Floyd Mayweather Criticizes Jeremy Lin Hype

"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise," Mayweather wrote on his Twitter account.

"Its OK for ESPN to give their opinion but I say something and everyone questions Floyd Mayweather," the boxer tweeted. "I'm speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up. Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized."

Ugh, you knew someone was going to do it. Someone was going to take this great story and have to make it somehow racist. Is Lin's popularity tied at all to race? Yes, of course. We haven't really had an Asian player take over games, other then Yao and he was a big man not a PG. So sure, it has to do with race because it's something we haven't seen before, like when Tiger exploded onto the golf scene. People get excited when something different comes around.

Plus, I don't think this is all tied to basketball. This is a guy who came out of nowhere. I mean he went to Harvard, was cut by 2 teams, and now is dropping 30+ points a night in the NBA. Not too many stories like that come around. Gilbert Arenas was kind of like it, and I remember "Agent 0" getting a ton of hype.

So you know what Mayweather, why don't you just leave the kid alone and let everyone enjoy this? We all love an underdog story and this is nothing more than that. Sit in your house, talk to yourself and the 3rd person and prepare for jail.

God I Miss Perkins

I wasn't the biggest Perkins fan. I was against the trade, but overall nothing about Perkins made me love him, but now looking back I like that he was just an angry dude. It seems like little has changed as he takes shots at LeBron...

"Perkins then found himself on Twitter, where James, among others, could not contain his amazement over what he had seen.

"Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6," James tweeted, apparently referring to his own dunk the day before over Chicago Bulls point guard John Lucas III being relegated behind Griffin's poster-quality jam.

Perkins told Yahoo! Sports that he didn't appreciate that.

"You don't see Kobe (Bryant) tweeting," Perkins said, according to the report. "You don't see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you're an elite player, plays like that don't excite you.

"At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play. They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2," Perkins added, according to the report. "I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him (ESPN)."

Ya damn right Perkins. Remember when LeBron had everyone take the tapes of him being dunked on? Remember how LeBron is suddenly friends with Tebow, because Tebow is popular?

Perkins was spot on with his comments. LeChoke is so worried about his "legacy" and "image" that it makes him shrink to nothing in the 4th quarter. He will never be what Kobe or Jordan were. Those guys didn't give a fuck, all that mattered was winning.

Miss ya Perk!

Alfie Out With Concussion Problems

Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson will be out a minimum of a week after suffering a concussion on a cheap shot elbow to the head at the hands of the Rangers' Wolski on Saturday afternoon. Alfie, who missed the game on Sunday as well, will be re-evaluated in a weeks time, though there is no guarantee he will be back then. What a shame to happen to him of all people and the stunning part is there was no suspension handed out to Wolski after the NHL spent all pre season bombarding us with suspensions.





In case you missed it, here is the hit from multiple angles. I mean I don't know what more Brendan Shannahan and the NHl are looking for. It's pretty black and white to me. A clear cheap shot that deserved suspension.

Ian Mendes tweeted this about the Alfie hit, which wouldn't be all that newsworthy normally other than because it's from Mendes, who for the record is my favorite Sens media guy, but it got a player to respond.........

Former Sen Mike Fisher retorted and I think it says it all about the NHL's consistency. Smarten up and fast.


Thoughts on the Alfie injury?

Your OT Scorer Is On Twitter

Mark Stone is having a pretty good summer. He was a big stand out at the junior camp earlier this offseason and last night he scored the OT winner to be the Leafs and claim the rookie tourney title. Well let's see what else the kid has up his sleeve on Twitter.

Goal Song

The Senators are offering the fans a chance to get in on some of the in game action at SBP this upcoming season. They are looking for suggestions for a new goal song to be played when the good guys score. It could be a cool opportunity for your pick to be starting a new tradition with the club. To suggest your pick click here.

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Good News

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Beer Gate

Clever little response from Bruce Garrioch over the Kovalev comments last week. Kill him with humor people, that's the way to do it.

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Kovalev Reaction

Yesterday the enigmatic and supremely frustrating Alexei Kovalev had some words for the media in Ottawa. Normally it would be semi newsworthy, but I doubt anyone would really care, but this time it was funny because he declared that that the journalists who cover the Sens smuggle beer in their suitcases at airports. It's such a ridiculous claim that maybe it's true? I knew the Ottawa media would likely fight back to the outrageous comment, so here are some of their retorts.

First up is the TEAM 1200's Steve Lloyd, who tried to be funny but didn't really get there. The stay classy Alex hashtag just killed any humurous momentum, however small, he had going. Using a border joke that everyone in the area can related was a good move, he just didn't execute it well. Oh well it's a long season and he can just take it one joke at a time. The important thing was his teammates picked up the slack.

This is a much better effort by Wayne Scanlan. He pokes fun at himself and the other media members and still manages to get a shot in against Kovalev. What makes a joke work is making fun of something we all know to be true, so Scanner nailed it. I especially like the beer smuggling part. I think the Ottawa media should now be known as the beer smugglers.

Bruce Garrioch was the seemingly the most upset about the comments and people's reaction to it. No joke to be had here, just his feelings on the matter. The real reaction was this piece he wrote about it, in which I thought he killed it. He does a great job at delivering facts, while also getting some revenge with truthful barbs peppered throughout the artcile. Well done.

And the winner.........who else but my personal favorite, Ian Mendes, who has to be one of the funniest people in the sports business. What an excellent way to handle it. Spot on joke and hits all the necessary points. You see this is what you do, you poke fun at yourself in a self depricating way and don't take yourself too seriously.

Thoughts?

