Thank GoatDiesel Its the Weekend! You work too damn hard all week! So on the weekends you deserve to sit on your ass, drink beer and watch sports. At least that’s what the Diesel tells himself every Friday night. Well come to think of it, I do that all week too….Anyway….I am here to give you a run down of all the great sporting events on this weekend that you CAN’T miss, well you can but I will be mad at you. I’ll put a star beside the ones I am going to be watching. Here we goooooo………………..
Saturday
*NHL Playoffs - Washinton vs. Pittsburgh (1pm ET CBC, NBC) - Look for Bettman in the crown with a huge smile and object covering his “excitement” probably a bag of popcorn
NHL Playoffs – Chicago vs. Vancouver (9pm ET CBC, VS) - Game 2 of my favourite series in the second round. I love Chicago’s youth and I love Canadian teams so I am happy the longer this series lasts. Game 1 saw the inexperience of Chicago seem to really hamper them at the start of the game but then saw them storm back in the 3rd only to be robbed my Luongo, like everyone else in the world.
*Kentucky Derby – (Coverage starts at 4pm but post is 6pm ET on NBC) – With 3-1 favourite I want Revenge being scratched from the race a few days ago with an ankle injury Pioneer of the Nile is still the dog in the horse race??? Anyway, I have my money on Regal Ransom, General Quarters and Papa Clem in no particular order but if any of them wins, you are DEFINITELY going to want to find me tonight because the drinks will be on the house!!!
*NBA Playoffs – Boston vs. Chicago (8pm ET TNT, Score) – This series has been one of the all time best first round series in NBA history. So far they have played in 7 OT periods and Game 6 was 4 hours long, Too say these teams will be tired is the understatement of the year but I can guarantee you this is ends up being the event of the night. I know for sure I will be sitting some where with a BUNCH of empties scattering around talking about how good a 3 point shooter I am and if I was 6′5 I would be the next Ray Allen.
*Boxing – Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton (9pm ET HBO) -These two little guys will going at it in Las Vegas tonight with Pacquiao looking to become the only fighter since Oscar De La Hoya to capture titles in 6 different weight classes. While Manchester’s favourite fighting son, Hatton, looks to defend his belt at 140lbs and show the world hes not “a fat, beer drinking, lucky bastard”. The Diesel will be in the crowd tonight for the fight…at a friends house….watching on TV….CHEERING FOR PACQUIAO!!!
Sunday
NHL Playoffs – Anaheim vs. Detroit (2pm ET, TSN, NBC) – After a very close game 1 Anaheim will look to prove to the world they aren’t a fluke and a lot of people forget this, almost, exact same team won the cup a very short 2 years ago. Detroit one ups Anaheim, they won LAST YEAR. I look for Detroit to overwhelm Anaheim’s aging defence and goal tending with a barrage of shots and to take the win.
*NHL Playoffs – Carolina vs. Boston (7:30pm ET, TSN, VS) – Game 1 went according to plan 4-1 Boston (the same way this series will end) Look for more of the same onslaught from Boston’s quick, young frontline and there bruising defence. I figure the sooner the better for these guys anyway, that way Eric Staal can find some bachelor parties to crash with his brother Marc.
*NBA Playoffs – Miami vs. Atlanta (1pm ET ABC) – Unless you live in Miami or Atlanta I don’t really think anyone has paid much attention to this series but DAMN its been brutal. Some times these game looks more like Monday Night Raw then NBA playoffs. This game 7 will be MUCH of the same as neither of these teams want to lose to each other. I think Wade is just too good to go out in the first round, look for Miami to take it in Atlanta then IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE STATE!!! Looks like we finally have a new, GENUINE, rivalry in the NBA at least.
NBA Playoffs – Dallas vs. Denver (3:30pm ET ABC) -Let the second round begin! To tell you all the truth I could care less about this series. My friend DarkMan and I, who I frequent Raps games with, always end up bitching about how boring the Raps are to watch because of Bosh but we always trump that with having to deal with living in Dallas and watching the Mavs. I don’t think there is a team I WOULDN’T choose over the Mavs to watch night in night out. I hope Denver takes them in 4 and we never see a Dirk Diggler in the playoffs again, unless he is a 2 fiddle on a team.
