A Rare Trifecta, Jack Armstrong Drinking Game and more!!

A rare thing occurred yesterday.  A trifecta of victories amongst my teams - the Bills, Leafs and Raptors all were victorious, I don't think that has ever happened.  Because of the overlap in seasons it isn't very often 3 of my teams play on the same day, a Bills/Leafs/Raptors trifecta is especially rare as the Leafs rarely play on Sundays when the Bills always play (also it's not often the 3 teams would win in recent years).  So needless to say yesterday I was on cloud fuckin' 9.

#BUDSALLDAY

Sweet hollering fuck were the Leafs ever glorious last week.  In this blog post last week I foresaw a tough week for my beloved Maple Leafs, and said that they will need "Nelson" Bernier to be in top form to get through that.  What tough week?? They went 4-0 against those shit-heads and they got excellent goaltending from both Nelson, and James "Optimus Reim" Reimer.  I'm a fan of both Bernier and Reimer, someone accused me of being a Reimer "Nut Hugger" on Facebook last week, and yeah I am a bit of a nut-hugger I like Optimus, and I think he can flourish in a #1 role on another team, and I don't like the way that Randy Carlyle has treated him.  In the meantime I like the idea of Bernier and Reimer being a 1a and 1b... you can never have enough goaltending.  Optimus was especially lights out against the Chicken Wings last Wednesday, he was the main reason we picked up two points against those assholes.

Someone buy this shirt for me for Christmas at http://teespring.com/budsalldaybud

The other thing that I have loved about the Leafs so far this season is they FINALLY have a great puck-possessing 3rd and 4th line.  Last season that piece of shit Randy Carlyle insisted on icing 2 face-punchers a night in Colton Orr and Fraser McClaren, don't get me wrong I am not one of those anti-fighting weasels like Damien Cox, I love a good scrap, but in todays NHL you don't dress 2 goons, it is a waste of a roster spot.  Instead of those cavemen, players like Richard Panik "On the team of Carlyle", Daniel Winnik, Mike Santorelli and Leo Komarov (when healthy) have stepped up, and provided the team with great production, they need this secondary scoring especially when they have streaky players like my beloved Phil Kessel playing on the first line.  Santorelli and Panik especially have had break out years, I give Dave Nonis a lot of (deserved) shit but those were shrewd pick ups.  Buds All Day.  Buds All Fucking Day.

The Week Ahead: vs. Anaheim (12/16), @ Carolina (12/18), vs. Philadelphia (12/20), @ Chicago (12/21).  This is the last gasp of the Leafs big homestand before they're kicked out of the ACC for the World Junior Tournament.  Corey Perry has the fucking mumps so the Ducks are missing their best player, Carolina is shit and so are the Flyers, but the Blackhawks should be a tough test.  The nerds are all saying the Leafs play isn't sustainable and they'll come crashing down to earth but fuck you nerds, what have you ever done for us (besides every scientific and technological advance in history).  The Leafs play again on Sunday, what is with these Sunday games? Sunday is for football, quit trying to make Hometown Hockey a thing Rogers, nobody cares that some Jethro from Moose Jaw grew up playing hockey on an outdoor rink.  I hate that shit.

The Raptors had a good week, their only blemish being the loss to the fucking Cleveland LeBrons, they also nearly lost to the Nuggets last Monday.  The Raptors against Denver and Cleveland were being out-rebounded and out-played late in the game (what happened to We the Fourth??)  and unfortunately that cost them against the LeBrons.  They kicked the shit out of Indiana like they were supposed to, but last night in New York they still won but they looked very sluggish.  The Knicks brought their A game against the Raptors, shitty teams are always going to do that now against the Raptors, and it is up to the Raps not to play down to their level.  I think they were out partying in NYC on the Saturday night, and no I don't think that is a big fucking deal.  These kids have millions of dollars at their disposal, they're in their 20's, of course they are going to go out partying in Manhattan, I would be very disappointed in them if they didn't.  Thankfully it didn't cost them a loss like it did in LA a few weeks ago.

