Hockey

[dauls]

Non-hockey alert!

Confirming earlier speculation, it has been announced that two regular season NFL games will be played in the UK, most probably London, in 2010.

Two as yet un-named teams have agreed to be the home teams in London, their opposition has yet to be confirmed. The fixtures will be announced by the middle of January at the very latest.

Cardiff and Edinburgh would like to host NFL games, as would cities in Germany, China, etc. But the teams appear to be very comfortable spending a week in London, maybe the players all want to visit Buckingham Palace.

League bosses in the US are keen to play games outside London and have hinted there could be as many as four games per season played in Britain by 2012.

The old "Super Bowl in London" chestnut has also reared its crazy head again!

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Do the Buffalo Bills games in Toronto get much coverage, or are they ignored?

[shadows]

Originally Posted by dauls

Non-hockey alert!

Confirming earlier speculation, it has been announced that two regular season NFL games will be played in the UK, most probably London, in 2010.

Two as yet un-named teams have agreed to be the home teams in London, their opposition has yet to be confirmed. The fixtures will be announced by the middle of January at the very latest.

Cardiff and Edinburgh would like to host NFL games, as would cities in Germany, China, etc. But the teams appear to be very comfortable spending a week in London, maybe the players all want to visit Buckingham Palace.

League bosses in the US are keen to play games outside London and have hinted there could be as many as four games per season played in Britain by 2012.

The old "Super Bowl in London" chestnut has also reared its crazy head again!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do the Buffalo Bills games in Toronto get much coverage, or are they ignored?

The games probably got a lot of coverage, but I am not certain how much. I did not watch the games myself so I can't give you a proper answer.

I wonder if they will alienate the home fans by moving so many games away? That is revenue for the stadium that is lost(concession stands, parking, etc.), and that is a game that a home-town fan will not be able to attend(because the average fan cannot afford to travel to the UK to attend a football game, no matter how diehard they are)

It will be interesting to see how this experiment(and that is what this is) unfolds down the road.

[shadows]

A couple of reports in one(since last night's is so small).

Here are the scores for Dec 13th's games.

1. Chicago beat Tampa Bay 4-0. Chicago dominated from start to finish, and Niemi was excellent again. He has started 7 games, and of them 3 were shutouts. Patrick Kane left the game after suffering an upper body injury(I hate how the teams are allowed to be so freaking vague about injuries). It looks like he either got hurt when he fell against the boards(he was tripped) or the puck hit him. It remains to be seen if he will miss any time or not.

2. Colorado beat Calgary 3-2. Calgary tried to pin their hopes for victory on Kiprusoff alone(yet again) and that cost them. They are going to burn the guy out if they keep this up.


Here are the scores for Dec 14's games(I will update the Vancouver/LA score when it is a final)

1. Philadelphia beat Boston 3-1. The was a game that they deserved to win as they played quite well and peppered Thomas with a lot of shots. I am sure there were a lot of relieved sighs in the Philly locker room when this game was done.

2. Toronto beat Ottawa 3-2. YEAH!!!! They are playing well right now, and are now only 2 points out of a playoff spot. Freakin' A!

3. Florida squished the Islanders like a little bug, 7-1. The Islanders are struggling quite a bit right now.

4. Atlanta beat the Rangers 3-2 in the shootout. The Rangers certainly tried to win(as they had a lot of shots on net), but victory was denied to them yet again.

5. Nashville beat Columbus 5-3. Nashville keeps on rising, and Columbus keeps on falling, falling, falling. Thud.

6. Buffalo beat Montreal 4-3. Considering how good Buffalo has been playing, I did not like Montreal's chances(no offense, Ila). That being said, they gave Buffalo a run for their money. Close game.

7. Detroit beat Phoenix 3-2. A game where neither Datsyuk or Zetterberg got any points. That is a rarity. A same they won, though, as I wanted Bryzgalov to get me two more points.

8.Vancouver VS La: TBD

[transjen]

Originally Posted by shadows

1. Philadelphia beat Boston 3-1. The was a game that they deserved to win as they played quite well and peppered Thomas with a lot of shots. I am sure there were a lot of relieved sighs in the Philly locker room when this game was done.

I would do my happy dance but i haven't done it in so long i forgot how plus today i traded my corvette and watched it leave on a flatbed
Flyersfan Jen

[shadows]

Originally Posted by transjen

I would do my happy dance but i haven't done it in so long i forgot how plus today i traded my corvette and watched it leave on a flatbed
Flyersfan Jen

Perhaps a hug is in order to help you remember the happy dance?

Also, perhaps the news that Roy Halladay is getting traded to Philadelphia in a 3-way trade between Philly, Toronto, and Seattle?

Actually, I think I need the hug now.

[shadows]

Here are the results from the Vancouver/LA game.

Vancouver beat LA 3-1. LA was VERY hot the past while, and Vancouver played them very well. Vancouver picked up a much-needed two points.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by shadows

Perhaps a hug is in order to help you remember the happy dance?

Also, perhaps the news that Roy Halladay is getting traded to Philadelphia in a 3-way trade between Philly, Toronto, and Seattle?

Actually, I think I need the hug now.

Signing Halladay sounds , but losing Cliff Lee to the Mariners as part of the deal would be a shock.


It is believed the Phillies are trading Lee for a few reasons (from MLB.com):

* They do not believe they can sign Lee to an extension before he becomes a free agent after the 2010 season.

* Lee makes $9M next season, the Phillies need payroll relief to afford Halladay's $15.75M salary (but it's reported Toronto will pay $6M of it).

* But it is believed the reason the Phillies are shipping Lee instead of right-hander Joe Blanton, who will make around $7M or more next season, is that Lee brings a greater haul of prospects in return.


