All Sport Report

Something is amiss in the world of men’s tennis. It all started about two weeks ago with the upset ending to Roger Federer’s 41 match winning streak by “lucky loser” Guillermo Canas in the second round of the Pac Life Open. Number two ranked Rafael Nadal picked up the trophy after number one Federer was ousted, makes sense right.

Fast forward to the Sony Ericsson, Roger Federer meets up with his newly found nemesis again, this time in the fourth round. The second meeting ends like the first, with Federer taking the early train home (see my entry from yesterday for a recap).

This second consecutive unexpected loss to Canas leaves the door wide open for most likely Rafael Nadal, with some potential for Andy Roddick to possibly steal a victory… here’s where it gets even wierder.

Mr. #2, Nadal was to face Novak Djokovic, the same man he cruised past in the finals two weeks ago in the same tournament that Canas had ended Federer’s win streak in. Same result at the Sony Ericsson? Nope, in the second shocker Nadal gets an early exit as well, Djokovic taking the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

All right, number one is gone, number two is gone - time for number three, Andy Roddick, to steal the glory right? - Wrong.

Roddick was facing the other men’s tennis Andy, Andy Murray. It should have been a very close, exciting tennis match. Despite Murray having the edge in career meetings between the Andys this is one I would have expected Roddick to win. I expected him to have new found confidence with Roger Federer out of the picture.

Number three didn’t even make it through set number one. Andy pulled up lame after lunging for a shot in the fifth game. He took an injury time out to try and shake it off and continue. Roddick was forced to call it quits in the eighth game, unable to continue because of his hamstring.

This is bad news not only for Roddick, but for the US Davis Cup team as well. The Men’s team is scheduled to open Davis cup play against Spain April 6-8, though an MRI revealed the injury to not be very severe it will in all likelyhood keep Roddick from participating.

So who wins the Sony Ericsson? You got me, I’d say based on play Novak Djokovic takes the win, but what do I know. I would have told you before play began that Federer was a shoe in after his early exit a few weeks ago. All I know is that the winner won’t be ranked in the top three, at least not at the moment.

I just looked up the name Guillermo in the dictionary - it means giant killer, or so you would think.

For the second straight meeting Guillermo Canas has done the impossible, he’s beaten Roger Federer. It was just two weeks ago at Indian Wells that the Argentine ended Federer’s 41 match winning streak in a second round match. The two met again at Sony Ericsson in the fourth round, and if I were a betting man, I would have bet heaps of money that Roger Fereder would have exacted revenge with severity on Canas - I would have been wrong.

Canas was impressive, his serve was strong, 125 mph strong and he made the plays when they needed to be made.

Roger Federer on the other hand, simply wasn’t himself. He had several chances to turn the match to his favor but simply couldn’t convert. It almost looked as though the recent loss to Canas had gotten into his head. Roger actually missed a shot, not hit wide, not hit long - a full fledged swing and a miss, like a little leaguer taking batting practice against Nolan Ryan:

Roger openly admitted this was a match he never should have lost. I expect a bad day from even the best athletes, Michael Jordan didn’t score double digits everytime he stepped on the court, Tiger Woods doesn’t make every put, but to lose back to back matches to a guy not ranked in the top fifty is very out of the ordinary for even a top ten player, let alone someone the caliber of Federer.

The AP quoted Roger Federer saying of his last two matches against Canas, “I’m not going to play him every week, so it doesn’t matter.” Which is true, but I’d like to see them play again in the very near future to see if Roger can put these two events behind him and get back on track against a guy who’s really taken it to him two matches in a row. I’m sure Federer wants to go down is history as the greatest player to ever play the game, not the greatest player who couldn’t manage to beat Guillermo Canas.

Guillermo Canas, Roger Federer, Sony Ericsson

After missing all of the 2006 season with injuries Marshall Faulk made his retirement official in a press conference this week. Faulk is thirty-four years old, and is probably better suited these days for quick comments from the broadcast booth than for the punishment a running back sustains on the grid iron.