The Jack Armstrong Drinking Game 

I fucking love Jack Armstrong, when the Raptors were shitty and unwatchable, he was the only reason to tune into a game.  My buddy and I have come up with a Jack Armstrong drinking game, when you do this, you'll end up as drunk as he is during the broadcasts.  You must take a drink everytime Jack:

Says Helloooooooooooooo. Usually done when showing a replay of a big dunk.

Says either MGD!! or BACARDI!!!! Gotta get those sponsorship plugs in.

Says Matty D  He always refers to Matt Devlin as Matty D.

Says GET THAT GAHH-BAGE OUTTA HERE!! Always screamed during a replay of a massive block/rejection.

Complains about the Referees:  He was really losing his mind during the playoffs last year, and he was getting really pissed off over LeBron getting calls.  Our Jack does not take refereeing bullshit laying down.

Concedes a good call was made by the refs:  Usually I am up screaming at the refs when a call against the Raptors is made, but often on the replay Jack will calm me down and begrudgingly admit the refs made the correct call, maybe take two drinks when this happens because NBA refs fuck up more often than not.

Jack Sings:  This is especially prevalent during the Holiday Season, he'll sing "Silver Bells" or that bizarre "Happy Holidaaaaaaays" song when Matty D is announcing some Christmas Ticket promotion.  Thankfully he doesn't sing Bon Jovi anymore.

Goes off Topic:  Usually done when Matty D says somthing about one of the sponsors, Jack spent a good two minutes talking Swifter Sweepers a couple of weeks ago.

Mentions coaching at Niagara or being from Brooklyn.  Pretty self explanatory.

Gets Excited:  This is a judgement call for you and your friends, I've generally said this happens when he raises his voice a few octaves, he usually does this going into a commercial, but he will do it throughout the broadcast.

Says "A little pepperoni, a little sauseech" You MUST finish your drink if this happens, as this doesn't happen anymore.  In years past the Raptors would have a promotion where if they scored over 100 points and won everyone in the crowd would get a slice of pizza.  So when the Raptors would break 100 points, Jack would ALWAYS say "A little pepperoni!! A little sauseech!!" He's only said this once this season, he went off topic (so that is already a drink) talking about pizza to Matty D, and yes he did say, "a little pepperoni, a little sauseech!" This drinking game didn't exist then, but if it did I would've shot gun a beer.

The Week Ahead: vs. Orlando (12/15), vs. Brooklyn (12/17), @ Detroit (12/19), vs. New York (12/21).  Another week and another 4 match-ups against Eastern Conference shit bags.  I know this is recurring theme but the Raptors must take advantage of this light schedule, especially with DeMar DeRozan on the mend.  Game of the week for me should be the pay back against Brooklyn on Wednesday, Brooklyn no longer has Paul Pierce, but they still have Kevin Garnett who is one of the most loathsome players in the NBA.  Fuck Brooklyn!.

Perhaps I should write-off my teams more often??  In completely shocking news the Buffalo Bills upset Super Bowl favourite Green Bay.  The funny thing is the Bills offense did all they could to let the Packers back into the game, but that defense... holy fuck that defense is amazing.  For the second week in a row they have made an elite quarterback look rather pedestrian, but unfortunately for the Bills they only have a pedestrian quarterback in Kyle Orton and even shittier offensive play calling.  If it wasn't for the Special Teams (Former Ti-Cat Marcus Thigpen with the punt return TD!!) and the magical boot of Dan Carpenter, they could have well blown that defensive masterpiece.  For the first time in over a decade, heading into Week 16 the Bills are still "in the hunt" for a playoff spot.  The game that will stick out for me if they miss the playoffs was the Week 10 loss against Kansas City, we should've won that game based on the defense, but the atrocious offensive play calling led to a 17-13 defeat.  That game could be the one we'll need to get into the playoffs.

The Week Ahead: @ Oakland (12/21).  When I looked at their December schedule I assumed this was the one game that they'd win, and it is definitely a must-win if they want to still be considered in the hunt for a playoff spot.  Oakland is hot garbage, but they did beat Kansas City and San Francisco, and as the Bills proved yesterday anything is possible.  The Bills have Pittsburgh and Baltimore ahead of them in the standings, and they are tied with Kansas City and San Diego. I am not smart enough to determine what scenarios are best for the Bills, but they are going to need to win out, and it starts against Oakland on Sunday.

