It's now day three of free agency, and teams keep throwing money around as if millions were dollar bills in a strip club. 

Less than twenty four hours after losing Antrel Rolle to the New York Giants, the Arizona Cardinals went out and swung a deal with the other New York club, the Jets, to acquire Kerry Rhodes.  In exchange, the Cardinals gave up a fourth round pick in this year's draft and a seventh rounder in 2011. 

What makes this move more ironic is that the Jets had stated that Rhodes would be back and a part of the team in 2010 immediately after swinging the deal for Antonio Cromartie earlier in the week.  Why there was such an about face in personnel decisions has yet to be revealed, unless GM Mike Tannenbaum and coach Rex Ryan were merely paying lip service to Rhodes, all the while trying to make a move to extricate him from the defensive secondary landscape. 

One thing is for certain, the Jets definitely could take some time to read up on the latest colon cleanse reviews: they seem to be rather stuffed up at the moment.  To do such an about face that quickly makes one think that there was more than meets the proverbial eye regarding Rhodes and his imminent departure.

Elsewhere, the Jaguars look to bolster their league worst pass rush by signing former Packers defensive end Aaron Kampman to a contract.  Kampman struggled after switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense in Green Bay and then suffered a season ending knee injury in November.  However, he has recorded at least 9.5 sacks in the three seasons prior to that, and still has the ability to get after the quarterback.  Jacksonville recorded a franchise low 14 sacks last season, a number that definitely needs to improve in order to force turnovers and create short field opportunities for the offense. 

The Redskins added Minnesota guard Artis Hicks yesterday, which surprisingly was their first acquisition in free agency from another team.  After throwing truckloads of money around in the past decade, Daniel Snyder and company have been a bit more patient and cautious this time around, much to the surprise of many around the league.  The loss of Hicks allows Minnesota to now sign two unrestricted free agents.  Remember, they lost Chester Taylor to the Bears on Friday. 

Then there is a list of guys making some rounds.  Terrell Owens is still wanted in Cincinnati according to Chad Ochocinco, and Carson Palmer said he has no problem with Owens' past or anything of the sort.  Willie Parker was making a trip to Washington, and could be an effective 1-2 combination with the equally injury prone Clinton Portis.  David Carr went to San Francisco but left without a contract and there is talk that Cleveland may have some interest in him.  The Browns also reportedly have interest in Seattle backup Seneca Wallace, who is familiar with the Mike Holmgren style offense that is going to be implemented in Cleveland.  New England is interested in having a meeting with Bills slot receiver Josh Reed, who could be useful with Wes Welker being injured and most likely missing the first part of the season. 

No matter how you slice it, whether your team has made a big splash, or yet to create a ripple in the pond, there's a lot going on between now and the draft next month.  What teams do now may very well influence who gets picked where come draft day.

        

March Madness is just days off now, with conference tournaments getting underway and tickets being punched for automatic bids to the Big Dance. 

What no one seems to want to be right now, however, is the number one team in the nation.

After last week, when both number one Kansas, number two Kentucky, and number three Purdue all fell, in addition to other top teams scuffling, Syracuse was elevated to the top spot in the polls for the first time since winning the national title when Carmelo Anthony played his one season there.

It was to be short lived.

In front of a record crowd at Freedom Hall in Louisville, where the Cardinal were playing their final home game in the storied venue after 54 years, Louisville upended the top ranked Orange by a 78-68 count, setting the top team in the nation tumbling again and opening up for debate who would be number one when the new rankings came out.  It was Syracuse's first loss away from the Carrier Dome this season, as they fell to 11-1.  Reserve Kyle Kuric scored all of his career high 22 points after intermission to spur the Cardinals to victory, allowing them to sweep the season series from Syracuse and beat them for the sixth consecutive time.

FIfth ranked Kansas State also suffered from the upset bug, as they fell in overtime to Iowa State 85-82.  With a chance at the Big 12 regular season title on the line going into the week, the Wildcats wilted, dropping games to Kansas and the Cyclones.  The upset win boosted Iowa State's road record against ranked opponents to a staggering 8-104.  That's right...it was the EIGHTH win for them in 112 chances on the road against a ranked opponent.  Kudos to them for pulling it off.  It was a gritty performance from a team that will be seeded eleventh in the Big 12 Conference tourney next week.