Marshall was, without a doubt, one of the greatest football specimens to ever set foot on the field. I think that recent performances by the likes of LaDanian Tomlinson and Larry Johnson, coupled with Marshall’s sub par 2005 and the fact that he sat out last year are keeping that fact from some fan’s minds.

Let’s take a look at some of the rediculously incredible accomplishments of Faulk’s career:

- He is closing his career in the top ten rushers of all time with over twelve thousand rushing yards.

- He’s number four all time in yards from scrimage with over 19000 total yards.

- He holds the single sesaon record for yards from scrimage with 2429

- He’s in the top ten all-time with 100 rushing touchdowns

- He’s ranked number four all-time with 136 total touchdowns

- He’s a multiple MVP winner, and a seven time Pro-bowler

Marshall Faulk began his illustrious football career in 1994 in Indianapolis and played five impressive seasons with the Colts. In 1998, as a Colt, Marshall had over 2000 yards from scrimage, but it wasn’t until 1999 after he was traded to the Rams that Faulk proved himself to be the most dangerous offensive threat in the game.

In his first season with the Rams, behind an undrafted, unproven quarterback in Kurt Warner, Faulk broke 1000 yards rushing and 1000 yards receiving. The following season Faulk had over 2000 yards from scrimage again and scored 26 touchdowns, which was a record at the time. Faulk led the Rams to two Superbowls in his tenure in St. Louis, bringing home the trophy in 2000 (1999 season)

Marshall Faulk brought both tremendous talent and class to the game of football, and whether or not his placement in the record books stays where it currently is, Faulk should be remembered as one of the most impressive offensive forces to ever pick up a football.

Marshall Faulk, Rams, Rushing Yards All-time stats leaders

Brendan Hansen of the US was in a water war with his mortal enemy - Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima in the 100 meter breaststroke. It was essentially a two man race, with The American barely edging out his Japanese rival this time out.

It was a little bit of a different story at the 2004 Athens Olympics, with Kitajima grabbing Olympic Gold just ahead of Hansen. Though Hansen holds the world record in the 100 meter breaststroke, it was Kitajima who took gold across the board in the breaststroke events with Hansen placing second in the 100 and third in the two-hundred.

Hansen reportedly wasn’t extatic with his time of 59.80, he was happy with the win and will undoubtedly use this victory at the Worlds as a springboard for the Olympics in Beijing.

The Americans also struck gold in the individual medley when 17 year old Katie Hoff defended her title and in the process scored the fourth fastest time in the events history .

The US still has Michael Phelps competing in the finals 200 meter freestyle finals, which will most likely end up in a metal of some variety, but all in all the Worlds have been dominated thus far by the Russians with 11 Golds and nineteen overall medals, and the Chinese with 9 gold and fourteen overall medals. The US sits currently in third with 3 golds and 9 overall.

With Beijing lurking on the horizon in the not too distant future, lets hope the Americans can use the these events as a learning experience and spend the time that’s left to get themselves into gear to be able to compete with the big boys and enjoy more time on the Olympic podium than they are on the Worlds podium.

Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Swimming World Championships, 100 m breaststroke, individual Medley, Katie Hoff

The “Viking Warrior” battled to a rare decision victory on Saturday night keeping both the WBA and WBC Super-middle wieght belts around his waist.

Kessler faced one of the toughest contenders in the Super-middleweight class in the Mexican born Librado Andrade. The fight looked to be one of Kessler’s toughest challenges yet, but he kept control for most of the duration fending off all of Andrade’s offensive flurries and landing powerful punches almost at will. It was, hands down, Kessler’s fight from very early on. The decision was unanimous with all three judges scoring the fight 120-108 in favor of The Viking Warrior.

