And Car number Eleven wins it!!

This is probably the only auto race I will watch all year (too much Kyle Busch/brad Keslowski dirty racing bullshit these days), but today, it was definitely a good one. One complaint- Too many wrecks though. I've always liked Hamlin as a driver. He races cleanly, and is talented as heck without resorting to some of the more questionable tactics that you see from some of the other guys.

Well, there goes Matt Duchene off from Ottawa to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hard to spin this any way other than gross organizational incompetence on the Senators’ part.
Just for fun, let’s dig back the almost two years trade history and follow the string of players, prospects and picks involved in bringing Duchene here, and then in sending him out:

Ottawa loses - Kyle Turris, Andrew Hammond, Shane Bowers*, Julius Bergman*, Matt Duchene, a higher 1st round pick in 2019
*never played a game for the Sens
Ottawa gets - a lower 1st round pick in 2019, a possible pick in 2020, Vitali Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson (identified only as “a Swedish forward” on the local news just now). Sure, I’ve been very impressed with Abramov from what I’ve seen of him in Gatineau, but good lord. I don’t balk at the idea of a rebuild, but at least do it in a way that demonstrates some minimal level of planning and foresight.

If the Senators had started a cup run last season, it would have been a brilliant trade. Turris didn't want to stay with us, Hammond was going nowhere in his career and always being negative, Bowers and Bergman are prospects that haven't delivered any goods so far and Duchene turned out being a great player but a terrible human being. The only thing that hurts is the loss of the high first round pick. I have seen worse trades.

I know that most Canadians would now be polite and wish Duchene well and maybe even support him and his team during the playoffs but I simply don't like Duchene as a human being and won't support him in any way. That doesn't have anything to do with being butthurt since I wish other players well like former captain Karlsson for instance or someone like Stone if he doesn't stay with us. Duchene doesn't deserve this support however. He can take a Uber ride out of town.

Fully agreed about Duchene. At the ripe old age of 28, he’s not willing to stick around for a rebuild? Fuck off with that! He has achieved nowhere near enough to say he’s earned the chance to play on a Stanley Cup contender. (Also, he thinks he can get that in Columbus? )
I’m curious though, why did you think Kyle Turris wanted to leave? I always thought he was well-liked and strongly attached to the community.

Ottawa ended up trading Dzingel as well as Stone and Boucher got fired now. These are tough times to be a fan. But supporting your team through thick and thin is what makes a fan a real fan and not just a clueless teenager wearing a Crosby jersey. I wish Boucher all the best as I really liked him as head coach. Maybe he could coach the Oilers next season and Hitchcock can finally retire.

Oh dear lord What kind of head-up-ass organization trades 85% of the team in two years, then fires the coach when the trade-decimated lineup falls into last place? If you ask me, Guy Boucher deserves Jack Adams consideration just for keeping the Sens out of last place for as long as he did.
One positive note, I am very happy with the returns for Ryan Dzingel especially, and Mark Stone to a lesser degree in comparison - better player, not much bigger haul for trading him, but still not bad.

Antonio Brown to the Raiders seems to be a done deal. Exciting, but I'm not sure how much sense it makes. Guess we'll see what they gave up.

Reports are the Raiders only gave 3rd and 5th round picks. Normally, such a piddly return for a receiver of Brown’s statistical greatness would be called a fleecing. But the guy’s just so much a toxic asshole, he’ll only be satisfied as long as nobody else on the Raiders becomes a star while Brown is there.

Yeah he's a prima donna for sure, and I can't imagine he'll get to a Superbowl with the Raiders. He gets paid and the Steelers get some middling draft picks, but if his goal was anything other than more money and a ticket out of Pittsburgh, I think he's going to be disappointed.

A quick turnaround isn't at all far-fetched with all the cap space and high picks they have.