One man who doesn't need to worry about purchasing weight loss supplements is North Carolina coach Roy Williams. The stress and clamoring from the fan base on Tobacco Road and in Chapel Hill will be more than enough to keep his metabolism running high.  The Tar Heels were flat out waxed by Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night by a count of 82-50, one of the most one sided losses in the storied history of the Duke/Carolina rivalry. 

One season after winning the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina bottomed out, finishing 5-11 in the conference, and 16-15 overall.  Instead of defending their crown, they'll be lucky to get into the NIT with their numbers.  The 50 points was the lowest scored in the Williams era, and the 32 point defeat was the worst since a 96-56 whipping by Maryland back in 2003.   How the mighty have fallen.

Conference tournament action abounds and March Madness looms...it's the best time of year for college hoops.  Sit back, grab some snacks and a cold beverage of choice, and enjoy it. 

        

Milton Bradley may no longer be in the Windy City, but his mouth still is generating a fair amount of hurricane force gusts.

Bradley, who was mediocre at best in his one season on the North Side of the city, struggling on a regular basis, forgetting how many outs there were in one game with the Twins, striking out in key at bats, and generally failing to live up to the $10 million he was paid for last season, has relocated to the Pacific Northwest this year.  He was dealt to Seattle in a deal that allowed Jim Hendry to get rid of the mercurial outfielder in exchange for Carlos Silva, who disappointed for the Mariners in his stint there.

However, while Silva has been working to fit in with his new team and getting in shape, Bradley continues to run at the mouth about Chicago and how it was the city's fault, not his, for his performance in 2009.  Here is what Bradley had to say, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times:

''Two years ago, I played, and I was good,'' he told the Times. ''I go to Chicago, not good. I've been good my whole career. So, obviously, it was something with Chicago, not me.''

''Just no communication. I never hit more than 22 homers in my career, and all of a sudden I get to Chicago, and they expect me to hit 30. It doesn't make sense. History tells you I'm not going to hit that many. Just a lot of things that try to make me a player I'm not.''

That statement was refuted by manager Lou Piniella, GM Jim Hendry and pretty much everyone in the organization.  Bradley claims that "Any time I've had a problem anywhere, it's because I've been disrespected. And I will not be disrespected by anyone.''  Really...so the problem is because you're disrespected EVERYWHERE you go, but it has nothing to do with you?  His comments make me want to go out, purchase a stack of netbooks, and systematically smash them over his enlarged cranium.

It's his eighth team in eleven seasons now.  He's quickly running out of real estate.  Blaming an entire CITY for your misfortunes and poor play is bordering on ridiculous.  For the sake of the Pacific Northwest, I hope that Bradley can dig his head out of his ass and put together a decent campaign for the Mariners.  With Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki on the club, Bradley will be kept in check, at least to start.  Whether that holds true for the rest of the season, or if he becomes the headache that he has been prone to being, remains to be seen.

I wish Bradley well...as long as he stays away from the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.

        

For as good as Ben Roethlisberger is at staying cool, calm and collected on the field, he seems to be equally inept at maintaining that off it.

Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault by a 20 year old college student.  Roethlisberger allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in a nightclub in Milledgeville, Georgia, which is a college town roughly 85 miles southeast of Atlanta.  This is the second such accusation made against the two time Super Bowl winning quarterback in the past three years.  A woman working as a VIP hostess at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe claimed that she was lured to Roethlisberger's room under false pretenses in 2008, where he then forced himself on her.

She has sued Roethlisberger for $440,000 and an additional $50,000 from Harrah's, claiming that the casino conspired to help cover up the matter.  One thing Roethlisberger doesn't seem to need if the allegations are true is Viagra...maybe he should just invest in some vitamins for men or something to keep his head on straight. 

Roethlisberger also has had other off field issues.  In 2006, he was in an accident after he crashed his motorcycle that he was driving without a valid license.  In that incident, he broke his jaw and several other bones in his face. 

