Jennifer Connelly

Her first big role was the lead in the 1986 movie Labyrinth and every guy my age remembers her burning up the screen in 1991's Career Opportunities, but Jennifer Connelly merits the Pursuit of Leisure Hottie accolades based on her work in recent years such as Requiem For A Dream, House of Sand and Fog, and her award winning role in A Beautiful Mind. She has talent and composure to match her beauty and she may be the most classically beautiful actress in Hollywood today. Look for her in upcoming films Little Children and Blood Diamond.

Steroid Hypocrisy.

Remember last year when Rafael Palmeiro tested positive for steroids and everybody said that it was so horrible for Major League Baseball and that it was the biggest problem the game has ever faced and Bud Slig buried his head in the sand and Barry Bonds and blah blah blah. But football....well hell steroids aren't a problem at all in football apparently. San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman tests positive for steroids and all that's talked about is how it's going to hurt the Chargers run defense. People claimed that baseball records set by modern players were a sham because the players were not clean. Then I guess football records of the past 30 years are fine because the majority of players are on 'roids so it's an equal playing field. It's unbelievable how accepted it's become in the NFL.

Hockey Notes.

I'm not that surprised that the Flyers pulled the plug on Ken Hitchcock and Bobby Clarke so quickly. Clarke woefully misjudged the new NHL and the Flyers defense looks absolutely hopeless. When you are anxiously awaiting the return of Derek Rathje you are in big trouble. I think Hitchcock got fired due to his association with Clarke. And you can be damn sure Clarke was forced into his resignation. Although Carke is a complete asshole he has been a hell of a good GM over the years. But he won't get another GM anywhere. He's that big a jerk. As for Hitchcock, I expect him to take the rest of this year off and be coaching somewhere else next year.

With Saturday nights 8-1 win over New Jersey the Senators, and more specifically Jason Spezza, showed exactly what there problem is. They get all pumped up and run up the score when the other team has an off night but can't win close games. I have never been sold on Spezza and this game was a typical performance. He is the classic example of a guy who is going to get three points in an 8-1 win or 7-3 loss but is always going to go pointless in a 3-2 loss with no shots on net.

The Sabres have to be the most fun team in the NHL to watch. It's hard to believe but they look like they have even more speed than last year. They are the most exciting to come out of Buffalo since the chicken wing.

World Series Preview

I'd have to say the World Series is a surprise. Not the Tigers who I picked to beat the Yankees, then in a coin flip picked to lose to the A's, but the Cardinals who I thought were going to get swept in the division series. I also think there is a chance the Cards get swept in this series. The Tigers are that good and the Cards are that bad. Don't be fooled by them beating the Mets in 7 games. The Mets were essentially working with a one man startin rotation in the NLCS and still came within one base hit of beating the Cards. The Tigers remind me a lot of last year's White Sox. They too stumbled in the final third of the season and rolled over everybody in the playoffs. The difference between the AL and NL will become more pronounced with this series.

Tigers in 5.

Marty Brodeur

Congrats to Marty Brodeur who last night notched his 450 career win for the New Jersey Devils. I admit for the first few years after the Devs first cup win I thought this guy was overrated due to the first round playoff flops they used to have. But over the years this guy has proved to be the second best goalie of his generation, behind Patrick Roy. There is no goalie in the NHL I would rather have on my team.

Depsite all of Marty's highlight saves, three cup wins, Scott Stevens crushing checks, John MacLean lightning slapshot goals, my favorite all time Devils moment is still Jim Schoenfeld's "you fat pig" meltdown. Inexplicibly there is no footage of this on youtube.

MILF Weed

For those of you not watching Weeds (Wednesday 10:00pm on Showcase) you should be. I had been wondering when Snoop would make an appearance on the show since it is after all named after and about a single dope dealing Mom in a California suburb, and finally Mr. Dogg appeared last night.

He dubbed the new strain created by Nancy (played by the lovable Mary Louise-Parker) MILF Weed then put together a solid rap about it.

