Roy becomes a ballerina
Alanah at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed made an absolutely wonderful photoshop photograph of my two least favorite Avs players, Patrick Roy and Claude Lemieux, in ballerina outfits.
It definitely is a must see for all Wings fans and would’ve gone nicely with my Anti-Roy post last month. Speaking of which, BtJ was linked by Home-Field Advantage, a Rocky Mountain News blog. Since that link, I’ve received numerous emails from angry Avs fans. Usually, I’d prolly get frustrated from so many negative comments. But since it was an Anti-Roy post, I feel like I must have done something right to anger them. And that made me smile. 
Anyways, thanks Alanah!
Hasek signs with Wings
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Dominik Hasek is returning to Detroit for one more year. Update: Apparently Holland was on AM 1270 and WXYT where he said that Hasek’s salary is $750,000 + incentives that only kick in after the first round of the playoffs.
GM Ken Holland will be holding a conference call to talk to reporters at 1pm. He will also be available to reporters at 3pm in the Wings dressing room. I’ll be very interested in hearing Holland’s reasoning for signing Hasek instead of obtaining a goaltender via trade either now or before the deadline.
I’m not too happy with this signing.
1) Hasek’s groin. In his past two NHL seasons, he has screwed his team over come February or later leaving the team with the back up goaltender. He played really well for Ottawa last season but then got injured and couldn’t play when it counted the most.
2) He is locker room poison. The mess he caused us in the 2003-2004 season between Cujo, Ozzie, and himself was a disaster. For all we know, we could still have a good goalie in Cujo if it wasn’t for Dom. Fortunately, there shouldn’t be a 3 goaltender scenario this season but I bet some Wings players still have a bad taste in their mouth over that situation. [Update: I should say that I don’t know if he is locker room poison. It seemed like his return caused a load of problems but Holland is the one who signed him. I wasn’t there in the locker room to know how Hasek’s return effected the team, but hopefully everyone will be professional and we’ll have no incidents in the upcoming season.]
BUT, and that’s a big but, if Hasek can actually stay healthy for the first time since winning the Cup in 2002, us Wings fans could be pretty happy come playoff time. I just don’t have much optimism for Hasek staying healthy. Maybe we should let Ozzie play for the first half of the season and then pop Hasek in. Oh well, Kenny has already signed him so I might as well try to think positive.
Update:
There are plenty of reactions to this signing and IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman has links to it all. Here in Detroit, we always have goaltender drama and this next season will be no different.
A TSN article has these quotes in regards to staying healthy:
“At this point it feels great,” said Hasek. “I think there are small little things I want to improve, like losing two to four pounds will be helpful. Take great care every day before practice, after practice and I believe I can stay healthy.
“I don’t care if I play 40, 50 games or how many games I play. All my focus is on the season but to be in the best shape for the playoffs.”
Chris at Hockey Country takes a look at the signing from the perspective of an Ottawa Senators’ fan. As you know, Dom played for Ottawa last season so Chris is pretty knowledgeable on the topic. He ended his post with this comment:
I wonder if Vegas is taking bets on how many games the Dominator logs before the groin/abductor/whatever else they wanna call it to spin the truth acts up again. I know how I’ll be betting.
Part Two: Floyd Landis has an elevated T/E ratio
This is the second part of my three part series regarding Justin Gatlin, Floyd Landis, and drug testing. Yes, this brief series has absolutely nothing to do with hockey. It has everything to do with news that I want to discuss/vent as well as me trying to bring in readers who may be interested in hockey AND other sports. Anyways if you missed the first part, you can check it out here.
Floyd Landis has a skewed T/E ratio
The Tour de France is the Stanley Cup finals of the cycling world so to speak. It is a 23 day event (two days are rest days) covering over 2000 miles where cyclists can easily burn 7000 calories in one stage. It’s crazy. It’s sweltering hot. It’s the Tour de France. After Lance Armstrong retired last year, the TdF had no leader and this was to be the tour where the fans would discover who would be the next in line. On the day before TdF started, a report was released implicating pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Ivan Basso (CSC) along with 13 other riders I believe. All those named in the report were disqualified leaving American riders like Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie (Discovery), and Floyd Landis (Phonak) to assume control. Landis became that guy.