Roethlisberger's agent, Ryan Tollner, released the following statement (courtesy of ESPN.com):

"Last night, Ben and his friends met a group of women and everyone mingled together throughout the evening.  We have spoken to law enforcement. Based on information currently available, an allegation was made against Ben, which appeared to be dismissed after a preliminary investigation last night. Obviously, given the prior accusation against Ben, we are skeptical of motive, but we will continue to cooperate with everyone involved."

A spokesman for the Steelers, Dave Lockett, said that the team was still gathering information and had no further comment at this time. 

Roethlisberger is going to have to decide at some point if he wants to be a football player or a party guy.  The fine line between talent and stupidity gets blurred more every day.  Athletes with checkered pasts are looked at with a microscope when it comes to contracts, especially during free agency.  Antonio Cromartie is a prime example of this, as was Pacman Jones.  Roethlisberger has put himself at a crossroads, where he must decide if he wants to continue to play football for the Pittsburgh Steelers, or start wondering if he might be moved to a team that might be a bit more lax with his off field indiscretions.

Pittsburgh is a blue collar town, and its inhabitants stand by a regular code of ethics and common sense.  To draw their ire, or the ire of the Rooney family, is as good as signing your own extradition papers from the Steel City.  It's Roethlisberger's move.  What he does next may very well determine the fate not only of his career, but the Steelers' fortunes for the next few seasons.

        

Let the dollars start to flow like the raging rapids of the Colorado River.

Free agency got underway yesterday with a flourish, as teams decided whether to take advantage of the uncapped year by throwing truckloads of money with front loaded deals to players, while others made tough decisions to let some long time members of their franchise go. 

So far, the NFC North has been leading the charge of those spending the bucks, and none more so than the Chicago Bears.  Normally a fiscally conservative team that doesn't like to throw money around, the Bears went out and inked three free agents yesterday, including arguably the biggest name on the market in former Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers.

Peppers, who has 81 career sacks in eight seasons, signed a six year deal worth $91.5 million, with $42 million of that being guaranteed.  Think about that for a second.  Peppers could go out, blow his knee out in training camp, never play a down for the Bears, and still collect $42 million.  If that's the kind of deal we're handing out in the league, sign me up.  I'll even take a personalized gift of a team photo. hat and jersey to knock my price tag down to a more cap conducive number for after the lockout. At 33, I still should have two or three years left before I have to retire.

The Bears weren't done there though, as they signed versatile running back Chester Taylor away from division rival Minnesota with a four year, $12.5 million deal to be the BACKUP.  That's right, he's not even the starter, as Matt Forte seems to have that job locked down for the foreseeable future.  Taylor backed up Adrian Peterson in Minnesota, but was a 1000 yard rusher the year before Peterson came to the Vikings.  He's a good third down back and insurance policy.  The Bears also inked blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna to a five year deal, which may signify the end of the road for Desmond Clark.

The other team in the NFC North making moves was the Detroit Lions.  Tired of having subpar options and journeymen opposite Calvin Johnson at wide receiver, Jim Schwartz and company went out and plucked Nate Burleson from the Seahawks.  Burleson got a five year deal worth $25 million, with $11 million guaranteed.  Not bad money for a guy who has only broken the 1000 yard plateau once in his career.  To his benefit though, the offensive coordinator when he did that was Scott Linehan.  Detroit's offensive coordinator, you ask?  The same Scott Linehan.

The Lions also bolstered their defensive line with the signing of former Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch to a four year, $26 million deal.  They also acquired defensive tackle Corey Williams from Cleveland along with a seventh round selection for a fifth round pick in this year's draft.  Those two moves make the Lions defensive line much more formidable, especially considering they hold the second pick in the draft, which they could use to take Gerald McCoy or Ndamukong Suh should they be so inclined.

As far as teams taking a hit, the Arizona Cardinals are losing players left, right and center it seems.  Kurt Warner retired.  Anquan Boldin was traded to the Baltimore Ravens yesterday for third and fourth round picks in the draft.  He had been vocal about being moved for two seasons now, and with the emergence of Early Doucet and Steve Breaston to go with Larry Fitzgerald, that won't be an issue for the Cardinals.