UPDATE @ 4pm on August 9th:

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View The Stanley Cup Friday

Ottawa native Peter Chiarelli will spend his day with the cup in the capital and it will be available for public viewing on Friday at the Univeristy of Ottawa's Tabaret Hall starting at 10am. If you go down be sure to wish Peter a happy birthday, as he turns 47 on Friday. Not a bad way to celebrate.

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Daugavins Returns and Re-Ups

Kaspars Daugavins at the Calder Cup Championship parade in fine form

In a bit of very weird news, Kaspars Daugavins has signed a 1 year, 2 way deal to return to the Ottawa Senators after appearing to have signed with a KHL team just a week or so ago. It appears that what he actually signed with the Latvian club was a tryout contract, which allowed him to come back to the NHL/AHL if he chose, which he no doubt used to put the pressure on BM the GM to sign him to a new deal.

What stood out to me about the contract was that it's a 2 way deal and not 1 way. You'd figure after going to this much trouble to sign him that Daugavins would only want to be in the NHL and that the Sens would show good faith and let him play in the show. Especially after handing out one way deals to Condra, Greening, Zack Smith and Bobby Butler. The word on the street right now is that there may be a clause that he gets a certain amount of games in the NHL to get a chance to prove himself in return for his John Hancock but only a rumor at this point.

On a personal note, I know I had said he was gone to play closer to home in my previous Daugavins post, but it now appears that was half true and half a leverage tactic. At the time the information was correct, but this is a very unusual move that has transpired and I could not have seen it coming. I was shocked when I saw he had re-signed with the Sens. It was a crazy move that has seemingly worked out well for the Latvian, who appears wants to give the NHL one more shot.

Thoughts on him re-upping?

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That Was Fast

Exactly a week ago, Erik Karlsson joined Twitter, which meant he was our first current player of any stature to join the popular social media site. Many fans were excited to see what he may share, but I'm afraid you're going to have to curb your enthusiasm on the matter. Fast forward 7 days and his account has been deleted almost as fast as his girlfriends blog from a couple of years ago (stick tap to you if you get that reference).

No explanation has been given on the subject, but it seems a bit weird to delete it so quickly. Perhaps twitter asked him to play defensively? Just kidding....sort of.

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Zibanejad On Twitter

Mika Zibanejad at the 2011 NHL Draft in Minnesota

6 months ago I was complaining about the fact that there were no Senators on twitter, then a month ago Ryan Shannon joined, though it's fairly likely he won't be back with us. Well worry no more because our 6th overall pick Mika Zibanejad is here to the rescue in more ways than one. He has also joined twitter and will be tweeting a lot more once his development camp is over says his graphic designining cousin I spoke to. So let's all welcome him to Ottawa and the Sens Army. You can follow him by clicking here.

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Like A Boss!

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Ryan Shannon Joins Twitter

Finally! A Sens player, well at least one for now since he's a UFA, but Ryan Shannon has joined Twitter. This makes him the first Sens player to have joined the social networking site. I've been complaining about this for quite awhile, so I'm glad to see someone take the lead, and according to GM Bryan Murray, Shannon may be back next year too. To follow Ryan Shannon click here and to follow me click here.

Thoughts?

Rideau Centre Sens Store Closes

The Sens Store at Rideau Centre is now closed

The Sens Store at Rideau has now gone out of business, errr I mean is moving locations, which is code for we're not doing well and we need to cut costs and/or losses. Either way, the Rideau Centre Sens Store is no more, but a new location will be opening somewhere in the city in the next few months, which I have heard will likely be at Bayshore Shopping Centre. That of course makes zero sense, which means it's probably true.

Kind of an embarassing moment for the Sens organiation if you ask me. I doubt anywhere in Ottawa gets more traffic than a store near the Rideau food court, so obviously the market wasn't responding to their store.

Also interesting to note that the real Spartacat has a twitter and took the time of his busy schedule to send me a message. What a day!

Thoughts on the store closing?

Shocking!

This is what the agents of former Sen Mike Fisher and current Sen Chris Neil had to say about Sean Avery's comments of supporting gay marriage. It's 2011 fellas, might be a bit more careful what you say and become a bit more progressive. Enjoy the last few days of being agents. Shit storm coming in 3.....2....1.........

In my eyes, if Neil and Fisher don't come out and immediately fire them, then to me they are supporting what they say. Let's see what happens.

Thoughts?

Cowen Looks Right At Home

Shoutout to Sens prospect Jared Cowen, who recorded his first AHL point in last night's series clinching win over Portland on his very first AHL shift. Not a bad to start your pro career off. Respect! In case you were wondering, Cowen wears #4 for Bingo instead of his usual #2, since that digit is being used already by Eric Gryba.

Thoughts on Cowens debut?

B-Sens Take Game 4

What a few days its been. The royal wedding, the killing of Bin Laden, the surprising election, and now the B-Sens take game 4, which means they are 1 more game away from taking the series. For a full wrap up click here

I Got My Wish, Sort Of

In a January rant, I lamented the fact that no Ottawa Senators player had joined the Twitter-verse. Well today I got my wish, sort of. You see it was a player we're all very familiar with around here, albeit a former Senator. Yesterday was the day Mike Fisher decided to join Twitter. His first tweet was of course Jesus relate, which means he will be a boring tweeter for the most part given his personality. This will satisfy all of the loyal Ottawa, I mean Nashville fans of his, I mean his wife. If you want to follow him click here.

Of course after less than 2 days and only 3 boring tweets so far, he already has 5,000 followers. Thoughts on Fisher joining?

Interesting.....

Will Binghamton make it to 4 too? Find out later today at 7pm as they play game 7 vs Manchester.