Baseball Banter

Now that the Chicago Cubs have hired Lou Piniella as their new manager they will, as expected, go hard after A-Rod. I figured at the end of the year A-Rod would end up with the either the Angels or the Cubs. With the chance to reunite with his old manager Lou I suspect Rodriguez may be willing to waive his no trade clause. It would be for the best. He can't handle playing in New York.

The Oakland A's firing of Ken Macha is ridiculous. He was a strong manager and guided the team to the playoffs twice in four years. Is it his fault GM Billy Beane is not the genius every sports writer who has a hard on for him says he is? Beane's completely out of control Moneyball ego is the problem with the A's. He thinks he knows better than everyone else in baseball what you need to win. Yet the A's can't make it to the World Series. Until Beane figures out that pitching and defense win championships the A's will continue to make the playoffs and be out in the first round. He continues to build his roster around guys who strike out a lot and try hit a lot of home runs - exactly the type of team that can't consistently beat power pitchers in the playoffs. Being able to steal a base, sacrifice bunt and manufacture runs is how to win. But hey, Beane is smarter than everyone else as not winning a single ALCS game in the A's last five playoff appearances clearly demonstrates. Remember this is the same guy who went nuts when staff ace Barry Zito was drafted in the first round because he was a high school pitcher, then threw a chair through the wall when the A's took Jeremy Bonderman, who will be pitching in the World Series for Detroit (who ended up with the Tigers in a trade that sent Cory Lidle to the A's), in the first round.

If any GM deserves the genius label it is probably Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski. He built the Expos into contenders on a nickel and dime budget in Montreal. He built the 1997 championship Marlin team, and now has taken the on death's door Tigers franchise to the World Series. He also turned Detroit back into a baseball town. And with that yougn pitching staff the Tigers are going to be good for a while.

I'm glad Steve Lyons has been fired by Fox. Not because of the comments he made, which I don't think warranted a firing, but because he's an awful color analyst. The only thing worse than listening to an outfielder talk about pitching mechanics and gameplans is a career 5th outfielder who hit lifetime .250. Now if Fox would sack the hopeless Tim McCarver my Octobers would be absolutely perfect.

Movie Review - "The Black Dahlia"

For those not familiar with the inspiration for The Black Dahlia, the film is based on the never solved murder in California of movie actress Elizabeth Short. The movie borrows heavily from James Leroy's novel of the same name. This is Hollywood's second crack at covering this type of film noir territory with one of Elroy's novels. The first ended up in the outstanding L.A. Confidential. This attempt ends in a remarkable failure.

The tagline for the movie is that it is "Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in California history," yet the script never leaves you with the impression that anyone outside of the detectives working on the case actually cared at all about who murdered Elizabeth Short. The key problem with this movie is that lead actor role is woefully miscast with Josh Hartnett starring as Officer Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert. This role was clearly intended to show Hartnett as a serious leading man but he simply can't pull it off. He brings no passion to the role and seems very uncomfortable having to show the different emotions needed for the role.

What's worse is that Aaron Eckhart, playing Bucky's former boxing opponent (a subplot of almost zero importance or reason) and partner Sgt. Leland "Lee" Blanchard, is terrific in his role. Unfortunately Eckhart is saddled with bad writing and a mental breakdown that does not seem at all plausible. Scarlett Johansson is also given poor dialogue to work with as the woman in both officers lives, Kay Lake, a former call girl who is in a panic because her former boss and tormenter is getting out of jail (which is another subplot of no value to the story). She fights through the poorly defined role as best she can and looks completely at home as a 1940's Hollywood lady.

Hilary Swank and Mia Kirshner are also strong in their roles as society girl Madeliene Linscott (whose father is one of the prime suspects) and Elizabeth Short respectively. Both capture the quirky characteristics and needs of their characters and seem to be having fun with the roles. I just wish I could say the same about watching the movie.

