Mats Sundin to Ikea?

The one decision Mats was able to make this off season was to take his new bride Josephine Johansson out to do some shopping, swedish style. The problem a rose when they reached Ikea, Mats just couldn't decide, there were alot of great choices, I mean even if he could decide on a bed? Where would he put it? The salesrep was sure it was down to two choices:

The first is a bed called the Hemnes which would be a perfect fit for the East Coast, classic style and cozy, that gives you that real close to home feeling
While The second one, Floro has a definite West Coast feel, looks like it could be made out of Bamboo, is lower to the ground perfect for cool, moderate climates.But just when we thought it was down to two a friend of his arrived one J.P. Barry who seemed to have some role in picking the furniture had this to say "I mean, if he has narrowed it down to two, that would be big news. At this stage, I would practically put out a press release if he's narrowed it down to two"

The salesrep apparently a fan of Mats said "If you can't make a decision? How did you become a captain of an NHL team?" Mats replied easy,"It wasn't my decison"

Fellow Swede, Peter Forsberg , had this two say "Personally I like to wait until two thirds of the shopping season is over then there are a lot less options open and then do my picking"

He added "My ankle just can't stand the long grind of a whole season anymore, so Mats relax just get in before the Sale when what you do really starts to matter"

Mats respectfully disagreed with Peter "my opinion has always been that you want to be there from the start of the season to be part of the group."

In the end Mats was not able to decide, as you can see in the top picture the furniture decision has got Mats pretty perplexed, upon leaving the store he just kept looking over and over at the catalouge at the various choices, saying "maybe I won't make a decision until later in the season" confusing everyone considering his part of the group comments.

Mats left us with this "I just hope people can respect that it's my right to make a decision, and I think I've earned that right.

Were not arguing but when the summer catalogue was sent to your house 5 months ago and we knew you were looking hard through it all your options we just thought well you might make a decison before the Fall.

Roy Williams wins Best Costume...

Roy Williams is doing his best to become your favorite Cowboys reciever, the former Detroit Lion attended a Halloween function in Detroit dressed as former teamate Tatum "Bell Hop" Bell.

Tatum Bell made headlines earlier in the year, by stealing some cash and underwear from new at the time Detroit Lions running back Rudi Johnson.

He had the opportunity while Rudi was checking into a hotel the team was staying at while newly released Tatum was checking out, the Hotel staff was nice enough to show the video footage to Rudi, who decided not to involve authorities but settle the matter himself.

Karma of course caught up to Bell, as stealing from a team mate is career suicide for a player that has access to pro teams locker room at all times.

Currently he is rumoured to be selling sell phones, bet you a pair of new Hanes that he'd unlock that iPhone I just bought on EBay.

Sean Avery Wouldn't Fight your Sister

Happened to see this Coach's Corner watching the Senators vs Leafs last night, Don Cherry exposes Sean Avery, supposed tough guy and tough talker for not backing up his tough talk with action. Several clips show Avery, willing and trying to get fights with Brandon Dubinsky, while avoiding Orr.

Just an absolute Joke... Avery is quick to criticize, but slow to back up his words

On another note several NHLers have told me, that Sean makes it priority to know every ones personal business and take trash talk to a whole new level, bringing up deaths in the family, a family members handicap, and divorce among other things.

You may act tough Sean but in the end it's just an act, you are a slightly better than average hockey player and a master marketer; that's it!

Shot to the Heart

It may not be the heart, but wow this would slow you down...

Canadian Biathletes get Naked for Sport

The Canadian Biathlon team is trying to bring awareness and funding to their sport by getting naked. the 14th month calenar features the five women team, in various poses all nude.

Here is the information they provided about the calender:

We are the Canadian Women's Biathlon Team. We are a dynamic, positive and
internationally competitive team of five women who share a common dream to excel
at Canada's Olympics in 2010 and beyond. Despite the upcoming home Games, our
team is in dire need of funding. This is our initiative to take control, affect
positive change and continue the success of our team. Our goal is to empower
women and girls through inspiring quotes and expressing the beauty of an
athletic body. The profits go directly to funding our training and competition
expenses up until the 2010 Olympics. It is a 14-month calendar which details our
race schedule up to the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

To purchase one visit www.boldbeautifulbiathlon.com

Manny Legacy injured by Sarah Palin?

Manny Legace trips over the ceremonial carpet, the St Louis Blues put out so that Republican Vice president candidate could drop the opening puck. The self described hockey mom managed to find her footing easily on the rug but the NHL goalie struggled, so far no word on how long Manny might be shelved for; the official injury report has Manny as day to day with a bruised ego.