On the day of Stage 17, I marveled at the inspired riding of Floyd Landis. Not only was he fighting through incredible pain as he will have his hip replaced in the next month or so, he had lost 8:08 to the yellow jersey in the previous day’s stage. That’s a huge amount of time and pretty much everyone wrote him off. But Landis took a chance and brokeaway early in Stage 17 and managed to gain all but 30 seconds back. A few days later, Landis won the TdF by 59 seconds to become only the third American to ever win the prestigious event. Newspapers across the country reported on this feel good story reviving American interest in the sport of cycling.
Unfortunately, the feel good feeling faded quickly when Landis’ team, Phonak, informed the world that his urine “A” sample taken after Stage 17 had come back with an abnormally high T/E ratio. The acceptable maximum for a testosterone to epitestosterone is 4:1 (for most people, it’s 1:1). This means that Landis either had really high testosterone levels or really low epitestosterone. Unlike Justin Gatlin, there has been no test results to show that this is synthetic testosterone or what the action ratio was.
Landis went from the extreme high of being at the top of the cycling world to the crushing blow of being labeled a drug user.
Landis, a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, said he was shocked when told of the initial positive result. He said he had been tested six other times during the tour, and many other times during the year.
A homecoming parade planned for Landis next week in Ephrata, Pa., has been put on hold pending more test results, organizer Rich Ruoff said Friday. As many as 10,000 people and 500 cyclists were expected at the event.
So what happens next?
The results of the “B” sample should be released sometime this week. If the sample is negative, than his name is cleared but he may always have an asterisk by his name. If the sample shows the same results (which Landis expects), Phonak will fire Landis.
He will then make his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. If he loses his appeal, his TdF title will be stripped and given to second place finisher Oscar Pereiro who was Landis’ former teammate and a friend. If this happened, it would be the first time in the tour’s 93 years that the title was given to the runner-up for doping/steroid use.
Until the results of the “B” sample are released and until we learn what the actual T/E ratio was, the rest is really speculation.
What are the arguments that Landis did NOT cheat?
1) Floyd Landis said that he did not cheat and that the results are a natural occurrence.
“I declare convincingly and categorically that my winning the Tour de France has been exclusively due to many years of training and my complete devotion to cycling,” Landis said.
2) The results from his “A” sample do not prove that he has used steroids or cheated. All they can say is that their is an elevated T/E ratio and then show what the ratio was. If the ratio is 11:1, it’s pretty safe to say that it isn’t a normal ratio. But if his ratio was 6:1 (which used to be the allowable maximum last year), it would be somewhat easier to prove that it was natural and not synthesized.
3) Landis says that he will undergo additional testing to prove that this is natural such as an endocrine test. He does ask that people hold judgement until after the tests are conducted and their results released.
4) Testosterone isn’t known for being a drug of choice among cyclists. Endurance athletes, specifically cyclists, have been known to use banned substances like EPO, stimulants, and blood transfusions. We have heard nothing of the urine sample showing anything positive for those substances.
Some people are connecting Floyd Landis’ remarkable performance in Stage 17 and his abnormal test, which indicates possible testosterone doping. But the consensus is that if Landis wanted to get a quick and illegal boost before Stage 17, he would have used one of the aforementioned substances.
Landis’ physician, Dr. Brent Kay, spoke on CNN’s Larry King Live where he, too, said that the idea of Landis using testosterone to recover from Stage 16 is crazy.
“I think everybody needs to take a step back and look at what we’re talking about. Because testosterone is a bodybuilding steroid that builds mass,” Kay said. “It builds mass over long-term use of weeks, months, and even years.
“And it’s crazy to think that a Tour de France professional cyclist would be using testosterone, particularly in the middle of a race. It’s a joke. Every sports medicine expert, physician, trainer, scientist that I’ve talked to in the last day, have really the same opinion, ‘No way. This is a joke.’”
Bonnie DeSimone tends to agree with Landis’ physician in her article posted on ESPN.com:
In the interest of balance, it should be mentioned that synthetic testosterone isn’t generally used for instant recovery purposes, but taken in long cycles during strength training to help with workout recovery and build muscle mass. Cyclists aren’t interested in bulk — they worry about weight nearly as much as jockeys — and if you’ve ever taken a look at their upper bodies, you know they’re not doing a lot of lifting. A cyclist rifling the medicine cabinet for a quick fix would have been far more likely to get a transfusion, take a blood-boosting substance like EPO, or pop some speed — all of which are now easily detectable in doping tests. There’s no doubt that athletes do stupid things and are fully capable of taking an ill-advised or possibly ineffective drug in a given situation, but a number of experts raised their eyebrows over this result, which didn’t recur in Landis’ two subsequent tests at the Tour.
