No Sir Fans

30 years ago today, the United States hockey team pulled off the most stunning upset in the history of sports.

Last night, on the eve of this anniversary, the latest version of the America Olympic hockey team pulled off a win that many outside the Team USA locker room didn’t think they could.

These were the Canadians. They’re the host country that has the most to lose playing the team they’ve perennially dominated, hadn’t lost to in the Olympics in half a century and were expected by an entire nation to cast aside en route to a gold medal.

Ron Wilson and his team threw a wrench into that entire plan and left Canada and their nation of supporters sitting in stunned silence at Canada Hockey Place.

In the immediate aftermath of the Americans’ 5-3 win over Canada, one which included a stirring 42-save performance from Ryan Miller, two goals from Brian Rafalski, the team’s elder-statesman, and the most acrobatic empty-net goal in the history of the game from Ryan Kesler, many over-excited hockey fans in this country proclaimed it another miracle.

Let’s hold off on that. Forever.

Sure, no puckhead pundit predicted an American win. Sure, the Canadian team in 2010 is probably the strongest the country has fielded in an international competition since 2002, when they defeated the USA for the gold in Salt Lake City. Sure, it was in front of 18,000 Maple Leaf flag-bearing fans.

Olympic hockey has changed dramatically even since 1998, the first year NHLers were released from their clubs for two weeks to play for their countries at the Winter Games.

It’s truly a competition between the best of the best in the world and the fact of the matter is that the United States has in fact become a competitive hockey nation. Are we on the same level as, say, Canada and Russia? Not yet, but we’re past the point where American hockey players were fodder for blowout victories.

In 1980, they were, until Herb Brooks whipped together a rag-tag bunch of college kids, stormed through pool play and then, of course, on February 22, somehow beat the mighty Soviets, a team that WAS playing with “professional” hockey players.

That game was miraculous. Yesterday’s win was not.

However, let us not take away what the win was – a statement to the world that USA Hockey is for real.

It’s not as if the United States has no history of battling our hockey-crazy neighbors to the north. The US Juniors have knocked off Canada in two of the last six World Junior Championships. Our guys played them tough in the aforementioned 2002 gold medal game, the first one the Americans had seen since the Miracle on Ice.

And in 1996, on their home soil, Tony Amonte capped off a four-goal frenzy in the final 3:18 of the 3rd period in Game 3 of the World Cup of Hockey final, snatching a stunning international victory in a tournament that was widely predicted to be a Canadian whitewash.

Ironically, a young Martin Brodeur, who is being chastised throughout Canada today for his poor performance yesterday, backed up Curtis Joseph in that decisive final game.

So there’s precedent. Frankly, compared to those earlier victories over Canada, a 5-3 preliminary round victory that did nothing more tangibly than grant the Americans a bye into the Olympic quarterfinals, yesterday’s win was small potatoes.

There’s something to be said for the mental impact it has, though. None of those other games were in a tournament for these high of stakes. Maybe yesterday’s win wasn’t for a medal or a title.

Just watching the game, though, and feeling that tension inside as the Americans fought to desperately hang onto a 4-3 lead late in the 3rd period, was gut wrenching. It felt like it was for more than just a bye into the quarters.

It was about making a statement that this team wasn’t just going to lie down, accept their relegated role as bronze medal contenders and wait for Canada and Russia to battle next Sunday like everyone expected.

Sure, Jamie Langenbrunner’s tip in with 12:51 left wasn’t Mike Eruzione putting a wrist shot through Vladimir Myshkin’s legs. It wasn’t as miraculous to send a younger Al Michaels into a frenzy.

Much like those Americans 30 years ago who had to beat Finland to be assured of the gold after the Soviet upset, there’s still plenty of hockey to be played in Vancouver.

This one sure feels special, though.

The Washington Capitals…yes…THOSE Washington Capitals…have won 14 consecutive games.

It’s a franchise record and it’s three short of the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins league record mark of 17 straight W’s. Undoubtedly, it has been one of the most interesting and breathtaking runs in National Hockey League history.