Well that's all for this week.  I just realized next Sunday we could see another Trifecta of victories for my team, which would be awesome because it is 12/21... reverse that and you've got 21/12.  As in @HDH2112 and 2112, my lucky number and the one the best albums of all time - Rush 2112.  I am going to try my hardest to have a post up Monday, but I might be in transit to London for the Christmas Holidays (hahaha holidays, I've been on vacation since April!), so if I don't post next week I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Buds All Day, AA the Best and more!

We saw two different versions of the Leafs last week, the same team that made short work of the Dallas Stars and the god forsaken Vancouver Canucks and the creepy Sedin twins, lost in extremely boring fashion to the New Jersey Devils.  That Devils game sucked, but such is life in an 82 game season, sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the fire hydrant.  What really pissed me off about that Devils game is that some cretin threw his jersey on the ice... really bud?  This jersey tossing thing is so fucking stupid and it needs to end immediately. Yeah the Leafs came out flat and played like shit, but they were playing the Devils who without Jagr and Elias (combined age 114) played typical boring neutral zone trap New Jersey Devil hockey.  The Leafs have been winning a ton lately, and just because you paid half a months salary to go see them does not give you the right to throw your jersey on the ice.  Squid move bud.  By the way, unless you got Craig Jones to order you a jersey from China for $30 they're pretty fucking expensive, so not only did you drop all that money for a ticket and beer you just threw a $200 jersey on the ice to prove some point? Give it up for lent bud, go fuck yourself.

Something is amiss with my beloved Phil Kessel, yes he did score against Dallas and New Jersey, but I think he is hurt, he took a vicious hit against Dallas, and they keep showing him in practice wincing and stretching out his back.  Everytime they show him on the bench he is crunched over in pain (or he is winded: insert lazy fat joke here Toronto media dickheads).  If he is indeed hurt like many are suggesting then he should take a few games off, we'll need him in March and April, not in December.

The Week Ahead: vs. Calgary (12/9), @ Detroit (12/10), vs. Detroit (12/13), vs. Los Angeles (12/14).  This is a tough week for the Buds.  For the first time in years the Calgary Flames are actually a good team, they are solidly in a playoff position and don't seem to be letting it go.  Hopefully the Leafs beat the Flames to make up for the Stampeders beating the Ti-Cats in the Grey Cup. There is a home and home against the pesky fucking Red Wings, and then the defending Stanley Cup champs come in for a bizarre 5 pm game on Sunday.  Jonathan "Nelson Mandela is my Favourite Athlete" Bernier, has been playing really well lately, as the Leafs have started up their old habit of giving up a buttload of shots every game, and we are going to need Bernier to keep it up during this tough stretch next week.  Speaking of Bernier that Nelson Mandela thing is inexcusable, I know that athletes are not the smartest breed, and English isn't Bernier's first language, but come on, how can he possibly say Nelson Mandela was one of his favourite athletes growing up?  When Bernier was growing up Mandela was in his 70's and the President of South Africa.  Jesus Christ Bernier get a fucking clue.

Photo Credit @mattomic 

AA strikes again.  At the end of the regular season I was getting kind of sick of hearing AA's bullshit, talking about "payroll parameters" and the Blue Jays refusal to give out contracts longer than 5 seasons, plus the 2014 season ended on (another) sour note.  Now I am singing his praises again and the 2015 season can not start soon enough.   Last week that Jays dealt JA Happ to Seattle for Left Fielder Michael Saunders.  Considering Melky Cabrera is as good as gone, Saunders is a great pick-up for the team, a good sign that it is a great move is that Seattle Mariner bloggers are very upset about giving up Saunders.  Saunders has been hurt, and the unforgiving SkyDome Rogers Centre turf may not help issues, but I think he'll be as equal as Melky if not better in the coming seasons.  Plus for all you who get Maple Boners... he's Canadian! Despite losing Brett "Spazz" Lawrie they will be fielding 3 Canadians in their starting line-up next season along with Russel Martin, and Dalton "Live At" Pompey.  Ohhhh fuck yah bud.  AA and the Jays still have work to do, their starting line-up is pretty much set, but they still need some bullpen arms, and perhaps another starting pitcher.  There is 3 long months until Spring Training starts, and I don't think they're done tinkering yet! 

