Various shocking statements:
- Water is wet
- Ice is cold
- Larry Allen is at odds with his coach
I’m not sure which is less surprising, really. As Allen, who will turn 34 in November and is locked up through 2007, continues to get the headlines in Oxnard year after year, despite the fact that it is much about nothing.
Yes, he failed his training camp fitness test. Yawn. He quit like he always does, and some people assumed that this might be the end of the road for Allen. They don’t pay very close attention, as he doesn’t care about fitness tests, nor does he show any signs of leaving big dollars on the table.
The fact is that Allen has been getting by on reputation for quite sometime. Somehow, the “national experts” still generally regard LA as a premier Offensive Lineman when in reality, he is serviceable, and uninspired more often than not. The guy will go down as perhaps the single most dominant Offensive Lineman of the era, but it won’t be for what he has accomplished since the turn of the millennium.
On the other hand, he is still arguably the best player on the OL right now, and the most valuable resource in training camp. Why? Because he stabilizes the entire line, and honestly, with Right Tackle such a mess, I suggest before it is said and done, the Cowboys would be wise to consider a line that looks like this: Adams – Peterman – Johnson – Rivera – Allen.
Parcells said it yesterday in his tedious press briefing; the idea is to get the best 5 OL players on the field at the same time. Well, if that is the case, then I think your above formation is the best way to roll. On the other hand, if Allen is less mobile than Bledsoe at this advanced age, then he cannot be an option at RT where he will face off against the likes of Michael Strahan, Renaldo Wynn, and Jevon Kearse in the NFC East. That sounds daunting, but how would you like that group against Kurt Vollers or Torin Tucker?
Tucker demonstrated last season that the pass rusher off the right side is too much for him to handle, to a point where you would be required to offer TE help anyway. Vollers is a fine utility tackle who can back up on either side, but as a starter, he plays like a backup. I think Allen may be your best chance, and that is why Parcells calling him out early is fine with me. He needs to know that his performance is required for this thing to work at all. Earn that big check big fella, or Bledsoe is going to be in street clothes before Week 4.
Clearly, an offense that depends on Larry Allen to play his best football in years is an offense built like a house of cards. But as far as I am concerned, that sure appears to be the plan. Believe it or not, it beats the alternative. In Larry we trust.
Links:
Fraley demands Raffy tells us more …
Tell us more, Rafael Palmeiro.
Tell us more, for the sake of your sterling reputation and Hall of Fame chances.
Tell us more, to avoid going from one of the good guys in the game to being lumped among the biggest hypocrites in sports.
Revo, who was within 2 feet of me when he found out yesterday, Searches for answers about Raffy, too …
Modano close to gone …
Free-agent center Mike Modano said several teams offered him four-year deals on the first day of free agency Monday.
"We had some teams putting the hard-core press on us to get it done now," Modano said.
Modano said he expects to make a decision soon, possibly today, but that he would probably bring any offer back to the Stars.
"I would like to give them the chance to match any offer, so we'll have to wait and see if they will," Modano said.
The Stars need to get serious about this RIGHT FREAKING NOW…
FC Dallas takes to its new turf …
Top 10 moments in Chatting history …
The late Johnny Oates had a more painful mound memory during a game at The Ballpark in Arlington. Oates, the Rangers' manager, stood on the mound with catcher Ivan Rodriguez, waiting for a relief pitcher to arrive, when Pudge suddenly reached over and tapped Oates in the groin.
"Cup check," Rodriguez told his startled manager, who recoiled in pain.
Oates later told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "I've learned from my experiences: You never know what to expect when you go to the mound."
We have received many requests for the Jamal Charles interview. As opposed to me sending it to everyone, get it here , and no, I do not endorse the video that goes with it…
Dylan blogs about Raffy …
Texas Tornado Draft Update …
54 comments:
Derian Hatcher signs with the Flyers.
Good times.
Mikey Mo going to Boston according to RDS.ca.
Even better times.
I really want Mikey Mo to go elsewhere. Because:
A) I don't give a rat's ass about Hockey. Dallas isn't Hockeytown, like Detroit is, and there is no point to the sport when its 100 degrees outside.
b) It will make Sport Sturm insane, and that makes me laugh.
Cup Check!
With Hatcher already signing with the Flyers, if Mo does leave, I hope he goes to Phily so we have some remnant of the '99 Stanley Cup Champs to root for.
Hitch
What, Detroit is a hockey town with a better basketball team, baseball team(debatable), and soon to be better football team?
TF
If Guerin and Mo are gone, then who becomes Bob's hockey ace-in-the-hole interview? Turco?
Didn't Turco get mad at Bob for not understanding that an inch in pad width does make a difference?
