Lately, however, Jose Theodore has been showing some flashes of his former self, and has been helping the Avs win some games in the absence of Ryan Smyth and Joe Sakic. Is he on the comeback trail?
Winning has a funny way of making players seem cool again. Theodore's locker stall has been bereft of reporters much of the past couple of seasons with the Avalanche, but has become a crowded place again.
In the past five games, he has a 3-2 record, 2.17 goals-against average and .921 save percentage (139 shots, 11 goals) in 304:41 minutes.
Before we get too excited, let's look at how both Theodore and Budaj are doing this season, overall.
Despite Theodore recent heroics, both Avs' goals are playing below the league average (~90.5%), and neither goalie seems capable of grabbing the #1 spot by the balls and driving Santa's sleigh.
At the very least, Theodore's play this season is a marked upgrade from the past two seasons, where he put up save percentages well below 90%. Perhaps he'll continue to gain confidence in himself and get back to at least league average? Perhaps he'll start to earn that massive salary?
The 2007 NASCAR seasons is in the book and oh ... the memories and monotony. I will remember it most as the year Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the company his father started, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus dominated and the season droned on in the car of tomorrow.
Here are the Top 35 things I will remember most about the 2007 NASCAR Season, in (mostly) chronological order:
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
Last night, all of that was back-burnered, if at least for a game. After the Calgary Flames chased Avs starter Peter Budaj with four goals, Theodore came off the pine and stopped 17 shots, winning the game in a glorified skills competition the shootout, 5-4. "I was trying to keep it simple, give my team a chance to win, and they showed a lot of character coming back," he said after the game. Don't you love it when the male models play humble?
I found it interesting that the Associated Press led with Theodore's unexpected performance, but that Adrian Dater of the Denver Post didn't drop his name until the eighth paragraph and downplayed his efforts while lauding those of the team in front of him. Perhaps he knew other publications would be playing the Theodore angle. Perhaps Dater, and Avs fans, have been conditioned in the post-Roy years to expect a goalie to lose a game and a team to win one. Or perhaps even on a redemptive night, Jose Theodore will always be seen as a cap-killing financial albatross and an unqualified bust between the pipes in Denver.
(Coming up next: The Hartley/Waddell Death Watch continues, Marty Brodeur's afraid of his own stats, Most Embarrassing Stat Line of Last Night, this week's "Aitch Effy," and Tonight's Games You Should Be Watching.)
Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers last night at The Avalon.
Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Gilliland, Denny Hamlin, David Stremme, Carl Edwards and Reed Sorenson rubbed shoulders with such Hollywood er, ... elite ... as Melissa Rivers, Adrienne Frantz, Alana Curry and Kelly Kruger.
Impressive. NASCAR ought to be huge out here in no time.
NASCAR's newest fan, Paris Hilton, also came out to celebrate with the boys and appears to have hit it off with Hamlin this time around after not having much luck with Kasey Kahne. The driver and heiress posed for obligatory photos before taking a seat to get to know each other better.
I don't have any details about how their evening ended, but I know it wasn't with Hamlin telling Hilton, "I have a girlfriend." The driver, who has recently been freed to fully embrace his playboy tendencies since closing the book on an 8-year relationship, is giving Dale Earnhardt Jr. a run for his money for NASCAR's Most Eligible Bachelor title these days.
This week's Sports Illustrated has a profile of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The profile doesn't break a whole lot of new ground -- it mostly goes over the big investment Jones is making in the Cowboys' new stadium -- but here's one tidbit I didn't know:
As a 23-year-old in 1966, (Jones) nearly bought the San Diego Chargers from Barron Hilton with money he didn't have. (Jones had arranged for a letter of credit from a labor union.) "You sure are young," Hilton told Jones.
The sale didn't go through, but we could ask a lot of hypothetical questions about Jones buying the Chargers -- how might pro football have been different if Jones had been an owner since before the AFL-NFL merger, how might the Cowboys have been different if Jones had never come along, etc. But my question is different.
What if Barron Hilton, who is the paternal grandfather of Paris Hilton, had never gotten out of the football business? And what if Paris had inherited the Chargers? I can only imagine what kind of criteria she'd use in determining which players to offer free-agent contracts.
In our lifetimes there are events that rarely happen. If we're lucky, we might get to experience them at least once in our lives. Like Haley's Comet, or Paris Hilton going to jail (Actually, we got that twice didn't we? Thanks, God!).
On Wednesday night, one of those rare life-changing moments took place.
I'll allow you all a moment to compose yourselves after such a shocker.
Of course you're all aware that Kendall hadn't homered since May 31st. Of last season. That's 157 games, and 619 at bats between home runs. Now, Kendall has never been a home run hitter, but his struggles at the plate this season aren't solely power related. After going 3-for-4 on Wednesday in Houston, Kendall raised his average to .210
His high point of the season.
So when he hit his home run, did he know it?
"I don't know that feeling enough, so I just hit it and run," he said with a smile.
So I don't know about you, but I'm making plans to be at an Athletics game on July 1st of 2008. I want to be there the next time Jason Kendall hits a home run.
As a White Sox fan, the last two and a half weeks or so have really sucked. Not like, "Oh man. That's too bad." sucked. I mean soul sucking sucked. Even back before the White Sox won a World Series in 2005, if they were having a bad year, I could still watch them. I might not have enjoyed it very much, but I could watch.
I can't watch this team anymore. They're horrible right now. They're 2-12 in their last 14 games! They've only scored 43 runs in those fourteen games. Meanwhile they've allowed 86 during the same span.
