The Whale

I'm sitting at work watching the Carolina Hurricanes roar back on the Montreal Canadiens and, I'll be honest, it sickens me.

That "fans" in Raleigh, N.C. even get an NHL team is infuriating enough, that the NHL pillaged the good people of Hartford, Conn. in order to put another squad in NASCARland and, in so doing, ridded professional sports of the greatest team logo in the world of athletics, was a downright tragedy.

I, my friends, remain a Hartford Whalers fan. Ron Francis was the first non-Winnipeg Jet professional athlete to give me an autograph and that had me hooked. I bought a Whalers jersey for my hockey practises, watched the team religiously tease me with first-round playoff exits that were littered with so-close-but-oh-so-far efforts and then eventually swore off the bastard league that took away my two beloved teams.

Hartford Whalers, we hardly knew ye.

In honour of the harpooned Whale, I give you this, the most catchy of catchy tunes, The Hartford Whalers Victory March (nee: The Brass Bonanza), played after every goal by Kevin Dineen, Ray Ferraro, Terry Yake, Pat Verbeek or even Randy Ladouceur. Back in the days when the NHL wasn't playing the latest techno/trance song to pump up its team, when organs were regulars in the rafters of old barns, when divisions were named after great men like Adams, Smythe and Norris, and the closest the deep south got to having a team was trying to remember what that "Flames" team was that played somewhere in Georgia.

March on Whalers.

Here's to an early Carolina exit so the people of Raleigh can go back to cheering for what they actually know something about:

Purge and binge

My talking about the topic of the dismantling of the Ottawa Renegades wouldn't just be overkill, it would be completely frivolous as well. No one needs to read another person espousing on the mess that is the capital city's former football team. Needless to say, I feel bad for the people of Ottawa but am absolutely taxing my brain to figure out why the CFL would allow the Gliebermans anywhere within 1,000 feet of a franchise.

I did, however, see in one of the number of visual obituaries that aired on TV a small group of fans holding a black flag at a game that said "Renegade Nation." Seriously? I have to put some sort of moratorium on the use of " Nation" in sports. Leaf Nation, Raider Nation, Rider Nation... Enough. When the biggest laughingstock franchise in the history of the CFL gets to have a "Nation" — as if to insinuate this is some sort of storied franchise with legions of fans across the continent — then we've gone too far. Personally, I think it's time Ottawa is gone for good. The CFL — and the city of Ottawa — loses credibility everytime it tries to resurrect a team in the capital and the past two decades have shown that, for many and varying reasons, it's just not going to happen. Take that horse to the glue factory.

That said, the dispersal draft was a fun time, wasn't it? I mean, this was the equivalent of some old, rich coot — who never really was successful, just rich — filing Chapter 11 and then being forced to have a yard sale where everything was selling for 11 cents and under. Like the Enron guys comping that big Crooked E for a couple bucks.

Some experts have pegged the Bombers as the big winner in the draft and no doubt they've done well with their picks. Ibrahim Khan was arguably the most coveted player and Val St. Germain brings more veteran leadership to the O-line. More importantly, the Bombers now have two Canadians on the line allowing them to use some non-import spots in skill positions. Brad Banks is a guy everyone is very excited about but I think the jury is still out on him. He's athletic as hell, a former Heisman candidate at Iowa and has shown signs of being someone with a bright future, but you could dike the Red River with the bodies of the QBs who have been reported to have big upside and then never materialized.

The most curious move to me was the Saskatchewan Roughriders perhaps throwing their franchise under the bus for Kerry Joseph. I'm still not remotely sold on Joseph even though everyone has druelled over his potential since he came in the league. In the CFL, every team has a chance to be competitive every season and the Renegades never matured into much more than a team that scored a couple upset wins, scared a few people early on and then fell back into the "wait til next year" mode. Despite how badly CFL talking heads wanted them to succeed — after all it's their job to constantly hide the Emperor's nudity — the Renegades were a chump team that never made the playoffs and Joseph has to take a chunk of the responsibility for that.

In 2003, he had one of his best seasons and even then he threw for 19 TDs against 20 INTs. There's no doubting his athletic ability, although the Riders giving away Corey Holmes — perhaps the most versatile and dangerous player in the league — to get a guy who fits the mold of every Saskatchewan quarterback of the past decade is curious to say the least.

Marcus Crandell, Nealon Greene, Rocky Butler, Kevin Glenn, Henry Burris and now Kerry Joseph. Anyone seeing a connection between all these guys and the degree of suck the Riders have displayed? Kerry Joseph could be the guy to take them over the top, but I'm not betting on it. To franchise one of the best players in the league just to obtain a carbon copy of all the other failing QBs you've had is bone-headed at best. But we wouldn't expect much else out of the Gappers, now would we?

---

How I didn't lead with this item is beyond me but, brace yourself people, Saturday was Nebraska's Spring Game meaning there is just 141 days until the season starts against Louisiana Tech at old Memorial.

Some 57,000 people showed up to see the Red-White game, which is little more than the final scrimmage of spring practice but nonetheless a golden chance to have a look at what might be for 2006-07.

To say I'm excited about this season is an understatement. For the first time in the Bill Callahan/West Coast-era, the Huskers have expectations on them. A three-game win streak that included a road win at Colorado and an Alamo Bowl-victory over Michigan capped off last season and got Big Red fans jazzed about the team again. Well, not like the fans ever went anywhere, but the last few seasons have been the most taxing in Husker history.

Zac Taylor is back to lead the offence, the backfield could be a three-headed monster with Cody Glenn, Marlon Lucky and Leon Jackson all lining up to take the departed Cory Ross' place, the defence will be as good as ever and kicker Jordan Congdon enters his sophomore season after one of the best freshman year's in the Big 12.

For the first time since Callahan took over, the Huskers are once again at least being mentioned as a potential North Division winner, although they'll have Iowa State it would appear to jump over.

This year's Canadians for Nebraska roady takes place Oct. 19-22 when we head down to Lincoln to see the defending national champion Texas Longhorns. This trip will top everything I've ever done in my life. That's how successful I've been.

Anyway, one time before we break for the summer ... GO BIG RED!