Maybe it's time for Bob to become the Bowling guru and drop Hockey all together.
Seriously, So does this mean Bill Guerin is gone or not?
I hate the P1
News Flash Bob...The Stars don't have any cap space left to sign Mike Modano. You can thank your little buddy Bill Guerin (and Hicks for being too cheap to buy him out last week) for that...
Unless investigators can determine that the "The Steroid Con Man" took steroids BEFORE he testified before Congress, perjury charges are out of the question: Any sports voice who even brings this up is an idiot.
His testimony is only relevant to his actions before the hearings, afterwards, he could've smoked crack with Big Mac and still not be charged with perjury.
I was getting excited about Hockey, but now I am suddenly getting very depressed about the Stars? Oh yeah, Hicks owns them, never mind.
Not cool Bob, making fun of a high school kid with a speech impediment
Oh where Oh where
Will the golden boy Michael Owen
Play this year?
Nobody wants him except the Magpies.
Why can't Billy or someone else re-negotiate their contracts to make room for Mo? I do believe Troy Aikman did that for his teammates so they wouldn't go to other teams.
I don't know what the Stars cap situation is, but I've heard a rumor that Naslund and Forsberg may package themselves together and sign with the same team. Would the Stars have any ability to get such a deal done? This is obviously assuming that Modano is gone.....
Is there any chance Mo can go to Detroit? That would be delicious.
Cup Check...gay?
from what im reading, mo says he would stay here for 3yrs at 15mil, which is reasonable, but he wont get that in dallas. seems phoenix and boston are the front runners, id personally like to see him with the coyotes to play with hull again.
ESPNEWS is reporting that Mo is "expect" to sign in Boston today.
here's the story on modano on espn.com...he's getting offers for around $18-$23 mil for 4 years.....no way the stars will match that...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2122527
Eklund rumor:
Boston has offered Modano 4 years, $6M per year!!!! This can't be right....
Why not? Modano is a better player than Guerin and Bill is making $6.75 million from the Stars.
Anonymous, I agree, BUT, Guerin is VERY overpaid in this new system, and should have been bought out. But Hicks is too cheap for that.
its really hard to say who is worth more.
guerin is younger, but hasnt produced the past season or so, but, neither has modano. personally i dont see how the stars can justify giving zubov what they did, yet say modano is too old to give an extended contract to. i would almost rather see a line of leitenen modano and gueiren, and the rest of the team full of scraps, bottom line, i dont think arnott can really replace modano.
I agree totally Chris. I was just pointing out that if Boston is overpaying for Modano at $6 Mil, then the Stars are grossly overpaying for Guerin at $6.75 Mil. (and yes, that is Hicks' fault for being too cheap to buy him out). And it doesn't make sense that the Stars claim that Modano is too old for a 3 year deal, yet Zubov is 35 also and they just gave him one. And just for everyone's information, Guerin isn't any younger either, he'll be 35 in November himself. All around, this offseason is quickly becoming a disaster for the Stars.
my mistake, i thought guerin was 33ish
Someone please kill Hicks.
I will pay.
just give up and change the name to the texas rangers on ice.
i wish someone woulda bought the stars before the lockout. the rangers i can understand, b/c as a lifelong fan, we can have mediocrity and not be surprised or upset. but for the stars, they have been the most conistent team in this town for the last 12 years, and now they are going to be run into the ground or just survive enough for hicks to make money.
Repeat after me....
Tom Hicks sucks
That is all....
gettomhicksoutofdallas.com
somebody who knows how to start up these things please do it. You can use the name free of charge.
TF
Is Guerin overpaid under the new system? Yes. Is he vastly overpaid? No.
We're still waiting for the salary structure to shake out, but the owners have already started breaking from this low-salary utopia they were predicting.
Is Zubov worth 4m? Questionable. However, when you have Adam Foote, who will be an absolutely useless player if the crackdown on obstruction is actually carried out past November, signing a deal for 4.5 million a year, and Adrian Aucoin signing at 4m, Zubov at 4m is pretty fair.
Bobby Holik is going to Atlanta and is going to get 4.75 million(reportedly). Even Niewendyk and Roberts, players who are very much past their prime are picking 2.25 million for multi-year deals. Rumors on Iginla put him in the 6m range. Scott Niedermaier has supposedly turned down 6.8 million as being not enough, and that he's looking for a max deal, though there are teams he'd give a discount to. Forsberg is looking for the max. Are these players going to get it? Doubtful, but they're going to be close. Hell, Pavol Demitra just got 4.5m over 3 years.
