Tampa Bay Sports Blog

The Bucs have had an interesting off season so far and we all can argue about most of what they’ve done, but the Brooks thing is still killing me. I know it’s the fan in me feeling it, but I still can’t find a legitimate reason for what they did there. I could understand salary cap issues or something like that, but they are far from having cap issues. I love the addition of Derrick Ward and Kellen Winslow. I like that they moved on from Jeff Garcia. I’ll break it down to what I think is positive and negative.

Positive moves:

• Signing Derrick Ward. Ward is an animal and should combine with Earnest Graham to make a devastating backfield similar to what he was a part of with the Giants.
• Trading for Kellen Winslow. Say what you want about this guy, he can flat out play. He may have caused some problems and may be injury prone, but I feel this is one of those guys that a change of scenery and atmosphere may help more than anyone realizes.
• Firing Gruden and Allen. I’ve already spoke my piece about this so I won’t delve into it again. Good riddence.

Negative moves:

• Re-signing Jerramy Stevens: Why the hell do we need this A-hole? He’s just not good enough to justify the off-field nemisis he is.
• Giving Michael Clayton stupid money. Was this move just to get farther away from the salary floor? The Bucs are closer to the floor than the cap and needed to spend some money, but why this guy? He hasn’t earned $10.5 million in guaranteed money no matter how anyone tries to spin it.
• Releasing Derrick Brooks. Why, why, why?!

It’s basically a toss up right now that could go either way on whether this has been a good or bad off season so far. It’s still early, I know, but it’s worth discussing. I really like the offensive direction the team has taken (other than Clayton) but I still can’t see any reason that Mr. Brooks shouldn’t have a spot on this roster. I can only hope that they’re discussing things with him and look to bring him back. I think that even he understands that he is better off playing less downs and would be willing to come back in a reduced role. If there has ever been a player that warranted starter money in a reduced role, it’s Derrick Brooks. If I’m annoying anyone with this banter, too bad! I’m not going to let this go. I want Brooks back and there is no excuse good enough not to.

Technorati Tags: Bruce Allen, Derrick Brooks, Earnest Graham, Jeff Garcia, Jerramy Stevens, Jon Gruden, Kellen Winslow, Michael Clayton, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Just wanted to drop a quick line to everyone, if you’re interested in any of the stuff I may be selling please jump over to my auctions. I’m putting a link up top to let everyone check it out. It may become a permanent thing if some of these deals keep coming at me. I know it appears like I’m whoring myself out here but just compare the stuff I’m selling to anyone else selling it and believe me you’ll see.

The Pistons are still torturing the Magic and it has really become disturbing. The Pistons are not the same team that were perennial NBA Finals contenders of years past, but the Magic still can’t get over whatever it is that makes them struggle so much against the Pistons. Chauncy Billups is gone, Rasheed Wallace is looking like a shell of his former self and the Pistons defense has a lot more holes than it ever has. Allen Iverson hasn’t seen a minute of time against the Magic in the last two meetings yet, even with all of this, the Magic can’t get over on Detroit.

The fact is that the Magic still have no answer for Rip Hamilton and Teyshawn Prince. Hamilton has been the major killer against Orlando recently scoring 60 points in the last two against them. What also seems to be a huge problem is this, whatever adjustments the Magic make, the Pistons already have an answer. There is always someone else stepping up for them when needed. Rodney Stuckey, 1,000 year old Antonio McDyess, etc.

The one positive I guess we can take from all of this is that it appears to be getting closer. The Magic were in it until the final minute last night in Detroit and just couldn’t finish down the stretch. If the Magic can get their bench to step up a little more in future match-ups, they might be able to finally get it done. I do know one thing now though, I am hoping the Magic don’t have to face the Pistons in the playoffs this year.

Technorati Tags: Allen Iverson, Antonio McDyess, Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, Teyshawn Prince

Game 1 – St Louis:

Meeting Sully Friday before the game was interesting.  The team has had to go through several transitions this season:  Melrose – Tocchet – Shoulder Surgeries (defenseman revolving door) – Trade Deadline.  We heard the game plan, and then we heard about what to look for on the ice from both teams.  Past problems mentioned included the defense passing the puck too many times in the defensive zone, instead of one pass and get it the puck up the ice.  Also, the Lightning only has 9-players with NHL experience.  The rest have limited or no experience.  Ouch!

