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So there has been quite a bit going on in the sports news and sports on the web recently and Allsports decided to weigh in on a few different topics since it has been a while getting the time to write about what is going on.

First off I would like to congratulate Team USA on an outstanding finish on a World Junior Hockey gold medal. Phil Housley  had his men firing on all cylinders when it mattered most and it sure didn’t hurt having John Gibson holding the fort when the odd mistake was made.

You have to wonder how much Gibson’s NHL stock has risen since his performance in the tournament. Well at least Allsports got that right when I thought the US would beat Sweden for the gold. Mind you it was pretty convincing the way they sent Canada packing in the semi final. Canada, by the way, finished out of the medals for the first time in 14 years with an overtime loss to the host Russians. It just goes to show how stiff the competition is and how hard it is to be the champion. Sweden were the defending champions but just could not repeat against a determined American squad.

Well the real season in the NFL started last weekend with the Wild Card games. There were really no surprises and Allsports thought the games would more or less play out the way they did. The division championship games have been a different story though. Denver, who had home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, fell to the Baltimore Ravens 38-35 in overtime. Allsports thought the Bronco’s would be playing the Patriot’s in the AFC Championship game but whoops, that’s not happening now. With this outcome, now the AFC Championship goes through Foxbourgh. Speaking of which, New England hosts Houston tomorrow and Allsports thinks Brady and his bunch will pull out a win.

In the NFC Seattle travels to Atlanta in the game of the birds tomorrow. I have said all along to watch the Seahawks and they could upset the Falcons. Either way this will be a tough, close game. Speaking of close, Green Bay and San  Francisco are playing tonight and it was close at the half, tied at 21. The 49ER’s pulled off the victory though winning 45-31.

As I am sure you have heard by now the NHL and the NHLPA have finally come to an agreement. NHL hockey will be back in action next week if anyone cares. Many Canadian fans are indifferent to the 48 game proposed so you can imagine what the people in Phoenix are thinking, Coyote’s who? When everything is said and done, Gary Bettman should be gone. Lord knows Canadian hockey fans have thought he was a jerk since 1995. It will be interesting to see what kind of support the teams get when they return and whether the teams in trouble that the lockout was trying to protect will survive at all.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are at it again with another move that is just a little baffling considering the lockout is over and the season is about to start. The Bell/Rogers ownership group fired Brian Burke this past week and promoted Dave Nonis to general manager. One can only assume that they did not want Burke to be the face of the franchise any longer and were worried about his combative attitude with the media. Fighting publicly with Canadian icon Don Cherry likely didn’t help matters.

The timing of the switch  is strange though, if they were worried about Burke embarrassing them they had months to do it during the lockout. Why wait till the season is about to start and put the team in turmoil.  Burke seems to not be going far though as it is rumored he will be kept on as an adviser much like Cliff Fletcher. But there is a veil of secrecy to the whole ordeal and Tom Anselmi, the new president and chief operating officer of the company had the distasteful task of trying to keep the media hounds at bay with very little in the way of information, something that does not go over well in hockey crazed Toronto.

It will remain to be seen whether Nonis will get a fair shot at running the team, he is known for his patience and the Bell/ Rogers consortium may not be willing to wait, wanting a quick fix to ensure some playoff dates. Lets hope they don’t end up sacrificing the future for a few playoff games.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

Filed under: All Sports News