Where they might suffer is defensively.  Bertrand Berry also retired, taking away a pass rush specialist.  They released safety Antrel Rolle, rather than pay him a $4 million roster bonus and his $8 million salary.  Instead, the Giants signed Rolle to a five year, $37.5 million deal, the highest contract ever for a safety in the history of the NFL.  Of that, $15 million is guaranteed money.  The Cards also lost linebacker Karlos Dansby to the Miami Dolphins.  Dansby scored the winning TD in overtime of the Cardinals 51-45 win over Green Bay in the wild card round of the playoffs this year and was the heart and soul of the defense, along with Darnell Dockett.  Miami was unhappy with their inside linebacker play, and threw Dansby a five year, $43 million deal with $22 million of it guaranteed.

For all the doom and gloom about teams losing money and preaching fiscal conservatism, all I see is a whole lot of big numbers being thrown around.  It makes you wonder if the NFLPA has something going when they demand to see the books.  We'll have to wait and see.

        

With the flipping of the clock to 12:01 am ET this morning, free agency officially began in the NFL.

The one difference between this year and years past? 

There is no salary cap thanks to the owners opting out of the last labor agreement struck with the players association, making this an uncapped year with the strong possibility for a lockout in 2011.  That means there is no limit to how much a team can spend, but no one is telling them that they have to spend x amount either.  What does this mean in the grand scheme of things?  How can the NFL survive with such an unbalanced set up?

Well, for starters, it's the classic "rich get richer, the poor get poorer" mentality.  Someone like Jerry Jones, if he were to choose to do so, could go and sign a truckload of free agents at massive dollar amounts to try and get his team to the Super Bowl.  On the flip side, the Kansas City  Chiefs could keep cutting players down and sign an entire roster of guys making the league minimum.  They already have a payroll of just $41 million, or roughly one third of what the cap for 2009 was.  Kansas City is the NFL's fiscal version of the best fat burner the way they've shed payroll.

There are also a lot of players who were looking forward to unrestricted free agency that were hosed under this.  Instead of it being four years and unrestricted free agency, now with the opt out, for this season, it is six years of service before that comes into play.  That means that a lot of good talent can be signed at much lower numbers than they would have commanded on the open market, but teams also would have to pay the compensation involved should they tender a deal to a restricted free agent.  Depending on the player and the tender that was given to them by their respective team, the cost could be anything from a first and third round selection in the draft, all the way down to a seventh round pick, to absolutely nothing.

Teams have been scrambling already to make moves.  Remember last season, in the first few hours after free agency started, Redskins owner Dan Snyder inked defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a $100 million deal.  No deal that large has been hit yet, though Julius Peppers may command a hefty price tag.  He is being pursued by several clubs, including the Chicago Bears.  Nate Burleson has cashed in a deal with the Detroit Lions worth $25 million over five years with 11 million of that guaranteed money to be the #2 receiver opposite Calvin Johnson in Detroit.  Gary Brackett has resigned with the Colts to a five year deal worth reportedly in the neighborhood of $33 million, which is a major plus for both sides. 

We'll keep you posted on the rest of the transactions as they become relevant.  Who will your favorite team sign or lose?  It's all a matter of how much money they want to throw around.

        

As the regular season winds down and games become more important in an effort to obtain the necessary points to procure a postseason berth, teams and their front office staff are left scrambling to try and make moves that they feel might put them over the top.

The trade deadline was compounded this season thanks to a roster freeze for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Rosters were frozen immediately prior to the Olympics, and didn't unfreeze until Monday after their conclusion, leaving teams just a scant two and a half days to frantically work the phones in an effort to make the moves they deemed necessary.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, there were quite a few deals of complementary pieces, but no real major stars swapping uniforms like the Ilya Kovalchuk deal before the Olympics.  The Phoenix Coyotes were so busy swapping players and draft picks (seven deals in all), one would have thought they considered players the way one looks at modern furniture: cookie cutter pieces that can easily be replaced or swapped out with no issue.

In at least two places last night, traded players had major impacts in the contests.  In the Phoenix/Colorado contest, Wojtek Wolski, who was acquired by the Coyotes from the Avalanche, burned his former team with a game winning goal, coming with just 22 seconds remaining in the contest.  Another acquisition, Lee Stempniak, who came over from Toronto, bagged the first goal for Phoenix. 

