Who Are The VCU Rams?

Who Are The VCU Rams? This is one question that just about every college basketball fan is asking after the rams have ruined practically everyones brackets. Virginia Commonwealth has certainly turned a lot of heads this year after having to play a play in game just to get into the tournament.

This virtually unknown team has managed to knock off some of the potential contenders for the tournament  and are showing no signs of slowing down. The Rams have knocked out Purdue, Florida State and Kansas in order to earn their spot in tonight's Final Four matchup with the Butler Bulldogs.

Their leading point getter this season was forward Jamie Skeen, who managed to put up 15.4 PPG. Along with help from Guard Bradford Burgess, who contributed 14.3 PPG. Skeen and company managed to lead the Rams to a fourth place finish in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Considering the fact that this is not a well known conference of teams, the odds were against them to even make the tournament.

Obviously their is more than meets the eye to this Rams team, their is a great degree of heart and determination that has got them to the dance in Houston. Perhaps the best thing to watch about this cinderella story is the way these guys play as a team. Their is no standout individual efforts but rather their wins depend on strong playmaking and determination. Their are certain things they display that just cannot be coached, heart and determination come from the athlete.

With the eleventh seeded Rams playing an eighth seeded Butler in the final four, the game is bound to be down to the wire. Both teams have over come adversity to get to the National Semi Final, which suggests that this game has the potential to be the game of the tournament. The game could go either way, with neither team having an edge going in to it. Hopefully the VCU Rams can keep their Cinderella story going tonight and find themselves staying in Houston on Monday night.

Cookin' Up A Storm

"A lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact is not permitted." 


This is the definition of an illegal check to the head under the category of physical fouls in the National Hockey League rule book. Clearly no one forwarded the message to Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke, who is constantly delivering dangerous checks to unsuspecting players.

Marc Savard, after the hit delivered by Matt Cooke

Cooke, who was given a four game suspension for his hit to the head of Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin, is a repeat offender. Although Tyutin was not injured on the play, it does not change the fact that it was another dangerous hit. This marks the second suspension for Cooke this season, the first being the blind sided hit to the head of Rangers forward Artem Anisimov.


Cooke is known for laying dirty hits whether it be to the head or knee on knee collisions. Regardless of the hit, there is still the intent to injure which the NHL simply cannot justify. How he has not received discipline for these hits in the past is beyond explanation. He is single handedly responsible for the destruction of Bruins forward Marc Savard who has never fully recovered from the devastating blow that Cooke laid on him last season. Somehow the NHL's Disciplinary system failed to notice the fact that Savard missed 41 games due to the concussion he suffered on the hit. Why the NHL has suddenly decided that Cooke's actions are dangerous acts of violence and require discipline, is beyond understanding.


The NHL needs to clamp down on checks to the head, rather than just discussing how bad and life threatening they are. A greater suspension would make a player think twice before repeating a dangerous hit again.    

From The Back Out

After the goal tending display in the Canadian net, at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships this past New Year, one has to wonder about the future of the NHL. Clearly Mark Visentin is not able to handle the pressure of being a professional goalie, which is unfortunate for the Phoenix Coyotes as they drafted him 27th overall in last year's NHL entry draft.

Could this be the way goal tending is going to be in the future? There is very little value placed on a goaltender now a day that it is leading to the demise of teams. Team Canada was of course the most recent team to learn this valuable lesson. In order to be successful in today's game you need to build from the back out. That means that at the base of a strong team their needs to be a strong goalie, in order to be successful teams need to minimize the oppositions offense. Teams with weak goalies never go very far in the playoffs, provided they can even hang on to playoff position.

Amazingly, the goalies that have been picked late in recent NHL drafts are the ones that seem to be taking on successful careers. For instance,  Jonathan Quick was selected 72nd overall in 2005 and is currently a top contender for this years Vezina Trophy. Even more astonishing is Nashville's tandem of Pekka Rinne and Anders Lindback who were elected 258th and 207th in their respective draft years. Both goalies are experiencing great success, while most of the goalies selected before them have yet to crack an NHL roster.