5) As in track and field and baseball, it seems that you are guilty by association. Well, five riders for the Astana-Wurth team were implicated by the Spanish doping investigation report and disqualified from the race. Well, last week the court studied the evidence and ruled that those riders were clean and clear. As Bonnie DeSimone says, “The sport is, admirably, bending over backwards to try to clean itself up — just don’t assume that every single shot fired in this battle is going to hit the right target.”
6) Apparently in a press conference, Landis said that he was so bummed out by his Stage 16 performance that he drank two beers and at least four shots of whiskey with friends and teammates. A Wall Street Journal online article reports that this could be some significant information:
According to several studies, alcohol consumption can increase the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone, which occur naturally in the body. Mr. Landis failed the test because it showed an elevated ratio between the two.
Lynne at Knowledge Problem thinks that the alcohol and cortisone shots for his hip could have contributed to this elevated T/E ratio.
How can this be? Two of the things that can affect epitestosterone are alcohol and cortisone. We know that Landis had a beer the night before the stage because he was so upset at his bonking on that stage. We also know that Landis is legally taking cortisone shots for his half-dead hip.
If you want background information, see this American Statistical Assocation article on false positives in testosterone testing and other issues of testosterone testing. The article does a very nice job of discussing Bayes’ Rule and its importance in assessing probability of guilt, in the context of Mary Decker Slaney’s testosterone results at the 1996 US Olympic Trials; epitestosterone levels have a very high variance in women, particularly athletes (that’s why I know so much about this subject).
7) Landis has also been taking “small amounts of thyroid hormone” orally once a day for his thyroid condition over the last year. I don’t know if he has hyper- or hypo-thyroidism and if the thyroid hormone would effect the T/E ratio, but it is a possibility.
Please read the blog Free Floyd Landis for the latest news. The blogger definitely makes a convincing argument for Landis’ innocence, but we’ll know more when the “B” sample results are released.
What are the arguments that Landis DID cheat?
1) He’s guilty by association. The sport of cycling and the character of elite cyclists certainly don’t help Landis’ case.
In his book Lance Armstrong’s War, author Daniel Coyle writes about the character of elite cyclists. Many, especially from Europe, are young men from tough and meager backgrounds. For them, cycling is a way out, and it wouldn’t be too far a stretch to imagine these athletes doing anything they could to be successful — including using banned drugs. It’s not just a hunch: Statistics appear to support the scratching-and-clawing theory. Recently, the World Anti-Doping Agency released a list of the sports with the highest percentage of doping infractions. Leading the list? Elite bicycle racing.
2) An endocrinologist, Linn Goldberg, at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland doesn’t really buy Landis’ beer reasoning. Goldberg has also been a tester for the USADA and USOC.
A person’s testosterone and epitestosterone levels don’t normally vary much over time. Goldberg says he’s never heard of whiskey altering the ratio — as Landis suggested might have occurred in his case.
So what can change it? A testosterone-producing tumor, pills, injections that contain testosterone or similar products. Tests have shown that some supplements promoted for building muscle or endurance contain testosterone or a related substance, although it’s not marked on the packaging.
3) If Landis had naturally high levels of testosterone or naturally really low levels of epitestosterone, wouldn’t that have been shown in previous tests?
I just talked to Dr. Gary Wadler in Long Island [N.Y.]. He’s a specialist associated with New York University who helped come up with part of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s code, and he’s saying that this doesn’t all add up. There aren’t these dramatic variations in your test levels of testosterone; they’re fairly consistent in your life. There should be some record of Landis having high levels, which he kept claiming was the case.
4) It has not been announced if the sample has undergone a carbon isotope test, which is an expensive test that can detect if the testosterone is natural or unnatural. Dr. Don Catlin runs the UCLA doping center that has developed testing protocols and believes the test has probably been conducted already. The WADA requires a carbon isotope test if the urine sample shows an elevated T/E ratio.
“If you have a high t/e ratio in our lab, we do a carbon-isotope ratio right away,” Catlin told the San Diego Union-Tribune for Saturday’s edition. “We don’t report a high t/e ratio without a carbon-isotope test.”
“They are a WADA-accredited lab and they follow WADA protocol,” Catlin told the Union-Tribune. “I think it’s a very safe assumption — very safe. Why would they risk not doing that? I mean, good grief, you’d think they are going to have all their ducks in order for a case like this.”
