Big year comming...

As the intense summer heat turns slowly to a cool autumn breeze, there's only one thing on all of our minds, the return of the hockey. This coming season looks to be a promising one as the team and the city celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens. This is the season that management has had pegged for sometime now as the season in which we expect to legitimately contend. Building for the future has temporarily been put on hold, and the current focus is to win now. What could be better than having the Habs play for the Stanley Cup in this most special of years? Oh ya, and the All Star Game is here this year too!

Summer Recap: In case you've been living under a rock all summer, here's what's transpired. Streit, Ryder, Smolinski and Grabovski are all gone. Georges Laraque and Alex Tanguay have been signed. Halak has decided to stay a little longer, and so has O'byrne. Are we a better team right now then we were at last seasons' end? I guess it depends on who you ask, but in my mind the team has gotten better. Ryder and Smolinski were both lazy players and lousy competitors last season never looking like they were giving 100%. Grabovski was useless to us, and Streit, while he did put up great numbers on the PP simply wasn't worth the money. Throw in Laraque who is a BEAST to protect some of our euro-danglers, and Tanguay who's a skilled offensive player and i think we've got a serious squad. Though, it still remains to be seen how Tanguay will fit in after a sub par season last year with the Flames. If he can get back on track and light it up this year I think the Habs can take either first or second in the conference.

Sundin Saga: I really don't know what's happening here, but I've decided for myself that I don't want Sundin on the Habs. Obviously I'm not the GM, but it would just seem so wrong to bring in a guy who has been the face of the Maple Losers for essentially his entire career. Plus, if we were to go all the way, I wouldn't want to hear for the next 10 years from Leafs fans about how it was all because of Sundin. I know the guy is a great hockey player, a veteran leader, and could certainly help our team, but I'm still not down...

GHG 08-09

Timeout: Gotta talk about Favre for a minute...

Sorry Habs fans, but there really hasn't been much news to speak of lately. In the meantime I feel the need to talk briefly about what happened with NFL quarterback Brett Favre. The more I think about it, the less I can believe that it actually happened.

For those of you who don't know, Brett Favre is a living legend and a lock to be in the pro football hall of fame. He's played his entire career with the Green Bay Packers and will surely go down as the best player that team has ever had. Favre began his career with the Pack in 1992 and started every game until he announced his retirement after the 2008 season. He currently holds the NFL record for most games started, wins, passing yards, passing touchdowns, pass completions, and the list goes on...

After last season Favre decided that it was time to hang up his cleats and retire from the game. The Packers were sad to see him go, but were somewhat excited about handing over the reigns to the backup Aaron Rodgers. Rogers was a stud in college and had been quietly waiting in the wings for his shot at the starting job. For such a high draft pick (first round), Rodgers certainly paid his dues spending the past 3 seasons watching from the bench, essentially waiting for Favre to retire. When Favre announced his retirement in the off season the Packers handed the job to Rodgers and started planning for life without him.

Things began to get very interesting when Favre recently announced his intentions to come out of retirement and play again this coming season. Much drama ensued, and speculation was out of control as to whether he would be the starter again in Green Bay. In a shocking turn of events, the Packers decided that they didn't want to give the starting job back to Favre and that they were set on handing the team over to Aaron Rodgers. UNBELIEVABLE! In case you've been living under a rock, Brett Favre has been the face of the Packers franchise, their best player, their leader, and a Green Bay legend for the better part of two decades. I couldn't believe that they turned him away! It's like imagine if Wayne Gretzky was still playing and decided to retire, only to decide on the off season that he wanted to play another year. Do you think his team would say 'sorry Wayne, we've already made our plans to continue without you."?? Exactly.

If you thought the story was done there, you're wrong. In an even weirder turn of events, after considering their options, the Packers decided to trade Favre to the Jets! So, Favre will play this season as the starting quarterback for the New York Jets.

If that wasn't enough, video game juggernaut EASPORTS just released their football game, Madden 09 , and the cover features Brett Favre in his Packers uniform!! AMAZING.

In summary, maybe the best quarterback of all time retired, came out of retirement, was refused by his team, was then traded to the Jets, and is on the cover of America's most popular video game wearing the Packers uniform! SPORTS STORY OF THE YEAR!

The Hell with Sundin! (part 2)

Now I'm pissed. All these 'experts' have been telling us that we will know what Sundin will do by August 1st. Well, it's now the 5th of August and it seems like everyone is even more confused then when we started. Will the Habs get him? Will he be snatched up by a contender at the last minute? Will he retire? Whatever the choice is, I hope he *#^&in makes it soon because this is ridiculous. Chances are that he will come back and sign a one or two year deal with some team, though I'm believing less and less that it will be with the Habs.

Something has to be done about these old geezers taking soooo much time to decide whether they will continue to play or not. Usually they all end up wanting to play in the end, but the real prima-donna's sometimes even wait until mid-season to get back into the mix. This Sundin saga is a perfect example of how these big baby's steal the spotlight for no reason. It's obvious that he wants a chance at a cup, and Montreal might be a good fit for that. But, at this point I would pay to never have to see or hear about Mats Sundin for the rest of my life. What, it's my fault that he played for a joke of an organization for most of his career and never even came close to a cup? Didn't think so. Screw you Sundin, quit being such a *^@%in baby!

I hope he gets injured in his off season training and can't sign with anyone! Actually, it would be OK if he signed with the Leafs again. They'll suck either way.