Teams clearly do not know how to select a franchise goaltender that could take the team to a Stanley Cup title. Stats, such as save percentage, are one thing but one thing that is not considered is the skill of the team in front of them. Anyone can put up a good save percentage with a great team in front of them, but it's the guys who are successful with lower seeded teams that make great NHL goalies.

Robin Lehner, draft pick of the Ottawa Senators

European goaltenders seem to be the wave of the future, with goalies emerging fast out of Sweden and Finland. Goalies such as Joni Ortio and Robin Lehner could very well be the next Vezina trophy contenders if they continue to preform at the level they were at in Buffalo during the World Junior tournament. The decline of Canadian goaltenders is relatively alarming but may in fact be good for the game. With the difference in North American and European play, that being physicality versus finesse, European goaltenders continue to out preform most North American goaltenders. The obvious exception would be United States goaltender Jack Campbell who is the most promising North American prospect for the NHL in the near future.

Goalies are much more important than teams seem to think, which is a real shame as it usually leads to their demise. Although cliche, the best offense is a strong defense which is pivotal to the success of a franchise. Building from the back out insures future success for the team and delivers a promising result that is sure to please fans.

Fight To The Finish

As week 17 is fast approaching there is a lot on the line in Green Bay, Wisconsin as the Packers sit on the brink of elimination. The Packers find themselves up against the NFC North leading Chicago Bears who have far surpassed the expectations of critics. The Bears have clinched a division title and purely play the role of spoiler for the Packers who are sitting at 9 - 6.

The Packers will rely heavily on Offensive Player of the Year candidate Aaron Rodgers if they want to earn a Wild Card spot. Rodgers, who is coming off of a huge game against the New York Giants last week, is expected to be able to match that performance if not exceed it. After throwing for 404 yards last week and putting up a passer rating of 139.9, Rodgers is going to have to be a real game changer if the Packers are to make a Super Bowl run. Amazingly Rodgers was able to return two weeks after suffering his second concussion of the season in week 14 against the Detroit Lions.

The Packers have suffered injury wise this season but have still managed to tough out the season to hang on to a potential playoff spot. Most notably was the loss of Tight End Jermichael Finley who has the perfect combination of height and size to power through the opposition. Finley sustained a season ending knee injury back in week 5 against the Redskins. The Packers also lost starting running back Ryan Grant after he got his legs tangled up back in week 1 against Philadelphia. Grant became a large part of the offense last season after the loss of Ahman Green.

Clay Matthews

Outside Linebacker Clay Matthews will have to bring his game to Lambeau on Sunday if the Packers are to contain the Bears offense. Matthews has more than proven he is Pro Bowler status with 12.5 sacks this season.

The Packers have not been able to live up to preseason expectations but are finding their groove at an ideal time. They should have no problem making the playoffs considering the fact that if they win they are in but a loss and a Giants win will find them at home come playoff time. The Giants find themselves in Washington this week and the Packers could use a late Christmas gift from the Redskins.

Feats of Strength!

Maybe this is just accidental correlation but how can it be that there was a record amount of no hit games this past MLB season and the NHL is on pace for the most hat tricks in history? Are athletes just getting better? Or could it be potential outside factors affecting their performance?

Going into this past Major League Baseball season there had been 263 no hitters which includes 18 perfect games dating back to 1876. That averages out to just under 2 games per season up to the end of the 2009 season, over a span of 140 seasons since its beginning in 1869. The odds of throwing a no hitter are slim to none to begin with, but are less probable with athletes now being aware of the importance of physical fitness.