Guerin at 6.75m is bad, sure. Its not horrendous and unspeakable within the system. And I seriously doubt the reason Guerin wasn't bought out is due to Tom Hicks being cheap, because you'd have to assume he's unspeakably cheap for that to be the case. Buyouts at occur at 2/3rds of the value of the contract over double the length, which means Guerin would be picking up 2.25 million for the next 4 years. More likely, the reason Guerin was not bought out is that it was... *GASP* a hockey decision! I know, its absurd, whoda thunk it.
There was a real lack of movement on the buyout fronts, with only those who were just vastly overpaid, or those whose talent has faded, or those whose teams were in real deep trouble bothering to mess with it. No one was letting go good players just for being slightly overpaid; if they were, Guerin might have been too, simply because of the pool of players that's out there. As it is, we have a pool of players who are good but not great who are still demanding quite a bit of money, and a group of owners which is still acquiescing to these demands. At that point, well, the devil you know...
Meet the New NHL, same as the Old NHL, except with 24% rollback.
hickssucksass.com
Money, money, money, money, money... all pro sports is all about money and untill fans do SOMEthing...
what if..
http://lockoutwalkout.blogspot.com/
Don't look now, but Modano may be staying after all. The decision should come down within the next 2 hours. He'll either get 4 years/$4.5 million per from the Bruins, or 3 years/$4 million per from the Stars. We shall see...
Keep us posted, for those of us at work!
espn keeps saying modano has almost come to terms on a contract with boston.
Mike Heika thinks he's coming back to Dallas. I'd believe him over ESPN. He points to Glen Murray signing with Boston this afternoon (for $4.15 million per year) as a probable sign that Modano has decided to stay with the Stars. But we'll know for sure soon enough...
just said on espn that he is trying to get 3 yrs 13.5mil from dallas, with a 4 yr 20mil offer in his pocket from boston and chicago.
Dallas is reportedly only offering $12 mil for 3 years to this point. I guess we'll see who wins out in the end. I'm betting he stays, even though only 6 hours ago I was 99.9% sure he was gone.
If the Stars sign him for anything more than one year, they're crazy.
So Meredith, I assume you think the Flyers are crazy for signing Hatcher for 4 years then too?
normally i would agree, he isnt worth a multi year deal, but with the rule changes opening up offense, modano could really shine.
why would they be crazy to sign him to anything more than a year? he'll still be a productive player beyond this year.
they gotta work something out to keep him.
Hicks has got to get this done
TF
Nothing official yet, but it looks more and more by the minute like the Modano to Boston deal is dead, which means he's staying put in Dallas. Thornton will not be traded and Murray was signed to a big contract earlier today by Boston. Therefore, the Bruins won't have the cap space to pay Modano the $4.5-5 million they were offering earlier.
dallasnews/wfaa is reporting that the stars are close to a contract with modano
Mac Engel (sp?) from the Startlegram is reporting Mo deal is done with Stars! Yea!
And does Meredith not realize that the flyers got VERY slow.... today
geez, its reported to be 5yrs for 17.5mil. way more commitment than i thought the stars would offer him.
Yep, it's a done deal. I'm surprised they gave him 5 years too, but glad he's going to be back.
normally i would agree, he isnt worth a multi year deal, but with the rule changes opening up offense, modano could really shine.
Yes, he could, if he decides he wants to. I have no interest in players who only give 100% when they feel like it. And Modano's effort during the 03-04 season was embarassing. He's better than that, and if all of you weren't so emotionally attached to him, you might see that, too.
I think 4 years to Hatcher is one year too many, given his knee issues last year. And yes, I realize he is slow, but that's why he'll be paired with someone like Kim Johnsson, a quick defenseman who can skate with the puck. It's a balance, you know? I would have preferred signing Scott Niedermayer, but since he's asking $7 million a year, that wasn't going to happen. So, all in all, Hatcher isn't a bad signing. One slow defenseman does not make an entire team slow, contrary to what you may believe.
From Eklund's:
They were celebrating in Dallas. The scouts were informing each other, the staff was being told it was done...and now..all is silent...something is up, and I am being told it is not done. Boston may have upped the ante.
Regardless...you will see a press conference tomorrow announcing Modano is re-signing with Dallas. You can take it to the bank.
Eklund:
Modano could be tied up tonight or tomorrow morning...there are now three teams involved...Boston, Dallas, and another...and all I know of the other is it is NOT Pittsburgh.
This is ridiculous:
Boston will get into the Forsberg hunt immediately should they lose out on Modano.
I'd much rather have Forsberg than Modano. Given how obvious it is that Modano is just using the Bruins to garner more interet from the Stars, the Bruins are wasting their time and could end up with no one. They should be going for Forsberg NOW if they want to get anything done.
yah i dont get it, i love modano but id take forsberg way before modano.
Purple smells differently than I expected.
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