Tuukka Rask offers you his protection

Bruins goalkeeper takes care of business in the crease during the Boston versus Toronto playoff game seven last night

Tuukka Rask - Boston Bruins keeper

Incredible comeback by the Boston Bruins last night. Playing game seven against Toronto, for a place in the conference semi finals, they were absolutely dead and buried down 1-4 late in the game. The Maple Leafs were completely dominant to that point, and their fans were celebrating like maniacs on the streets of Toronto.

The Bruins got one back to make it 2-4, however Toronto looked nailed-on to score and salt the game away on a fast-break. Instead, Bruin's keeper Tuukka Rask made a superb save, and allowed what happened next to occur. As time wound down, the Bruins stunned Toronto with two very late goals (one with only 50 seconds left) and then scored the vital goal in overtime.

Boston moves on to play the Rangers in the conference semi finals.

Rask made a number of key saves in the comeback, but also had another interesting moment. During the game, Toronto's Joffrey Lupul decided to venture into the crease. Let's just say Tuukka Rask took care of business.

Tuukka Rask @ work

You have to love the honesty of the NHL. The honesty and also the lack of prima-donna, Diva types. Imagine for one second if the above happened in any of the other major sports. Even the NFL. ESPN would literally explode. Rick Reilly would wet himself with excitement.  Hey, whether it is right or wrong to box someone in the snout during a hockey game, it is a credit to hockey fans and the hockey media too, that this hasn't been turned (yet anyway) into a big deal.

The game was intense, someone got punched by a goalie, move along, nothing to see here. You have to love hockey, and, unless you are  Joffrey Lupul, you have to love Tuukka Rask.

The Boston Bruins

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Weekend La Liga preview - breaking up is hard to do

So, here's my most recent article for BetDash - a preview of the weekend Spanish soccer action, including the usual TV schedule (For Irish and English TV), betting tips and a piece on how Real Madrid are going to break up this summer.

Falcao - one of La Liga's finest

The betting picks part of the article has been doing very well lately, including a thundering 6 for 6 last weekend, bringing me up to a season winning percentage thus far of 60%. Not bad, right? Anyway, give the article a shot, if you have 5 minutes to spare.

Thanks
Mac




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The Big Papi question

Boston Globe journalist insinuates David Ortiz is using steroids based on the fact he is a good hitter

David Ortiz

As you may or may not know, an attention seeking writer on the Boston Globe decided to openly question if Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is ‘juicing’, based solely on the fact that he was batting in the .400 region early on in the season, a feat the writer thought remarkable.

That’s where we appear to be at now. Someone hits a few balls well, the balls drop where the fielders aren't  and writers piggyback on that to ask, ‘Is hitter x roiding up?’. Talk about lazy journalism.

The laziness is shocking. The complete wilful ignorance of the facts suggests the writer knows he is talking absolute horse crap, but goes ahead thrusting the erroneous knife in, aware of just how many hits his or her article will gather. In the world of online journalism and aggregator sites, the sensational headline is king, even if it is complete hypothesis and lacks any kind of facts.

What are the facts? They couldn’t be more simple. First and foremost, MLB has tested Ortiz several times already in 2013. If he was roiding up, juicing or whatever you want to call it, we would know about it. Don’t you think the New York Post would be front and center with a gaudy headline about it, if there was any chance one of Boston’s iconic athletes was juicing?

Whatever about the above, common sense would indicate that Ortiz is not roiding up. The guy can barely walk! It took an exceptionally long time for Ortiz to come back from a very minor injury. That in itself should be evidence enough, as known roid users recover from simple and indeed very severe physical injuries much faster while they are juicing up. Take for example Ray Lewis, the former Ravens linebacker. Fair or not, questions were asked about him as he recovered from a severe injury that should have taken 3-4 months to recover from, in just 3 weeks. People asked questions because it is a known side effect of roid usage that other physical injuries heal incredibly fast.

The fact is, if Ortiz was roiding up, not only would he be crushing the baseball, he would be running the bases like Jacoby Ellsbury, not David Ross with a piano on his back.

You know what, if you want to make snide remarks and comments without any real basis, fine, whatever, plenty of writers are going to chase a few hits without much basis for their article, that’s a given these days. The worst part for me is treating the readers as stupid.

We know Ortiz is probably not juicing up, because if he was, he wouldn’t look like one of the Molina brothers trying to run the bases.

We’re not stupid, stop writing articles as if we were.

Big Papi

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That stupid Redskins logo - a satirical look

Yes, the Redskins logo is in the news again. Here's my latest on Irish Central, which is a satirical look at other teams with racist names and or logos.

Redskins name and logo: Racist

What I love about this is how someone 'had a pop' at me in the comment section and spelt 'different', 'differnet'. That's obviously the best kind of feedback. Read the full article here. Go on, it's short!



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A little Adam Johnson action for Sunderland fans

Here's my latest for BetDash, a look at the recent resurgence of Sunderland's Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson

Johnson has played well lately under Di Canio, scoring the opening goal against Newcastle, and bossing the game against Stoke. The article is a look at how he has enjoyed the free role given to him by Di Canio and what this could mean for Sunderland and England.



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The worst kept secret in football

My latest article on BetDash. A look at how the landscape in La Liga continues to shape up to change, in this case around Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho leaving for Chelsea this summer.

Jose Mourinho - on his way to Chelsea

Check the full article out here.

Peace
Mac



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LeBron James becomes the 2nd NBA player to 'out' themselves on the same day

My latest article on Irish Central. Drama abounds as LeBron and his PR engine strive to ensure he stays tops of the NBA news charts

LeBron - in the news as always

And so it goes, LeBron is determined not to fall off the NBA news radar for long, even if it means outing himself as gay (if only for himself). Come check the news out for yourself right here!

Make sure your tongue is firmly in cheek as you read...


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Looking back at the Redsox trade of Anibal Sanchez in 2005

Here's my latest article for Irish Central. It's a look at the 2005 trade that saw Boston send current Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins, getting Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell in return.

Anibal Sanchez back in his Boston minor league days

Having seen Sanchez obliterate the Braves last night, striking out 17 in a magical 8 innings only, the question on Redsox fans lips this morning is, was it worth it? Here's an in depth look at the trade, and how it has panned out for Boston in particular.

Hopefully you have 5 minutes to check it out, and if you like it, share it around! Here's also hoping you are having as good a weekend as Anibal Sanchez.

Peace. Mac.





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