tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Tuesday’s Thoughts

While wondering if Jordon Leopold will hit the Boston Bruins as hard as he hit Lindy Ruff, here is what's on my mind this morning:

* The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to stay hot as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers last night 6-3. The game started out badly for the Leafs when Jordan Eberle scored the first of his two goals 21 seconds into the first period after a bad giveaway by Dion Phaneuf. Phil Kessel had two goals and an assist and his linemates, Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul, each scored a goal. James Reimer didn't have much of a chance on the first two Oiler goals and made some key saves throughout the game.

* With the win the Maple Leafs pushed past the Ottawa Senators into seventh place and they still have two games in hand on the slumping Senators. The team heads to Winnipeg for a game tonight at MTS Centre. The Jets are tough on home ice and they defeated the Leafs 3-2 on New Year's Eve at their very loud arena. The Leafs will need to be on their game. Reports yesterday were that Jonas Gustavsson will get the start tonight for the Leafs. The puck drop is scheduled for 8:35.

* On Saturday afternoon the NHL Network had the Boston-Pittsburgh game with the feed being that of the dynamic duo, Bob Errey and Paul Steigerwald. These guys were just as bad as they were earlier in the week during the Leafs-Penguins back-to-back games. Interestingly, I commented how bad these guys were and I received a number of responses back from Penguin fans agreeing with me!!

* The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl 46 and become World Champions once again. Eli Manning was the game's MVP and hopefully this puts to bed the discussion of how good this guy is. Manning carried the Giants during the regular season and he has developed an ability to make big plays when his team needs them. Along with Manning, Head Coach Tom Coughlin deserves a lot of credit and should hopefully silence his critics in New York.

* The Giants win did not surprise me as I indicated in an earlier Tuesday's Thoughts that the NFC had the better teams this year. The Patriots had a fine season but just like the Green Bay Packers, their defense was terrible all year long and at the end of the day allowed the Giants to drive almost the length of the field to score a touchdown.

* The Giant victory closes out the NFL season and brought my overall record for selecting winners to 35-21 ATS (62.5%). I was 31-13 (70.4%) over the last 15 weeks, which included the playoffs and during the playoffs I was 5-1 (83.3%). Looking forward to September and hopefully for continued success in NFL prognosticating.

* Reports out of Cleveland are indicating that the Browns may have softened their stance toward Peyton Hillis. Hillis has proven that he can play against the AFC North heavyweights. The Browns would be smart to bring him back and hopefully have him with a healthy Brandon Jackson, Chris Ogbonnaya and Montario Hardesty.

* It will be interesting to see what the Browns do with the 4th pick overall in the first round. Reports out of Cleveland indicate that the Browns may be looking defense with that first pick. That will put many Browns fans over the edge. Conversely, Mel Kiper Jr. is projecting that the Browns will use that pick to take Robert Griffin III.

* NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league will consider ending the Pro Bowl after this year's performance which was criticized by Packer QB Aaron Rodgers. Maybe Goodell read my post a week or so ago calling for the end of all All-Star games.

* The Yankees are reportedly in serious talks with free agent Raul Ibanez. The 40 year old outfielder would be the Yankees left-handed DH and spare outfielder. Not sure this makes any sense with aging stars like ARod and Derek Jeter who are going to need time at the DH role. I say rotate those duties between AROD, Jeter and Eduardo Nunez. The Yanks could always get a bat before the trade deadline in July.

* The sordid details of Yankee GM Brian Cashman's affairs is making for plenty of stories in the two NY dailies. Now I guess I know why the Yankees have done nothing the last two trade deadlines because the GM was too busy cheating on his wife.

* It will be interesting to see what happens Wednesday night when the Buffalo Sabres host the Boston Bruins. I wonder if Paul Gaustad will be trash talking like he was against the smallish Montreal Canadiens.

* And finally, what are the odds that the geniuses at WGR550 will spend anytime talking about the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament. It's probably a bigger long shot than Gaustad picking a fight with Milan Lucic.