NEW NHL Podcast: Enjoy a Refreshingly Atypical Trade Deadline Update

Here is your Weekly Wednesday All-Hockey podcast in association with The Hockey Herald.

It contains a look into the thought process(es) of GM's, and how sports writers try to elucidate potential transactions in a fanatical and exaggerated manner. Moves on to discuss what big names are actually worthy of discussion (Hossa, Richards, Boyle, Jokinen, Campbell) and outlines some of the most likely deals that NHL teams will make to improve their chances of winning the cup (Bruins, Blue Jackets, Rangers, Sharks, Ducks and more!).




Enjoy, and thanks for listening. - Derek.

Forsbergs' foot is still fooling us all. Is he back... AGAIN?

This man was the best player in the NHL, is one of three members of the double Triple Gold Club, and recently turned down numerous NHL contracts that would have enhanced his wealth and protected his family (financially) for decades just to protect his integrity. Men who care this passionately about their reputation and legacy are few and far between in North America, so perhaps Peter Forsberg owes these qualities to his modest Swedish upbringing. In any case, todays news from his Nordic stomping ground will surprise you.

Many have criticized Peter and his agent for dragging out the recent recruitment process that has been anything but cohesive and predictable. While sycophants in the press boxes have gushed endlessly about all the particulars of his return and its on-again, off-again nature, we have been throw yet another sexy glance to be undoubtedly followed with more hot and heavy action. In specific terms I am alluding to the event which followed his agents declaration that Peters' return is unlikely, in which Peter himself piped up in Stockholm and stated he remains hopeful his foot will mend before the window of opportunity closes on Feb 26th.

Huh? This dance is on again, Pete?

Startling as it may be that this continues to consume us, we mustn't heap the blame solely onto Forsbergs' shoulders, even though he has repeatedly stoked the fires and encouraged growingly disinterested onlookers to usher themselves under the Big Top. We are a part of this circus because the media knows the level of interest surrounding a great champion like Peter Forsberg. However, the resultant myopia is more dizzying than the Gravitron.

It's likely that GMs will keep their dealings in line according to the worst-case scenario to mitigate Forsberg-related uncertainty. In other words, if I were a GM at the meetings in Naples as we speak, I would essentially pretend Forsberg doesn't exist and get the best of whatever I can elsewhere. This is much more difficult for Chicago, Philadelphia, Colorado and perhaps Ottawa, Vancouver and Minnesota, who have been hanging on for dear life in the Forsberg sweepstakes. In this instance they'd be best suited to draw up an offer and let Peter know where you stand, inclusive to the treat-him-like-a-ghost caveat above.

Enigmatically and overwhelmed the GM's will grind through their meetings in Naples cautiously optimistic that Forsberg remains one of three things: in their line up, in Sweden, or in a rivals line up, but in their press box and listed as DTD. At this point, to all of us not in Naples or Stockholm, its seems although all three are equally likely. What we can be certain about however, is that the rumors won't cease until we are celebrating the 102nd anniversary of the Anti-Deficiency Act.

Thanks for reading, Cheers - Derek. PS- Check out thehockeyherald.com every Wed (tomorrow) for my weekly all-NHL podcast. This weeks' will be a beauty.

Huge Podcast Announcement + New Podcast

I have formed a partnership with Fraser at thehockeyherald.com as the official podcaster for his website. I encourage everyone to check it out, as it provides quality updates and NHL-related content -- esp. now that they've got a podcast ;).

As per the agreement, I am stoked to announce that I'll be publishing a weekly podcast (every Wednesday) for you all, and his 15000+ subscribers to enjoy. The content will be exclusively hockey-related so be sure to tune in as the deadline approaches and the playoffs near. Cheers, Derek.
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Here is a sneak peak at the first The Hockey Herald Podcast, with host Derek Braid. Topics include Quicks Hits on Zednik and Moreaus' skate blade injuries, Evgeni Malkins' emergence, Hot Stove chatter about possible trades and player transactions, and lastly a chirp at the NHL-covering media and their constant bitching. Enjoy, and note the 150% less gay audio player!

MLB: Pettitte Buries Clemens with the Truth

Here we go again with the damn congressional hearings? Aside from the fact that the media is dragging this issue out to nauseating extremes, shouldn't we question the congressional involvement?

The misconduct of the congressional committee is layered beyond what one might assume. Beneath the surface of this wasteful and unnecessary hearing is their childish and unprofessional conduct in the week leading up to todays proceedings. While anticipating questions from members of the 40-person committee, Clemens and his lawyers solicited the aforementioned cohort in their offices and willingly provided autographs and shared friendly banter. Shouldn't this be a purely ethical pursuit for justice and honest conclusions rather than a few old timers glad-handing a legend?

More importantly, does anyone actually need the findings of this hearing to draw their conclusions on Roger Clemens guilt? As I write (at 10:11am) I remain highly skeptical that anything said in front of congress this morning will exonerate Clemens in light of the overwhelming evidence supporting the contrary. In fact, I am glued to the TV solely in anticipation of Rogers' admission of guilt (or enraged physical assualt on McNamee, whichever you feel more likely).