I just can't take it anymore, if I keep watching this team I may end up hating baseball. Considering I have eight other teams to cover, that's not a good thing. So I'm taking a break from the White Sox, and I've compiled a list of things I'd rather do than watch another White Sox game at this point.
Fans will be treated to free hot dogs, soda and potato chips and get a close-up look at the hockey team that brought the Stanley Cup to the Golden State for the first time, Nicoletti said.
The party is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. and will also include live music and entertainment, he said, promising some crowd-pleasing surprises in the lineup.
When the Angels won the World Series baseball crown in 2002, there was a short parade from the then-Arrowhead Pond to the parking lot of Angels Stadium. But a blow-out in the parking lot is more appropriate for the early evening time frame, Nicoletti said. He said the party will last two hours.
"Crowd-pleasing surprises," eh? Like, say, an appearance by a former major action hero who has fairly good approval ratings in California? Say, one who starred in the classic sci-fi film "Total Recall?" (I am, of course, referring to Kuato.)
"I live right there and I didn't even know they were playing. That's sad," said Sherry Robertson, a 34-year-old housewife lined up for the $6 early-bird special at the All-Cloth Anaheim West Car Wash on Thursday. "Southern California and ice, they just don't mix, do they?"
Damnit, Bettman: It appears now you've gone and lost the housewives-who-prefer-the-all-cloth-early-bird-special-wash demographic, too!
Paris Hilton never ceases to amaze me. Just when I thought she was just a celeb tart with a famous last name, she becomes our greatest adult cinema thespian since Jenna Jameson (or at least since Tera Patrick...you know, because I have this friend who watches...oh, forget it). Then came Paris the TV Star, Paris the Pop Star, Paris the Author and Paris the Corpse in the "House of Wax" remake. According to WENN - a little slice of tabloid heaven that provides roughly two thirds of every wacky morning DJ's celebrity news items - we can add yet another hidden talent to the list: Paris the Hockey Goddess. Via Actress Archives:
When asked in a recent interview what she would list as her top talents, Hilton replied, "Shopping, ice hockey and cooking."
Hilton says, "(I played) at high school in Connecticut at boarding school. I was on the ice hockey team"
"I don't know (what position I played). I would always move around, I wasn't just one position."
"I would always move around, I wasn't just one position?" That sound you hear is hundreds of late night talk show writers elbowing each other out of the way for the comedic lay-up of the year.
Assuming you're filthy rich, I'm sure you've already purchased tickets to socialize with injured Warriors, stare at Melyssa Ford's "assets" and share pet care tips with Ron Artest. At least, you better have. Otherwise, my All-Star Weekend Party Guide dispatches have been all for naught!
But hey, if you're not partied out yet, here's some new juicy details regarding two of the hottest bashes in town. From the amazingly well-informed, and delightfully named, NORM! Vegas Confidential:
The toughest party ticket in Las Vegas this week? It's a coin flip between Michael Jordan's birthday party at Bellagio and Paris Hilton's soiree at the Hard Rock Hotel. Both are on Saturday.
Organizers for Jordan's party have reportedly been on a mission to hire 75 models and dancers. He turns 44.
The invite list to Hilton's 26th birthday party at The Joint includes former party pal Nicole Richie. Also invited: Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Snoop Dogg, porn star Jenna Jameson, actress Elisha Cuthbert, music producer Scott Storch and rapper Fat Joe.
At 3 a.m. the Hilton party moves the Hard Rock Penthouse, where host Jeff Beacher has assembled a mini-"Madhouse," with little people, the Tiny Kiss band, a monkey, goat, stiltwalkers and plus-sized go-go dancers.
Now, assuming you're NOT filthy rich, but could afford to attend one of these parties, which one would you pick: Paris or Jordan's?
Some 'family business' during the lockout seemed to sap any game that Jose Theodore had. The once-upon-a-time-MVP-like goaltender dropped from a sweet 91.9SV% before the lockout to a paltry 88.1SV% after the NHL rebooted, spurring his trade from Montreal to Colorado. Being caught out cheating with skanky Paris Hilton certainly didn't help him much (note to guys: Pink shirts never work, mmkay?), nor being caught with a steroid masking agent in his blood.
The 2007 NASCAR seasons is in the book and oh ... the memories and monotony. I will remember it most as the year Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the company his father started, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus dominated and the season droned on in the car of tomorrow.
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers last night at The Avalon.
This week's Sports Illustrated has a profile of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The profile doesn't break a whole lot of new ground -- it mostly goes over the big investment Jones is making in the Cowboys' new stadium -- but here's one tidbit I didn't know:
In our lifetimes there are events that rarely happen. If we're lucky, we might get to experience them at least once in our lives. Like Haley's Comet, or 
As a White Sox fan, the last two and a half weeks or so have really sucked. Not like, "Oh man. That's too bad." sucked. I mean soul sucking sucked. Even back before the White Sox won a World Series in 2005, if they were having a bad year, I could still watch them. I might not have enjoyed it very much, but I could watch.
The Anaheim Ducks didn't just steal 
Paris Hilton never ceases to amaze me. Just when I thought she was just a celeb tart with a famous last name, she becomes our greatest adult cinema thespian since Jenna Jameson (or at least since Tera Patrick...you know, because I have this friend who watches...oh, forget it). Then came Paris the TV Star, Paris the Pop Star, Paris the Author and Paris the Corpse in the "House of Wax" remake. According to WENN - a little slice of tabloid heaven that provides roughly two thirds of every wacky morning DJ's celebrity news items - 
Assuming you're filthy rich, I'm sure you've already purchased tickets to socialize with 