The movie goes completely off the rails in the third act as it tries to juggle far too many possible murder scenarios and by the time the murder is solved you are just happy to be getting out of the theater. This is a prime example of what happens when you try to match potentially strong material to a poor lead actor, a lousy director, in this case Brian De Palma, and a weak script. If you are in the mood for a good 1940's film noir go rent L.A. Confidential again.

Rating: 2/10

Jason Whitlock's New Address

Now that Jason Whitlock has not so gracefully departed ESPN (I will miss his guest spots on The Reporters and PTI) for AOL I had to bookmark another sports website. But it's absolutely worth it because now Mr. Whitlock can speak his mind with minimal interference from pesky editors. He is not only my favorite sports columnist but is also one of my favorite columnists period. What sets him apart is when he provides social commentary he's not afraid to poke holes in taboo theories and subjects and does it from a non partisan point of view. He is also in his late 30's and can speak authoritatively to many different generations. Which is why he can speak on racial issues candidly and not be accused of being old and senile like Bill Cosby was.

NLCS Preview

It's tempting to read too much into how easily the St. Louis Cardinals put away the Padres. But Chris Carpenter, the best pitcher in the NL, beat them twice. One pitcher can control a short series but he can't control a long one. It's also a bit of a head scratcher how easily the New York Mets put away the Dodgers with half their starting pitchers hurt. I don't see this series being that competitive. The Mets lineup is tough top to bottom and they will score a lot more runs than the Padres did against the Cards. And Carpenter can only pitch twice which means the Cards would have to get strong performances from a couple of other starters and that's not going to happen. I think Glavine and Hernandez will pitch well enough to beat the Cards offense which is still primarily Albert Pujols and whoever else happens to have a good night. And Willie Randolph is going to outmanage Tony LaRussa.

Mets in 6

The Hamilton or KW Penguins?

Now that Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie has bought the Pittsburgh Penguins there are those that think the team is headed to Hamilton. I think they are dead wrong. The Leafs, and especially the Sabres, will never allow this to become a reality. And I don't see a new rink going up in Hamilton (Copps Colisuem is a dump). Some people have even sugggested the team may end up in Kitchener/Waterloo which is even more ridiculous. K/W is a perfectly nice town but no way does it have the population or corporate base to support an NHL team. And there is no chance people from Brampton and Mississauga are going to leave work at 4pm and get home at midnight for a weeknight game in K/W just because the tickets are cheaper than Leaf tickets.

On the subject of Canada getting another pro sports team there have been more rumblings about the NFL putting a team in Toronto. This will never happen and you can lay the blame on one entity - the CRTC. The NFL is driven by TV ratings and commercials. The companies that advertise on NFL games sure as hell aren't going to allow their commercials to be stopped at the border. Yet another reason to scrap the CRTC.

ALCS Preview

This series between the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A's is going to be a doozy. It features the two best pitching staffs in baseball and two strong young starting rotations. The Tigers will send guys to the mound like Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman who you have now heard of because they beat the Yankees. The A's will send Barry Zito, Dan Haren and Rich Harden to the mound and you will know all of them by the time this series is over.

These games will be tight and not that many runs are going to be scored. Both teams have more pop than they are credited with but both will have to manufacture runs to move on. I look for Frank Thomas to have a big series for the A's just as he did against the Twins in the division series. He and the other A's will be patient at the plate and make the Tigers starters work deep counts. On the other side the Tigers are impatient at the plate and Zito and Harden will work that to their advantage by throwing their fierce curveballs out of the strike zone and havng guys chase. Both teams play good defense so neither team has a huge advantage their.

I said that the winner of the A's-Twins series will win the World Series and I am sticking with that prediction.

A's in 7

The Yanks.

Now that the Yankees have been sent home in the first round as I predicted they would be, the knives are out in full force. While I don't think manager Joe Torre should get the axe, I would understand it if he did. He's been with the team 11 years but hasn't won the World Series since 2000. At some point Steinbrenner does have the right to point his finger at Torre.

I think the guy who will be gone is Alex Rodriguez. After another poor playoff series I don't know how they can keep him. Yanks fans are going to run him out of town. All this despite the fact that he is a much better player than Derek Jeter, offensively and defensively. There's no way they could ever trade Jeter without somebody in the front office getting shot.

