Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
Torres Returns for Fifth Olympics
Dara Torres, the ageless wonder of this years version of the 2008 US Olympic Swim Team. It will be her fifth Olympics and her first since 2008 when she was 33 years old. Whats even more impressive is that she is a mother of a two year old. Usually, once there are kids in the picture, the swimming career is over, not in this case.
She won the 100 meter freestyle with a time of :53.78 seconds. Incredible. Natalie Couglin finished second with a time of :53.83.
This is her fifth Olympics which has never been done. Amanda Beard has a shot as she qualified for her fourth at the age of 26 in the 200 meter breatstroke finishing second.
The more I watch these trials the more impressed I am with the depth. The US swimmers are setting records up and down the pool. This could be a dominating year for the US team in Bejing.
Adding to Dara's success was Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol who dueled in the 200 meter backstroke. Peirsol tied Ryan's world record of 1:54.32 with Ryan finishing a very close second with a time of 1:54.34. Peirsol is the best backstroker going into the games until someone proves it otherwise and that person could be Lochte.
Had Torres kept going over the years, she could have been qualifying for her 8th games. They were playing a tune to her as she was waving the flag on deck and at this Olympics, this could very well be her theme song:
This is a news update featuring an interview with Torres. Michael Phelps referred to her as a second mom, she took it well, but considering she is a mom, its pretty close to the truth.
Category: Swimming
Why Stever Bernier?
If I have one question for Darcy about yesterdays trades is this...Why did you have to give up Steve Bernier? Is Max really that worthless? We could have used Bernier's toughness and goal scoring touch on the front line. He's young and has a lot of room to grow still.
So, is giving up Steve Bernier, two second round picks and a third rounder too much for Rivet? You could have given up a lot less for a 35 year old defenseman with a lot of mileage under his belt. Im not saying Rivet wasn't worth picking up, but the round about way it took to get him, you could have gotten without giving up the former first rounder in Bernier and two second rounders. Essentially, the assets gotten for the Brian Campbell trade are gone.
I think they could have tried at least to move Max to Vancouver instead of Bernier. Darcy seems to think that Max will return to form....Honestly Im sick of his form, Id rather have Bernier who adds toughness with the scoring touch.
Anything short of a 30-40 goal seaon from Max this year will be disappointing with all the talk Darcy has been doing in the paper and through interviews about Max and his return to form. Stick him with Roy and Vanek and he better perform.
Stever Bernier to me was never given half a chance, the day he came to Buffalo he played with Roy and Vanek and had a goal and two assists with some big hits, the rest of the season he was on the third or fourth line, how is a guy supposed to produce playing with Adam Mair? No knock against Mair but he can't score and nobody playing with him can either.
So, we can compare Max and Bernier this coming season because Vancouver is planning on using him as a top six forward, I am predicting a breakout year for Bernier, 30-40 goals. Go ahead, laugh it up, he had 16 in 07-08, on the 1st or 2nd line in Vancouver with his speed, size and hands, easy 30, go ahead and make him a sleeper pick in your fantasy drafts, Im staying a mile away from Max.
Craig Rivet Comes To Buffalo
We are familiar in Buffalo with Craig Rivet from his time in Montreal. Last season he was with San Jose. The guy is 35 years old and tough as nails on the blueline. Finally someone who can knocks someones head off in front of the net. He was also an assistant captain with San Jose so Darcy addressed the leadership and defense issues with one move.
This is a little of his toughness courtesy of Youtube:
OUCH!!!!!
Okay, I have worked as a physical therapist for the better part of the last 7-8 years now and I honestly can say I have never seen nor heard of this injury but DAMN it had to have hurt.
Chris Snyder was put on the 15 day DL the other day by the Arizona Diamondbacks with a "Testicular Fracture".
Now what the hell is a testicular fracture? I mean the testicle is not a bone here, so you can not technically fracture a testicle. Apparently it was caused by a foul tip that went off his testicle and caused what is known as testicular rupture or fractured testis.
Officially this is a rip or tear in the tunica albuginea which causes the testicular contents to be extruded. With this comes what anyone would expect, pain (no kidding?), scrotal swelling (of course), nausea and vomitting (hell yes).
Treatment can include surgical "exploration" (again not something I want to hear when I get hit in the nads, we are going to perform surgical exploration? YIKES) and repair of the defect.
Okay, remember kids, wear your cups and protective gear when playing sports that involve hard objects like baseballs and hockey pucks.
We have all learned something new and painful today. Luckily for Chris Snyder, he doesn't require "surgical exploration" and he should be back after the All Star Break.
Category: Sports
Good Vibrations
What says the 4th of July like the Beach Boys at the Washington Monument? Back in the early 80's the Beach Boys played the Washington Monument from 1980-1982. The shows were banned because James Watts, the Secretary of the Interior (one of the Politicians who we can criticize for being a butthead) said that rock concerts brought an "undesirable element".
Those DC concerts were some of the last times we would see the original Beach Boys lineup together as Dennis Wilson drowned in December of 1983 and all the drug and health problems that Brian Wilson was going through.
This is a clip of Good Vibrations from that first 1980 show:
Category: Independence Day | Music
Happy Anniversary!
Look at these two aren't they cute! These are my parents, John and Grace, the two that raised me, they should recieve medals of honor for their courage and bravery in doing so.