5) An ABC News online article reported that Landis’ hip condition could be related to steroid use, if Landis is using steroids. Apparently, the painful condition in his right hip can be caused or worsened by anabolic steroid abuse according to an orthopedic surgery professor at the University of Virginia (Dr. Mark D. Miller).
He suffers from osteonecrosis, or avascular necrosis, in his right hip. The condition occurs when a bone or joint loses its blood supply, causing the bone to wear down. Landis said that in his case, the condition was brought about by a previous cycling crash.
That’s not unusual. Bone fractures are the biggest risk factor in developing osteonecrosis. However, what is unusual is the positive drug test, which adds a new twist to his story because osteonecrosis is also linked to steroid use, according to the National Osteonecrosis Foundation and other sources.
For reasons still unclear, people who take steroids — including anabolic steroids — appear to have a greater chance of coming down with the condition. Landis has admitted to taking corticosteroids, which, since they are used to treat inflammation and aren’t related to performance, are not banned and wouldn’t throw off tests for other steroids, doctors say.
In the same article, NY sports medicine specialist Dr. Lewis Maharam agreed that anabolic steroids can worsen or even cause osteonecrosis, but said that the condition can just as easily be caused by an injury like the one Landis suffered. He did comment on the T/E ratio:
The first urine test’s positive result is unlikely to be a fluke, because the test only comes back positive when there is a fairly high imbalance between testosterone and epitestosterone.
There is “no way to have that ratio without taking something that was banned,” he said.
What do I think?
Based on all the evidence, I really want to believe that Landis is clean and innocent. I think that he is going about things exactly like I would if I was innocent but accused of steroid use / doping. He has been open and accessible to journalists and seems to be smart in the fact that he is gathering experts and lawyers to help him fight this. If he is innocent, I feel completely bad for him. To win the biggest race in your sport and to have it tainted and the celebrations ruined would totally suck. Plus, he still is dealing with a lot of hip pain and has problems walking across a parking lot (remind anyone of Steve Yzerman not being able to walk up the airplane stairs?) and will be having surgery in the near future. That’s a lot to have on your plate on one time.
If Landis did in fact use synthetic testosterone, then shame on him. But I somehow don’t see that to be the case, maybe because I want this feel good story to have a proper ending. Who knows…
Misc.
ABC News.com has other articles written about Landis biking through pain and what his surgery will be like. Interestingly enough, one of the surgeons mentioned in the second article (Dr. David Markel) is an orthopedic surgeon at Providence Hospital in Michigan. While shadowing one of his partners, Dr. Jefferey Michaelson, I was allowed to observe a couple surgeries done by his different partners. As a result, I saw Dr. Markel perform two total knee replacement operations. Just thought that was an interesting note.
Well, it’s time for me to get some sleep so I will add more thoughts/comments about Landis in my Part Three of this series, which I’ll hopefully finish sometime tomorrow.
Part One: Justin Gatlin tests positive
This post is part one of my three part series regarding Justin Gatlin (track and field) and Floyd Landis (cycling) and drug testing. Aside from giving my own opinion, I’ll try to lay out the situation for both athletes. The second part is in regards to the Landis situation and the third part will be me showing you the differences between the two situations since many in the media are doing their best to compare the two athletes.
Justin Gatlin tests positive
On April 22, 2006, sprinter Justin Gatlin partook in the Kansas Relays where he submitted a urine sample for drug testing. This week, Gatlin announced that the test came back positive for high levels of testosterone or its precursors. Both the “A” sample and the “B” sample have come back positive, with the “B” sample being analyzed this month.
The 24 year old had become the new face of track and field. In part because of his high achievements, but also for proclaiming himself clean and trying to rebuild the image of the sport. He first came onto “the scene” in 2004 when he won the gold medal in the 100m event at the Summer Olympics. He is currently the reigning 200m world champion and holds the joint 100m world record with Jamaican Asafa Powell with a time of 9.77 seconds. He tied the world record just three weeks after that Kansas relay race.
Exactly one month after the Kansas relays, an article by Tim Layden in the 5/22/06 Sports Illustrated issue had this quote from Gatlin about his importance to the sport and staying clean.
“I see the look on people’s faces when I tell them my coach’s name,” Gatlin told SI last month. “I see when they pause and then start to put it together. But I understand what it would mean to track and field if I ever tested positive or went down in some scandal. At this point, that would be one of the hardest hits the sport could take. Not to have an ego about it, but that might be the KO for our sport. I know how important it is that I’m clean.”