Holy Shit Kyle Lowry is a beast, in fact he was just named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the past week.  When it's all said and done he will end up being the best player in Toronto Raptors history.  He dropped 27 against the Kings and then put up a career high 39 against the Jazz the next night.  We're a quarter of the way through the season now and in my completely biased opinion I would say Lowry is the MVP thus far.  Granted we're only a quarter through the season and Anthony Davis, LeBron James and the other usual suspects might have a thing or two to say about that, but he definitely needs some consideration, and he will be a starter in the All-Star Game in February.  Just for the love of God don't get hurt.  The Raptors really felt that DeRozan injury during the Cleveland game, T-Ross and "Captain" Lou Williams shot like shit, Jonas "Big V" Valaciunas got in foul trouble off the hop, but despite all that it was close most of the game and Cleveland only pulled ahead in the 4th quarter when it was all but over.  They said DeRozan won't need surgery on his groin which is good news, but there is still no time line for his return.

The Week Ahead: vs. Denver (12/8), @ Cleveland (12/9), vs. Indiana (12/12), @ New York (12/14).  The Raptors are playing 3 teams that are under .500 and out of the playoff hunt, once again they need to take advantage of these games, the Raptors have shown a killer instinct against these mediocre teams and must continue to do so.  They play the Cleveland LeBrons once again in what should be a big game, this could well be a 2nd or 3rd round playoff preview, it'll be tough again without DeRozan, but I am confident that it will be close, Kyle Lowry will need to step up and beat those assholes himself.

The Bills are fucking done again, Jesus Christ this team can't do anything right.  That game was ripe for picking too, Peyton had a terrible un-Peyton like game, in fact it's the first time in 4 fucking seasons that he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass.  On the surface a 24-17 loss to Denver with Kyle Orton throwing 355 yards doesn't look too bad, but fuck he sucked.  Untimely interceptions, weak red zone play and some questionable play calling has led us to YET ANOTHER playoff-less season.  They might as well go back to EJ Manuel for the last few weeks of the season, let's see what the kid can do as Kyle Orton is not the QB of the future.  Doug "Moron" Marrone should be axed at the end of this season, and so should that clown offensive coordinator Nathaniel "Can't" Hackett.  Why not have defensive co-coordinator Jim Schwartz take over?  The Bills D has once again been amazing, plus he has NFL head coaching experience.  There are pieces in place for the Bills to be a playoff team but that fucking offense, especially the play calling needs to improve.

The Bills in Toronto Series is as dead as their season!  This was a joke right from the get-go, greedy-assed Rogers expecting people to fork over a ton of their money to watch the shitty Bills play in the SkyDome.  They were giving away tickets for free next to people who dropped $300 bucks for their seats, no wonder people were pissed off.  There is a lot of Bills fans in Southern Ontario, but there is also fans of a shit load of other teams.  Amongst my friends I know Dolphins, Lions, Steelers, Titans, Patriots, Vikings, Giants and 49ers fans.  This should come as no surprise, the Bills have done fuck all to lure new fans since the days of Flutie Flakes, idiots like me only hold out because they were amazing when I was a kid, and I am loyal to a fault.  My point is as a Bills fan in Southern Ontario I would way rather make the 2 hour drive to Orchard Park to watch the Bills play at the Ralph, have the tailgate experience at a true home game then to watch them at the mausoleum known as the SkyDome where everything is over-priced and there is maybe less than half Bills fans there.  When they played the Dolphins shit-heads like my buddys Jeff and Mike showed up because it is a lot easier for them to see their favourite team in Toronto than to fly all the way to Miami, same thing happened when they played Seattle or Atlanta.  Maybe one day Toronto will have their own NFL team (not bloody likely) but until then keep the Bills in Buffalo where they belong.

The Week Ahead.  vs. Green Bay (12/14).  Jeezum Crow this is an ass-kicking waiting to happen.  It is the last home game of the year, so maybe they'll go out in style?? Who am I fucking kidding there is nothing stylish about Buffalo.