Elsewhere, Scott Walker, who had just three goals all season in Carolina, hammered home a pair for his first multi-goal game of the year, including the game winner late in the third period, as the Washington Capitals won their franchise record twelfth consecutive home game 5-4 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Other teams look for youth and stockpiling draft choices.   Brian Burke made several deals for the future, shipping out Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Martin Skoula (who was with the team less than 24 hours), Joey MacDonald and others.  Vesa Toskala was bounced from Anaheim to Calgary without ever playing a game for the Ducks.  He thinks he'll be able to help the Flames as the backup to Miikka Kiprusoff.  I'm not convinced personally, given his inability to stop the puck in Toronto, which prompted him to be shipped out to begin with.

I guess more importantly than the names that did move, were ones that didn't.  Vincent Lecavalier, Marty Turco, Chris Osgood, and Dan Hamhuis were all potential big names with trade potential before the deadline, but deals were unable to get done.  There were grumblings from Sabres fans that Darcy Regier failed to pull the trigger on anything big, instead choosing to deal Clarke MacArthur for a third and fourth round selection in the 2010 draft, and procuring Raffi Torres from Columbus for Nathan Paetsch and a second rounder. 

While those deals won't set the world on fire, especially with the Sabres struggling, they were cap strapped and would have had to dump salary in order to take any on.  That simply wasn't feasible given the price tags on the players out there.  Regier and Ruff decided to roll the dice with what they have core wise and make a few minor tweaks.  Will it pay off?  Hard to say...we'll find out how it goes in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned, there's always top notch NHL action right around the corner.

        

In what should come as no major surprise to anyone that has followed the NFL or Brett Favre the past couple of seasons, the 40 year old quarterback dodged the question about whether he'd be back for another season at the helm of the Minnesota Vikings offense.

Favre told Jay Leno last night that he "wasn't going to decide or say anything soon" and that he was just going to "sit back, relax, and enjoy the off season." 

Favre and the Vikings had their season end in the NFC Championship Game when the Saints beat them in overtime on a Garrett Hartley field goal.  In that game, the Vikings turned the ball over twice in the red zone and suffered a Favre interception in the closing minutes with Minnesota moving into field goal range.  He posted the lowest interception rate of his career, tossing 33 touchdown passes against just seven picks with a quarterback rating of 107.2, by far the highest he has had in years. 

Now, let's be honest.  Favre has retired more times than George Foreman at this point.  He has nothing left to prove.  He's won everything there is to win:  Super Bowl, MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Pro Bowl selections.  He could easily go buy an Advance Auto Parts store in Kiln, Mississippi and sell Mopar performance parts to farmers and other random people that happen to stop by.   He's 40 years old, and has been battered left, right and center.  He took a hellacious beating at the hands of the Saints in the NFC title game.

Favre retired after the 2007 season with Green Bay and decided to come back.  He was dealt to the Jets and after a hot start, he wilted late as the Jets missed the postseason.  He then promptly re-retired, only to come out of retirement last season in August to play for the Vikings.  That decision earned him the wrath of what once were loyal Favre fans in Green Bay.  Having the Packers suffer a pair of losses to the Favre led Vikes last season didn't help their emotional status much. 

I've said this before, and I'll say it again to Favre:  it's time to hang the cleats up.  There's no reason to continue to subject your body to a countless number of shots that are unnecessary at this point.  Money is not an issue.  Neither is holding records, as he holds a lot of them.  He has a Super Bowl ring.  There's no reason left to play, other than for the love of the game...but is that love of the game more important than being able to function in his later years?

Think about it long and hard Brett...and this time, decide that it's time to put an end to a storied career.  Go out on your own terms instead of having them dictated by someone else.

        

Olympic hockey preliminary pool play is over and the Czech Republic is out to prove that their bronze medal in 2006 was anything but a fluke.  

The Czechs beat the Russians 3-0 in the bronze medal game in Torino in 2006 and hope to potentially improve their stead in Vancouver.  They'll do it with a new coach as Vladimír Růžička has replaced Alois Hadamczik behind the bench.  