Today is not just the 4th of July, it is also their wedding anniversary! So wish them a happy one!
Category: Independence Day
Happy 4th of July!
Often I am very critical of our countries leaders and policies on my site, but, that does not mean I do not love the USA. I do. I just feel it can be run better.
That said, there is no better place I would rather be than this country right here, right now. We have such a diverse nation and for all intensive purposes over the years we have solved many a problem with the system we have.
With the right leadership we can solve many of the problems we have now. So on this Independence Day, Im celebrating the freedom we have in this country with hopes for better leadership come November.
This day is about patriotism and freedom. Part of being a patriot is caring enough to recognize when your leaders are steering the country you love in the wrong direction, the beautiful thing is, we live in a country that allows us the freedom to voice those opinions on blogs like this and other media.
So, with all that said, have a great 4th, and remember: Don't set off fireworks indoors and when you light the roman candle point it away from your face and not at anyone or anything else.
Category: Independence Day
$400 Million for Rush?
There are star athletes who are getting paid huge sums of money some would consider outrageous, others, because of the sport they play or because of their work ethic and talent would say make exactly what they should. Thats fine, I can deal with sports figures getting what they get.
What I can't get my thoughts around is Rush Limbaugh making the coin he makes and spewing the crap he spews at the listeners on a daily basis. I listen to AM 1520 which is a progessive and primarily democratic talk radio station. Every once in a great while I will turn to hear what Rush is spewing about and its usually sickening that he thinks the way he does and gets away with it. Listen to him for an hour, hell, 15 minutes and you'll here some of the most incredible bullshit uttered on radio. I guess thats part of his secret, he's so one-sided, so out there to the conservative right, that people who hate him will tune in just to hear what is coming out of the jackass next. Thats exactly how Howard Stern got his audience. You hear stories and eventually the stories get you to tune in for 15 minutes and then all of a sudden, you're hooked, not because you like him, but because you are shocked into listening to someone actually talk this way.No matter what the guy says or how true or untrue it is in relation to the political world, there is one thing that I am thoroughly convinced of. He doesn't deserve that much money. The day he has a democrat point of view to present an argument that he has to defend and someone or something that actually challenges what he says, that is when I will say he is worth something. All his talk show is, is him talking about ultra-conservative issues and his puppets who actually like him calling in and blowing sunshine up his ass.
Keep in mind that the utra-conservative right wing views you are listening to is coming from a $400 million dollar elitist. He has more money in his pocket than you or I will ever dream of. Thats not a conservative talking. He'll say what ever he has to as long as he gets every penny of that $400 million. Rush Limbaugh is so far out of touch with reality and the average American its ridiculous and you can hear it when he talks. He has no clue what the average American is going through.
Ill still tune in every once in a great while, just to see what he is talking about, but believe me, I will never be hooked on him, Ill tune out just in time so that my presence won't increase his ratings. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of having me count to his over-inflated number of listeners.Finally Worth The Trip?
There has been lots of news lately about the Erie Canal Harbor and the "revitalized" Buffalo waterfront. So much so, I feel like its worth a trip down there to see it.
Has anyone been down there yet? How does it look and is it worth the trip? It sounds good, the news is hyping it up like its worth it.
May actually become a good, cheap way to enjoy an afternoon in the city. We will have to reserve a Sunday afternoon for a trip down there to see what all this is about. When I do, Ill bring Youtube footage back with me so the rest of you can see and make up your own minds.
Back Off The Sabres
Im listening to Schopp and the Bulldog on WGR 550 and I want to turn it off because of the negativity of the fans of this team. How can anyone criticize this hockey team or its management?
Plain and simple, this team spent to the salary cap two years in a row following the lockout, so calling them cheap is a joke. Last year, they had two centers who they could have signed. They could have but then you would have lost Thomas Vanek and you would have been looking at not being to lock up Derek Roy long term because you would have had Briere or Drury eating up that money.
If anything last year I fault this team for signing guys like Numminen and Andrew Peters and not going out and finding a defenseman who was younger and ready to play. But these other squabbles over how this team has been mismanaged is a joke.
I would rather have Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy over Daniel Briere and Chris Drury any day of the week if for any other reason than the fact that Vanek and Roy have more productive years ahead of them that either of our former two co-captains.
Brian Campbell's contract even at $5 million a year like he would have taken last year would have taken them over the cap. There is no way this team was going to spend the $56 million it took for Chicago to sign him either.
So going into this season if no moves are made I feel pretty good about this team. They have a ton of depth at forward which someone like Max, Kotalik or Connelly could easily be traded off for defensive help. What other team could say they have 15 NHL caliber forwards (thats five lines worth) ready to go?
Drew Stafford and some of the youth on this team last year should be much better than last year with some playing time under their belt and their young stud defensemen Mike Weber and Andrej Sekera will be better as well.
This is not a dying team. They are a young team and a deep team. Remember, even if they don't go out and sign a defenseman in free agency they can still try Michael Funk, Nathan Paetsch or Marc-Andre Gragnani. They have had incredible success pluging young guys in and getting immediate results.
Their problem isn't management, their problem is they are young. But with the long term committment to Paul Gaustad, hopefully, they signed their new permanent captain who can lead the way. Cut out the negativity and chill out and give this team a chance.