So, at this point, let’s take a step back and give the Caps their due and their fans a few moments to “Rock The Red.”

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

You guys done? Excellent. Because I’m hanging out just around the corner, waiting to be your epic buzz kill.

When a team gets super hot in any sport at the two-thirds poll of their regular season, it’s a dangerous precipice. Ask those Penguins, who lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs that year to the New York Islanders, ending their reign as back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. Or the San Jose Sharks, who rattled off 11 straight in 2008 before fizzling in the semifinals to Dallas.

The regular season is the regular season for a reason, especially in the NHL. Every real hockey fan knows that once mid-April rolls around, it’s a completely new season – one that totally disregards what happened over the previous seven months of action. Just ask all those #1 seeds like Detroit (a few times), Quebec, New Jersey, St. Louis and San Jose what it’s like to get hit by an eighth-seeded buzzsaw.

There’s no doubt that the Capitals are great. Very, very great. There are few teams in recent memory in this league that boast as much talent up and down the roster as this year’s Washington squad. Between Mike Green, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, a ridiculously strong corps of role players and some Russian kid named Ovechkin, the 2009-10 Capitals probably boast the strongest 18 guys that suit up night in and night out in the NHL.

It’s a shame that these 14 wins are coming in February though and not May, when they really matter. It really is.

You see, it’s not that often that a team in the league sets their franchise record for consecutive wins and claims the Stanley Cup in the same year. In fact – it has only happened six times. Since 1917, only the 1939-40 New York Rangers (yes, THE 1940 Rangers), 1954-55 Detroit Red Wings (their last Cup until 1997), 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens, 1981-82 New York Islanders, 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning and 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes have pulled the feat.

Even that stat is pretty flawed – the Rangers and Red Wings pulled it off in the Original Six era when only four teams made the playoffs, the Habs did it in the first year of the 12-team NHL and the Islanders at that time had no one in the NHL within arms reach of their skill.

The Lightning and Hurricanes…I don’t have an excuse for.

Even those 92-93 Penguins, who that year arguably had their strongest team in franchise history, even better than their 1991 and 1992 championship teams, rattled off a ridiculous winning streak and fell flat in the playoffs. In fact, they had a 3-2 lead in their Patrick Division Final against the Isles before losing game 6 in Uniondale and then game 7 in overtime. David Volek is still a dirty word in the Steel City because of that game-winning goal.

I should point one thing out. I’m not one of those naysayers who thinks that it’s good for a team to have a loss or two on their resume to “build their character” before heading into the games that matter. That’s a load of you-know-what. However, I’m a big proponent of being hot at the right time.

For all we know, the Capitals might just carry this winning streak straight into April. Or, more likely, the law of averages will kick in and the Fighting Ovechkins will drop a few en route to the playoffs.

Perspective must win the day though and that perspective should dictate that once the Caps winning streak is broken, it has to be forgotten about immediately and a new streak must begin. Because as we’ve seen all too often in the NHL, there are no guarantees that the league’s top regular season team will do anything in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I’ve been sitting on this for the past week and i finally decided to write about it cus i cant take much more of it. Ever since the Vikings Saints beat the Vikings in the NFC title game, all i heard was how much the city of New Orleans deserves this and how great the “Who Dat” nation is.

Why? Because of Hurricane Katrina? Under that logic, the Yankees deserved the 2001 World Series title or the Giants deserved the 1989 title (i know Oakland won that year and they are in the same area, but im making a point). And those other instances, the natural disaster happened the same time as the series, not 5 years later. I’m not trying to be insensitive, but that reason is a tad ridiculous.

And as for the fans…why do they deserve it? Someone at work told me its because, “they suffered so much and even ended Tampa Bay’s 26 game losing streak”. Cry me a f*cking river. At least with that, you know what to expect from your team every year. Your team doesnt get your hopes up and then the moment you think you might actually have a chance to win, God come by and kicks you square in the nut sack.

