to miss if he’s all alone in the slot. That was a defensive breakdown by NY of a magnitude that even our lot couldn’t manage in the worst of times last season.

So, 3-0 after two, but it probably should have been 5-0 or 6-0. Against a better team, the shot advantage would probably still be there, but the chances of us being tied or behind would be better than you’d think. Besides our inability to finish any chance that doesn’t come with a bow attached, our goalies either a) let in soft goals (cough cough CAREY cough cough) or b) are unable to make a save without kicking out a huge rebound.

But, the good does come with the bad – the defense seems to have been largely sorted out from last season. Despite the presence of some passengers (Gill has his own personal seating car), you’re not seeing other teams get 30 and 40 shots a game with regularity like they were last season. Yeah, the Canucks pretty much skull-raped us a while back, but that’ll happen to every team once or twice during the span of 82 games. It’s much more damaging in the long term to give up tons of shots a night, and that’s not happening. And, as Boone pointed out in ALN, the defense largely did a good job of clearing out the rebounds.

But, at 3-0 and completely in control, Halak fails at basic stickhandling and all of a sudden it’s 3-1 with 19 minutes left to play. Really? FUCKING REALLY? Not only did this present include a goal, but it came with the game’s momentum at no added charge. All of a sudden, the Isles were buzzing around our net and the defense corps seemed to become just a little demoralized as well. Where the first two periods saw a white shirt unable to move without a Praetorian Guard in red shadowing his every move, the third saw gaps open up…even worse, it saw several occasions where a Isles attacker simply danced around a pylon garbed in red. Against a better team, I am absolutely convinced that 3-0 would have become a 4-3 OT loss.

However, the last two goals were absolutely a product of our opponents. Biron didn’t have his best game, and his inability to stop a soft shot from the sideboards ended the Islanders’ resistance. The fifth goal was largely ceremonial, but also a delicious indictment of the Isles’ play on the night – a bad giveaway led to a delayed penalty, where the defender didn’t even get his money’s worth and actually stop Tomas Plekanec’s progress. Biron made the save, but couldn’t deal with the rebound and allowed Maxim Lapierre to sweep it home. Just clown shoes all around.

In the end, I am probably overreacting somewhat, especially since the Habs dropped an unacceptable number of points against these idiots last season. But, please don’t fall into the trap of beliving that this game tells us fuck all about where the Habs are as a team. The slightly-faltering Rangers come to town tomorrow night on the back of two straight bad losses, so how we deal with them will go much further in our attempt to assign some kind of identity to this lot.

Haven’t had a chance to see much of the Habs this season…

…and this is a bit outdated, but Mike Boone’s “About Last Night” piece after the Ottawa loss is fairly spectacular and worth a read.

http://habsinsideout.com/boone/22689

When you’re done with that, check out his About Last Night after the win against Atlanta. 75 chances at goal, scored once and then won in a shootout. If that isn’t papering over large cracks, who the hell knows what it is?

Anyway, the Islanders are in town twice over the next little while, and the Rangers invade the Centre Bell on Saturday night. I plan on DVRing all three, and at that point I hope to have something cogent to write about this team.