Written on April 28th, 2009 by goatdieselone shout
Those of you that know me, know that I have the knees of a octogenarian with a degenerative bone disease. And for those of you that don’t, I am built like Gerard Butler in 300. Needless to say, my knees limit me to pretending to be good at sports such as basketball and soccer but one sport I can scratch off that list is biking. Since I can’t peddle for more then 15 minutes without taking a 15 day break, I like to pretend I’m Danny MacAskill. Who you ask? Danny MacAskill is one of the world’s best trial riders. Whats a trial rider you ask? Oh forget it, just watch the video below and prepare to have your mind blown. There are seriously NO camera tricks here and you may have to watch this video a few times before you realise exactly what it is he is doing. And as an added bonus, the soundtrack is pretty rad too…DANNY MACASKILL, YOU’RE MY HERO!!!
If you thought the video was cool, check out Danny’s website here!
“Alright, what’s next on the list of typical things to talk about?” Good question, Saul. This signaled the end of the night for our group of friends in another installment of our Wednesday tradition, since we had pretty much covered all the stuff we usually talk about. Every hump day, we meet at the Mainway Complex in Burlington to play in a ball hockey league, and while we may not win every game, the outcome of the night is always the same. After getting changed out of our gear, we all meet in the parking lot for a smoke. I am of the minority of players on our team who does not smoke (maybe that explains our half-assed performances most nights), but in no way would I ever miss out on post-game boon time. It’s a crucial part of the Wednesday night experience.
There are typically four topics of discussion during the post-game smoke, and they almost always come in this order: the game we just played, what’s going on in the sporting world, certain friends who have changed, and any new stories about girls. The last subject of conversation often yields the shortest discussion, unless we are ripping on buddies who are in long-term relationships for being lame. This is a nice way to fill the void, because the guys who are “in wuvvv” and never coming out of it want to live through their single friends and hear about exciting new adventures, but the reality is, most of the time the single guys don’t have anything good to share, so that’s when “Nick missing the game to attend Nadia’s half-cousin’s Italian baby shower” is our go-to material. It’s the first three topics of discussion, however, that say the most about how guys like us (meatheads) rely on sports in our social interaction with friends.
#1 – The Game We Just Played
This discussion usually begins with an assessment of the other team. The angle we take depends on if we won or lost the game. If we won, a good opener is “Yo that team f____n’ sucked!” and then we all make jokes about the other team. Noah, our star defenceman, is an integral part of the conversation because of his genius ability to label players on the other team. Last week after a win against the Raiders, we made fun of characters such as “Guy who looks like a 5-foot exercise ball”, “No Sleeves”, and “Guy who talks too much, and I guess is nice, but I still don’t like him for some reason.” A win always lightens up the post-game chat since we get to re-affirm our dominance over a similar group of males. We don’t know anything about the other team, but the win assures us that we are cooler, more talented, and better looking than those losers.
If we happened to lose the game, the discussion takes a different tone, but usually ends up the same way. Instead of “Yo that team f____n’ sucked!” you’ll probably hear “Yo that team was a bunch of f____n’ fags!” We proceed to complain about dirty plays that the referee never saw, the guys on the other team who were too intense for our liking, and how we would’ve won if it wasn’t for a few bad bounces. Eventually we get to the part where we make fun of certain players on the other team, exactly like we would if we had won (i.e. “That guy’s too fat to play”, “This guy had terrible equipment, he must be poor”, etc). So, basically, it might take a little longer to get there when we lose, but this part of the post-game smoke always ends with us laughing our heads off. Make no mistake about it — even though there’s not a lot of intellect being bantered around in this sport-fueled exchange, the ball hockey boys are bonding.
#2 – A Review of the Week in Sports
The next chapter of conversation tends to inspire more intelligent dialogue. It will start with someone mentioning the dreadful state of our beloved Raptors, for example. Everyone offers an opinion as to whether or not they should trade Chris Bosh, and a lot of good points are made. Right away you can tell we’ve all done our homework on this topic; not because we feel like we have to keep up, but because we all love sports and choose to follow them religiously. Men like us are wired this way. What are we supposed to talk about instead? Our feelings? Eff that.