Try going 0-4 in Super Bowls. Gary Anderson, “The Hail Mary”, Darrin Nelson, and now you can add Favre V 3.0 to the list. Now if there is a franchise that deserves it, it my Vikes. We are the Chicago Cubs of the NFL. But one thing you’ll never see from us is this:

Now theres a great fan base. They are just like most others. Bags on their heads when they go 2-14 and then have the balls to call themselves great when they go to the Super Bowl because they suffered. You didnt suffer. You gave up on your team. You were embarassed to call yourself a fan. You’re a disgrace.

The worst part. You really dont deserve it because you were not the better team. You were the luckier one. A coin flip, a terrible PI call, and a non Roughing the Passer call that would have negated an interception were the cause of your success. Did Brett Favre play a roll in that too. Yes he did. But i saw the pics of his ankle and i got to tell you, give me him over a confused looking Brees anyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

Am i bitter? You bet your ass i am. And i have every right to be. I have the right to complain about it for the rest of my life. You would too. Anybody who says they wouldnt isnt a true sports fan.

All that said…here’s my Super Bowl prediction: CBS will lose 10 ratings points because Brett Favre isnt playing in it.

The internet is all a buzz today that sometime this week the University of Pittsburgh will be jumping ship from the Big East to join the Big Ten. This of course would give the Big Ten their coveted championship game in football and would give the conference another powerhouse team in both football and basketball.

However right now are pretty sketchy and there are conflicting reports out there of if this is going to happen or not. Ben Maller reported earlier that this deal is as good as done. Meanwhile Adam Zagoria is saying that the reports are all false. So right now we are in a great status of wait and see, however these rumors have been around sense December so take that for what you will.

As for my take on the matter I think that moving to the Big Ten would be great for Pitt. They become an instant National Title contender every year just for being in the Big Ten, and their ability to get big name football recruits becomes better. What the move hurts the most is in Basketball. Right now Pitt is in the premiere basketball conference in the country and their recruiting is heavily out of New York City where the Big East holds their conference tournament every year. However I believe that as long as Pitt finds a way to play at least two or three games in Madison Square Garden every year their recruiting would not be hurt.

We here at No Sir Fans will keep on top of this and will keep you the readers updated as to anything that comes up from this story.

UPDATE 3:04 PM 2/1 It’s looking like this was all complete internet conjecture. So don’t look for this announcement today or anytime this week it seems. The Big 10 is planning a 12 to 18 month search for a new school (a bit excessive if you as me) and although they have been silent today Pitt sources have said that it’s not true.

Despite this I still stand by reasoning that Pitt to the Big 10 would be great for both the school and the conference. We’ll just keep our eyes on the matter and see what happens.

Seriously. Just get rid of the Pro Bowl all together. I was sick of the debating as to whether it should be the week before or after the Super Bowl or should it go back to Hawaii instead of the site that hosts the Super Bowl. Just kill the game altogether. Im not the biggest fan of All-Star games to begin with, but at least i can enjoy the NBA, NHL, and MLB versions.

The NFL tried way too hard. The starters were introduced as if it were Wrestlemania or something…

…the players dont even try despite an extra $20, 000 to the players on the winning team, and half the guys that were there didnt even get voted in in the first place.

You’re telling me Yeremiah Bell, Quentin Mikell, Johny Knox and Jon Condo are Pro Bowlers? I dont even want those guys on my favorite team. Most of these guys will get to call themselves All-Stars, but its a lie. You’re only there because 4 guys ahead of you are hurt/dont want to play/are in the Super Bowl. Oh…and you dont know who Jon Condo is? Yeah…i didnt either. I had to look him up, but he was out there. Give me a f*cking break.

It was backyard football. The defensive lineman looked like they were counting 10 Mississippi before they did anything. That’s not football. After having great games they week before and great action the following week, this is a mockery of what the NFL is supposed to be. I want to see Jaren Allen rush the passer, not takes to steps and stop. I want to see Chris Johnson make guys miss, not have defenders half-ass try to tackle him.

