Friday, July 29, 2011

Holla For Holidays

At about 11:00 tomorrow morning, I'll be on Holidays for the next 10 days. After the past few months with the flooding situation in the Southeast, it made for some long hours in the newsroom. I'm definitely looking forward to taking some time off, because when I come back it will be very busy time in the Energy City with the Kraft Celebration Tour on Aug. 25, along with local football getting underway and Bruins Camp not too far away. (Sept. 2 in case you're wondering)

I'll be heading to the Rider game tomorrow and after that I'm off to Waskiseu for the duration of my holidays. My schedule will mostly consist of golfing, beach time, and spending time on the boat. But here's some tidbits and thoughts of mine.

-- The Bruins will likely be quiet over the next 10 days. They are looking to move Brett Rock and Matt Szpak, but they are waiting to get the right compensation for those two players. I've talked Szpak a couple times this summer, and I know he's anxious to find out where he'll play next season. It's a shame Szpak isn't returning to Estevan, because him and Dominic Perrault formed a real solid defensive pairing in last year's playoffs. But it's also understandable why Szpak wants to play his final year of Junior hockey close to home. Szpak holds a dubious distinction this summer, by appearing live on Sportsnet and TSN on back to back nights. Last month during a Blue Jays and Pittsburgh game, Szpak was sitting behind home plate, and then the next night during the Hamilton Ti-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers game, Szpak was seen on TV on the sidelines.

-- I posted a new poll question on the top right hand corner, Who do think should be the Bruins Captain this season? I left the three players who I think rank as the top contenders as options. Dominic Perrault, Josh Jelinski, and Eric Baldwin. There's a lot of character on this team, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Bruins had rotating assistants because there's so many great candidates. I'll give my 2 cents about the issue when I'm back from holidays. But I can say right now, all three would make great captains.

-- My TV show Locker Talk has been taking a summer break. It looks like the next episode will be airing August 18. The episode will either be a sit down with Bruins Head Coach Keith Cassidy or a discussion about the Kraft Celebration Tour.

-- A win for the Riders tomorrow and they're in second place, it's funny how quick things change in the CFL. I'm ooking forward to Gene Makowsky tie Roger Aldag's record of appearances as a Rider, got to meet Makowsky in the spring, and he's really a class act.


-- Best of luck to Estevan's Michael Bittman, who's at the Regina Thunder camp trying to crack the roster. While Bittman has tons of athletic ability, the most impressive thing about him is how much he matured over the past 2 years. I've got the feeling we'll be hearing a lot about him in both the PFC and eventually the CIS (if he chooses that route)

-- It's been a fun week watching the player moves in the NFL. I'm a 49ers fan, so it's been mostly quiet with the lone standout acquisition being former All-Pro kicker David Akers. Even though they haven't made many moves this week, I still like their chances in the NFC West. Especially with the defending champion Seattle Seahawks replacing Matt Hasselback with Tavares Jackson at QB.

--Congrats to Darian Durant's brother Justin signing with Detroit. With Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley as his defensive tackles, he's bound to post some big numbers this season.

-- The Lions are the ultimate dark horse team in the NFL this season. That's right I think the Lions will be a playoff team. Of course as long as Matt Stafford doesn't get hurt.

-- You think in 3 years we'll be making a Pat Gillick comparison to Alex Anthopoulos?

Enjoy the long weekend everyone, and I'll talk to you in about 10 days.

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