So this past Saturday night, I was anchoring Connected with Evanka Osmak when I had to call the highlights of the Suns-Bucks game. That was the game that Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut fell and dislocated his elbow in one of the most gruesome injuries I have ever witnessed. To me, Bogut’s injury ranks right up there with Joe Theismann’s or Jason Kendall’s. Please feel free to agree or disagree. And now, onto this weeks questions.
Paul in CFB Petawawa
Comment: Jim, who do you think is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the NHL today? I think it’s got to be Rick Rypien. The dude will fight anyone and rarely loses. What do you think?
Answer: Hi Paul, a big tip of the hat to everyone at CFB Petawawa, home to the Royal Canadian Regiment, Royal Canadian Dragoons and 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group. Well Paul, when it comes to Rick Rypien, I think you are bang on. In a recent edition of ESPN the Magazine, they conducted an extensive player’s poll. In the mind of the NHL players, Derek Boogaard was the best fighter, but Rick Rypien was the toughest pound-for-pound fighter. Boogaard is 6′ 8″, 260 pounds; Rypien is listed at 5’11” and 185 pounds. Despite this lack of size, Rypien will not back down from anyone.
Doing some research on the excellent Hockey Fights website, I can see that Rypien has been in 15 fights so far this year. He’s won 11 of them with one draw and was on the losing end (barely) of three others. That’s pretty impressive for a guy who’s going into every fight at a distinctive size disadvantage.
If you break down Rypien’s fights this season, you will see that every time he drops the gloves, he’s a massive underdog. On average, Rypien is giving up a whopping 35 pounds to every guy he fights. Despite this, Rypien is clearly winning at least 75 per cent of his fights. The bottom line is that the man is fearless. If you took a poll on the Canucks and asked the players to rate their love for what Rypien brings to the table on a scale of 1-to-10, he would rate anywhere from an 8-to-9.
I used to work with former Montreal Canadiens and LA Kings forward Glenn Goldup. Goldie told me that in the late ‘70s he played with a guy by the name of Randy Holt. Like Rypien, Holt stood 5′ 11″ and 185 pounds. Holt played 36 games with the Kings in the 1978-79 season and racked up a staggering 202 PIMs. Pro-rated over an entire season, Holt was on pace to pick up 460 PIMs that year. He once fought Dave Semenko three times in the same game. Holt lost all three, but at least he had the guts to show up.
Like Holt, Rypien always answers the bell when called upon. The big difference between the two is that Rypien almost never loses. Here’s something else to like about Rypien: Before playing for the Regina Pats, Rypien was with the Crowsnest Pass Timberwolves of the AJHL. There’s one more cool thing about Rypien: His cousin, Mark Rypien, was named MVP of Super Bowl 26 when he was the quarterback for the Washington Redskins.
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Name: Dale B.
Comment: Hi Jim, I remember watching Krazy George work the crowds into a frenzy at BC Place. Is it true that he was actually a soft-spoken, bean counter at a prominent Vancouver accounting firm?
Answer: Hi Dale, I love any question about Krazy George. You won’t believe this, but Krazy George was actually a high school shop teacher in Santa Clara, California. The BC Lions was one of many teams that hired George as a professional cheerleader. George was also hired by the Chiefs, Saints and Houston Oilers in the NFL. He also worked soccer games, MLB games, the NCAA, World Cup soccer games and the Oakland Seals and Edmonton Oilers in the NHL. Eventually, George was so busy that he was forced to stop teaching and cheerleading at sporting events became his full time job. Krazy George’s ultimate claim to fame was he’s the guy who invented the wave. The legend has it that George was working an Oilers game in 1980 at the Northlands Coliseum when his request for fans in different sections of the rink to stand up and cheer resulted in what we now know today as "the wave.”
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Name: Brent from NL
Comment: Hey Jim, big fan! With baseball season coming up, what young players do you expect to step up for the Blue Jays this year?
Answer: Hi Brent, I always love a question from Newfoundland. This is a good year to be a young player with the Blue Jays. I liked the move by general manager Alex Anthopoulos to sign Adam Lind to a four-year, $18-million contract extension.
This is a big year for Travis Snider. Last season, the Jays ended up sending Snider to the minor leagues to work on his game. By all accounts, Snider has done a lot of growing up in the off-season. Now he will get a lot of playing time and a ton of at-bats. If Snider doesn’t make it, it won’t be because he didn’t have a chance to prove himself.
I am really looking forward to seeing what Ricky Romero does this year. The 25-year-old Romero will start the year as the No. 3 starter for the Jays. For what it’s worth, Romero was 3-0 in the spring with an ERC of 1.89. I know it’s only spring training, but I really can’t wait to see what Romero does this year. If his arm holds up, he could eat up a ton of quality innings for the Jays this year.
Don’t forget Jays blue chip prospect Kyle Drabek, picked up in the Roy Halladay deal. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him up with the big club before the year is out.
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Name: Carlos
Hi Jim. If the Leafs were to, by some miracle, acquire a first round pick for 2010 with a trade, would the Boston Bruins have the right to select the higher of the possible two first-round picks (one acquired through trade and one due to the position in the standings)?
Answer: Hi Carlos, the simple answer is no. The Bruins get the Leafs original pick for this year’s draft. Whether it’s the first or the second pick overall. If the Leafs somehow manage to get a pick later on in the first round, they don’t have the option of giving that one to the Bruins.
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Name: Wayne
Comment: Why are there so many experts on the Toronto sport scene? I am so sick of the reporters from Toronto that I do not watch between periods to get away from them. They take leeches, put them on a stool and they are experts, goons, old managers and people who have no business telling people how bad someone is.
Answer: Hi Wayne, I am going to take a wild guess and say that you are NOT from Toronto. Now if Calgary or Edmonton or Ottawa were home to the biggest city in Canada and the heart of media in this country, then all of the panel shows would be located there. It just so happens that all the major networks have their main studios in Toronto and that’s where all the panels originate from.
Wayne, the best thing about sports is that every fan and every viewer has the constitutional right to express his or her own opinion. The first thing they teach in this business is that other than a select few (Vin Scully, Danny Gallivan, Dan Shulman), there will always be viewers who like you and those who hate you.
Now Wayne, you went to great lengths to tell me what you don’t like, but you failed to explain what exactly you do like. No matter what you think, hockey fans like their information. They like to hear rumours and inside stories and they want to know what’s going on with their favourite team. You don’t have to like it, but I highly doubt that it is ever going to go away.
Make sure to text me the next time you’re in town, I will buy you a beer. You sound like a really nice bunch of guys.
Like most people, I was blown away by the Eagles decision to trade Donovan McNabb to the Redskins. I don’t mind the Eagles deciding they wanted to move on, but I was stunned they didn’t try harder to deal him to an AFC team — like the Raiders or Bills. The first round of the upcoming NFL draft on the 22nd should be amazing.
Keep the questions rolling in and keep on pushing hard to make it illegal for any woman in Canada to deny her man his “transition time.”