I now see why Bryant McKinnie went clubbing all week instead of going to practice for this. He knew this game was going to suck.

In a move that solidifies David Stern as one of the two “last dictator” commissioners in sports (with Roger Goodell), Gilbert Arenas will not take the floor again in 2009-10, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The NBA columnist reports that after a meeting with the commish in New York today, Arenas was presented with two options: sit out a full 82 games, which is the length of a full league season, or accept a suspension for the rest of the current season and promise not to appeal it.

Arenas reportedly took the latter.

Sources say the announcement will come officially on Wednesday. It’s also believed that his Wizards teammate, Javaris Crittendon, will receive the same punishment.

Crittendon, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor firearms charge last week, was on the other end of the locker room spat in which Arenas allegedly laid out three guns for his teammate to pick from to shoot him in his surgically repaired knee, a dispute stemming from an unpaid gambling debt.

Crittendon then, according to teammates, pulled his own gun on Arenas, loaded a round and cocked the firearm. Arenas previously pleaded guilty to felony weapons charges.

This, undoubtedly, is the correct move. Both Stern and Goodell have come down hard on player conduct in the wake of several incidents involving players like Ron Artest, Adam Jones, Marshawn Lynch and the late Chris Henry, but none of them have been nearly as severe as what happened in the Verizon Center locker room.

Even worse, Arenas, as evidenced by the picture above, never took the entire situation seriously. I’m not sure who instilled in his pea-sized brain that gun crime is hilarious, but before even stepping foot near an NBA floor again, he’d better replace the guy at the helm of his brain-ship, because he’s drunk at the wheel.

The Wizards season is already a catastrophe; the team sits at 14-30, mired in last place in the Southeast Division with only the ghastly New Jersey Nets keeping them from the Eastern Conference basement.

Now, the organization as a whole is taking a huge hit because of this.

It probably wouldn’t be the best time to bust out my throwback Wes Unseld Washington Bullets jersey either, now, would it?

With offense to none (and you can’t get offended, because I just said “no offense”), the University of South Carolina isn’t quite what comes to mind when you think of academic hotbeds.

However, maybe we need to give credit where credit is due.

If you missed it, the unheralded Gamecocks got 30 points from Devan Downey and pulled off a stirring upset of soon-to-be-no-longer #1 ranked Kentucky 68-62 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia last night.

It was a great game. Downey went nuts on the suddenly porous Wildcat defense and fended off a strong 2nd half push from Kentucky super-freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.

Once the final horn went off, it was bedlam. As expected (and well-deserved), the “Garnet Army,” the student section at South Carolina, stormed the floor. They overwhelmed the court within about 20 seconds – it was an amazingly swift and decisive court storm. Within less than a minute, there was no breathing room.

The one tiny problem with what happened involves a $5,000 fine that the SEC levies on schools whose fans decide to rush the floor.

Paging Dr. Buzzkill…to SEC country..

Anyway, most schools chalk that fine up as a write-off. When your team pulls off an upset, especially one of the magnitude that the Gamecocks did last night, the exposure you get on SportsCenter and other sports shows around the country more than makes up for some piddly five-large.

However, South Carolina students proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that they know the rules…and they wanted to help out.

According to a report, as students and other Gamecock fans exited the floor and arena after the celebration, they sought out South Carolina AD Eric Hyman and handed him handfuls of $1 bills.

They were giving the school the money to pay the fine.

Their excitement is justified. Last night’s win was the first for the program over a #1 team in the school’s basketball history. I’m sure the South Carolina would have been more than pleased to pick up that $5,000.

Now, because they’re fans are boisterous AND awesome, they won’t have to.

If Digger Phelps of ESPN and his dynamic two-step keeps snatching up hot ACC girls, there’s going to be none left for the rest of us.

