Freddie P's Blog

If only the Leafs hadn’t blown that two goal lead late in the third period of a game in Carolina back in January. If only they hadn’t done the same thing in Tampa Bay a couple of nights later.

If only they hadn’t crapped out during that western road swing in late January. If only they’d won a couple of those games.

If only. If only.

Problem is, when it comes to the Leafs it gets tiring because this is the third year in a row they’ve played dumb hockey during the regular season only to turn it on much too late and fall just short of making the playoffs.

It's tiresome, but it's the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A badly managed, and badly coached hockey team that doesn’t seem to be able to improve one year to the next, and thanks to this seasons pointless late season surge, they’ll find themselves in the same old situation.

In the middle of the pack, not good enough to make the playoffs, but not bad enough to secure a top notch draft pick.

I really don’t have a snappy ending to this posting or a resolution for what ails the Leafs.

We can anxiously await the arrival of a new general manager and hope that he works the magic necessary to turn this mess around. But as Leaf fan you can count on only one thing.

Aggravation.

Category: Sports

When I first heard they were going to make the "Don Cherry Movie", I thought, what's the use.

We already know all we need to know about the guy. He's been in our living rooms every Saturday night for the past 24 years and he didn't hide much.

We learned what the guy was all about, and more. Or so we thought.

But it runs out this CBC project could be worth while. The script was written by Don's son Tim it deals with Cherry's life prior to Hockey Night in Canada.

The early years, his life in the minors and how it affected his family.

Tim got to offer some insights that other script writers wouldn't, and he got to take some privileges that Don probably wouldn't have OK'ed from somebody else.

Apparently there are some scenes that are downright embarrassing.

Category: Show Biz | Sports

I’m thrilled to see that Freddie Savage is going to get another kick at the sit-com can.

He failed with something called “Crumbs” in 2006, but this time it’s sounds a little more promising.

Savage will play the lead male role in the pilot for “Single White Millionaire” about a rich guy in this 30’s who wants to settle down.

It’s been a tough go for Savage since “The Wonder Years” went off the air in 1993.

It was a superb show that ranks right up there with Seinfeld on my list of all time favourite television shows. It might even surpass it.

The Wonder Years was fantastic, but admittedly got a little awkward as Kevin Arnold grew older and lost his little boy looks.

I still watch the show on re-runs because it nails my childhood to a tee. The show began in 1988 and lasted until 1993, and it was set exactly twenty years prior.

When Kevin was 16 in 1972, so was I.

The Wonder Years was remarkably relatable and I have to admit, I get a heavy heart when ever I’m flippin’ through the channels and I hear this.

Category: Sports

If anybody wonders why hockey has such a crappy reputation in the States, all you have to do is look at this video.

Whenever I’m in the States I’m amazed at how hockey is ignored by the sports media down there, including the big boys, ESPN.

Hell, some nights I listen to ESPN radio on the Fan and you don’t hear the word hockey mentioned until the Fan does its own 20/20 updates.

There are exceptions however.

Whenever there’s a juicy fight, hockey gets noticed. Americans will ignore the fineness and skill and speed of this game, but give them a good fight and hockey makes the news.

That’s what happened yesterday after Patrick Roy’s imbecile son followed the instructions of the weird old man and embarrassed the game world wide.

For this reason, hockey will never be taken seriously in the States.

Category: Sports

It was refreshing to hear my buddy Bill Watters say what had to be said on the John Oakley Show this morning.

Mats Sundin should be kept out of the Leafs lineup as long as this team is on a roll. And Watters is a huge Sundin fan.

But let’s face facts folks, this is a better hockey team without Sundin in the lineup, but that’s not to say it’s the captains fault.

For some reason with Sundin out of the lineup the younger Leafs lift their game and play like the players we always hoped they’d develop into.

If Sundin comes back there’s great danger that Stagan and Steen will get less ice time and fall back into the roles that’s kept their growth stunted over the past few years.

In the 1999 playoffs the Leafs played great without Sundin in the lineup and then fell apart when he came back.

In 2002 against Carolina, same thing, the Leafs were well on their way to knocking off the Hurricanes until Sundin came back.

Let’s learn from past history. Let’s hope that groin tear hasn’t healed yet.

Category: Sports

This time of year reminds of the good old days when my morning routine included writing a sports comment on the Edge and Mojo.

Every March I would become mildly aggravated by the NCAA Basketball tournament because I found the sudden interest to be disingenuous and no different than playing a government lottery.

Pool sheets would come out at most workplaces and everybody would be making their picks for a sport that virtually nobody paid attention to during the regular season.

There would be this storm of sudden devotion to something that wouldn't have gained a lick of attention if wagering wasn't involved. And that was played out by most of the people I knew who were involved in NC-double A pools because after making their picks they didn't bother to watch any of the games.

