Atlanta Belongs In The Deep North; Kovy Being Kovy?

Wednesday October 17th 7:45 pm

Bob Hartley getting fired might be the first step towards eventual relocation of the Thrashers. Let's get the NHL out of Atlanta, Nashville and one or two other U.S. outposts and back here up north where it belongs-including, with or without Jim Balsillie-Hamilton or Southern Ontario.

Guy Carbonneau says Alex Kovalev criticizing him for not taking a time out late in tuesday's eventual loss to Florida was not that big a deal. He likens Kovalev's ill-timed outbursts to those of Guy Lafleur. As the late Lloyd Bentsen said about then VP Dan Quayle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI

And Alex Kovalev is no Guy Lafleur.

Carbonneau did not blow the time out issue, he just had the wrong guys on the ice with 10 seconds to play. Kyle Chipchura might soon develop into that defensive, shut- down centerman and elite penalty killer, perhaps as soon as later this season. But not in his 3rd NHL game. Mathieu Dandenault and Patrice Brisebois on the ice with Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski, Christopher Higgins, Thomas Plekanic and Saku Koivu on the bench makes little sense. But not exactly a fireable offense.

So TSN's Gord Miller sends NHL deputy Comissioner Bill Daly an e-mail with the names of players/agents/lawyers who were upset with Ted Saskin's knifing of Bob Goodenow so he could "get information back". Daly promptly forwards the e-mail to Saskin. Think Gord might want to stick to more reliable sources from now on? (Like his pal from Edmonton-Wayne Gretzky). This "incident" tells you everything you need to know about Daly, Saskin and especially Chris Chelios who's been as relentless off the ice in his pursuit of justice as he has been on it in pursuit of championships for 25 years.

It's now up to 50-50 that Joe Torre will actually return to manage the Yankees in 2008, probably with a new pitching coach. An even bigger decision in The Bronx is whether or not A-Rod opts out of his monster contract. Yankees fans (and Torre since he hasn't quit by now) have to hope that Rodriguez takes his act elsewhere. Check this out, courtesy of SI's Tom Verducci:

...his final 59 postseason at-bats as a Yankee will be one of the more confounding, odds-defying trends in the history of great players. In those 59 at-bats, Rodriguez:
• went 8-for-59, a .136 batting average.
• batted with a total of 38 runners on base and left every single one of them on base. Not one did he drive in. He went 0 for 27, including 11 strikeouts, in at-bats with runners on.
• went 0 for 12 with a total of 17 runners in scoring position, driving in none of them.
The streak dates to the fifth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. The Yankees went 3-14 in that stretch...

A-Rod and agent Scott Boras have until November 10 to decide if they want to stay put with NY or head elsewhere. Boras' price tag this time around is even more than the stupid contract Tom Hicks paid him in texas (10 yrs, 250 Million). Or you can make that even more stupid. Some idiotic team (Angels? Giants?) will pay him $300 million this time. And he'll win an MVP award or three. And he'll still whiff in the post season.

How'd you like to have Jay Rothman as a boss? Rothman is the producer of Monday Night Football on ABC. Last weekend Joe Theismann, replaced this year in the MNF booth by Ron Jaworski whined to a newspaper that the show has "become three hours of Tony Kornheiser". So when Jimmy Kimmel aka Mr. Sarah Silverman shows up to promote his late night talk show on ABC he has a special hello for "Joe Theismann who's sitting at home with steam coming out of his ears." A good shot at Theismann who makes Tim McCarver sound mute. And a strong defense of fellow company employee Kornheiser. But Rothman sided with Theismann saying Kimmel's comments were "classless and disappointing." And for good measure Rothman has banned Kimmel from future monday night telecasts. An update on the "You'll never work in this town again" riff. Rothman should be forced to watch rerun after rerun of every Joe Theismann appearance on tv over the last 20 years. Should be enough to send him straight into sense of humour rehab.

Which is the most predictable headline of October?

Kovalev Criticizes Carbonneau

Souray Out With Separated Shoulder

Alex Hilton Arrested After Acquittal

How about those wild and crazy Grey Cup organizers in Toronto going all out by lining up Lenny Kravitz to perform at half time. Oh, that's not all. There WILL be Canadian content too. Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Spirit Of The West, Kim Mitchell, Loverboy & Trooper. Oh, the cutting edginess of it all. Couldn't they find room for April Wine? Chiliwack? Dan Hill?

So a genuine Montreal moment takes place sunday night as Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of Arcade Fire join Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band onstage......in &%@! Ottawa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5bT1_niUgk&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Zkz2pUt_g&mode=related&search=

Last month Jack White jumped onstage with Bob Dylan and his band at the famed Ryman in Nashville, getting Dylan to play two songs he had never performed in public, "Outlaw Blues" (..don't ask me nothin' about nothin' , I just might tell you the truth") and Meet Me In The Morning" plus the rarely performed "One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSfSHD9SW_g&mode=related&search=

Great to see two generations of superb talent sharing the stage. Think about more possibilities.
The Strokes & Lou Reed. Ryan Adams & Neil Young. Cat Power & Patti Smith. Joss Stone & Aretha Franklin. Pete Doherty & Keith Richards...

http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2161966,00.html