We’ve highlighted the dancing exploits of The Worldwide Leader’s resident tie/highlighter fashion coordinator here on NSF in the past, but this ESPN College Gameday video clip just seems…different than the rest.

First off, the Clemson cheerleader in question here isn’t even dancing. She’s just kind of sauntering around the floor at Littlejohn Coliseum and half-heartedly pushing Digger around to the tones of “Walk Away” by Kelly Clarkson.

Meanwhile, Digger’s just got that dirty-old-man look in his eye as the dancer runs her little hands all over his Armani.

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again – when College Gameday comes rolling into town, lock your coeds up. Digger is coming to get them.

Today it was announced that Blake Griffin, the #1 overall pick in this past years NBA draft will have season ending surgery to repair what was supposed to be an already repaired knee. That’s two of the past three #1 overall picks that didnt even play a game the season they were drafted. I know things happen, but thats ridiculous.

Psssssst….John Wall…stay as far away from next years draft as possible because your next.

Lets go back and take a look at the past ten #1 overall picks and show its not just injuries you have to worry about Mr. Wall. I’m going to throw out 2003 (LeBron James) and 2004 (Dwight Howard) …because…well if you dont know why, then just stop reading.

2000-Kenyon Martin: This guy had a boatload of talent and a head full of crap. After 10 years, he still doesnt display the consitancy that you need from a top pick. He was an All-Star though…once.

2001-Kwame Brown: Hahahahahahaha

2002-Yao Ming: “But Brandon, he’s a 7-time All-Star!” F*ck that. The only reason he was voted in all the time is because China stuffed the ballot box. He’s f*cking 7′6. Do you know how many people are that tall? Not many. He should have won 2 MVP’s and at least taken his team to the finals by now. But the past 4 years, the guy cant stay on the floor.

2005-Andrew Bogut: Decent, but everytime i hear his name, the only thing i think off is the “Boom Goes the Dynamite” kid pronouncing his name wrong which isnt what you want to be remembered for.

2006-Andrea Bargnani: He has improved gradually over the past few years, but hasnt sniffed an All-Star game or the playoffs, so i cant give him any slack.

2007-Greg Oden: He missed his entire rookie season because he got hurt sitting on a couch. He also is out all of this season…i can only assume the couch came back to finish the job.

2008-Derrick Rose: He won rookie of the year and had a great playoff series against the Celtics last year. But he also screwed his college program over and he just sounds like a complete idiot. (Sorry Chris…it had to be said)

2009-Blake Griffin: Done for 2009 season.

Seriously John. I love watching you play and i really dont even care much for Kentucky. Stay another year. Maybe two. I dont want you to end up like these other guys. Sure…by my math, you have a 25% (yes…im including half of Derrick Rose) chance of being a stud. But you also have a 75% chance of being attacked by an imanimate object or being Kwame Brown.

After we were in Vegas for a few days and i got sick presumably from all the diseases that can be found in Sin City, i finally got healthy today. I decided i was going to to a mass blog about everything we missed the last week, then this happened.

Lane Kiffin has been hired as the next head coach at Southern Californina.

Yup, that Lane Kiffin and that USC.

WTF IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!!!!!

The same guy who paraded his hot wife/baby machine at his introductory press conference to become Tennessee’s head coach just 13 months ago is taking the head job at the school he spurned 3 years ago to become the Oakland Raiders top man.

Southern Cal must have got desperate when all their other candidates (Jack Del Rio, Jeff Fisher, Mike Riley) publicly turned down the job. Why else can you explain this? As for Kiffin. What a douchbag. He had the Vols nation pumped for what they had to look forward to after a 7-5 season and he diches them faster than an annoying family member at a wedding. He must have been distrought that he couldnt go at it with Urban Meyer anymore and said f*ck this noise, im going west.

I hope USC knows what their getting. A pompus ass with an attractive wife and not so good head coaching record. I bet he goes 6-6 in first year and has to play Tennessee in a bowl game in which the Vols hang 60 on him for what he did. Fight On…you jackass.