Growth hormone (or human growth hormone, HGH) has been likened to the fountain of youth by medical and academic professionals. It promotes muscle building and decreases body fat while facilitating increased recovery and improving energy metabolism. Do these sound like characteristics that might be associated with a sudden and pronounced resurgence in an aging athletes' career? HGH helps fuel your muscles by increasing glucose uptake, has an anabolic effect in trained athletes, and works particularly effectively when coupled with anabolic steroids like the deca-durabolin and winstrol Clemens allegedly received via injection from Brian McNamee.

Irrespective of these damning congruencies above lies the testimony of close friend and former teammate, Andy Pettitte. Exposing the cards previously tucked tightly to his pinstripes Pettittes' honest and forthcoming deposition ultimately crushed Clemens claims of innocence. The affidavit courtesy of Pettitte not only corroborated the claims of Brian McNamee directly, but also enhanced the detail in which congress and the public can use to come to judgment with numerous statement implicating Clemens and performance enhancing drugs.

To watch Roger refute these facts in front of congress with babbling and manufactured words is laughable. His guilt is worn on his face, documented in the Mitchell Report and now in a nationally televised congressional hearing. Roger Clemens now officially joins Pete Rose among baseball superstars with an eternally tainted legacy proving that the one thing fans hate more than a cheater, is a liar.

NHL Violence: Now TV commercials are a problem? PLEASE...

Talk about a polarizing subject in sports and fighting in hockey emerges like a sneaky right cross from George Parros. The volume of opinions on the matter diminish the vastness of the Milky Way while overemphasizing what amounts to a single snap, or pitch in football and baseball respectively. Does punching a man in the groin, or throwing at someones' head not glaringly eclipse the inherent danger in a good on-ice tussle? Surely objective readers will acknowledge fighting at the very least to be a necessary evil in the game of hockey.

What motivated me to take on this unresolvable debate? It wasn't a decry to thwart fighting in the NHL, but oddly, stern condemnation of their marketing partners. Plainly, a well established columnist from Vancouver, Mr. Tony Gallagher, is pissed about the NHL's associations and somehow erroneously links this with diminished interest and viewership in the game itself.

This piece from the Montreal Gazette. I'll save you the trouble of reading it with the following summary:

- I don't like UFC, and Montreal shouldn't be so excited to host the first UFC event North of the 49th.
- UFC and WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) are advertising on NHL broadcasts. This is bad for hockey.
- The commercials feature real-time fight highlights, which turn off families and woman from hockey...
- If this trend continues to larger national broadcasts, all woman will stop watching hockey.
- Kids will beat the crap out of each other after watching UFC-type commercials.
- Reverse this trend or hockey ratings will be sunk in the bottom of the can forever.

Wow. Slow news day Mr. Gallagher? There are several elements to this that bother me just enough to waste time writing about it.

For starters, the topic has been discussed on the most listened to sports radio show in Canada (Bob McCown PTS on the Fan590). They joked about it weeks ago and brought up the merits of coupling the two forms of entertainment. This illustrates not only the lack of originality, but brings up the possibility that this column evolved over several weeks of meticulous research and planning. Those who read the article will quickly realize my facetiousness as it pertains to the latter statement.

To say that violence and its associations with hockey are spoiling the sport for families is misguided and foolish. This can be verified by simply contrasting the relative fraction of on-air time received by the sum of all violent content to that which is non-violent. Fighting and the commercial advertisements that were the focus of Mr. Gallaghers' grievance are equivalent to a cliché-laiden pre-game interview: even though a certain demographic would rather not bear witness, its mere presence doesn't sufficiently reduce the quality of the overall product.

Not surprisingly it appear this piece was published in the Montreal Gazette, which is heavily circulated in a region rich with European ideals. Among these principals is a general distaste for fighting in hockey, evident in the lack of physicality and fisticuffs in the QJMHL, as well as their NHL franchise. I'd like to see the reception to this article in Mr. Gallaghers' native West, where they not only play tough hockey, but willingly endorse all the potential repercussions of a heightened degree of physicality.

If you need ways to improve the game targeting the commercials is a laughable prospect. If you are serious about increasing the following for the NHL, just read this and get on with it.

Podcast #4: Shaq, Forseberg and the NHL Hotstove, Ray Emery is TO!

The best podcast to date! Check out the analysis on the Shaq/Marion deal in the NBA, the how the Peter Forsberg sweepstakes changes the NHL, and the best piece I've done yet: Ray Emery is the TO of the NHL.

Enjoy, and thanks for listening!

Cloud9 Sports Podcast: Tiger, Eli Manning and the Tipster.

Enjoy the newest auditory submission on Cloud9 Sports. This podcast continues the State of Sports Address with a look at why Tigers' dominance is bad for the PGA, a profile of Super Bowl QB Eli Manning and how his emergence should be judged, and lastly a humourous beef on Sports gambling and the Fan 590.

Thanks for listening! - Derek.