But the Yanks can get rid of both Torre and A-Rod and still not win the World Series. Their biggest problem is pitching and until they improve it they will continue to go out early. Mike Mussina has always been a great number 2 starter but is not an ace on a great team. Randy Johnson is done as a big time pitcher, Mariano Rivera is aging fast and their middle relief is absolutely awful. Unless they improve the staff they can't get better.

Friday Stuff

The San Diego Padres lost yesterday in what may have been the last career start for David Wells. Wells may have said and done a lot of stupid things over the years but one thing was always certain. When he took the mound you new was giving 100% and absolutely trying to beat the other team. He left everything on the mound and nobody can take that away from him. And his pitching mechanics were perfect. Any coach teaching young pitchers how to throw should show them tape of Wells.

Ron Artest is still an idiot. I have one request for anyone going to see him in concert - Bring a water bottle.

Thumbs up to the new Buffalo Sabres uniforms.

TV fans who like good, smart, well written and well acted shows should tune in to Smith. Ray Liotta is perfect as the head of a gang of big time criminals and the supporting cast, including hottie Amy Smart, is fantastic.

The race for Mayor is on in Ottawa. I would like to officially start the "Anybody but Alex Munter" campaign. This guy is so annoying and self righteous it makes me sick. He would be a complete disaster as Mayor of this city. The problem with Ottawa isn't so much current Mayor Bob Chiarelli as it is all the nutters on council like Munter, Elizabeth Arnold, and Clive Doucet. There are only four things in this election that matter - roads, sewers, lowering my property taxes, and continued funding for outdoor hockey rinks.

Mini NHL Preview

As most of you now I took most of last year off from following hockey. My reasoning was that the NHL sat out a year so I had to sit out a year once they came back. Though I have to admit that the game was better last year than pre-lockout. That's not to say it was great, there were way too many power plays. I hope this year every game won't be decided on the power play.

So I will follow more closely this year but not enough to give a full season preview. I am going to stick to how the six Canadian teams will do this year and a Stanley Cup prediction. So let's get going.

Western Conference

Calgary Flames

I think the Flames are the most likely Canadian team to make a Cup run this year. They have the best goalie in their conference in Miikka Kiprusoff, a strong blueline with rising superstar Dion Phaneuf ready to start getting Norris Trophy attention, and stud Jerome Iginla up front. Iginla can't have a worse year than he did last year and the Flames still finished 3rd in the west and lost to a good Anaheim team in the first round. They lacked goal scoring which will be addressed by a better year from Jerome and the addition of Alex Tanguay. They will win their division and finish 3rd in the west.

Edmonton Oilers

It was great to see the Oil back in the Cup final last year. The city was electric and all the old greats showed up in the building to watch the run. Then what happens? Chris Pronger leaves town taking any hope of another run with him. The loss of Mike Peca will also hurt too if or when they get back to the playoffs. Without Pronger the Oilers have an average blue line at best, a slow and immobile one at worst. They will continue to score a lot of goals but stopping other teams from scoring is going to be their big problem. They key to this year is goalie Dwayne Roloson. Is he the guy whho was awful with the Wild or the guy who was great for Edmonton in the playoffs. I think he's far closer to the former than the latter and it will cost this team. It's rare for a team to go from the Cup finals to missing the playoffs but it's going to happen this year. 9th in the west.

Vancouver Canucks

Todd Bertuzzi is finally out of town which should cause a lot fewer distractions. That is until Markus Naslund, pathetic Swedish choking dog west coast version, starts pouting that his buddy isn't around anymore. I think Naslund's attitude will sink this team and he will be gone by the trade deadline. Roberto Luongo is one of the top 4 goalies in the league and is a big upgrade in net but he is going to see more rubber than a tire factory. Don't underestimate the loss of Ed Jovanovski on their blueline. He was big, fast and could move guys in front of the net. Their blueline is a lot weaker without him. I think the loss of Anson Carter will also hurt as the Sedins will fail to improve this year. It's going to be a long year in BC. Canucks will finish 11th in the west.