Astonishingly enough there have now been 269 no hitters, but wait only one season has gone bye! There were six no hitters last season, that is three times as many as the average said there should have been. How is this possible? Pitching techniques, styles and pitches have all remained the same so this can not be attributed to any sort of change. Sadly, for Rays fans that is, two of the six no hitters went against them which has made two perfect games and a no hitter against them in the past two seasons.

As for the NHL, there already has been 33 hat tricks in the early part of this season that will be 2 months old tomorrow. The most recent coming from Ottawa Senators forward Chris Kelly, who managed to single handedly propel the Sens past the Rangers on Saturday afternoon. With five months left to play in the season, the NHL is on pace for roughly 116 hat tricks. This is utterly ridiculous considering that the odds of witnessing  a hat trick are said to be 1:18. Looking at the math, that means that each team is likely to score just under four hat tricks this season alone. The odds of witnessing a hat trick becomes dramatically improved if this pace keeps up.

In such a corrupt world, is it possible that professional sports may have fallen to corporate corruption to the point that these occurrences are not merely coincidences? There is such a big demand for money in today's struggling economy that the leagues are in danger of bankruptcy if attendance continues to lower. How do they make money? They maximize attendance while keeping costs at a minimum, in order to maximize attendance they need to be able to produce an exciting product that will make the fan a return customer. Everyone likes to see feats of strength, it is human nature and if the rate at which they occur increases there is likely to be a greater profit margin. Both leagues suffered a great deal from their lockouts and could potentially being doing more than their share to bounce back. Big contracts are the result of corporate corruption that in effect lowers the fans enjoyment of the game as opposed to the intended result of increasing it. Fans want to see players that do not need financial compensation for their greatness in the game, money ends up complicating not only the leagues but goes far beyond to the simple passion for the game.

"Keep your life and your pitching real simple and you'll get along" was a quote from Robin Roberts in 1956 and the meaning still rings true today. Pro sports should keep the game and peoples' passions simple and the results will follow.

For What Their Worth...

Darrelle Revis

Sadly, with the way society is headed, there seems to be a serious lack of moral and traditional values in which society used to be defined. This change in society has even managed to breach the lives of professional athletes who now feel that they are larger than life. There used to be a time when an athelete was proud to wear the jersey of a city that he was lucky enough to call home. He felt proud to be a part of a team were they would work together in order to be the best in the game. Professional athletes are role models and live in the hearts of every sports fan. When they lose sight of that and shift their attention to the digits after a dollar sign, they lose more than just their reputation.

When a player is at a point were they are willing to sit out for the season unless they become the highest payed player in their position, than a line has been crossed. New York Jets Cornerback Darrelle Revis managed to cross that line this past off season when he did not take part in team pre-season training. After frequent negotiations the Jets managed to reach an agreement with the star Cornerback, with him seeing a cool 48 million dollars over the next four years. Considering the Jets have a good chance at the Super Bowl this year, one would think he would just want to be a part of that team and get recognition for his play.

The NFL is one thing but when you get to leagues with salary caps it becomes on entirely different issue altogether. A league such as the NHL has teams with salary limits that help balance the league so that team wealth does not factor into the success rate. The New Jersey Devils ran into problems when they tried to sign left winger Ilya Kovalchuk. The plan was to sign Kovalchuk for seventeen years, which would put him at forty-four and see him earning 102 million dollars. After the NHL rejected the contract on the grounds that it circumvented the salary cap. Instead they let him sign for 100 million dollars over fifteen years, which seems to be very similar to the original.

A respectable player is New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, the term respectable is used purely in a hockey sense. Brodeur opted for a smaller contract at the beginning of the 05/06 season in order to leave cap space for other talented players to help improve the roster. The fact that he is the winningest goaltender of all time only helps to boost his reputation, along with a good sense of hockey morals. Brodeur really is the ultimate franchise player in today's game, he is not caught up in making commercials or viral videos but rather focuses on the game and how to help the team. He brings back a real sense of old time hockey that is oddly refreshing from the way athletes conduct themselves today.