Mikkel improved his record to 39-0 with the decision, 29 of his wins have come by way of knockout. Mikkel has been the WBA champion since back in ‘04, he added the WBC crown to his collection by way of this very impressive third round KO of Markus Beyer last October:

Many boxing experts will argue that Joe Calzage of Wales is the best fighter in the Super-middleweight division, I would tend to disagree. Calzaghe is a great fighter, with a very impressive professional record of 42-0. However Calzaghe’s big upcoming fight will have him going up against Peter Manfredo Jr. You know Manfredo don’t you? Let me refresh your memory, he’s the guy that didn’t win the reality show “the Contender”.

So Calzaghe is fighting a guy who most likely isn’t in anyone’s top ten among Super-middleweights while Kessler is winning a convincing unanimous decision over a guy who’s firmly planted among the top five in the division.

I’ve got a thought, let’s show everyone out there that boxing hasn’t come to it’s end and do whatever it takes to get Calzaghe into the ring against the Viking Warrior and see who comes out on top. Personally I’d put my money on Kessler, but I just want to see it take place. Listen up HBO, I’d be more than willing to lay down a fifty spot to see this war on PPV, which is more than I can say for most of the fights you’ve been putting together lately.

Mikkel Kessler, super middleweight, Contender, Joe Calzaghe, Peter Manfredo, WBA, WBC, Best pound for pound boxer

It was less than a minute into the action, Todd “fridge” Fedoruk jumped on the ice to square off with Colton Orr in a battle of enforcers. Both teams wanted to assert themselves early after their last meeting.

The last time the Rangers and Flyers met was a down and dirty, heavy hitting game that left both Brendan Shanahan and Mike Knuble sidelined after a wicked accidental collision. Mike’s been back on the ice for just four games, this game marked Shanahan’s return to the ice.

The Flyers lost this game 5-0, no surprises there. New York was on a high from having Shanahan return and the Flyers haven’t been the most impressive team on the ice this year, but the fight mere seconds after the game began sucked whatever wind the Flyers may have had right out of their sail.

Almost as fast as the fight began Orr landed a thunderous right hand to Fedoruk’s face, immediatley rendering him unconcious. Medical assistance was rushed onto the ice to Fedoruk’s side, putting on a neck brace and pushing him out of the rink on a stretcher.

I’ve watched a lot of hockey fights in my day, bought vhs videos filled with six hours of nothing but on ice fisticuffs. I honestly don’t remember ever seeing such a brutally convincing knockout.

Fedoruk spent the night at St. Vincents hospital for observation, but the Ranger’s neurologist has commented the Todd is doing fine and other than a few problems with short term memory loss there were no signs at all of any neurologic damage and no fractures.

Fedoruk stated that he feels a little sore, but otherwise fine, “I guess I just got my bell rung.”

Fridge already has titanium plates in his face from injuries sustained during fights earlier in the season. He spent time on the injured reserve while he was with Anaheim after incurring injuries during a game with Minnesota. Then Fedoruk suffered broken cheek and orbital bones in a fight against Eric Cairns of the Islanders that required surgery and the insertion of the plates, now he’s unsure if he’ll play again this season after this most recent incident.

I’ve watched this video, I don’t know, probably two dozen times. It doesn’t seem any less scary the more I watch it. I think Todd Fedoruk should take the rest of the season off and begin to work on his finess game. I never saw Wayne Gretzky get punched that hard. Think about it Todd, next time you might not be so lucky.

Todd Fedoruk, Colton Orr, hockey fight, hockey knockout

Wait a minute, what? Sergio Mora was actually given a title shot… and he refused it? Now I think I’ve heard everything.

Allow me to explain - this is Sergio Mora aka the Latin Snake:

He got whatever little fame he currently has by winning The Contender, the reality show put on by Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard. Don’t get me wrong, the guy has talent but come on - he’s not even ranked in the top ten among middleweights.