Eastern Conference

Ottawa Senators

I still think the Sens are the best Canadian team. In the regular season of course because we all know their playoff history. The Sens will take a step back this year without Zdeno Chara. Ottawa fans are trying to claim he wasn't that important but don't kid yourself, you can't lose a top 5 defenseman in the league and get better. Chara's absence will also expose Wade Redden as the most overrated defenseman in the league. Up front the Sens will still score a lot of goals despite the absence of Martin Havlat who was hurt most of last year anyway. I think Martin Gerber will do well in goal but I don't see him as a surefire Cup winning goalie. It will take a lot of hard work and guts for the Sens to fulfill their promise. Which is the big problem. As long as Daniel Alfredsson, pathetic Swedish choking dog east coast version, is wearing the Captain's "C" this team will never win. The fact that this stiff hasn't been run out of Ottawa shows what a lame sports town Ottawa really is (and I'm allowed to say that because I live here). The Sens should do themselves a favor and put the "C" on Mike Fisher's jersey and leave it there for the next 10 years. 4th in the east and out in the 2nd round.

Montreal Canadiens

I'm a Leaf fan so I hate the Habs. But they are a fun team to watch. It's pretty much impossible not to like Saku Koivu. And they will score goals this year. They are quick up front wth a number of guys capable of scoring 20 goals. Their blueline is average but average should be enough for them to compete. The big question is whether or not goalie Cristobal Huet is a one year wonder. I don't think he will be and they will ride him to the final playoff spot in the east. 8th in the east.

Toronto Maple Leafs

It's funny. I don't like all the power plays yet the power play was the only reason the Leafs came within sniffing distance of the playoffs last year. Special teams will be crucial for the Leafs again this year because they are not going to score many goals 5 on 5. For yet another year in a Leaf uniform Mats Sundin is saddled with third line players on his first line. I would love to see Jeff O'Neill have a big comeback year but I don't see it happening, even under his old coach Paul Maurice. The Leafs upgraded their blueline with Pavl Kubina but Hal Gill was a mistake. He is way to slow to be effective in the new NHL. I think new goalie Andrew Raycroft will return to form and steal a few games for this team. But unless Mike Peca figures out how to score in the regular season again and Alexander Steen and Kyle Wellwood pop 25 goals each the Leafs will be hard pressed to beat out Montreal for the last playoff spot. Leafs finish 9th in the east which I pray will result in GM John Ferguson Jr. getting the axe.

Stanley Cup Prediction: San Jose over Buffalo

Baseball Playoff Predictions

American League

Minnesota Twins vs Oakland A's

The team that wins this 5 game series is going to win the World Series. The Twins are the best team in the majors and have been playing like it for the last 4 months. They have the best pitcher in the game in Johan Santana and he scares the hell out of everybody in a short series. But Minny also has the best bullpen in the majors and if they are winning going into the sixth inning of any game that game is over. They will get solid pitching from their other starters but what will really surpirse people and carry them through is their unnderrated offense led by my AL MVP Justin Morneau. With Morneau, Torii Hunter and Joe Mauer in the middle of the lineup they will score runs. And with that pitching staff they won't need to score many to win.

The A's on the other hand are the best team nobody is talking about. Their pitching is just as good as it was when they had Hudson and Mulder it's just that nobody knows these guys. Their biggest problem is they have precious little offense aside from Frank Thomas. I think the Twins will pitch around Thomas and make other guys beat them. The other guys won't. It's another first round exit for thr A's which is too bad becuase I think they are the second best team in the AL.