One theory that has no merit, is that Manny lost his footing while trying to contrive a Sarah Palin "does the carpet match the blinds style joke" before tripping over the rug he was pondering...

Handicapping UFC 90

Avoid the temptation to bet the long odds in the title fight

all week I have been hearing that Patrick "The Predator" Cote can surprise Anderson "The Spider" Silva and I don't disagree. Patrick has a rock of a chin and may take this fight into the later rounds but he is not going to win, not by decision not by knockout, Anderson is the best pound for pound fighter in MMA for a reason and won't under estimate Cote.

Still thinking of it? here is the breakdown currently the odds on Patrick Cote stand at +551 which is a nice line for fans of the underdog, but any real risk here in terms of your book value is an unnecessary risk, planning to bet Cote? bet a small amount and hope that the UFC has another stunning upset.

After reviewing the card my recommendation is to bet on the Josh Koscheck vs Thiago Alves fight, for a couple reasons. First Alves was originally slated to fight Diego Sanchez but due to injury Koscheck took the fight on short notice. Plus Alves is very good against a ground and pound style recently beating Matt Hughes convincingly who is essentially a much better Koscheck.

But the biggest reason to bet this fight is that Thiago Alves is the underdog? it almost seems a flaw in the lines but right now, the odds on Alves are +131. I am not sure if this is because fighters from The Ultimate Fighter are so popular or this still represents a line against Sanchez a phenomenal wrestler, or the bookmakers have just under estimated Thiago Alves.

Either way this bet represents the best risk reward scenario come Saturday

Mike D'antoni to appear on Letterman...

It has been reported that Coach Mike D'Antoni will be featured on the Late Show With David Letterman.




Next Tuesday, October 28th, the day before the NBA regular season begins, Coach D'Antoni will present "The Top Ten New York Knicks Promises...

So not to be out down here is the http://www.boilerroomsports.com/, Top Ten Knick Promises of the 2008/2009 Season

10. We will play an exciting, upbeat tempo style play that will be really fun to watch and completely ineffective.

9. One of the following players will not finish the season a Knick, Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry, or Zach Randolph

8. You will learn to pronounce the name of Danillo Gallinari, if for no other reason to point out that this was a complete waste of a draft pick at the 6th position.

7. We Will win the Lottery or at least another Lottery Pick.

6. Chris Duhon will be the starting point guard as he is the least overpaid player on the Knicks roster but is still overpaid.

5. Coach D'antoni will not reminsce about the Chicago offer he turned down, and their young core and overall #1 Derrick Rose as it's just to painfull.

4. Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph will finish the season with at least an assist each a feat they have failed to reach to this point in their careers.

3. The Knicks will be forced to buy out at least one player as there is quite simply no market for that players abilities or contract.

2. Any trades based on a players potential, or trades based on aquiring a player coming of a suspect career year or with numbers inflated by being on a team as bad or near as bad as the Knicks will undergo a strict, Isiah Thomas policy comparison test and not be ok'd by upper managment.

and the number promise for the upcoming season...

1. the Knicks promise to win more games than they did last season but still miss the playoffs, and their coach Mike D'antoni promises to be no more than 1/4 crazy as the Knicks previous coach Isiah Thomas.

close to making the list

Patrick Ewing will miss an easy layup but no New Yorker will care

Athletes get down for Guitar Hero

It's rare for me to get excited about a commerical but this one is pretty funny Brett Ratner of comic book fame directs as Kobe Bryant, Micheal Phelps, Alex Rodriguez and Tony Hawk fill out the cast.

The ad is inspired by Tom Cruise in risky business and has the athletes playing Guitar Hero in there underwear.

Isiah a Sleep at the Switch?

Former New York Knicks coach

Isiah Thomas was taken to White Plains Hospital Center today after overdosing on sleeping pills, WABC-TV reported, citing police and unidentified people.

The incident is being treated as an acidental overdose and not a suicide attempt, at this time.

Turns out all those Rumours of Zeke being a sleep at the switch did have some merit, maybe the state of the Knicks isn't entirely his fault. But how could he be a sleep for all those signings, Eddy Curry, Steve Francis, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson and Zach Randolph.

The Greatest Dunk You've Never Seen

Really little is known of this game, in 1986 for some unknown reason Michael Jordan took part in an exhibition game in Trieste, Italy. The owner of the clip originally only put up a 40 second clip of the dunk, but as the film is grainy in spots alot of people doubted the films authenticity.