As usual you can catch me on the Twitter @HDH2112 you can also leave a comment in the comment section, I do love all feedback good or bad.  See you next week! 

Refs Rob Banks!! Pros Before Bros and More!!

Well it shouldn't come to anyones fucking surprise that Andre Proulx and his band of fucking cretins screw things up for us, they tried their damndest to do it in the East Final and they pulled it off in the Grey Cup.  What a fucking disgrace, shit like this is what makes the CFL look so unbelievably bush league.  Brandon Banks had won us the Grey Cup, it was a fucking GREY CUP WINNING punt return TD called back on a marginal call at best with 35 seconds left in the game. The Refs robbed Banks, the refs robbed Hamilton of their first Grey Cup since 1999.  Granted the Cats got off to a slow start, dug themselves a 17-0 hole and relied on field goals when they got to the red zone... but still my blame has to be pointed somewhere and it is directly at that french fuck Andre Proulx and his shit tornado of an officiating crew.

The outcome put a damper on the hilariously fun and delicious Grey Cup party held in my buddy Jeff's man cave.  It was all the cast of characters I've been attending Ti-Cats games with all season, plus a town eccentric or two.  I loved being back in Hamilton and falling in love with the Ti-Cats again and I can't wait to head back to Tim Hortons Field next year to heckle the shit out of people.  Because this is kind of a food blog too, I will post my power rankings of what we ate last night in descending order.

7.  Vegetable Sticks.  Yeah there was fucking vegetables there, I guess there has to be an "healthy option" but as my pal Dave would say "mmmm lettuce is for rabbits"  I guess they're good for some nibblies before the main course.  The "town eccentric" accused my friend Angela of being a cute little vegetable.... yeah.

6.  Sushi Rolls.  Believe it or not I really love sushi, especially the rolls, I spotted a whole tray of those delicious bastards when I was avoiding the "town eccentric" who was bitching about how much it was a disgrace the Ti-Cats uniforms don't have stripes anymore... when I pointed it out to him on TV that they did have stripes, he claimed it was a Grey Cup only thing.  So basically I crushed 6 or 7 rolls while getting away from that squid.

5.  Mozza Sticks.  These weren't just your everyday run of the mill mozza sticks, they had a nice spicy kick to them, jalapeno perhaps??  They were actually crunchy too, not soggy little turds like they usually are.

4. Sausage with cheese in them.  These were prepared before hand, and cut up into bite sized portions, they were available for picking while running up to take a piss or grabbing a beer or avoiding the town eccentric.  I was starving so I must've crushed 5 or 6 of these bad boys along with the sushi rolls before we ate.  I have the 6 toothpicks in my pocket to prove it.

3.  Chicken Wings.  They were just your everyday delicious chicken wings, nice bite to them, not overloaded with fucking breading.  I only had a couple but under normal circumstances could destroy 15-20 of those mafuckers.

2.  Buffalo Chicken Dip prepared by Tash.  This was the best Buffalo Chicken Dip I have ever had in my life, mainly because there was so much chicken in it, it was kind of like a pulled chicken sandwich with Buffalo flavour, fuck it was good, despite it being a dip it would've made for an amazing sandwich.

1c.  I copped out, there is a 3 way tie for the best food I ate last night.  First up is Steve's Five Alarm Chili, served at half time on a hot dog.  I've had plenty of chili in my day and this is amongst the best I have had, nice and thick a good texture, with a bite but not over-powering.  Served on top of a Juicy Jumbo dog, you can't go wrong.

1b. Lasagna prepared by Angela.  She tricked us! This was a lean lasagna with turkey and a bit of pork in it as opposed to traditional ground beef.  It was on point delicious and made with an outstanding 8 different kinds of cheese, I was very impressed!

1a.  Philly Cheese Steak Sliders made by Jeff and Dave.  My God.  These little fucks were good.  Generally I hate sliders... fuck sliders why would you have a miniature version of something bigger?  But I suppose at a party where food is plentiful sliders are a great way to go.  They marinated and prepared the flank steak with onions and peppers all day, then heat them up with some provolone cheese, there was a nice chipotle spice kick to it, these little fucks were very, very good.