So if Gatlin said that quote a month before it was published in SI, he must have said it right around the time he raced in that relay. Either Gatlin blatantly lied to SI and its readers or he was somehow set up because he definitely tested positive.
Ok, so what are the basic “facts” surrounding this story?
1) Both of his “A” and “B” samples came back positive for high levels of testosterone or its precursors.
2) His coach, Trevor Graham, has coached six other athletes who have been suspended for steroid use/doping. This is why there is such a cloud of suspicion surrounding Gatlin. He looks guilty by association.
3) Back in his days as a NCAA sprinting champ, Gatlin tested positive for amphetamine. He was given a two year ban. However, he proved that he had been taking Adderall for his ADD since the age of seven and that was what showed up on the test. His ban was shortened to 12 months. If his appeals fail, Gatlin will receive a lifetime ban from the sport at the age of 24 since it would be his second offense. In fact, he told reporters that he was even more careful about what he put in his body since that episode.
“That experience made me even more vigilant to make certain that I not come into contact with any banned substance for any reason whatsoever, because any additional anti-doping rule offense could mean a lifetime ban from the sport that I love,” Gatlin said.
His coach even told a TV station in North Carolina during an interview that Gatlin goes out and buys his own nutritional supplements because he doesn’t trust anyone else - not even his parents or coach.
4) Gatlin’s coach is now saying that the sprinter was setup and that the positive test is a result of sabotage.
“We are 100 percent sure who it is,” Graham said. “The individual that did it, it’s an individual that we fired and we went back and hired … he came to the Kansas relay and was [upset] with Justin.”
Why would you hire that person after firing them? Obviously Gatlin and his lawyers will have to provide a lot more evidence than that to convince the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency).
Update: Graham is now calling out the massage therapist who supposedly set Gatlin up.
Gatlin’s coach, Trevor Graham, told The Washington Post on Sunday that the Olympic and world champion and co-world-record holder in the 100 meters was the victim of a setup by a massage therapist. Graham told the newspaper for a story posted on its Web that the massage therapist rubbed a testosterone cream on Gatlin without the sprinter’s knowledge.
Graham declined to name the massage therapist, saying he did not want to jeopardize the case.
“We know who the person is who actually did this,” Graham told the Post by phone from Raleigh, N.C., the home base of his Sprint Capitol team. “Justin is devastated. Myself, too. We’re extremely [upset] right now. We are trying to go out and make sure we can prove his innocence, and we hope this individual has the guts to come forward and say he did it.”
5) And if a positive drug test isn’t bad enough, apparently Gatlin’s name is on one of the many many pages of documents in the BALCO case.
In June 2003, BALCO owner Victor Conte drafted a letter to the US Anti-Doping Agency and the international governing body for track and field detailing allegations of how Graham was doping his athletes with “oral testosterone undeconate,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Chronicle.
In the letter, Conte writes, “Oral testosterone undeconate will clear the body and be undetectable in urine in less than a week after discontinuing use.” At the end of the letter, Conte identified four athletes he said were using the drugs. One of those was Gatlin. Ultimately, Conte never sent the correspondence.
6) What really puts the nail in the coffin (and a big difference between Gatlin and Landis) is this: Gatlin’s lawyer, Cameron Myler, said the “test employed indicated that the testosterone in her client’s body were synthetic or came from an external source - ruling out the argument that Gatlin produced naturally high levels of the substance.” Ouch.
So what have people been saying about this positive test result?
Justin Gatlin released this public statement:
“I cannot account for these results because I have never knowingly used any banned substance or authorized anyone else to administer such a substance to me. In the course of my entire professional career, I have been tested more than 100 times. All of the tests this season, including the out-of-competition tests conducted just before and after the race in Kansas, were negative.”
The guys at Deadspin had this to say in regards to Gatlin’s statement:
Oh, good, so he has a copy of the “What To Say When You Test Positive” handbook. Surely, there were one or two of those laying around, as his coach, Trevor Graham, was heavily involved with the BALCO investigation. Victor Conte himself wrote to the U.S. Anti-Doping agency, alleging that Graham doped the bejeezus out of his athletes.