It's a lot like the NFL. A lot of people don't realize that back in the 1970's the NFL was actually struggling. The CFL was just as strong, as a matter of a fact, there was several incidences of CFL teams outbidding NFL teams for players.

But then along came the NFL office pool and everything changed dramatically, it became the strongest league in professional sport, again with a large following that never even bothers to watch their games. They just follow their pool sheets.

Hey, each to their own and whatever turns your crank, but I'm not a big fan of gambling in its most basic form, so having sporting events become bigger than they should be, only because of wagering, isn't something that's going to suck me in.

I won't be watching.

Category: Sports

This may be terribly unfair but it’s a feeling I have.

Put in the same position as Mats Sundin on Saturday, I’m sure Dougie Gilmour would have played against the Buffalo Sabres.

Let’s review. The Leafs had ten games to play and they trailed the Philadelphia Flyers by five points for the final playoff spot.

Sundin skated on Saturday morning and it was determined that although his groin wasn’t that bad, it would be better to hold off for at least a game to make sure he was fully recovered when he returned.

I don’t get it.

Now the Leafs are six behind with nine to play and there are three teams between them and the Flyers.

The Leafs couldn’t afford to screw around on Saturday night. Sundin should have been in the lineup even if it meant shooting him up with some kind of a wonder drug.

Sundin should have insisted on playing because losing Saturday meant the playoff run was all but over. And now it is.

So if Sundin returns tomorrow against the Islanders, what was really gained by holding him back for an extra game? It was an urgent situation but the Leafs, and obviously Sundin, didn’t treat it that way.

And now the playoffs are gone.

Dougie would have played Saturday night. So would Wendel and Darryl.

Category: Sports

I almost hate to write this piece off the back of two Maple Leaf victories because it makes me look like a homer, but I’ve felt this way for the past few weeks, so I have to say it.

First of all let me say this. I don’t think the Maple Leafs are going to make the playoffs, and I think its almost funny how the tide of public opinion has so quickly turned around for the boys and now everybody’s behind them.

In the Toronto Sun this morning there’s an article featuring a business professor who’s calculated the Leafs chances, and not surprisingly, they’re not very good.

All you have to do is some basic math.

Having said all that let me say this. If the Maple Leafs stumble forward and make it into the post-season, and the Montreal Canadiens luck out and finish first in the Eastern Conference it’s going to be ugly for Hab fans.

Not only do I think the Leafs would knock the Habs out in the first round, I don’t think the series would go beyond five games.

From top to bottom the Maple Leafs are actually a better team than the Montreal Canadiens but that only adds to the aggravation of Leaf fans. And that’s not to say the Leafs are that good, far from it. It’s to say the Canadiens have played above their heads this year and have had virtually everything go their way in a very week Conference.

I’m not sold on the Canadiens because I think they’re a soft team that won’t fare very well once the rigors of the playoffs begin and I can see them being knocked out by virtually any of the teams that will slip into the final two or three playoffs spots.

You just wait and see.

Category: Sports

Listen, as an unemployed man who am I to question the abilities of others, but I have to say the Cassie Campbell experiment should come to an end.

Cassie’s a sweet heart and she done a lot of woman’s hockey not only in Canada, but around the world.

She’s from Brampton too, which makes this posting that much harder to do, but Cassie just doesn’t have the right stuff when it comes to broadcasting.

I find her appearances on Hockey Night in Canada painful to watch. I feel embarrassed for her, because she’s been thrown into a situation that she really isn’t ready for.

Maybe she’ll get there one day, because it really isn’t rocket science, but until she can at least add some inflection to her voice and display a little more personality, she isn’t doing herself any favours by appearing on the countries most popular television show.

Her work as the colour person in the broadcast booth was flat, but her pre-game rink side interviews aren’t any better.

It ain’t workin’ folks.

Category: Sports | Television

I hope the Canadian Football League doesn’t spend a lot of time wondering why it has a credibility problem with fans, especially young ones.

Can you imagine Eli Manning being traded by the New York Giants?

That’s basically what the Saskatchewan Roughriders have done by trading quarterback Kerry Joseph to the Argonauts.

Not only did Joseph lead the Roughriders to the Grey Cup, but he was named the leagues outstanding player – and for that he gets traded.

The CFL’s number one problem over the years has been it’s lack of team continuity, players move around too much which makes it hard for teams to build up a following that spreads across the league.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Argonaut fan and I’m thrilled Joseph is coming to Toronto, but from a league standpoint, its bad news and an extreme insult to the fans of Saskatchewan.

Apparently the Roughriders were forced to trade Joseph because of his financial demands, but as far as I’m concerned that’s no excuse and it doesn’t help the leagues image.

Saskatchewan has some of the best attendance figures in the CFL, so what does it say about the league if Riders can’t afford to pay their marquee player three hundred thousand dollars a year?

It says the league will never be taken seriously.

Category: Sports