Wash all that down with about 15 beers and you've got yourself a party.  Too bad the outcome was as shitty as it was!

The Brett Lawrie Era is over.  Holy shit-balls did Alex Anthopoulos (herein referred to as AA, I am sick of typing Anthopoulos) pull off a major move.  Josh Donaldson is only the best 3rd baseman in baseball, and is 2nd behind Mike fucking Trout in WAR over the last two seasons.  Donaldson has said all the right things so far, calling the Blue Jays uniforms 'sexy' (they are!) and saying that he has watched 1000 hours of Jose Bautista swings and emulates him as a player *swoon*.  Plus he is under club control for the next 4 seasons! It is kind of weird to see Brett Lawrie go, I assumed he was going to be a Blue Jay for years to come, but you know what he is kind of a douche-bag, ease up on the Red Bull and quit being such a fucking spazz bud.  I am really not too heartbroken to see him go, Brett Lawrie has had smoke blown up his ass since the second he came to the organization from Milwaukee, mainly because of his passport (fun note, Oakland is actually probably closer to his hometown in BC than Toronto is), and really he has only shown flashes of brilliance and he has been injured A LOT.  The guy is a fucking band aid.  AA has taken a Pros before Bros attitude this off-season, jettisoning the likes of Adam Lind, Anthony Gose, Colby Rasmus, Brandon Morrow and now Brett Lawrie, and brought in clubhouse stalwarts Russel Martin and Josh Donaldson.  Clubhouse chemistry has been an issue the last few years, John Gibbons even went as far as to say he needs more "mature adults" on the team.  Getting rid of Brett Lawrie ramps up the maturity level on this team significantly.

The Raptors suffered a bit of adversity for the first time this season, first they went 2-2 (it was weird seeing the Raptors lose, I forgot what that was like) and secondly they lost DeMar DeRozan to a torn groin tendon.  Ugh.  DeRozan has been remarkably durable throughout his 6 year career, and this is the first significant amount of time that the All-Star will miss.  They say he could miss a month of action, or about 14 games, luckily the Raptors have built themselves a nice little cushion so even if they only go .500 over that stretch they'd still be in excellent shape.  You never know with groin injuries though, it could take DeRozan a lot longer than a month to get back into game shape.  Luckily the Raptors have solid depth, "Sweet" Lou Williams, James Johnson, or Grevais Vasquez could easily take his spot in the starting line-up, and they still have Landry "Remember Me" Fields to come off the bench.  The Raptors lost two tough ones, Dallas is a great team, and the Raptors never quit that entire game, but that Lakers OT loss last night stings, especially after the Grey Cup debacle and the fact that Kobe Bryant is a fucking squid and I hate him.

The Week Ahead:  @ Sacramento (12/2), @ Utah (12/3), vs. Clevaland (12/5) .  Everyone knows the West is a far superior conference than the East, but the Raps finish their quick west coast trip against two of the weaker sisters in the conference with the Kings and the Jazz, it's tough for any team to go west and play but if the Raptors want to be considered amongst the NBA elite they HAVE to beat these shitty teams.  The game against the Cleveland LeBrons on Friday should be really good, Cleveland has to have revenge on their mind after we destroyed them on their home court a couple of weeks ago.  

After all the bullshit surrounding the 6-2 loss to Buffalo, the 9-2 loss to Nashville and Saluteghazi, the Leafs have been a pretty fucking good team.  They haven't lost in regulation since that 9-2 debacle.  The Leafs looked pretty good last week, coming back to tie Pittsburgh only to lose in OT against Sid the Squid, and then they completely dominated Ovi and the Crapitals.  But on a sad note my new hero Leo Komarov had to leave Saturdays game after Ovechkin delivered a cheap shot that should've resulted in expulsion from the league.  I am sure Leo has some KGB contacts, so Ovechkin better get someone else to start his car for the foreseeable future.