The Czechs won their first two contests in preliminary play as they defeated Slovakia 3-1 and Latvia by a score of 5-2.  They'll face the Russians in the final game of Group B preliminary action this evening with first place in the group on the line.

TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC TEAM ROSTER

BETWEEN THE PIPES

The Czechs will go with a trio featuring one veteran presence and a pair of younger goaltenders who may very well be the future netminders for the country in international play.  This puts the Czech Republic a bit behind some of the other contenders when it comes to ranking by goaltending.

Tomáš Vokoun is a long time NHL goaltender with plenty of experience in international play as well.  He has appeared in two World Championships, winning the gold medal in 2005 and was also a member of the 2006 bronze medal team in Torino.  He also has 563 games of NHL experience going for him, so familiarity with a fair amount of the shooters that he'll face will be a major benefit.

Ondřej Pavelec will be the number two goaltender in Vancouver.  He has very limited experience at the age of 22.  He's appeared in just 54 NHL contests and has no international experience to speak of.  I'd expect for him to be used sparingly if at all, and be groomed for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.  No need for weight loss products for Pavelec: nerves will take care of him just fine in that regard.

Jakub Štěpánek has even less experience than Pavelec having played sparingly for HC Vitkovice since starting his career in 2006.  He's clearly third on the depth chart for the time being and would only be used in emergency situations.  


ON THE BLUELINE

The Czechs are extremely talented on the blueline, with all six of their defensemen playing in the NHL.  The group is probably more versatile than any of the other top competitors in the tournament.  There is a ton of experience and two way hockey going around on their blueline.

Tomáš Kaberle is probably the most well known of the defensemen playing for the Czechs, both from NHL performance and his international experience.  Kaberle will be making his third Olympic appearance, and also has gold and silver medals from World Championships play in 2005 and 2006.  He is an excellent passer and is defensively sound in his own zone.  His older brother Frantisek played with him in the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 Olympics, showing that hockey runs deep in the family.  He has logged 62 international appearances for the Czech Republic.

Kaberle''s former teammate on the Toronto Maple Leafs Pavel Kubina is also on the team.  Kubina, a power play specialist with a rocket shot from the point, will be a big boost with shots that opposing goaltenders will need to stop and corral.  If there are any big rebounds, there are plenty of talented forwards that could clean up the mess.  He has only appeared for the Czechs in the 2006 Olympics but he does have over 800 games of NHL experience to draw from.  

Marek Židlický is another offensive specialist on the blueline.  He holds the Nashville Predators record for power play points in a season with 35.  He's extremely dangerous in the offensive zone and can handle the puck better than a fair number of forwards.  He is known to be lax defensively from time to time but he has the capabilities to be effective given the right situation and pairing.  

Filip Kuba, Zbyněk Michálek and Roman Polák round out the blueline group.  Kuba has the most experience by far of the trio logging over 600 NHL games and 31 international appearances.  He has won gold in the World Championships in 2001 and bronze in Torino as well.  His addition gives the Czechs a solid top four defense corps.


CRASHING THE NET

The Czechs for their talented forwards, haven't really lit the lamp as much as one might have anticipated so far.  This becomes markedly clear when you take into consideration that Latvia is hardly a team that strikes fear into the hearts of opponents.  They'll need to pick it up a bit going forward in order to really make an impact in the medal round.

Conversation about the forward committee for the Czechs starts with Jaromír Jágr.  Jágr has done it all in the NHL:  he's won a pair of Stanley Cups, five Art Ross Trophies, three Lester B. Pearson Awards, and a Hart Trophy.  He's in the top fifteen all time in goals, assists and points, and is the all time leader among European players in all three categories.  He is still a force to be reckoned with even after turning 38 last week.  This will be his fourth trip to the Olympics where he will be looking for this third medal.  He previously won bronze in Turin and gold back in Nagano in 1998.  

Patrik Eliáš wears the captaincy role for the Czechs and brings a lot of his own experience to the table.  While he has made just 20 international appearances he has tallied 10 goals and 7 assists in that action.  He also has played nearly 900 regular season NHL games and is a clutch scorer.  He is tied for the most overtime goals scored in NHL history.  On top of that, he is the leading scorer in the history of the New Jersey Devils franchise.  The experience of playing in so many big games like Elias has (133 playoff games in his career) can only help the rest of the team in these pressure packed situations.