Then he posted this 2 minute clip and well, there is no doubt that the player is in fact his airness.

This clip is buried treasure not unlike finding a artists or musicians work years later and being able to appreciate how ahead of there time they were and how timeless they have become.

I am surprised how unknown this highlight still is, for me maybe the Vince Carter over the seven footer is better but after that, this clip is right there amazing that even in 1986 more wasn't made of this the difficulty the power, the finish.

Some have hypothesized that Jordan was there to show his stuff to Nike investors or this was game was a prelude to making the brand more global or to the launch of the first Jordan sneaker.

All are good theories but really all that has been posted by people who were there was that this game happened, one individual taped segments of it, primarily taping Jordan and that the game was never televised.

Enjoy!

Ditka says No Face Masks?

I was reading an article this morning where Mike Ditka, suggest that the NFL should put a stop to this hitting controversy by eliminating the face mask.

He was asked by a Pittsburgh reporter his thoughts about all the fines and suspensions, recently handed down, by the NFL.

The Steelers have been particularly vocal with both Hines Ward and Troy Polamanu speaking publicly on the subject, Troy stealing more of the headlines by calling the NFL a "pansy league"

Here is the Ditka quote:

"I said a long time ago if you want to change the game take the mask off the helmet," he said. "It will change the game a lot. If you want to change the game and get it back to where people aren't striking with the head and using the head as a weapon, take the mask off the helmet.

He goes on to say something like without hitting you might as well call Football, Soccer umm, OK but doesn't your suggestion turn Football into Rugby?

C'mon Ditka face masks are protection that players need you want to something to encourage hitting that doesn't change the game mandate anti concussion helmet, which teams and players refuse to wear because it looks a little funny.

Turns out I just heard that the same paper that reported this story The Pittsburgh Post Gazette is now reporting that safety Troy Polamanu has suffered his sixth concussion, how many more until he has to call it a career and retire from this "pansy league"

Coach Ditka even Bud Bowl Athletes need Face masks

Setting a New Standard for Taunting

The taunts were directed at Jan Huokko, a stocky defenceman with the Leksand hockey club in Sweden’s second-tier professional hockey league, and a former player with AIK.

Apparently he was the the subject of a highly publicized sex scandal, when a video he recorded of him an his girlfriend made the rounds umm so to speak, on the internet.

His team knew of the plan to taunt Huokko but decided not to do anything? as who doesn't want to see a defenseman get pelted with dildo's mid game.

My favorite part of this story is the fact: Lars G. Karlsson, an official from Sweden’s ice hockey association, called the sex-toy storm “a non-issue”.“It didn’t affect play at all. People barely noticed it,”

People barely noticed a hundred dildo's being thrown on the ice? or a Giant inflatable penis in the stands? how drunk are Swedish fans? honestly...

Here is the original article:http://www.thelocal.se/15138.html
Supporters of the Stockholm-based AIK ice hockey team scored an unusual hat trick of heckling on Tuesday night featuring dildos, profane banners, and a giant inflatable penis.

The taunts were directed at Jan Huokko, a stocky defenceman with the Leksand hockey club in Sweden’s second-tier professional hockey league, and a former player with AIK.

Ahead of Tuesday’s match against Leksand, the website for AIK’s unofficial supporter group had instructed fans to bring dildos to the match to remind Huokko of the sex scandal which plagued him earlier in the year, according to the Expressen newspaper.

As one of Leksand’s top-scoring defencemen and a former member of Sweden's national team, Huokko is known for putting the biscuit in the basket.

But back in June, Huokko’s reputation for “scoring” took on a different twist when a sexually-charged video clip featuring the 34-year-old blueliner and his girlfriend ended up on the internet.

Huokko had recorded the clip on his mobile phone, and wasn’t surprised to find it spreading like wildfire on the internet after the phone was stolen.

“It was a private thing between me and my girl,” he said at the time.“That’s what people do when it comes to sex.”

Before Tuesday’s match even started, AIK fans had already littered the ice with dozens of dildos, causing a slight delay as crews worked to clear the sex toys from the playing surface.
AIK fans also unfurled a banner reading “Bend over bitch!”, which was accompanied by a giant inflatable penis.

Vulgar chants directed at Huokko continued throughout the match, which
Leksand ended up losing 3-2.

AIK club management was aware of their fans’ plans for knocking Huokko off his game, but elected not to intervene.

“We’d also heard mention of it, but we decided that it would only be worse if we went out and told the fans they were absolutely not allowed to throw dildos on the ice,” said AIK club head Mats Hedenström to the newspaper.