Blue Jay's fans can't be impressed with the idea of paying $6M of Halladay's salary after he's left.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by dauls

Signing Halladay sounds , but losing Cliff Lee to the Mariners as part of the deal would be a shock.


It is believed the Phillies are trading Lee for a few reasons (from MLB.com):

* They do not believe they can sign Lee to an extension before he becomes a free agent after the 2010 season.

* Lee makes $9M next season, the Phillies need payroll relief to afford Halladay's $15.75M salary (but it's reported Toronto will pay $6M of it).

* But it is believed the reason the Phillies are shipping Lee instead of right-hander Joe Blanton, who will make around $7M or more next season, is that Lee brings a greater haul of prospects in return.


Blue Jay's fans can't be impressed with the idea of paying $6M of Halladay's salary after he's left.

17 NFL games? I'm sure that will impress the players.

I don't think the Jays fans will complain too much as they will probably be getting a handful of good players/prospects in return. He was gone no matter what, so getting the best they can for him makes this Jays fan feel a little better(it still sucks that he will be gone, but since I was rooting for the Phillies before((unless it is against the Jays)) I don't mind rooting even more for them now that they have Halladay. I rooted for them because they got Stairsy(Matt Stairs), a good Canadian ball player.

It's weird. While both Lee and Halladay are elite Ace pitchers, I can't help but feel that Halladay is more of a team player. I mean, no matter how bad the Jays have been over the years he still signed with them. After Riccardi royally screwed the team over(by lousy signings and lousy trades), I honestly do not blame him for finally wanting to leave. Cliff Lee, on the other hand, comes across as more of a mercenary-type pitcher. He goes where the most chance to win is, and that shows by how many times he is traded/moves. I would love to have Cliff Lee on my team, but I believe Halladay would have more team loyalty.

As Philly fans, do you and Jennifer agree or disagree with me?

Either way, I think the Mariners will be a good team this year, Philly will be even better than last year, and the Jays will stink. The players they get will help, but they will still stink. The worst thing that happened to the Jays was signing Wells to that bloated contract(they can't even trade that dead weight as no one else, even the Yankees, wants to eat the cost of that contract)! Thanks again Riccardi, for screwing the team, you jackass!

[transjen]

Originally Posted by shadows

Perhaps a hug is in order to help you remember the happy dance?

Also, perhaps the news that Roy Halladay is getting traded to Philadelphia in a 3-way trade between Philly, Toronto, and Seattle?

Actually, I think I need the hug now.

Ok here's a long distance hug Philliesfan Jen

[shadows]

Originally Posted by transjen

Ok here's a long distance hug Philliesfan Jen

Thank you Jen! That brightened my day.

[k.sucks.you]

Someone said earlier, something to the effect of...

"Sharks...huh. Wake me up for the playoffs to see if we need to take
them seriously."

Now it's my turn to agree...
Five games is nothing to panic about, but I hope they pull it together soon...

[shadows]

Originally Posted by k.sucks.you

Someone said earlier, something to the effect of...

"Sharks...huh. Wake me up for the playoffs to see if we need to take
them seriously."

Now it's my turn to agree...
Five games is nothing to panic about, but I hope they pull it together soon...

Looks like your worrying can be over. The Sharks won 4-1 over Anaheim. Thornton had 4 points, and Marleau had 3. Heatley was shut out, though.

[shadows]

Here are the scores from Dec 17th's games. I really got slammed in the pool tonight. Ouch!

1. Minnesota beat Montreal 3-1. Montreal upped their shot tally quite a bit, but they were not able to get the puck in the net, unfortunately.

2. The Rangers beat the Islanders 5-2. Wow! The Rangers actually scored more than 2 goals! That is a rarity anymore.

3. Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia 3-2 in the shootout. At least Philly got a point, right? Right?!?

4. Atlanta beat Dallas 6-5 in overtime. Good goalie duel this game, that is for sure! NOT!

5. Phoenix beat Columbus 2-1 in the shootout. Looks like they are making up for no games going past regulation the previous two nights and giving us two shootouts tonight! Yay!

6. Detroit beat Tampa Bay 3-0. Does Tampa even have an offense? Doesn't look like it.

7. Calgary beat LA 2-1. Calgary is another team that doesn't seem to be able to score a lot of goals right now. Again, they rely on Kiprusoff to bail them out, just like always.

8. Nashville beat Edmonton 6-3.

9. San Jose beat Anaheim 4-1. Thornton had 4 assists, and the offense finally woke up. Are they back on the right track, or is this just a one game winning streak?

Two shootouts and one OT game. BOOOO!!!!

[dauls]

Originally Posted by shadows

The games probably got a lot of coverage, but I am not certain how much. I did not watch the games myself so I can't give you a proper answer.

I wonder if they will alienate the home fans by moving so many games away? That is revenue for the stadium that is lost(concession stands, parking, etc.), and that is a game that a home-town fan will not be able to attend(because the average fan cannot afford to travel to the UK to attend a football game, no matter how diehard they are)

It will be interesting to see how this experiment(and that is what this is) unfolds down the road.

I do find it odd that the NFL is playing regular season games overseas. With only eight guaranteed home games per season, losing one of those must anger the fans who are unable to fly to the UK to watch a game.

However a Dolphins fan interviewed in 2007 at the first London game mentioned, if it wasn't for the NFL game in the UK he'd have never applied for his first passport.

Someone in charge at the New England Patriots, said they enjoyed playing a game in London, but only because it was an away fixture. They would never give up a home fixture.

Adding a 17th game to the regular season has been mentioned again. All NFL teams would play one overseas fixture (probably the opening game of the season), with up to four matches played in one city/country.