So what happened? Every boxer’s dream is to be able to get his shot, overcome the odds and strap the gold of their respective weight class around their waist (not to mention the substantial stack of money that usually goes hand in hand with a title shot), so why would a guy not even among the cream of the crop refuse his big chance? According to reports, Mora refused the fight based on location.

The fight was scheduled for May 19th, that’s just too close to the blockbuster between De LaHoya and Mayweather, so Vegas was out, and a vast majority of other major venues were booked up for hockey and hoops playoffs. The fight was booked in Memphis’ Fed-Ex Forum, home of the Grizzlies and venue for quite a few pretty big fights, Mora refuses to fight in Memphis. Mora’s camp has stated that they already felt like an underdog, they didn’t want to fight in Jermain’s backyard.

I don’t know if Mora’s camp has access to a map or not, and it has been a while since I studied geography, but I’m pretty sure Memphis is in Tennessee and according to Jermain Taylor’s biography, he’s from Little Rock Arkansas. Since when is Memphis Little Rock’s backyard?

“For a big championship fight like Taylor-Mora we don’t want to fight in a place like Memphis. We would rather do something more interesting,” Mora’s promoter said. So what’s more interesting than a middleweight title shot?

Jermain Taylor’s promoter Lou Dibella didn’t seem very concerned, commenting that “Mora can go pound sand” if he didn’t want to fight in Memphis.

It didn’t take long for a new, and potentially much better fight to be set up. On the same day, May 19th, in the same venue Jermain Taylor will take on Cory Spinks. Spinks is the son of former champion Leon Spinks, and considered by many to be the best 154 lb fighter in the world. Cory will move up six pounds to compete at middleweight, but his camp said it wouldn’t be a problem since the fight is still two months away.

Sergio Mora may very well have made the biggest mistake of his boxing career here. If Taylor beats Spinks in May, there will be a lot of pressure for him to take on some strong competition from someone who regularly makes their home in the middleweight division like Edison Miranda or Kelly Pavlik. Mora will have to fight to stay fresh while awaiting another title shot in a venue better than Memphis, if he only fights weak fighters to keep his record intact his stock will drop and he may not get another shot. If he fights stiff competition and loses he won’t get another shot either, sorry Sergio, it looks like a lose-lose, but maybe there will be another reality show sometime in your future.

More info is available on the cancelled fight with Mora and the fight that will actually take place with Cory Spinks on Jermain Taylor’s website here.

Jermain Taylor, bad intentions, Sergio Mora, Latin Snake, Cory Spinks, middleweight boxing title fight, contender

Swimming is by no means an easy sport, tremendous stamina, determination, strength and cardiovascular health are required to be involved at a competitive level. Swimmers are used to facing certain obstacles like extreme temperatures, choppy conditions, wind and the thrashing limbs of other competitors.

The women vying for a gold medal in the 10k of the World Championships this past weekend in Melbourne faced quite a different obstacle - thousands of jellyfish.

The jellyfish had started to show themselves during practice, but no one was safe once the race began. Racers were said to have heard the screams of others being stung through the course of the first lap. Every girl who agonizingly worked her way onto the beach after the brutal race was covered with red welts caused by the stings.

When all was said and done, once all the carnage was complete, there were three girls who would likely say they were glad to have competed: Larisa Ilchenko who nabbed gold in the ten k for the second consecutive year, Cassandra Patten who took Silver and Kate Brookes-Peterson who kept the bronze in Austrailia. The first American finisher, Kaylin Keller, was one of the many unlucky ones, finishing ninth and suffering for 12.1 seconds more than the winner with nothing to show for it but experience.

The girls who qualify can consider this the ultimate training for the Olympics, as the 10 k will be added as an event in Beijing Games.

open water swimming, swimming championships, 10k championship

Just kidding, the second most electryfing player in men’s tennis captured the Pac Life Crown after Roger Federer lost in the worlds biggest upset in an early round.

