Lightning give Vinnie 33 Mil; tell him to play elsewhere

Vinnie Lecavalier: Team Leader, Playmaker, Fan Favorite. Unwanted. HUH>? WTF I get that the team wants more flexibility given the salary cap..but what business can just give away 33 million dollars to someone who isnt playing for them anymore? And why?  Vinnie is one of the very few superstar players who is actually worth tons of money because hes not only a good scores but also a play maker who thinks on the ice.

33 million dollars is 1/3 of the annual budget for entire Tampa area school district. All that money basically thrown away to pay to Vinnie just to leave the team. He could sit on his butt and do nothing if he wanted to or sort crack off hookers. Rich keep getting richer doing nothing while everyone else works for measly 30 grand a year. We need a good old Russian style decapitation of the bourgeois..these oligarchs arnt giving the money up and its not going to "trickle down". 

Why do billion dollar sports programs need handouts?

The country of Brazil has seen some mass protest of late. The government raised the cost of bus tickets, which poor Brazilians use to get to work, while spending tens of billions of dollars on Stadiums for the the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. There is a running joke in Rio that goes "if your child is sick take them to a stadium". To the working poor, it appeared the Brazillian government was putting the needs of FIFA and foreign tourists above the needs of Brazilian citizens who need schools and hospitals and buses none of which get the sort of funding and handholding these stadiums are.

Here in Jacksonville, we have a very similar scenario going down. The city has pledged 43 million dollars to build "The worlds largest scoreboard" for the Jacksonville Jaguars football stadium. Included in the taxpayer funded renovations is a swimmingpool so people can swim and watch football at the same time. Meanwhile the city is closing a community center and 6 libraries  and limiting park hours and well as shuttering a few fire stations. Many schools outside the affluent parts of town are unfit for human habitation.

Now sports do bring with them an economy of their own. They certainly do inject value into the community as well as giving something for the citizens to unite behind. But these industries make millions and billions of dollars. Why do they need handouts when not for profit services like education and healthcare are totally underfunded. How out of touch do you need to be as a politician to promote welfare programs for billion dollar private businesses?Why doesnt the city build a free swimming pool for my business?

Wayne Gretzky's daughter

Strikes suck

There are two bad strikes going on.

The Chicago teachers union recently voted to seriously inconvenienced 350,000 families in order to:

1.Prevent student achievement, growth and accomplishment to count for more than 30% of a teachers evaluation.

2. Prevent higher rated teachers from being payed more than lower rated teachers.

And the ~30 odd National Hockey League fat cat billionaire owners didn't like the agreement they agreed to seven years ago that gives LESS THAN HALF (47%) of the profits to the people who, you know, actually play the game. Hockey has never been more popular in America and nothing chills sports enthusiasm more than greedy labor disputes. Take about shooting yourself in the foot with a bazooka.

In both cases the system of strike/compromise is maintaining a system that is broken and needs to die so that it can be reborn in a more modern, functional framework. Just My 2 cents. 

Hit by pitch; advance to 1st

We've all pretended at one point in our lives or another to throw a baseball so fast the throw causes the ball to catch fire. Someone actually took the time to evaluate the physics of that action.

Luongo: what a loser

I was at the Hockey Shop in Surrey, BC once when Luongo was schedule to do a signing. There were about 30 families waiting to get his sig..not a huge crowd by any means. Luongo threw a fit over the Hockey Shop not having his favorite type of sparkling water. Made a damn fool of himself and eventually bailed on the fans, refusing to sign anything over the lack of sparkling water. What a classless putz. I called hime Lwrongo from then on. Fans still thought he was the bees knees even though he was no leader and couldnt hold it together in the playoffs Finally, it appears he going to "move on". Orevwa Lwrongo

NHL top goalie is who?

I guess getting your team to the cup AND actually winning it is NOT required to be considered for the NHL goalie of the year trophy. I figured Jonathan Quick was a shoe in for a trophy that goes to the goalie who is "adjudged to be the best at this position". Apparently that was the Ranger's goalie and not the guy that actually won.

What is a Snooki?

 18yo Europeans might not get this best sports taunt EVER, but thats Snooki and co from "Jersy Shore" reminding the New Jersey Devils who they are associated with. Los Angeles won the game 4-0 and looks like they will sweep the Devils to win Lord Stanley's Cup. 

Lacrossse! In Canada eh ?

One armed 11yo takes down first deer

There has been several stories in the news about kids doing bad things with guns. Here is one good story about about a gun being a positive force in a child's life (albiet not for the deer)

Did Odds On Promotions steal 30k from kid?

So an 11yo kid successfully shoots a puck into the little teeny tiny hole for one of those halftime contests. But because his twin brother's name is on the ticket they get nothing. Lame. Odds On Promotions will instead donate 20k to hockey programs in the area and the kids get to attend a hockey camp at the rink free of charge. Fair trade ?

Lord Stanley's Cup takes a fall