Rebounds & Put Backs | December 13th, 2009

By Paul Gotham

Banner weekend for Upstate New York hockey

Friday night, the Chicago Black Hawks paid a visit to Buffalo’s HSBC Arena for a frozen pond battle with the Sabres. The game marked a first as three Buffalo natives suited for the same NHL game. Home grown products, Tim Kennedy and Patrick Kaleta, suit up for the Sabres.  Chicago’s Patrick Kane also hails from New York’s Queen City. Add Tim Connolly to that group and that makes four kids from New York in the same NHL game. Connolly is a native of Syracuse.

Rumor has it Kane was able to leave town without any brushes with the law.

One night later, the Sabres played the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Broadway Blues’ lineup includes Rochester’s Ryan Callahan. On back-to-back nights Upstate New York put four players on the same ice for an NHL game.

Plea for attention?

Jeff Borris took the opportunity late last week to inform the world that Barry Bonds has indeed retired. Really? Is that what you call it when no one wants you? That’s retirement? Okay. I’m looking forward to that stage of life. Retirement? Huh. How many home runs did Bonds hit? I know Aaron hit 755; Babe knocked 714. Willie went deep 660 times. Bonds? I’m not sure.

How close is close

The Virginia Cavaliers and Akron Zips battled through 110 scoreless minutes before the Cavaliers took the NCAA Men’s soccer crown with penalty kicks. For the Zips, it was an agonizing way end to an otherwise miracle season. Akron entered the game with a record of 23-0-1.

What to do when your meal ticket lets you down

It must be a strange mindset for members of the PGA. For ten years, golfers have been trying to knock Tiger Woods from the top of the mountain. Along the way, tournament purses have grown considerably. Now with Tiger’s ‘indefinite leave of absence’ the door could be open for a few to grab titles. But Tiger’s competitors have to be hoping he doesn’t stay away too long. Those purses could decrease considerably.

Just a thought

Is it too much to ask that the NCAA puts a rule in place limiting the hiring of coaches? Doesn’t it seem logical that a guy gets a chance to finish what he started before moving on?