Martin Havlát is another extremely skilled scoring winger that can put the puck in the net with the best of them.  He has played for the Czech Republic before back in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and missed the 2006 Games in Torino with a shoulder injury.  Havlat is a very good offensive player (438 points in 525 career NHL games) and he has put up decent postseason numbers as well (49 points in 67 playoff contests.)  The knock is that most European players aren't aggressive and forceful, but Havlat has a mean streak.  He's been suspended on three separate occasions and drew the ire of then Philadelphia Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock for his stickwork in the playoffs back in 2003.  That grit coupled with his natural ability is a boon for the Czechs.

The rest of the forward crew are younger, with the exception of Petr Čajánek who spent a long portion of his career playing in the Czech league with HC Hamé Zlín.  Martin Erat (23 international games going into the 2010 Games), Tomáš Plekanec (three World Championship appearances) and Tomáš Rolinek (three World Championship appearances) all have plenty of experience playing for their country.  David Krejčí, Milan Michálek, Josef Vašíček, Tomáš Fleischmann, and Roman Červenka round out the forwards.  All have talent and the ability to be effective on both ends of the ice in varying degrees.


MEDAL OUTLOOK

The Czechs want to improve on the bronze they got in 2006, but it might be difficult.  Clearly, their fortunes are going to hinge on whether Vokoun can keep them in games until their offense can slip some pucks past the opposing goaltender.  

The trio of Jágr, Eliáš and Havlát will need to stabilize the younger forwards and keep the pressure on their opponents.  Kaberle and Kubina will need to play smart defensive zone hockey and work the puck up ice to give the forwards odd man rush opportunities.  

The Czechs have talent, but I don't think they're ready to take the next step.  Expect to see them in the bronze medal contest and finishing either third or fourth.

        

The Super Bowl wasn't even two weeks ago, and while the Buffalo Bills weren't in it, they've already taken a hit for 2010.

We haven't had guys be cut, waived, or anything else yet.  The draft is still nine weeks away.  The Bills just finished putting together the majority of their coaching staff, and are still trying to figure out schemes, strategies, plans and everything else to go forward into next season. 

They'll have to do things next year without Brad Butler. 

The four year offensive tackle announced he was retiring from the NFL earlier this week.  Butler, 26, was a fifth round pick of the team in 2006, and made 31 starts for the team in his career.  He was a government major at the University of Virginia and hopes to enter the political arena.  Two years ago in the offseason, he interned with the late Jack Kemp at Kemp Partners and he is ready to put football aside to reach his dreams and aspirations as made clear in this statement (courtesy of ESPN.com):

“I would like to thank Mr. Wilson, my teammates and the entire Bills Nation for giving me the opportunity to represent the Buffalo Bills for the past four years. Playing in the National Football League has been a tremendous opportunity and a great blessing.

My passion for education, country and community is something that I am ready to devote my full attention to.  I believe the best way to pursue these spheres of interest is to step away from the game of football at this point in my life.

I will always remember my time spent in Western New York with great affection. I wish my teammates and Bills fans the best of luck next season and into the future.”"

Butler suffered a season ending injury when he tore his ACL in week two of last season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was placed on injured reserve.  It's apparent that the time away from the daily grind of practice and game preparation made it easier for him to decide to make the transition away from football and into the public sector. 

The Bills were already light on the offensive line, especially at tackle, where they were expected to aggressively attempt to fill that need.  Now it became that much more important with Butler's departure.  Finding offensive lineman is nothing like going and finding the best online degree. It takes a lot of work, scouting, dedication and effort to locate the players that can really make an impact versus those that may just be duds. Mike Williams is a premiere case in the latter.

I wish Butler the best in his future endeavors, whether it takes him to Washington or just on the local scene of government.  One that walks away from vast sums of money in order to follow their hopes and dreams is a statistical rarity these days.  Much like Pat Tillman, Brad Butler went with serving the greater good than trying to worry solely about himself. 

That's a response that comes all too rare in this day and age.  It's one that should be commended, not ridiculed.