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

Tuesday’s Thoughts

While wondering how long Tyler Palko will remain in the NFL, here is what's on my mind this morning:

* The Maple Leafs face off with the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight down in Florida. The Leafs are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes where they were listless for two periods and nearly pulled it out in the third if not for a terrible mistake by John-Michael Liles and Cody Franson. Ben Scrivens kept the Leafs in the game as the Hurricanes could have been up 5-0 going into the third period. Phil Kessel had both Leaf goals. Tonight's game will be a tough one and it will be interesting to see who is in net tonight as both goalies played well over the weekend. It would be nice if the Blue and White can pull one out tonight.

* Yesterday the NY Daily News indicated that the Atlanta Braves are interested in the Yankees Eduardo Nunez. Supposedly a deal could be Nunez and Nick Swisher for 25 year old pitcher Jarr Jurrjens. Jurrjens pitched well last year but did have issues with his knee. I'm leery of acquiring pitchers from the National League. If the Yankees are going to make a trade then they should attempt to get 26 year old left-hander John Danks who they probably could get for less than what the Braves are looking to get for Jurrjens. It would cost them nothing but money if they were able to sign Mark Buehrle to a 2 or 3 year deal.

* Pitching becomes more important in light of Major League Baseball's decision to add a wild card team to the post season which could begin as soon as next season. This is all a part of the current deal between MLB and the Players Association which will also see Houston move to the American League in 2013, testing for HGH and interleague play throughout the season. Currently, it is being proposed that there would be a one game playoff between the two wild card teams with the winner playing the team with the best record. Now as a Yankee fan think about this: the Yankees finish the season with 95 wins but end up in second place to Boston. They will have to play in a one game playoff against an 86 win Angels or Twins team. If you pitch Sabathia in the one game playoff he will probably not be ready to pitch until at least game three of the divisional series. Not all teams are in favor of this wanting a best of three series for the 2 wild card teams. Of course, if that happened the World Series might be back to being played in November. Please.

* I hate interleague play and having interleague games all season long is horrible. Bud Selig keeps on talking about the tradition of the game. Really, Bud??? Tradition of the game is Arizona playing Seattle on April 22??? Selig is a moron and this will continue to reduce interest in the All-Star Game which is another example of Selig's terrible leadership. The winner of the All-Star Game determining which league gets home field advantage in the World Series is a joke. The beauty of baseball is that it is a 162 game marathon. The team who has the best record at the end of that marathon should have home field advantage. But then again what do I know.

* The Sabres will be taking on the Boston Bruins Wednesday night and Paul Gaustad said yesterday that fans should not expect fireworks because the Sabres are focused on getting two points. Larry Brooks of the NY Post had a great point in his Sunday column about the Miller-Lucic incident. Brooks made the point that if Miller was so enraged, why didn't he after being hit give Lucic a two-hander when Lucic was standing in front of his net??? Instead Miller decided to whine after the game and then Whiner-In-Chief Darcy Reiger went to the league to get Lucic suspended. Well, we know that Lucic was not suspended. As Brooks points out, if Lucic had hit former Islander goalie Billy Smith, Smith would have given Lucic a two-hander the next time Lucic was in front of the net which would have resulted in a brawl.

* Tough blow for the Chicago Bears losing Jay Cutler for 6-8 weeks due to a broken thumb on his throwing hand. Cutler suffered the injury while trying to tackle a Charger defensive back who intercepted a pass and prevented a pick six. Cutler is a tough guy and don't be surprised if he comes back sooner. The Bears were playing great football and it will be interesting to see if their defense and Matt Forte can carry the load. By the way, I think Caleb Hanie is not as bad as man people think.

* Maurice Jones-Drew is a punk. He led the charge last January questioning Cutler's toughness when the quarterback was unable to continue playing in the NFC Championship Game. On Sunday against the Browns after scoring a touchdown, he mocked Cleveland fans by mimicing Lebron James' powder in the air act. Jones-Drew's act is getting old and maybe he should concentrate on how he can make his team better.

* Listen to WGR 550 yesterday and it was typical after a Bills loss garbage. Howard Simon went on and on about how all he wants is a quarterback that can get them 9 or 10 wins and hopefully into the playoffs. What a loser mentality!! You should want a quarterback who is going to get you in the playoffs and a legitimate chance to get to the Super Bowl. The current NFL is a quarterback league. If your quarterback can't light it up your team probably is not going to be successful. Earth to Bills fans: Fitzpatrick is not a franchise quarterback. I've said that since day one and now we are seeing why the contract extension that the Bills gave Fitzmagic was a bad deal.

* The GR Geniuses were just flabbergasted over the Bills' fall from grace but the fact remains that this team won 3 games (Philadelphia, Oakland and New England) that they should have lost. Mike Schoop and the Bulldog were so perplexed that they were actually yelling about how they were tired of a Bills season going down the tubes year after year. The problem with all of these GR morons is that they refuse to not get sucked into the hype after a few wins. The defense is weak and the offensive line has been abysmal. The Bills lived off turnovers early in the season and other teams have been able to shutdown the Bills offense. If Schoop and Company were true sports broadcasters they would have been pointing this out from the beginning instead of stoking the playoff flames for Chester Cheektowaga and Louie Lackawanna. Now both of them are ready to jump off the Skyway.

* By the way, if you want true sports radio make sure you tune in to WGR 550 at 6pm today to participate in their Thanksgiving Draft. With a great day of football coming up on Thanksgiving Day, compelling college football on Friday and Saturday and the return of Sydney Crosby last night, the GR Geniuses are going to draft Thanksgiving food selections. Last night Schoop, the Bulldog and Jerry Sullivan were debating whether gravy was going to be considered a food or if it could be combined with potatoes or stuffing. Way to go GR550!!!!!

* The allegations against the Syracuse assistant basketball coach will be interesting to follow as the investigation gets going. It seems hard to believe that now all of a sudden this stuff comes out. It's also interesting how ESPN has jumped all over this. Maybe it's because they were criticized for not bringing the Penn State story up sooner. What's even more interesting that there has been no spotlight on the 20 year child molestation case involving former Boston Red Sox clubhouse attendant Donald Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald worked at the Winter Haven training complex of the Red Sox and he assaulted black young boys from 1971 to 1991. There was an out of court settlement. Have you heard anything about this??? I know I haven't. Interesting.

* And finally, whatever happened to Chuck Dickerson.