Lennox Lewis Rebuttal

My name is Roger Seegmiller. I am originally from Kitchener, Ont Canada where Lennox Lewis grew up. I was so proud when Lennox walked away from the 88 Olympics with a gold medal for Canada. Then disgusted when I heard that he was fighting for Britain as a pro claiming he was form the land of the toothless, tea sippin, riot starting country that everybody loves to hate.
But can somebody please give this guy some respect already. Can the heavyweight division be that bad or is Lennox Lewis that good and making everybody else look bad.
I’m sure you will agree Evander Holyfield is among the boxing greats. Lennox not only beat Evander both fights, but was all over him like a rat on a cheetoh. If it weren't for the brutal judging in fight number 1 there wouldn't of been another embarrassment for Holyfield.
I will agree with you, watching Lennox Lewis fight is like watching a hockey game with your girlfriend.......boring!!
But that doesn't make him a bad fighter. If anything it makes him a smarter fighter, waiting for his time to pounce on his opponent and beat him to the ground like he usually does.
All I have to say about that chump Rahim or Rackman or Rackmahamed or whatever that bum wants to call himself.......Buster Douglas baby. One punch wonder. To even hint that Rahman has a lightning right hand you've must taken a couple of too many off the bean...not the goal post.

Roger Seegmiller
Calgary, Alberta

Evander WAS one of the boxing greats.  By the time he met Lewis he no longer was the same fighter.  Roger, put the names Ali, Frazier, Tyson, Holmes and even Spinks on the same card with Lennox and I think your pal from Kitchener would be doing the Rachman  face plant shuffle once again.  As for the girlfriend thing, hmmm...  you might want to consider finding a new one.
-Brian

Avs and Devils in the Stanley Cup Final

One thing we do agree on when it comes to hockey is how long these playoffs have been going on.  They'll probably have to interrupt the final game
because they have to shoe-horn in the results of next falls season openers. The team that finally wins the Stanley Cup will already be two or three
regular season games behind!  Ron MacLean will lose his cool and beat Don Cherry to death with his microphone during the 4 1/2 hour Coach's Corner required to cover all the overlapping seasons.  When individual players are being paid more than the entire population of Mexico, why is everyone so concerned about whether they are tired or not?  Soon the playoffs will be interrupted by player vacation times.  Enough is enough already.  Get the playoffs over with so that we can get on with other fast paced sports ---
like Curling.

Michael Kohnen
Saskatchewan

Michael:  I don't think you will have to worry about the playoffs overlapping with the start of the following season.  Chances are the players will be on strike due to the fact that they need more money to support their families.   As for McLean vs Cherry... I'm taking Don in a KO.  Until then "Sweep!  Hard! Hard!"
-Brian

Ray Bourque Rebuttals

My name is Troy Adair, I am 9 years old. One day last winter my Dad took my Brother, my friend Danny and me to Toronto to watch the Colarado
Avalanche practice. Since they are my favourite team I was glad to go. While watching them in their practice to my suprise in came the New Jersey Devils
(what luck huh?). I got to meet and get my picture with Jason Arnott...wow! After Colorado was done practicing on went the Devils. I didn't watch them
for too long though, because I had an Avalanche jersey that needed signing.  It was the week before Adam Deadmarsh was traded, I got him to sign. I got
Dave Reid to sign. The list went on (unfortunately Sakic wasn't there) and all the players were great about signing my jersey, but I was really waiting
for Ray Bourque. There were only about 15 or 20 kids out there waiting for him. When he finally did come out we were all disappointed. He would ignore
us, not even look at us, he actually put his hand on one boys chest and moved him aside.
Ray Bourque may have been on the winning team, but he sure acted like a loser. He could take some lessons from the likes of Jason Arnott or Dave
Reid that is for sure...

 Troy Adair
 Stratford Ontario
 

Hey thanks for the letter Troy.  It upsets me when there is a player that I have admired and then I meet him in person and he turns out to be a complete jerk.  Are you listening Mark Messier and Brett Hull?  It makes me sick when the person they are ignorant to is a nine year old boy.  Troy, just remember the Dave Reid's and put the ignorant ones aside.  (Just for the record I met Joe Sakic at a hotel in Edmonton before a game 6 with the Oilers and he was a real class act!).   Troy,  remember if you make it to the NHL one day and a group of kids come up to you for an autograph just think back to Ray Bourque and how you would never want to be thought of as a loser like that.
-Brian
 

I totally agree with all you said about Bourque and the nhl awards. But I don't agree with your draft pick thinking.
Teams like the islanders who finish last should get the first pick in the next draft, there is a lottery system in place but I'm not sure its the same
lottery system you are talking about. The Nordiques were the laughing stock for a good 3 or 4 years in a row, they built there team through the draft
(also via Lindros) and did an excellent job I might add. You are saying a 10-15 pick in the draft is pretty well useless, I disagree. Its all in the
scouting of your team, the oilers are or were masters of scouting, picking up guys like Ryan Smyth, Poti or even Arnott. Sergei Berezin was a 3rd round
pick and you and me both know what the guy is capable of. Calgary has been at or near the bottom of the league for years now, look at the picks they make,
Fata, Tykchuk, Tyler Moss......garbage. My point being its not were you pick its who you pick, and a team that finishes last should get the first pick in
the draft. An issue for about the draft that I dont like is when an expansion team comes in the league like Minnesota and Columbus did this year
they dont get the first pick but they get to pick just after it. They havnt earned a damn thing and there right up there picking 2 and 3 or 3 and 4,
whatever it was.