Prediction: Twins in 4

New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers

Everyone is making the Yankees the favorites to win the World Series but that's only because they are the Yankees. Their lineup is the best in the playofs but their pitching stinks. Mike Mussina is a proven playoff guy but let's see how 19 game winner Chen Meng Wang holds up under the October pressure. Eevn if Randy Johnson is healthy enough to pitch he will get lit up. He just doesn't scare anyone anymore. And counting on Cory Lidle in the playoffs? Please. I think the Tigers can beat them in a short series because Kenny Rogers will want to shove it up the Yanks ass for running him out of NY. And the other Tigers starters are too young to know they should get beat. They don't have any big boppers in the lineup but they all work the count and have good at bats. That will get them by the Yanks.

Prediction: Tigers in 5

National League

New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

It's a rule that one NL team has to go to the World Series so whoever wins this series will be the one who gets swept in the WS. This is a tough series to call now that Pedro Martinez is done for the year. With him healthy I think the Mets would have walked through the NL. They have a great lineup and can score a lot of runs. But I'm not sold on their starting pitching especially with Tom Glavine not looking 100%. The Dodgers on the other hand won't score a lot of runs but won't give up many either. Derek Lowe and Brad Penny have proven themselves with big postseasons the past few years and Greg Maddux looks like himself again after going to the Dodgers. Starting pitching makes the difference in this series.

Prediction: Dodgers in 5

San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals

I was rooting for the Cardinals to continue their collapse and miss the playoffs. Then I realized that one of my favorite things about the playoffs is watching Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa getting outmanaged every year. With Atlanta missing the playoffs I had to root for the Cards because October wouldn't be the same without both of them. The Cards are really bad. Their starting pitching is awful, their defense is weak, their bullpen is a joke and their only real shot in this series is if Albert Pujols goes crazy and hits 5 home runs. The Padres are a pretty good team. They play typical NL ball. Good starting pitching, solid defense and speed on the basepaths. And they can always rely on Trevor Hoffman to close out tight games.

Prediction: Padres in 3

The Blue Jays Season

At the start of the season I predicted a second place finish for the Jays in the division (I also picked the Red Sox ahead of them, not the Yanks so I guess I got that one wrong). A lot of people are saying the Jays season wasn't a success because they didn't play any meaningful games in September. While I can understand that thinkng I have to disagree.

All the moves that GM JP Ricciardi made this off season turned out pretty well. Lyle Overbay hit over .300 with decent power numbers, Troy Glaus had over 35 home runs and 100 RBI's, BJ Ryan had a great year in the closer role, and Bengie Molina had a strong year behind the plate. AJ Burnett was hurt for most of the year, which isn't a huge surprise given his past, but that's really the only blemish on JP's off season.

What really hurt the Jays this year were the injuries to Burnett and Gustavio Chacin. If the two of them had been healthy I think they would have been in the 91-93 win range instead of the 87 they managed to win. It's tough to lose your number 2 and 3 starters and still compete in the tough AL.

So what should they do this winter? The first thing they need to do is clear up the Vernon Wells situation. He is one of the top 10 players in baseball and he is going to command big money. If the owners are serious about putting more money into the team then this is the place to start. If a 20-something .300-30-100 gold glove center fielder isn't worth big bucks than no one is. I don't think it's a certainty that he is going to play in Texas. I think Vernon wants to win and the Jays are a lot closer than the Rangers are. If they can't work out a deal he needs to be traded. They could easily get a couple of top prospects and a top of the rotation starter for him.

The Jays should also let Ted Lilly walk in free agency. He had a big contract year winning 15 games but he won't do it again. Somebody will pay him $8-9 million but it shouldn't be the Jays. If Burnett and Chacin stay healthy Lilly is the number 4 guy in the rotation and that's too much money for a 4th starter. If they are going to spend money on free agent pitching they should make a run at Barry Zito. He is a guy who would thrive under the pressure of pitching big games against the Yanks and Sox. I doubt he would come to Toronto but it would show Vernon they were serious.

Going into next year the team looks good. We know the rotation is very strong at the top when healthy, that Ryan wasn't a one year wonder, that Alex Rios will be a big time outfielder, and that Reed Johnson is an everyday player. There are still some questions about the middle infield and middle relief but the core is there. They Jays will be even better next year.