#3 – Friends Who Have Changed
Someone on the ball hockey team who missed that week’s game for reasons outside of work or family emergency is open season for post-game chirping. Even an injury is not an acceptable excuse sometimes. Recently, our friend Nick missed a game because of a sore back. He was immediately labeled a locker-room cancer, and we’re not sure if we should welcome him back next week. Nick, as any player on our team would, understands he will get chirped behind his back for missing the game and has no choice but to accept it. The next time he shows his face, we will berate him with feelings of disappointment and try to make him feel bad about himself:
“Nick, you’ve changed man… hey guys, remember the days when Nick would actually come to the games? He used to be so cool… Hey Saul, thanks for being at all the games man, you’re a real friend and a great teammate, unlike Nick.”
This continues for several minutes, and while the subject of the chirping does get annoyed, there’s nothing he can do about it. Missing a weekly sporting event is a big no-no, and a repeat offender will be alienated by his friends. Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit. We chirp our friends because we love them and we’re upset when we don’t get to see them at our Wednesday tradition. We rarely admit this because it wouldn’t be manly. Instead, we have fun at their expense.
For my group of friends, it’s quite clear that sports provide the platform on which real bonding takes place. Sports give us something to do together as a team and something to talk about when we’re just hanging out. They’re a huge part of the relationships I have with most of my friends. That being said, it’s not surprising that sports will also cause some nonsensical fights where friendships are jeopardized. More on that next week…
“I am not a role model!” That famous slogan was the theme of a marketing campaign for Charles Barkley’s Nikes, and back in 1993 it created quite a controversy. 16 years (plus millions of dollars in gambling losses, the financial settlement given to the guy who Barkley tossed through a glass window, and the money needed to make bail after drunk-driving “to go get a blowjob”) later, and it turns out Sir Charles was right. If he’s anyone’s role model, then that person better be as rich as Barkley or they’re sure to end up in jail or on the streets.
Today, if a superstar athlete promoted himself with the same unapologetic indifference to the impression he makes on young sports fans, we would not see the same controversy that we saw with Barkley in ’93. Times have changed for athletes in the spotlight. While some sports stars still welcome the perceived responsibility of giving kids someone to look up to, a growing number of them ignore that it even exists. Barkley’s reasoning was that parents shouldn’t turn to him to raise their kids; they should be the role models themselves. The argument makes sense. But even if Barkley is right, his attitude isn’t doing anyone any good. Just because kids shouldn’t look up to athletes doesn’t mean they won’t. Unfortunately, it’s so much easier for these young millionaires to plead the fifth on this issue because it frees them of any additional responsibility outside the sport in which they perform. As long as they aren’t committing serious crimes, they can do whatever they want in their personal lives without having to think twice about the message they’re sending to the impressionable youth. Concerns about reputation and moral influence are fading in a time where access to the private lives of professional athletes is growing like never before.
Take Michael Jordan, for example. Sure, we know some details about his compulsive gambling and extramarital affairs, but a lot of his personal issues flew under the radar during his playing days. Now imagine if Jordan was starring in the current era, rather than in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. With the emergence of the internet and the unquenchable thirst for celebrity gossip, Jordan would get ten times more bad publicity than he did back then. Just look at the scrutiny Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez are constantly under; not only in the sports section, but in mainstream media. The vices of these two 21st century superstars are paraded around non-stop, yet Jordan managed to maintain a relatively clean image throughout his time of superstardom. Today, there’s not a chance he’d be able to hide all his dirty laundry.
Surely, many of us in our early-mid 20s can sympathize with pro athletes who have their reputations damaged when unflattering party photos somehow surface on the internet. For us, not only is it hard to blame them, it’s actually pretty cool to see how they’re just normal guys that go out and have a good time. We identify with that, but here’s also where the problem lies: as we celebrate the “outing” of star athletes’ personal lives in that funny, TMZ celebrity-gossip kind of way, we tend to overlook the troubling ways it sits with those who cannot relate. Kids haven’t gone through enough experiences to interpret these things harmlessly. If I look at the picture of Michael Phelps hooting a bong and think, “That’s funny,” wouldn’t it be worrisome if a 12-year-old kid had the same reaction?