The Week Ahead: vs. Dallas (12/2), vs. New Jersey (12/4), vs. Vancouver (12/6).  The Leafs have a pretty home heavy schedule for the next few weeks because they are getting kicked out of the ACC at the end of the month for the World Junior Tournament, so even though they've had trouble at the ACC the last few seasons they need to take advantage of this stretch.  Dallas and New Jersey are both sub-500 teams, so they should win those, but the way the Leafs have been this year you can't trust the fuckers and they could come out flat as a pancake those games and completely shit the bed.  They'll crush Vancouver though, fuck the Canucks.

The Bills were very impressive last week, they kicked the living shit out of the woeful Jets under some pretty shitty circumstances and made short work of the Browns yesterday.  Unfortunately it is too little too late, while they sit at 7-5 now and are "in the hunt" for a playoff position, it is going to require a miracle for them to get in the playoffs.  Stranger things have happened I guess, but I am certainly not counting on it.

The Week Ahead: @ Denver (12/7)  I just mentioned miracles, the Bills need one here against Peyton Manning and the Broncos at Mile High... if they can upset them... then the Packers and the Patriots and kick the shit out of the Raiders like they should, you never know!!

Once again don't forget to follow me on the Twitter @HDH2112.  See you next week! 

Cats in Grey Cup! Raptors! Saluteghazi! Etc!

In the second time in as many years the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are heading to the Grey Cup!  Despite the best intentions of the most atrocious refereeing I have seen in my entire life (Head Referee Andre Proulx is a Quebecois piece of shit and surprise surprise he was completely biased towards the Alouettes).  Mind you I had a wobbly pop or two and was busy yelling at Duron Carter that his dad Cris Carter didn't love him, so maybe I shouldn't be the best judge?  Seriously though in that first half there was many questionable calls by that shitty refereeing crew, they basically gift-wrapped a Montreal touchdown, and robbed Brandon Banks of a punt return TD.  Speaking of Brandon Banks, what a gem, nothing better than being in the crowd watching someone break 80+ yards for a TD, jumping up and down, screaming, high-fiving and hugging all those around you... well I was in the pisser for one of the TD's and probably shouldn't have hugged the guy next to me.  The Ti-Cats are now a perfect 7-0 at Tim Hortons Field...what a home field advantage we have, it's always loud as fuck in there when they're on defense, mind you it's not Seattle or any other NFL or NCAA stadium, but for 25,000 fans we make a ruckus.  I love how they refused to touch the Eastern Division trophy NHL stylez, the trophy they want to win is the Grey Cup! Unfortunately I won't be on TSN during the Grey Cup like I was for the Eastern Final game!

The Week Ahead: vs. Calgary in the 102nd Grey Cup (11/30). I think the Ti-Cats have a way better shot of winning this game than they did last year.  Last season they had to play the Roughriders in Saskatchewan in front of a massively partisan crowd when it was fucking ice cold and snowy out.  This time they play in a true neutral site under a dome at BC Place in Vancouver.  Calgary has been the best team in the CFL from the jump.  Calgary won both match-ups against us this year 10-7 in July and 30-20 in August.  The Cats have been a much better team since those two games, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.  Either way I am pumped to watch this game, Oskee-Wee-Wee!!

Holy Fuck the Raptors are good.  After years (decades?) of mediocrity I've put up with all my teams it feels so good to cheer for a team that has quickly become amongst the NBA elite.  The Raps went a perfect 3-0 last week including an absolutely dominating performance against the surprising Milwaukee Bucks.  That game featured the NBA debut of the Brazilian Kevin Durant and new cult hero Bruno Cabaclo.  His first two points in his NBA career was a thunderous alley-oop dunk which literally had me jump of my seat cheering.  Then they go out and completely embarrass the Cleveland LeBrons on their home court.  This is one unselfish, tight knit group that has really gelled, GM Masai Ujiri pulled off a major coup trading John "Sleepy Lion" Salmons to Atlanta for Sweet Lou "Somali Pirate" Williams, my friend Steve has encyclopedic knowledge of the NBA and he told me in the off season what a great pick up that was, and he has been proven 100% correct.  I typically loathe marketing bullshit, especially if it involves hashtags, but the team and the fans have truly picked up on the whole We The North thing, it was awesome seeing the massive contingent of Raptors fans in Cleveland cheering them on, and players after the game were saying how much that meant to them. As Mike Wilbon said last week on Pardon the Interruption  "The Raptors aren't just under the radar, they're completely off the radar because they're in Toronto."  The players know this, the fans know this and it has created an "Us against the World" mentality with this team.  I think they won't be off the radar for much longer, this team is for real, they likely won't with the NBA Championship this year, but I see a deep playoff run.