IAAF President Lamine Diack released the following comment on their website:
“Although it is a matter of deep regret that one of the biggest stars of our sport is facing serious doping charges, I would take this opportunity to emphasise the IAAF’s total commitment to the fight against doping. In order to defend the credibility of our sport, we will engage all our efforts, in co-operation with partners such as USADA, to defend the majority of athletes who are clean, against those who break our anti-doping rules.”
The same website also said that Gatlin will appear before the USADA Review Board in the near future.
A statement issued by USADA CEO Terry Madden was also put up on their website, but it refused to comment on Gatlin’s situation.
The USA Track & Field program had no problem issuing a statement via their website in regards to Justin Gatlin:
USA Track & Field is gravely concerned that Justin Gatlin has tested positive for banned substances. Justin has been one of the most visible spokespersons for winning with integrity in the sport of track and field, and throughout his career he has made clear his willingness to take responsibility for his actions. Although difficult, his case demonstrates that in track and field and Olympic sports, it doesn’t matter who you are. If you test positive for a banned substance, you will face substantial consequences. We hope Justin has not committed a doping offense, and we await the completion of the adjudication process.
US Olympic Committee CEO Jim Scherr also commented on the situation:
“While this news is disappointing, it underscores the commitment we have made to protect the integrity of sport through clean competition,” Scherr said. “No one, regardless of their stature, is above the system. We understand that Justin has been working with USADA, and would encourage him to continue doing so.”
Dick Pound, the head of WADA, had this to say in an interview while on BBC Radio Five Live:
“He needs to be banned for up to life,” Pound said in an interview on BBC Radio Five Live. “There may be some extenuating circumstances to come out, but I think if he just continues to come out with some bland denial that, ‘I never did anything, I can’t imagine how this result occurred,’ that will not help him when it comes to sentencing.
“If they can find someone who did, in fact, spike it, then it is for them to prove but short of something like that I think he has a very serious problem.”
So what do I think?
As much as I want to think all great track sprinters are clean, it’s becoming incredibly hard to do so. I love track. I ran the 100m and 4×100m for five years for my middle school and high school before my knee injuries caused me to stop. It’s a beautiful sport and an incredible event to watch. However, I’m not that surprised by the positive test results. He is being coached by Graham who is known for having his athletes be suspended for steroid use. If he really was set up, I hope he can prove it without a doubt. Otherwise, my beloved sport is going to struggle at least on the professional level. And it saddens me that a promising sprinter ruins his career to stay “competitive” via drug use.
Interview with Babcock
Helene St. James interviewed Wings head coach Mike Babcock while he was in South Africa where he was hunting. The second part of the interview will be printed in the Detroit Free Press next Sunday.
QUESTION: What do you think of newly signed defenseman Danny Markov?
ANSWER: “He’s a hard guy who competes on a nightly basis. We checked him out and we think he’s a great team guy and he’s going to be a good fit with our team.”
Q: The top four corps now consists of Markov, Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall and Mathieu Schneider. How would you assess your defense?
A: “With Lidstrom, Schneider and Kronwall, our big three is fantastic. Then you have Markov — he’s a hard guy to play against, and he’s a good penalty killer. We think Chris Chelios and Andreas Lilja are great on the PK. On the power play, Lidstrom is going to play with Schneider and Kronwall.”
Plymouth Whalers Events
As part of my efforts to blog about the Wings AND other teams / sports, I wanted to inform you all of upcoming Plymouth Whalers events this summer. For those of you who don’t know, the Plymouth Whalers are the OHL team less than 10 minutes from my house.
August 29, 2006 - Golf Outing
This year marks the 9th Annual Player Education Fund Golf-Outing, which is held at the Fox Hills’ Golden Fox Golf Course in Plymouth, Michigan. You can visit this link to learn more about the event and, if interested, sign up.
August 30-September 1 - Whalers Camp
Last year, the scrimmages during the camp were free and open to the public.
September 2 (2pm) - Exhibition Game vs. Windsor
September 22 - Season Opener in Sarnia
September 23 - Home Opener vs. Erie
Season tickets are still available, click here for more information. Game tickets cost $10 or $12 depending on where you sit. I usually can sit in the second row in a corner section for $10. I always enjoy going to the games and taking my younger brother, David.
For the latest Whalers news, visit their website and the MLive.com blog Whale Tales.
Welcome to BtJ 2.0
Welcome to the latest version of Behind the Jersey! We have officially moved over to the new domain from our previous home at Blogger. As you can see, we have changed the style, design, and format of the blog and hopefully it’s all a better change for you.