There are plenty of kids who show a big-time interest in sports at a young age. They follow stories about star athletes just as much as anyone. The same media attention that allows pro athletes to become ridiculously rich also brings some social responsibilities that extend beyond the world of entertainment. Instead of being negligent, they should be mindful of the fact that in this age of digital media, there’s a much greater chance that the choices they make will become public knowledge, leaving a lasting impression on the younger generation of sports fans. For young adults, we like being able to think that these guys are just like us. Here’s the truth — they’re not like us. They are in a totally different position than you and me, making way more money, applying their trade with the most unique physical skills and living completely different lifestyles. They certainly deserve to enjoy the benefits, but it’d be beneficial to their young followers if they held themselves to a higher standard than the average party animal that never has to worry about seeing his drunk ass on the front page of Deadspin.com.
In our never ending commitment to bringing you the latest and greats of not only sports, but wonders of the internet, GoatDiesel is proud to announce the arrival of Seesmic video posting.
Seesmic allows you the viewers to interactive with the GoatDiesel crew through video comments. You will see the button to sign up for Seesmic and begin leaving your own video comments at the bottom of ever post.
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Who is going to pop the cherry on this new feature?
If you haven’t heard of Twitter, you are living in the stone age of the internet. These days everyone from kids, to stay at home moms, to online celebrities… cough*(GoatDiesel), to NBA players! are constantly telling you what they’re up to on Twitter. Though it may be tough to separate the real celebs from the fakes, and poseurs, the above video proves that there are real players behind their tweets.
GoatDiesel is on a mission to spread some sports love to all you fans, and we update our Twitter feed constantly. Friend us up on Twitter, and check to see what NBA and other sports stars we are following.
I was watching a CBC special last night all about fighting in hockey, and the various arguments pro and con. It appears that there are two school’s of thought: Those (like Don Cherry), who think that fighting in hockey keeps the other violence in check. Claiming that if fighting were taken out, players would be left with sticks and blades as their means of getting back at players breaking the “good old hockey code”. The Con’s hold that the violence is slowly escalating, and that death is inevitable. An argument that was proven with exclamation after the untimely death of Don Sanderson a defenseman with the Whitby Dunlops early this year.
Where do you stand? Is fighting a way of making players think twice before throwing cheap-shots such as Brendan Witt’s elbow? Is the fear of having to face the enforcer enough of a deterrent, or is this the kind of activity that will only increase if fighting is removed from the game?
GoatDiesel wants to hear it. Drop an opinion in the comments.
Written on February 25th, 2009 by goatdiesel2 shouts
You may have noticed, you may have not? But we have been tweaking a few things here and there visually, posting more videos, live blog and more of a “chat” type atmosphere in the comment section. Although, thats just us high and mighty types who think we know everything. And now we wanna hear from the most important person….ME YOU!!! What do you want to see more of? Less of? Try out for change? Cover more of? We are here to serve you, my people, so let’s hear it!
For example Coletrain insisted, I mean, suggested we get on top of NHL and NBA mock drafts and guess what? I banned him from the site….No just kidding, I am working on them right now. See, ask and you shall receive!
I just want to thank everyone who comes back daily to check us out and drops a line or two in the comment section, without you I feel like I am only writing for myself and my mom and dad. And as cool as my life was from birth to age 23, I could stand to hang out with someone else but those aforementioned for awhile even if it is online (damn it is my life repeating).
Well like I said, leave it in the comment section and I will make it happen. Remember…sports related stuffs only please.
The Boston Globe reports today that the Queen’s country is trying to get it’s basketball players back! If you were born after Jan. 1, 1983, and have at least one parent with a British passport, you could be the newest star of UK basketball. I think it’s a good move seeing as Great Britain’s only Olympic appearance was in the 1948 London Games.
So if you are an eligible Brit living in the US and have no shot of ever playing basketball at a competitive level… go by yourself a plane ticket cause you may have a shot.
“I am not a role model!” That famous slogan was the theme of a marketing campaign for Charles Barkley’s Nikes, and back in 1993 it created quite a controversy. 16 years (plus millions of dollars in gambling losses, the financial settlement given to the guy who Barkley tossed through a glass window, and the money needed to make bail after drunk-driving “to go get a blowjob”) later, and it turns out Sir Charles was right. If he’s anyone’s role model, then that person better be as rich as Barkley or they’re sure to end up in jail or on the streets. 