Lars G. Karlsson, an official from Sweden’s ice hockey association, called the sex-toy storm “a non-issue”.“It didn’t affect play at all. People barely noticed it,” he said.

And despite the AIK supporters’ best efforts, Huokko took the mocking in stride.“For me it was just a regular hockey game. It was no problem,” he said following the match.“I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

BIO

From a young age I was always fanatical about sports, while other kids played with GI Joe, I imagined my figures as the sports stars, I loved; making great plays and winning big games.

I loved the competition aspect of sport, the history, the rules, and played competitive sports most my life, Hockey, Basketball, and Football. I was lucky enough to win a High School Championship in Football as a Senior and the memories of those guy's, playing together over a few years and then winning it all, will stay with me forever.

The opportunity arose to become a blogger for http://www.sportstalkbuzz.com/ approx. a year ago, for them I blog specifically about the Pacific North West primarily the Seattle Seahawks through my Blog: Hawk Talk, as well as the NBA, focusing for the most part on the Western Conference.

I have to thank Kevin Lee for the opportunity and giving me the time to grow into myself as a Sports Writer/Blogger, early on I had no clue of the how-to, just knew that I had an educated voice an wanted the chance to share it. It has been a little over a year and the experience has been amazing, I still continue to grow, and since have been featured on the site's weekly Radio Show, several times.

It was really my experience at Sportstalkbuzz that became the brainchild for this site, I found myself wanting to discuss things outside of my scope there; I had my own questions, wanted to lead my own discussions.

From the second I started writing, I got the feeling of being involved in sports again, at 32 my competitive days are for the most part behind me, and this provided me with a sort of alternative. Similar to golf in that the competiton in writing lied within myself, to create better posts; I couldn't help but love the challenge.

I find myself dreaming like a kid again about the possibility of turning pro, being a paid sportswriter but am happy being a unpaid amateur.

You can currently find me writing regularly for www.sportstalkbuzz.com and www.nhlforum.com as well as posting semi-regularly on www.yardbarker.com and www.fannation.com and currently have two new projects in development.

My Bio, would not be complete without thanking my wife, who despite my family duties and my full time job, supports my obsession with sports and has become quite the little sports fan herself, without her this hobby simply doesn't exist for me.

CONTACT

To email the me just click the icon or terry@boilerroomsports.com please feel free to contact me with any questions about the site or an individual post or if you have a post elsewhere you would like my take on.

Add me as a friend on PS3, I play sports games mostly, NBA2K9, NHL09, MADDEN 09, FIFA 09 so if your looking for an opponent my username is tshilton also you can check me out at easports

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MEDIA

ABOUT

Sports and business are undeniably linked, in fact many would argue that athletes are now business people first and athletes second, the quality of "for the love of the game" has been replaced by the "almighty dollar"

it's like The Notorious BIG said: "Either you're slingin' crack-rock, or you've got a wicked jump-shot." Nobody wants to work for it anymore. There's no honor in taking that after school job at Mickey Dee's, honor's in the dollar, kid

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The Name

The movie Boiler Room became the muse for this site, for a couple reasons: it identified the "Modern American Dream" wherein everyone wants to be a "Baller, Shot Caller" that is so prevalent in sports today, we as sports fans invest time, energy, money and hope into sport and athletes, but are we getting a fair return on that investment?

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The Logic

It happens that like Ben Younger's main character Seth Davis, I work in sales and the dynamic between the characters at J.T. Marlin rings true to life. We often call it the "beer-less pub" and the camaraderie between the guys in the office, is akin to that in the locker room, the trash talk, constant ribbing and the one upmanship is a great part of competition in sports and sports conversation in offices; as a person with a love for both, it just seems natural to me to merge the two together.

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The Proof

This is an image from the movie, the crew eats diner at the round table, the body language all but somes up the atmosphere and the indivduals ego's

This is a picture from my wedding day, same type of body language, for me this is a forum to write about sports the same way I talk about them with my crew.

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The Pitch

If you haven't seen the movie Boiler Room, rent it, like it, buy it, and visit www.boilerroomsports.com often for sports talk with a business like attitude to performance, and a watercooler like attitude to content.

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The Plea

Ironic that in the end much like Seth Davis, I cope a plea but to Ben Younger, and the nice people at New Line Productions, I trust that as the relation that this site shares with your intellectual product, only helps to promote said intellectual property and understand that I in no way stand to profit from any relation to that property.

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