The Week Ahead: vs. Phoenix (11/24), @ Atlanta (11/26), vs. Dallas (11/28), @ Los Angeles Lakers (11/30).  As long as the Raptors keep playing like they've been playing they could easily have another great week.  Dallas will be their biggest test, but they shouldn't look past Phoenix and Atlanta, both team have great players, and now with the Raptors being 11-2 they've got a target on their back and teams are going to bring it every night against them.  Fuck the Lakers and Kobe though, I hope they beat those squids 168-30.

If you were to tell me last week that the Leafs would go 2-1 against Nashville, Tampa Bay and Detroit, I would've been very happy with the results.  But the 9-2 drubbing by Nashville and the surrounding bullshit around Saluteghazi (PS I am over calling anything -gate, Watergate happened in 19 fucking 72 it's been over 40 fucking years, time to come up with something new) has left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.  You know what, I do not blame the Leafs players whatsoever for not doing the whack salute after beating Tampa, the constant circus surrounding this team must have finally got to them.  That game against Nashville was unbelievably bad, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.  If the LA Kings or Boston Bruins were to lose 9-2, you'd see the highlights on TV and go "holy shit" and forget about it, but the Leafs lose 9-2 and on NATIONALLY televised TSN SportsCentre they spend practically the entire hour long show dissecting every aspect of it, panel after panel of fat old retired plugs publicly calling for blood, no wonder the rest of Canada hates Toronto and the Leafs, if I was a Jets fan or whatever and I go to watch the nightly sportscast, and they spend the entire episode talking about the Leafs I would be pissed too.  The non-salute thing was obviously on purpose, and it was emotional 20-somethings thinking they had to prove a point against their "fans" booing, throwing jerseys on the ice, not to mention the absurd amount of vitriol spilled about them on social media and on sports talk radio.  Of course it was handled sloppily, no one bought Dion Phaneuf's excuse that they were trying to change things up, but it is a fucking joke how the media and some fans took it.  A win is a win who gives a flying fuck if they didn't raise their sticks to the 1000 real fans that attend games at the ACC amongst the thousands of corporate suit dummies that are just there to schmooze their potential clients. Lost in all this bullshit is they played really well against both Tampa and Detroit and if the season ended today they'd be in the god damned playoffs.  But because they lost 2 shitty games and they didn't raise their sticks it seems like the sky is fucking falling.

The Week Ahead: @ Pittsburgh (11/26), vs. Washington (11/29).  A pretty light week for the Leafs, which is probably welcome for the team after all the crap that went on in the last week.  Pittsburgh, as usual are really good, and that should be a tough game, but besides Ovi the Crapitals are just that - Crap.

After an absolutely obscene amount of snow fell on the Buffalo area last week, the scheduled home match-up against the Jets had to be moved to tonight in Detroit... well I guess that is one way for the Bills to get on a Monday Night game.  It's currently 17 degrees and sunny in Buffalo, where in the blue hell is all that snow going to melt too... I am sure there is flooding conditions everywhere, and the game on the 30th against Cleveland is in doubt too.  All this certainly does not help the Bill slim playoff chances.

The Week Ahead: vs. New York Jets (11/24), vs. Cleveland (11/30).  The Jets are absolutely awful, but they did beat Pittsburgh recently, Michael Vick seems to have some gas left in his dog murdering tank.  Cleveland has been one of the surprises this season, the Bills really need to win both these games if they want to even think of the Playoffs, as their December schedule (@Den, GB, @Oak, @NE) is going to be very, very tough.

The Jays did fuck all this week, but it is the off season after all.  Of course those Masshole shitting, puking, fucking puke shit Boston Red Sox go out and sign Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval today....

As usual hit me up on the Twitter @HDH2112 if you want to talk sports with me! Even if you want to tell me this is the worst blog you've ever read, I love feed back!