NFL in London

Since the Broncos are in London and league expansion is always one of my favorite subjects, it is time for me to comment on why the NFL plays in London.

I am not necessarily against the idea of play a game in London, but I much rather the NFL play games in Canada, Las Vegas, or Mexico than in the UK. It is more feasible for the NFL to actually expand into Canada or Mexico than into the UK. Travel cost is a concern plus Canadians already have a better understanding of American football. Additionally, the US has a rapidly growing Mexican/Latino population. I'm actually very surprised how few Latino football players are in the NFL.

Secondly, what about Vegas or Los Angeles? There still isn't a football team in America's second largest media market. Let's send the financially struggling Jaguars to LA and have the Pro Bowl in Sin City.

I'm not against the NFL playing in London or Europe but let's send them the preseason and focus are efforts in the right hemisphere. The NFL is lagging at home will its pushing for expansion aboard.

And don't even get me started on a possible lock out or the fact that the Broncos are just plain terrible.

Here's another take on London:
<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=26a277a4-aa65-4d17-8eb7-c92d66fff99f" target="_new" title="">Marvez Minute: London Calling</a>

Looking forward to hockey season!

I'm back! Sorry but this off-season for hockey has been boring and I really shouldn't be talking too much about baseball since its a conflict of interest.

But, with hockey season just around the corner, its time to get back into the swing of things.

First, I have my fantasy hockey draft this Sunday where I will look to defend my hard earned title from last season. I will be writing a lot about my fantasy team just to give ya'll an interesting topic to continuously update.

As always, I will be following the Avs very closely and to a lesser extent the NHL as a whole.

Other than that, here's a few predictions for next season:

Avs will finish eighth will be eliminated in six by Chicago.
Chicago and Washington will finsh first in the there conferences.
New Jersey and Vancouver will meet in the finals with the Devils winning in 6.

Interesting News that Could Effect the Next NFL CBA

The Green Bay Packers put out a financial report that give owners some evidence to support their case for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The problem with sports teams in building evidence for financial restructuring is they don't make their financial reports public. That is their right as privately held business, but since they deal with the public (and the public pays for their stadiums) it is in there interest to make these reports public.

It would go a long way to ending a CBA war that could cause a giant game of chicken, known as the lockout. However, the NHL shows a owners inevitable victor will be rather Pyrrhic.

Luckily, since the Packers are a rare public sports team the owners have an argument to make.

Random ramblings on Hockey, Baseball, NBA, and soccer

World Cup was awesome France found Karma. Spain deservedly won. Uruguay and Germany made things interesting. Only bad side horrible calls against the US.

I still don't understand why the Avs aren't interested in Kovie. I mean we really really need a guy that can score on left wing. Also what is taking Ilya so damn long. Lebron made up his mind faster.

Rockies are doing awesome! 9 runs in the bottom of the 9th. That was fun. (I'm a Rockies employee so that's all I'm going to say).

Mariner's pulled off a great trade with the Rangers for Cliff Lee. Probably wouldn't be in this situation if they signed Torrealba and Bay while passing on Griffey and Bradley but life isn't perfect. My only concern is Lee was traded in the division and he might actually stay there. That would be terrible.

Screw the NBA. Basketball is a great sport ruined by bad personalities, selfishness, stupidity and anti-competitiveness. Watch out NFL. Learn the lessens from the NBA and to a lesser extent the NHL when the collective bargaining agreement comes up.

Jeff Carter? Kovie?

In my opinion the Avs had three big problems last year:

1) Lack of a consistent point-a-game type of player
2) Giving up too many shots
3) Overworking Anderson

Avs have a lot of work heading into this season. Obviously the Avs already have Anderson and Budaj so the only real solution to B is just play Budaj more often.

Not too much the Avs can do about 2. Maybe sign a defenseman but the Avs already have six guys and a ton of prospects on D.

So the best way to go is grab one or two guys who can score a lot. My answer would be Jeff Carter and Kovie. The Avs have the cap room. Philly is desperate to get rid of cap space. Kovie will score a point-plus per game. If the Avs want to be cheaper than go for Sharp. Chicago needs cap space but not so much after ripping off the Thrashers.

What should the Avs do at the deadline?

Wolski Statsny Stewart
? Duchene Hejduk
Galiardi O'Reilly Yip
McLeod Hendricks Tucker

It seems to me there is only one whole in the Avs roster and that is a second line winger. You could also say there is a need for a hard shooting point man on the powerplay but I like Quincey and think he can take on that role.

Its hard for me to say this personally because I was a huge fan of both players but Liles and Svatos possibly Salei have to go. Even if they go for picks it would be a good idea. The Avs backend is just too crowded to justify having 8 defensemen. I think it would be a good idea for the Avs to go after either Teemu Selänne or Ray Whitney at the deadline. The Avs need a good 2nd line forward (preferably left wing but if the right player comes up I'm sure the Avs should just take it aka Selänne.

I doubt the Avs will get either player though. Most likely they will trade Svatos and lines for picks. But I think a lot of teams looking to rebuild would love to give Svatos and Liles a shot. They're still young and have had good success in the past. Avs need an experienced and steady winger. Selänne would be my preference but since his first go around with the Avs didn't go so well both sides might be reluctant.

Goalie Gluttons

One particularly interesting thing I've noticed in the NHL recently that nobody is talking about is why some teams need a goalie desperately (Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Tampa) and why there are so many teams with too many goalies (Islanders, Montreal, and Boston).

It seems to me a potential trades should be in the mix. However there are two big problems.

1) Most teams with too much goalie talent are playoff teams that like the insurance of having a backup who can step into the role of a started when injuries hit.
2) Teams that need a goalie have little hope of making the playoffs.

The big exceptions to the above rules are Ottawa and the Islanders. Islanders are not a team still in rebuilding mode and Ottawa should be rebuilding but are still in a playoff spot.

Therefore, I would expect the Islanders to ship Biron to Ottawa for some prospects or draft picks. Ottawa doesn't have a great number of developing talent but at least the Islanders are realistic. I guess the backfire of DePietro's contract is making them more conservative.

This is no guarantee it is mostly wild speculation on my part.

Though what interests me is when Montreal will trade Halak. My guess would be Tampa or Edmonton and throw in the Caps as a dark horse.