The coaches challenged the Lightning players with taking the diagonal passes away from the St Louis Blues and crowding their goalie from inside the dots so he couldn’t see.  The crowding wouldn’t stop the initial save, but more times than not it would allow a rebound shot to get by the opposing goalie.  Unfortunately, the best person at crowding the goalie, Bugsy (Ryan Malone), was out with the flu.  The Lightning also needed to improve on the power play.  They were ranked near the bottom, moved all the way up to 16^th in the league, and fell back down towards the bottom when Mesaros and Ranger left for shoulder surgeries.

The Lightning also had to deal with a goalie who was ranked 6^th and is now ranked 2^nd in the league in goals against average, a team that ranked 10^th in power play percentage, and 9^th in penalty kills.  Recchi is gone; Roberts sat out.  We may have seen him play his last game on March 1^st.  Is he contemplating retiring before the end of the season or do the Lightning not want to pay the $10,000 per game stipend he receives for each game he plays. 

The game begins.  The first two periods were lack luster – neither team seemed to want the puck giving it up in each defensive zone.  Players still passed the puck too many times in the defensive zone.  The Lightning never had any defensemen helping Ramo in front of the net.  The lucky bounces went the Blue’s way and they were ahead 2-0.  A totally different Lightning team showed up for the third period.  The Lightning didn’t play dead, they didn’t give up, and they kept trying to do what they needed to win the game.  St Louis and Pettinger each scored, and with less than a minute left in regulation, the improving rookie, Stamkos scored the tying goal.  Alas, Boyes from the Blues scored within 1-minute of overtime to win the game.

Game 2 – Carolina:

Not too much to say here!  Again, players still gave the puck away too many times in the defensive zone.  Carolina scored 3-times in the first and 6-times in the second period.  Not only did Staal have a hat trick, he scored 4-goals and had 6-points in the game.  Ruutu and Cole didn’t fair too badly either.  St Louis scored in the first, Lecavalier and Malone scored goals in the third, where it appeared the Hurricanes had let up a little.  The only Lightning player who looked like he was playing for his life was Arty (guess he read the St Pete Times with his coffee that morning).

Big question – who will be here next year?  They can’t trade 21-players . . . or can they?

Technorati Tags: Andrej Meszaros, Barry Melrose, Evgeny Artyukhin, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis, Mike Sullivan, Paul Ranger, Rick Tocchet, Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Brian Lawton said he was looking for draft choices – we got one. We did get some depth at defense. After sitting Recchi and Roberts Tuesday night so they wouldn’t be injured, Recchi was traded and Roberts cleared waivers. Looks like Stamkos’ tutelage will continue under the watchful eyes of Gary Roberts.

Boston picked up Mark Recchi and a 2^nd round draft pick in 2010 for 2-minor leaguers – Matt Lashoff, 22 (defenseman) and Martins Karsums, 23 (forward). The Bruins will benefit from having Recchi (I hate seeing him go – I read Boston is planning on signing him for the 2009-2010 season in the Boston Globe).

Recchi gives the Bruins playoff experience and a veteran presence. Recchi, at 41, with 535 career goals joins Phil Esposito (Lightning founder and 620 WDAE radio color commentator), Dave Andreychuk (Lightning 2004 Stanley Cup Captain and current Community Representative for the Lightning), John Bucyk, and Joe Mullen in the small group Bruins scoring more than 500-goals. He has 2-Stanley Cups, he is a 7-time All-Star, and he has accumulated 1426 points over his career.

Lashoff hasn’t played any NHL games, but he appears to be a good prospect for the Lightning on paper. Karsums played in 6-games for the Bruins this year and he has 17-goals, 24-assists, and 20-penalty minutes in 43-minor league games played.