Rafael Nadal won his first tournament since the ‘06 French Open. That’s a winless drought of twelve tourney’s over the course of eight months, which is very uncustomary for Nadal, who’s won seventeen tournaments since 2005. But with every male tennis players arch nemesis, Roger Federer, out of the picture, Nadal cruised his way to victory. Rafael made quick work of his young opponent Novak Djokovic, taking the win in straight sets in just over an hour and a half.

Nadal, who’s been ranked number two behind Federer for the last 86 weeks seemed happy to have picked up his first win in eight months. He doesn’t seem hell bent on dethroning Federer as the number one ranked man in professional tennis commenting to reporters that, “Roger is the best in history, I just want to keep winning tournaments and continue being high in the rankings.”

Rafael Nadal is an amazing athlete, a truly incredible tennis player. His game on clay is unparalleled and at twenty years of age he’s already had two winning streaks in excess twenty matches. If there is a downside, it’s that he’s coming into his own during the reign of Roger the Great, but I guess playing second chair to a guy like Federer ain’t all that bad. Nadal is only twenty, making him five years Federer’s junior, which still could mean that in a few years down the line we’ll be seeing a changing of the guard, and the young Spanish star will be in the spotlght rather than the shadow.

Pac Life Open, Nadal, top ranked tennis players

Saturday night in Nashville, Dallas took a 3-2 loss courtesy of two goals by Kimmo Timonen, but all that mattered were the two goals on Dallas’ side of the scoreboard.

With eleven games left the Stars sit in seventh place, eleven points ahead of ninth place Colorado and though there is no mathematic certainty to the equation, the Stars will most likely hold onto a playoff spot.

So the question is - why do two goals in a losing effort mean anything at all? They were both scored by Center Mike Modano, making him the all-time American born goal scoring king with 503 goals over the course of his illustrious seventeen year hockey career. So this season, Mike Modano first reached the ultra impressive milestone of 500 career goals, then took over the undisputed American goal scoring crown. Take a gander at this and tell me American boys can’t play hockey:

What makes it all the sweeter is that Modano has played his entire career with the same organization, first in Minnesota then through the move to Dallas each one of Modano’s 503 goals and each one of his 1217 career points(2nd all-time for American born players behind only Phil Housley) have come in a Stars sweater. The only thing that could have made this amazing night better would have been to do it at home, in front of the fans that have been cheering him on for the last 17 years.

Congratulations to Mike Modano for adding yet another milestone to the virtual highlight reel that is his career!

Mike Modano, Dallas Stars, 500 goals, top American goal scorers

Johnny Tapia barely had time to come down from the high of decisively winning the last boxing match of his incredible career when suspicion of another kind of “high” revealed it’s ugly head again.

Monday Tapia was rushed Presbytirian Hospital and admitted into intensive care, suffering the effects of an apparent cocaine overdose. Police officers who responded to the 911 call found a bag at the scene containing white residue which was later confirmed to be Tapia’s former drug of choice. Jonnhy served a lengthy suspension from the ring in the early ’90’s while battling a cocaine addiction and also had a brief stint in rehab a few years ago following an overdose of prescription pills.

During his long and prosperous professional boxing career, Tapia had become just as well known in the press for questionable personal activities as he had for his talent inside the ring. There were several incidences involving drugs and alcohol, several run ins with the law, but Tapia had reportedly been getting his life outside the ring in order. Before Johnny’s last war in the ring he told interviewers that his wild days were behind him, that focus on family and focus on his children had his feet firmly planted on the ground.

Tapia has been upgraded from his original critical condition to fair, but his wife told reporters that doctors have said her husband isn’t quite out of the woods yet.

Once Johnny recovers a little further, he will find out another tragic piece of news that effected his family this week. While on their way to visit Tapia in the hospital before dawn Tuesday, his brother-in-law and nephew were involved in an accident, both parties were ejected from the vehicle as it left the road and both were killed. Tapia’s brother-in-law was 39, his nephew was 23 years old, police found empty and open containers of alcohol at the scene and are awaiting the results of blood tests to determine if intoxication was the cause or a factor in the occurance of the accident.