In my mind, the draft is not what it used to be anyway. The Nhl is all about free agency and teams are not built through the draft anymore, just through
free agents......which reminds me. Did you see the trade between the Coyote's and the Leafs....Robert Reichel and Travis Green for Danny Makarov
(as Cherry would put it).. I like it.

Some good points here.  Wish the guy or gal would have left a name.  I don't say that a 10th or 15th round pick is useless.  I just don't think you win Stanley Cups with them.  Pittsburgh got Lemieux, Quebec got Lindros and traded him for 5 players.  These teams won Stanley Cups because of it.  All the players you mention are good.  You can't build a franchise around them though.  You mention that when an expansion team comes in they get to pick #3 or #4 but they haven't "earned a damn thing."  Well guess what?  Neither has the team that finished last in the league.  They  reward failure in the NHL.
The old lottery system was that every team had their name thrown in a bin and you had a one in whatever chance to win.  No weighted lottery garbage like today.
As for the trade... a good one for the Leafs.
-Brian

Tiger Woods Rebuttals

Keep Tiger in the Woods
A thought on Woods:Thank god for the mute button on the TV remote.  I can only hope that when I am 8 shots/goals/sets behind the leader in any sport activity I play that I remain the centre of attention with the broadcast personal.  Its sickening to listen to some of the sportscasters Tiger this and Tiger that and oh Tiger can still come back and mount a serious challenge.  Enough already.  Focus on the guys out there that are winning the tourney or in the case of this past weekends event, focus on anyone doing better than Tiger.  Let Nike pay for their advertising instead of providing the Tiger shot every two minutes.  Keep the guy in the woods.  Now excuse me while I find the remote, need to crank up the volume.
- Greg Zavitski

Couldn't have said it better myself.
-Brian
 

Calgary Flames Rebuttals
Hey my name is Fredrick Jablonski from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I have been a Flames fan for 18 years. Over those 18 years I have seen some pretty horrible trades. Probably the one the jumps up at me the most is the Doug Gilmour trade to at the time the Toronto Make me Laffs. The Stillman giveaway still makes my head shake as well.
But from what I can see from Saturdays draft, the Flames took a step forward for once and not backwards. Lets talk about Bure, sure he probably will go to Florida along side his brother and score 30-40 goals easily. But in Calgary he would have just let his contract ride out put a couple of pucks in the net and would have left a free agent.
He didn’t want to play here, if you couldn’t see that then maybe you should be writing cook books and not sports articles.

With Niedermayer, you get a solid center with a fresh start that is capable of scoring 30-35 goals, with the speed your missing from Bure he makes up in a little more size and more important...attitude.

Now Freddie, I know he's a fan favorite and did win some games for the Flames last season, but he was inconsistent and on any other team he would have been a decent back up goalie which in turn he probably was anyway to Mike Vernon if you can figure that one out. But still he is not a goalie to a team trying to make the playoffs for the first time in over 5 years like you mentioned.

Roman Turek though a little over rated is a proven, young goalie in which I can see stealing a lot of games from the opposition this year. He did play for one of the best teams last year in St. Louis and his playoff performance is not something to brag about but lets just worry about making the playoffs and go from there. The Flames do waste valuable much needed money like the Grant Fuhrs and Mike Vernons but Turek and Niedermayer will prove you wrong this year my friend.

Calgary,
Alberta

Fredrick, Fredrick, Fredrick.  Niedermayer won't prove me wrong. He can't... I'm never wrong.  Bure was a one year wonder and will not come close to scoring 40 goals.  Don't put too much faith in Turek.  He doesn't know what it's like to face 40 shots a game.  Calgary is about to face their sixth straight season without a playoff spot.  Writing cookbooks eh?  Never thought of doing that before.  Thanks for the tip.
-Brian

Cal Ripken Jr.
This is in regards to your Cal Ripkin Jr. article, to be honest with you I dont like Cal Ripkin, never have and never will. His pursuit of Lou Gehrigs illustrious record was nothing more but a selfish quest to beat a man that brought so much honour to baseball, even the seasons he didnt do well, managers hinted on replacing him and would have if it werent Cal Ripkin. But ofcourse he had to keep playing to get the record.

I just dont buy what your saying about it was scripted. I agree as soon as he hit the homerun they were engraving his name on the M.V.P trophy but you have to remember he still has to hit the homerun. I know you can probably hit a 90 mile an hour fastball out of the park every time, but normal humans, even professionals find it very difficult. The very best hitters in baseball get out 7-10 times and the best power hitters probably hit 1 home run every 10-15 at bats. So if you really think its that easy to hit a homerun you should probably think about stepping away from the computer and stepping on a baseball field.......thats one hell of a pay raise.

Jarod Jackson
Sudbury, Ont

There is a big difference between hitting a ball out of the park when you know the exact pitch that is coming (A juicy fastball right over home plate) or trying to nail it when you don't have a clue.  In the case of the All-Star game, I believe Cal knew he was going to be served up with some juicy pitches.  Put Barry Bonds at the plate and deliver him 10 fastballs in the strike zone.  If he knows what's coming, he'll hammer seven of them out.
As far as the pay raise is concerned, all I can say is "it's not about the money".  Just ask any pro athlete.
 

General Rebuttals

Yep, here's my opinion. Competitive sports make me want to stare off beyond the outfield.

Well, if that's not the quote of the week, what is?
-Brian
 

New Jersey are a bunch of slackers from what i say. on Colorados
1st shot they scored and wom with under 20 shots total. Now tell me was
that planed to force a game 7 or do New Jersey just suck

Please readers, no drinking before sending in your comments.
-Brian