The Panthers got Steve Emminger (the only healthy, experienced, defenseman we have left) Noah Welch (defenseman) and a 3^rd round draft pick in 2009. Welch was injured most of the last two seasons but has played 23-games in the minors this season. This was a salary dump to be sure – the Lightning wouldn’t be able to pay what he would get in arbitration!

The biggest deal has to be the way the Lightning unloaded 3-injured players to the Maple Leafs for Richard Petiot (defenseman). Toronto got Olaf Kolzig (goalie) who had surgery, Jamie Heward (defenseman) out with a concussion, Andy Rogers (minor-league defenseman) who has a back injury, and a 4^th round draft pick. Another salary dump???

The salary dumps should help us get some help over the summer – I just hope we don’t trade the whole team again! I will be at the coach’s chalk talk tomorrow before the game – I’m interested in hearing what there plans are for the rest of the season as far as the line formations go.

Technorati Tags: Andy Rogers, Boston Bruins, Brian Lawton, Carolina Hurricanes, Dave Andreychuk, Gary Roberts, Jamie Heward, Joe Mullen, John Bucyk, Mark Recchi, Martins Karsums, Matt Lashoff, Noah Welch, Olaf Kolzig, Phil Esposito, Richard Petiot, Stanley Cup, Steve Emminger, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs

The game against Pittsburgh included terrible passing by both teams – the bounces and breaks all seemed to go the Penguin’s way. Fleury had 33-shots fired at him and he made some very good saves giving up only 1-goal. Ramo also had 33-shots fired at him but there was no defense to help him defend the rebounds. The coaches can only tell players how to play; the players have to stick to the game plan. So many times, there were cross-ice passes with the opposition in between causing many lost possessions and scoring chances. Although in the 3^rd period, the Lightning finally got their act together and passed to the weak side and the cross-ice passes were successful because there were no Penguins in the area. Even though we out-shot the Penguins, it was too little to late.

Not that it changed the game but it appeared Dan O’Rourke had a hair you-know-where when Prospal complained about being dumped (it should have been a penalty – it was quite a mess). After the next play, Prospal continued to complain and O’Rourke slapped him with and unsportsmanlike penalty allowing the Penguins to score on the power play.

Recchi’s absence was felt (the team scratched him and Roberts so they wouldn’t get hurt before the trade deadline – Malik has been hurt all year). It’s a downer to know we finally got two scoring lines (Lecavalier, Prospal, and Malone) and (Recchi, St Louis, and Stamkos) and now they are going to trade him. He may be 41, but he is out playing the younger lads! Seeing Recchi and St Louis playing point to the improving Stamkos is exciting!

A side note: Arty is such a good skater but he skates so fast he goes faster than the puck and cannot control it. We lost a lot of scoring opportunities because Arty ended up behind the net with the puck. He did have a few good hits (maybe he is getting over being gun-shy from his suspension). He needs to go for it.

We only have 7-players (9 if you count Prospal who went to Philly, and Smaby who came up from the minors several times last year) who played on the 2007-2008 team. So out of a roster of 29 people that doesn’t allow for much ‘communication’ on the ice, especially with a revolving door bringing 45-different players on the team this year (including a wannabe coach and interim coach who I feel deserves the full title). I do have to say the AHL guys who called up during the year have shown a lot of grit, desire, and potential. Szczechura was especially fast and very good with the puck. Smaby has been a great addition to the defense so there is hope for next year as long as we don’t trade the whole team away again.

It’ll be interesting to see whom we end up with after 3 pm today (could we possibly break the 50-player mark for this year’s roster?). I try to make myself feel better by thinking perhaps the Lightning will resign Recchi to a 1-year contract during the summer since he will be a free agent and the tutelage of Stamkos can continue.