New Changes
As you check out the new blog design and format, please drop me an email if something doesn’t look right or if you have any comments/suggestions for improvement! Thanks for visiting Behind the Jersey!
2006 Blogathon
Be sure to support Alanah at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed and Kent at Sports Guy North as they raise money for their chosen charities. How do they raise money? 48 posts in 24 hours (yep, 1 post every 1/2 hour). They started this morning (Saturday) at 6am Pacific (9am Eastern) and will be blogging until Sunday morning.
Alanah has raised $729.00 for Canuck’s Place Children’s Hospice and Kent has raised $200.12 for Habitat for Humanity! Good luck to them and be sure to support them (either financially or keeping them awake) during these 24 hours!
If you are still looking for a copy of the Sports Illustrated Commemorative Edition: Steve Yzerman, I’ll be shipping a free copy to a randomly selected pledger for Alanah’s blogging efforts. Alanah will be making the random selection (US and Canada only) and I’ll do the free shipping! So if you haven’t pledged already, go do it!
I’m trying to see if there is any interest in doing a blogathon with a bunch of hockey blogs before the start of September. Please email me or leave a comment if you are interested. Thanks!
Wings re-sign Williams for 2 more years
I went to check the Detroit Red Wings website to see what it had about the Danny Markov signing. I was surprised when the first thing I saw was the announcement that the Wings had re-signed Williams for two more years before heading to arbitration and not Markov’s signing.
“We are pleased to reach a deal with Jason before going to arbitration,” said [GM Ken] Holland. “He took a big step forward as a NHL player last year and we look forward to even more progress in the future.”
Even though I interviewed Willy for 30 minutes or so back in 2004 and he’s a really nice guy, I’m not a huge fan of him especially Willy on the power play. That being said, this was his first year playing a ton of games so hopefully he’ll just get better. And he is good on the shootout, which will help us in the regular season. Although I only really care about the playoffs and earning a playoff spot.
I would’ve been a lot happier with a one year contract, but I bet the Wings didn’t pay as much as they would’ve via arbitration. It’ll be interesting to see just how much Williams will be making.
Ansar Khan at MLive.com is reporting that Williams will be paid $1.6 million/year, which isn’t bad considering how arbitration has gone this offseason.
“(Coach) Mike Babcock gave him the opportunity (last season) and Jason took advantage of it,” Holland said. “He really established himself as an NHL player. Hopefully, he can continue to build on that confidence.
“I don’t want to say what statistics we’re expecting from him, but there is an opportunity for someone to take a step forward offensively.”
“In the end, we felt if we could avoid (arbitration), we’d both be better served,” Holland said. “In the past couple of days, as (arbitration) awards came out, a marketplace began to surface.”
Holland has around $6 million to get a goaltender, winger, and to sign Johan Franzen. Ideally, Holland would like to sign Franzen for three or four more years, but it’s looking like Franzen will sign a one or two year deal. Franzen will be UFA eligible in 2008.
Wings sign defenseman Danny Markov
The Canadian Press has heard from a source that the Detroit Red Wings have agreed to a deal with defenseman Danny Markov. He played 58 games with Nashville last season where he had 11 assists, +9 rating, and 62 PIM. He missed some games last year due to a strained knee in mid-January and then an ankle injury on March 3rd (but returned on March 28th). Expect an official announcement later this afternoon.
If Markov can stay healthy this season, I’ll be very happy with this signing.
Update: Markov agreed to a one year deal worth $2.5 million making me like this signing even more. Based on what people have said and Holland’s expectations of Markov, we’ll have a nice physical defensemen duo of Kronwall and Markov. I like it.
Sorry that I didn’t update earlier, but Blogger was down last night when I tried to update (and this morning). I am working on transferring all my posts and stuff over to my new site so I’ll let you all know when you can check it out.
Random Rambling
I went down to Cinci on Tuesday to see my surgeon. Since I can’t keep perfect extension (how straight your leg can get - I’m like negative 5 degrees most of the time and you want 0 degrees), they decided to put a cast on me. I only have to wear it at night, but the actual casting process was prolly one of the most painful things I have ever experienced next to shingles pain and 24 hour post-op surgery pain. Why was it so painful? Well, my therapist had to press down on my cast as it was hardening while my ankle was propped up on a sink and my knee was suspended in mid-air. Imagine 50 pounds being pushed on your knee while it has no support and that is what I had to deal with. Yuck. I did get a free t-shirt though for my “hard work.”