In the article below, Brown says he doesn't care where he plays, but "I just want to win." Not sure how joining the Raiders will help him do that.... They've got two of the best teams in football in their division and one of the worst starting quarterbacks throwing to him. He may still put up crazy numbers, but leaving an organization like Pittsburgh and going to Oakland (or Las Vegas now I guess) does not at all align with him saying he just wants to win. But maybe his outlook has changed since he made those comments.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 744066002/

ObSlave, there are plenty worse quarterbacks than Derek Carr, who somehow managed to crack 4000 yards and set an Oakland record for 300 straight passes without an int. despite having bugger all to pass to. But yeah, I agree with your thoughts about Antonio Brown. Moving to a decimated and unproven team with two juggernauts in their division doesn’t scream “all I wanna do is win” to me. It sounds more like he’s an egotistical dink who wants to be the big fish in a small pond.

Yeah "one of the worst" is probably an exaggeration, but he's probably in the low 20s if you were to rank starting quarterbacks from 1-32.

How bout them Browns though? They've made some big moves this offseason in a division where the other teams seem to be heading in the opposite direction. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Cleveland win the division.

They're certainly the team on the rise in that division, and they'll be in the mix for it. I don't have a lot of faith in the Ravens (neither Lamar or Flacco is really who I'd want under center), and Pittsburgh could have another slow start. If Mayfield improves, Baker to OBJ could be a lethal pass-combo and probably will anyways.

Ya know what, I’m not gonna hedge any bets about it. I hereby declare the Cleveland Browns will win the 2019 AFC North.

So, Bell is going to the Jets for less money than the Steelers offered him in 2018. Maybe things weren't great internally with the Steelers, maybe it was about more than just money and winning, but there is no way in hell either him or Brown are going to go further with their new teams than they did with Pittsburgh.

Bell is getting less money per season average in New York than Pittsburgh offered him, but more of it is guaranteed. For a running back, a position which tends to a higher chance of career-shortening injuries, that is a good deal. But yeah, looking at short-term prospects for success, neither Bell nor Brown looks like he’s made a step up in that department. I’m inclined to believe they’re both just jackasses who had to get out of town, and where they ended up is of little consequence to selfish players.

So apparently the Russian Face-Slapping Championship just happened... There’s a sport that fuckin’ needs weight categories! Look at the size of this bastard, honestly if you stay conscious that’s a win: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2019/0 ... hips-video
Also gotta love that little bottle of hand gel sitting on the table. If you’re going to get slapped in the face, at least let it be a smooth hand!

Even though the Mariners are gonna be fucking terrible this year, I can't wait for baseball season to start. One more week!

In the hockey world, the Vegas Golden Knights just clinched a playoff spot.

I maintained that if they at least made the playoffs in their sophomore season, their inaugural season was no fluke. I'm glad they locked up a spot.

The Giants are projected to be even worse than the Mariners, so I'm not particularly excited about baseball starting up. It gets old watching your team be on the losing end of a lot of 2-0 and 2-1 type games. Which was what last year was like- when their pitching rotation was actually better than this year's team.

I've been kinda following the Big Basketball Thing, but not super closely because it's not like I'm a diehard basketball fan. It would be nice to see Gonzaga win it, and I know a couple people who went to Duke so I kind of root for them but other than that- Nevada is out, Utah State is out, and those were the only other teams I somewhat sort of cared about.

So the Canadian Women’s Hockey League has collapsed, which is at first glance sad news. But the silver lining is it puts an end to the silly little turf war between the now-defunct CWHL and the US-based National Women’s League. Having two leagues with a total of 11 teams was ridiculous; now the former CWHL teams can be absorbed into the other league - minus the Chinese team whose baffling inclusion was probably the thing that pushed the Canadian League beyond its financial limits in the first place.

Well, somehow the Mariners are 5-1, and that offense looks amazing. It's obviously incredibly early, but beating up on every Redsox starter the way they did is damn impressive.

My Pittsburgh Penguins just clinched a playoff spot! Too bad the game isn't on TV.

Also, I saw the end of the Carolina Hurricanes vs. New Jersey Devils game. Carolina clinched their first playoff spot since 2009. It was nice to see the Hurricanes finish the last full season of the decade on a high note, as they didn't get to play a single playoff game so far this decade. I'm happy for them.

I really wanted to see Texas Tech pull it out, but they just could not keep up in overtime. An exciting game nonetheless and Virginia certainly earned their title.