Patti

Technorati Tags: AHL, Barry Melrose, Dan O'Rourke, Evgeny Artyukhin, Karri Ramo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Marek Malik, Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis, Paul Szczechura, Pittsburg Penguins, Rick Tocchet, Ryan Malone, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Just to give everyone a heads up, I have written a guest “shit talking” post for David Chalk over at Bugs and Cranks. It was fun to rip on the Pirates and I may jump in on some others if time permits. Thanks to David for reaching out and letting me do a little trash talking. If you aren’t familiar with David’s work, I encourage you to check it out. It’s extremely entertaining stuff. I’ll have more Rays posts up soon by the way and I may be adding a new blogger to the mix who will  help take care of the Lightning. Expect a post from her later in the week. I’ll get on the Rays stuff through the week and I am currently working on the player cards for the Rays only. I’m putting the Bucs on hold for a while. Thanks everyone and let me know what you think of the post over at Bugs and Cranks and be ready to comment on the new blogger when she’s ready.

Technorati Tags: Bugs and Cranks, David Chalk, Scott Brannelly, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays

Just to let everyone out there know, I’m selling some stuff on Ebay or can sell it to you directly if you don’t want to go through that.The auction links are just underneath the Amazon banner above.

There are some Westin step bars that we are discontinuing and need to be sold off out of our warehouse. There are three sets that I know of at the moment that need to be sold off.

1998-01 Dodge Ram Quad Cab 1500/2500/3500 truck step bars in chrome or black. Westin parts #’s 25-1240 and 25-1245.

1999-04 Ford F150/F250 4-door Heritage edition truck step bars in black. Westin part # 25-1435.

Check out Westin’s website for more info on these parts.

I have them listed on the Ebay auctions starting at $50 with a buy it now for $100 and $59.95 in flat shipping fee.

If you are interested in these products I can sell them to you direct locally for $75 and you can pick them up from me to save on shipping. If you want to purchase them I ask that you drop me an email. I have somewhere around 50 of each of these that need to sold off and it’s a great deal because these bars usually retail for around $300 at least. Let me know if you are interested.

As you all know by now, no one was happier than I was and still am that the Gruden era is over. That being said, I have to start wondering what the hell the Bucs new front office is doing right now. I think most of us have problems with a lot of moves that are made and, being fans first, we tend to get a little too emotionally attached to players like Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, etc. But when new ownership takes over and the first major moves made are cutting a Hall of Fame linebacker and trading for a hothead like Kellen Winslow, it makes you stand up and take notice, and not in a good way.

The Pewter Plank jumped out on this today and did a great job of putting it all out there and that led me to pile on as well.

In releasing Dunn, Brooks, Hilliard and company last week the Bucs got my attention and sent me into a confused whirlwind wondering what the hell they were doing. I can understand and get on board with the release of everyone there but Brooks. The only explanation I can come up with as to why Brooks is no longer a Buc is that the new regime wants to cut ties with the past immediately and officially start from the bottom. I can almost understand that, but why not offer him something in a lesser role and look to re-sign him? Is there a better mentor for young players in this league than Mr. Derrick Brooks? This move is a disaster to me.

Now let’s get to the Winslow deal. I don’t want anyone to get a wrong impression by thinking that I think it’s a bad move to bring this guy in, but it goes back to the Brooks thing to me as well. If you’re going to bring a guy like KII in, wouldn’t you want to have a guy like Brooks in the locker room to help keep him on track? Makes too much sense to me. Now I do think a change of scenery will help Winslow out and I think he will be successful here, but he is always one click away from exploding and that could mean problems on and off the field.

What happened with Michael Clayton now is absolutely absurd and needs to be ridiculed over and over again. How in the hell can these guys hand a number three receiver over $10 million in guaranteed money? Are you telling me that you need to let Brooks go and bring back Michael Clayton (while overpaying him in a silly way)? What direction are you trying to take this team? What’s next? How bout we throw $20 million at Kyle Boller or Kevin Jones? Oh shit, they might actually do something like that so I better slow down.

I understand that the NFL is a funny place and some strange crap happens that makes fans upset. This could all go away fairly quick if the Bucs put together a winning team that comes out and shocks the worlds this season, but it’s highly unlikely. God help Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik if they don’t have a clear plan with this thing because it doesn’t look pretty right now.

Technorati Tags: Ike Hilliard, John Lynch, Jon Gruden, Kellen Winslow, Kevin Jones, Kyle Boller, Mark Dominik, Michael Clayton, Raheem Morris, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Warrick Dunn