As is always the case in my weekly appearance on Sun TV’s the “Grill Room”, the program was focused on all the hot button topics of the day. Up first, the panel of Roger Lajoie, Chris Tessaro, along with host Gareth Wheeler, were asked to comment on the NHL’s messy contract situations, headlined by the Ilya Kovalchuk monstrosity ( 17 years, $102 million ), which led to a legal battle between the league and the players association, and this moved the issue into the hands of Arbitrator Richard Bloch. He sided with the league, against the contract. The Devils have submitted a revised offer, rumored to be for $100 million over 15 years, according to ESPN.com, and a decision from the league is expected by Friday September 3 at 5pm.This was not the first time an NHL contract in the post lock-out era, had violated the spirit of the agreement between the players and the owners. The Red Wings and Blackhawks have also been in league commissioner Gary Bettman’s bad books, for signing players to contracts that were far beyond what a true hard salary cap without loopholes would allow. These legal loopholes will obviously be closed the next time the CBA is re-negotiated, and there will probably be a five year contract maximum, that teams will be allowed to offer for their players. The owners are the guilty ones in this situation, as they locked out the players to get cost certainty in the form of a hard salary cap. These massive and ridiculously long contracts, are fraudulent in terms of what is intended by this type of salary cap.
Some of the other topics we debated, included our projections, as to how bad we think the Raptors will be next season. There really wasn’t much to debate on this subject, as the only point that has some variation, is how low Toronto will finish in the standings. I think they have a very good chance of getting the first pick over-all, if the lottery balls fall their way. They could be bad enough, to have the worst record in the league by the end of the season. Most nights, the best feature of a Raptors home game might be the Raptors Dance Pak, who are definitely entertaining and talented. I would expect to see quite a drop in attendance and in season tickets, considering how bad the team already was, and the departure of Chris Bosh. Other than visits by the top teams like the Lakers, Celtics, and of course the Miami Heat, it is hard to imagine, barring some unforeseen miracle, that there will be more than a few sell-outs for NBA games at the Air Canada Centre.
We also offered our thoughts on Andy Roddick’s poor sportsmanship at the U.S. Open. Not only does he have to learn to show some class on the court, in dealing with game officials, even when they are wrong and he is right, but it also seems that his game has deteriorated somewhat. At the U.S. Open on September 2, Roddick was defeated by Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in 4 sets,losing for the first time in the second round of the prestigious tournament , as detailed in Wikipedia. Whether it was his bout with mononucleosis, or some other injury or ailment, the American fan favorite appears to have some work to do, in order to improve his game and also his behavior.