I disliked ALL of the final four teams and really wanted all four of them to lose- I stopped caring after Duke, and all the Mountain West teams, (along with Gonzaga,) were eliminated. But yeah, I could have lived with Texas Tech as the champion (because I dislike them slightly less than I dislike LSU and Michigan State) and as for Virginia, good for them; after getting booted by Upper Southwestern Montana College of the Deaf (or whatever that team was) in last year's tournament you almost had to root for them.

Eternal legend - Dirk Nowitzki. Thank you for everything.

And the Ottawa 67s sweep through the second round of the OHL playoffs! Sudbury went down swingin’ though - last night was an epic-ass triple overtime, with both teams crossing the 60 shot mark. Unfortunately for Lukkonen, he turned in the greatest goaltending performance I’ve ever seen from a losing team.

EDIT: second-best performance from a losing goalie. The first, I suspect, will always be Mikhail Yankov with the 2011 Kazakhstan world junior team. Dude made 74 of 83 saves in a 9-0 loss to Canada.

Anyone here a fan of basketball/NBA? What do you think of Damian Lillard's series ending 37 foot buzzer beater?

I don't get why people are saying it was a bad shot. If he missed, they would have went to OT and the Trailblazers had all the momentum on their side. Plus, he actually has a pretty high percentage from that far out, so it's not like he was just chucking it up. Lillard is about as legit as they come man. They are definitely a team to keep your eye on this postseason.

Well, I’ve never seen anything like this. With last night’s 2-1 OT win at Oshawa, the Ottawa 67s have just swept the Eastern Conference, 12 games, 12 wins; and I gotta assume that Guelph and Sarnia are shaking in their boots ahead of meeting us in the Ontario League final.

Wow. New York Giants fans are the biggest assholes in the sports world. Check out these fools flipping their shit over the Giants drafting QB Daniel Jones yesterday: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ne ... vi-BBWjJ3y

That’s not a great way to help a new teammate feel welcome! Also, I could understand criticism of a team drafting a quarterback if they were secure at that position. But these are the damn Giants. Eli Manning is way over the hill, and there is no backup that’s even remotely promising to step in soon. So the Jones-haters are not only assholes, but also just plain dumb.

I think the concern was, there were better quarterbacks in the draft that they could have taken. I realize the guy from Oklahoma was probably already taken- I think the Cardinals got him actually- but honestly I have never heard any hype on this Jones guy at all. I don't know anything about him other than he went to Duke- which a lot of people probably don't realize even HAS a football team, they are a basketball school pretty much. So, yeah, pretty lame for the fans to heckle him, but I think it was directed more at team management than the player.

(edit...to clarify...) I would have taken Lock from Missouri, or Haskins from Ohio State, if I were a team looking for a first round QB, but then again, I'm not an NFL head coach, so...

Last 3 games: L (15-1), L (14-1), L (11-0). LOL MARINERS.

....

Most bizarre sports memorabilia ever? https://www.courier-journal.com/story/e ... 651209002/

For just $200, you can own a preserved piece of shit from 1997 Kentucky Derby champion Silver Charm. Next time someone says your home smells like shit, you can proudly point to the historic turd in a jar on your trophies and collectibles shelf!

At least it isn't from the Jockey

Fantastic day at the World Hockey Championship! Both newly-promoted countries stay up for next year, which almost never happens. And they both achieved this in the most unlikely dramatic fashion!
First, Great Britain overcame a 3-0 hole to stun France with a 4-3 OT win. Then Italy take down Austria in a seven-round shootout to salvage what had been a disastrous tournament - Italy was outscored 45-1 in their first six games.

Welcome back to The Sport thread, Vogelbach. Goodness.
https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/113 ... 81920?s=09

I’ve never seen a bandwagon effect as pervasive as the Toronto Raptors right now. And I count myself as one of the fairweathers, as I’ve only attended or even watched a handful of basketball games in my life, but there are folks even more out of it who’ve latched onto these Raptors like never before. My 96-year-old grandmother asked me this weekend if Toronto had knocked out Milwaukee First time I’d known her to talk about basketball!

I'm hoping they pull off the miracle. Being a Pistons fan (yeah, I know), we extend our blessings to those in the North.