In Johnny Tapia’s biography “Mi Vida Loca” he claims to have been declared clinically dead at six different times over the course of his life. I’m not sure if this incident will be number seven, I wasn’t on scene. I do know however that the 911 call reported that the man in need wasn’t breathing, so it was at the very least a close call. I know Johnny Tapia has had a wildly absured and difficult walk through life, beginning with witnessing his mother’s kidnapping, which resulted in her murder more than three decades ago.

I hope he takes this situation with as much gravity as it deserves and considers his children before any future actions, I would think he’d like to be around to enjoy his son’s professional boxing career. He should immediately check himself into rehab upon being released from the hospital and begin a second chapter in his memoirs detailing this latest nearly fatal personal experience and the ensuing fatalities to family members that occured indirectly as a result.

Tapia has been given another chance, he should use it to promote the real possibility of recovery from all of the negative things that people can get themselves involved in, describe what it’s like going through rehab and how exhilerating it is to know that you don’t need to succumb to the allure of substances to get through anything. He should continue training and work with his son and become a positve role model for all those who’ve looked up to him in the past and leave the crazy life behind once and for all.

Johnny Tapia, Mi Vida Loca, Tapia overdose, boxer overdose, boxing tragedy

The city of Pittsburgh and the Penguins, after endless negotiations that surley seemed like they were going to have the players and coaches packing their bags, have finally reached an agreement that will keep the team right where it belongs.

The agreement means a new 290 million dollar arena that will ensure the Pens remain in Pittsburgh for the next few decades. Mario Lemieux was elated that the negotiations have been finalized and both sides seemed pleased with the arangement. “It’s a great day for hockey,” Lemieux announced about the agreement. This is also a great day for Wayne Gretzky who had reluctantly agreed to help Super Mario and the Penguins with the move if the two sides couldn’t manage to close the deal.

I have to agree with Mario, this is a great day for both hockey and the city of Pittsburgh. The Penguins are finally poised to jump into the playoffs after a six year drought, led by arguably the best player in hockey - Sidney Crosby(pictured below) and several other extermely talented youngsters like Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin. If the team can somehow manage to keep this core together they will be a hockey powerhouse for several years to come.

The Pens already have solid attendance levels, and a brand new state of the art stadium coupled with one of the most electrifying young offenses in the game will only increase that - string together a couple years of playoff hockey and maybe even a Stanley Cup and you’ve got yourself the most popular and profitable franchise in the sport.

Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Penguins new arena

On March 12th a game billed as a high powered offensive duel more than lived up to expectations, almost making me regret that I never really gave Arena Football it’s day in court.

The Los Angeles Avengers were in Florida taking on the Orlando Predators, and though the season is young, both of these teams are known to be capable of lighting up the scoreboard early and often.

The game began on a bit of a sloppy note, loose defenses, a multitude of mistakes and missed opportunities that ultimately resulted in the Avengers taking a 17-10 lead into halftime over the Predators, the Avengers having capitalized on two Predator turnovers.

The second half however, was absolute run and gun all out offense culminating in a fourth quarter where the Avengers put up 14 and the Predators lit up the scoreboard for 20, knotting the game at 37 and forcing an extra stanza.

The Avengers Sonny Cumbie completed thirty-two passes for 348 yards and the Predators Shane Stafford completed 22 for 274 yards. Four recievers, two from each team had more than 100 recieving yards.

All stats aside, impressive as they may be, in the end of the nail-biter only one play mattered - Cumbie completing his final pass, a nine yard touchdown strike to wide out Rob Turner. The Avengers take the “w” 44-37.