The point is that athletes are changing for the worse which is going to go all the way through to the youth of the world. The future for teams does not look bright if players continuously put themselves before the team, in a sense they cannot see the forest for the trees. Kids grow up dreaming of playing professional sports for a team that they love in a game that they love. What type of values are there going to be for these kids if money becomes the biggest issue in an athlete's life? A game really needs heart in order to be played to the highest degree, heart is something tha cannot be bought or sold but rather it lives inside of every true athlete who has the hunger to win and to excel in their chosen sport. Athletes need to turn back to traditional values in order to earn the respect of fans, money simply takes away from the game.

Rising Stars

The National Hockey League is a recycling system for players that sees a new wave of players with each new season, while at the same time creating a range of seasoned veterans. The problem with veterans is that after a period of time they become predictable, whether they be successful or not soon becomes evident. A rookie brings a whole new anticipation to the game that draws the fan in, predictions are made and a new generation is born. Rookies are the only players that remain unpredictable throughout the season as it is often the most unexpected player that rises to the top.

The best rookies in the NHL today are hard to distinguish at this point, with all of the tough competition   that has been emerging. There are five that have managed to separate from the rest of the pack at this point in the season.

The first being Tyler Ennis of the Buffalo Sabres, he has really lived up to the expectations that Sabres fans have had for him. The Alberta native has managed to put up four goals and six assists in seventeen games this season. The Sabres have been struggling this season as they sit fourth from last in the Eastern Conference with only five wins. Ennis is a small forward whose speed and size allows him to maneuver his way to the right areas to score. Standing at only 5'9" and weighing in at 157 lbs, Ennis has made the list by becoming a force to be reckoned with in the NHL.

With a beat up blue line in last years Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens called up P.K. Subban from the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League. Subban became a crucial part of Montreal's defense to the point that he was able to crack the lineup for the 2010/11 season. Subban has one goal and 6 assists so far this season. What makes him a top rookie does not show up on the game sheet but has the potential to make the difference in the end. Subban has an excellent defensive awareness of what to look for and who to pickup in front of the net. Subban is not afraid to block shots and will lay it on the line for the team. He has established himself as a two-way defenseman with the ability to generate offense without sacrificing his defensive game.

On a youthful team, Jordan Eberle has managed to pull through and continue to be the next face of Canadian hockey. Playing for the struggling Edmonton Oilers, Eberle has managed to contribute nine points in fourteen games despite the lack of a seasoned veteran. Canadians remember him as a clutch player for his late game heroics at the World Junior tournaments in 2008 and 2009. Eberle has managed to exceed expectations so far this season and has earned his spot amongst the top rookies.

With Stanley Cup finalist Michael Leighton on the shelf due to back surgery, the Philadelphia Flyers needed a goalie to begin the new season. Their answer came out of Novokuznetsk, Russia with twenty-two year old Sergei Bobrovsky. With ten wins in just thirteen starts this season there are no questions as to why Bobrovsky is included in the top rookies. Bobrovsky is also backing up his wins with solid numbers that suggests he is pulling his weight on the Flyers. His .932 save percentage speaks for itself as well as a 2.08 GAA. He could very well be on his way down a path to a great career that may see several Stanley Cups and Vezina Trophies.

Finally, the top rookie in the NHL today would have to be Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes. Skinner who was very successful in two season with the OHL's Kitchener Rangers has exploded into the NHL with fifteen points in seventeen games. With a great combination of hands and speed, Skinner really is the ultimate package coming out of the draft.  Surprisingly enough, Skinner went seventh overall  to the struggling Hurricanes who missed last years playoffs. Although early in his career, Skinner is showing signs of becoming a top ten scoring leader at some point in his career.

Professional hockey is a constantly evolving game that brings a lot of surprises as well as a lot of disappointments. These players have proven that they deserve to be in the NHL and hopefully they continue to excel in their positions.