AFL, arena football, LA Avengers, Orlando Predators

Tennis’ version of Superman, Roger Federer was grounded on Sunday by Guillermo Canas, the loss ended Federer’s 41 match winning streak.

Federer made no excuses stating that Canas played a perfect match in the end, serving well and making no unforced errors.

Guillermo Canas is somewhat of a strange cinderella story in the Pacific Life Open. He just returned to play last September after serving a fifteen month suspension. Canas had been ranked as high as number 8 in the world before having been suspended but was coming into Pacific Life ranked number 60. He shouldn’t even technically been playing in the tournament, sliding in as a “lucky loser” only after Xavier Malisse had withdrawn, but strong serves and solid play with few mistakes launched him past the best tennis player in the world.

Federer described it as “normal tennis” saying he wasn’t bothered by the end of his winning streak, just five matches away from breaking the all time record held by another Guillermo - Guillermo Vilas, who had forty-six consecutive victories.

Roger Federer plays the way all legendary athletes are supposed to - he goes out and gives it his all in every single match, concerning himself with the moment at hand not breaking some record however close it may be. Just wait and before you know it another year will have past and Roger will have gone another 34, 39, maybe 45 matches without a defeat and we’ll all be talking about him dethroning Vilas as the consecutive match king again.

I do want to thank Guillermo Canas however, if for nothing else than bringing truth the the statement “any given Sunday.”

Roger Federer, Federer, Pac Life, pro tennis tour, tennis win streak

There it was - a big, clean hit into the boards from Ryan Hollweg that made Chris Simon of the Islanders go beyond the point of just losing composure. For the vicious attack the league has handed Simon a twenty-five game suspension, which is the longest suspension in terms of games that has ever been handed down by NHL officials.

Simon, who’s made a career out of the “enforcer” role, hurt more than just Hollweg with his boneheaded move. The Islanders are currently in seventh place in the Eastern Conference fighting to stay in a playoff position, the Maple Leafs, Rangers and Canadiens are just a few points out of contention. The Isles have fifteen games left in the regular season, this disruption in the roster may be enough for one of those teams to squeeze their way in and leave the Isles out in the cold.

The hit also marred Simon’s reputation, he was always a goon on the ice, but over the last two or three seasons he’s actually showed a little bit of hockey ability that didn’t involve the use of fists. He had become an integral part of the Islanders team but Chris Simon will probably never recover from this incident, just ask Todd Bertuzzi or Marty McSorley.

Both McSorely and Bertuzzi were charged criminally for their violent on ice attacks, and I expect prosecutors to go after Simon as well. Chris Simon may not only miss the remainder of this season as a result of this ill advised act, he could spend time in jail and it may very well end his hockey career.

In a statement Simon alluded to the fact that he was “out of it” following the big hit from Hollweg, he said it wasn’t an excuse for his actions, but that he actually had to view the tape of the incident to recall all of the details.

It’s obvious that Simon is aggresive on the ice, he’s been suspended four times before for on ice violence, but I don’t buy that this incident occured as a result of Simon being knocked loopy from the check. I think he got hit hard, he was pissed-off and he let his emotions get out of control.

I have no problem with guys going out and playing their respective sports with the utmost of passion, but if a guy lays a clean hit on you, you get up dust yourself off, skate over to him like a gentleman and ask if he’d like to drop the gloves. You show who’s the better man by going toe to toe in a fair fight, you most certainly don’t try to decapitate him with your stick. If Chris Simon doesn’t understand this after fourteen years of professional hockey, or if his emotions can get that far out of control, then he has no place being on the ice.

All things considered, if Chris Simon gets out of this situation with nothing more than his career ending, he should consider himself lucky. If his stick landed a few inches higher or an inch or two lower, and the damage to Hollweg was more extensive than a few stitches, Simon may have found himself encountering something much more severe than the assault charges he’ll likely face once the season is over.

Chris Simon, Islanders, Rangers, Ryan Hollweg, cheap shot