Wednesday, November 12th, 2008...12:26 pm

CC And…Whine?

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Peter King on the S I site has a must read analysis of the final 46 seconds of the San Francisco 49ers loss to the Arizona Cardinals Monday night. The hapless Niners ran only two plays from the shadow of the Cardinals goal line, with the final play reflecting an incomprehensible decision to go up the gut from the two and a half yard line. King comes very close to suggesting co-ordinator Mike Martz should be dismissed for incompetence…great read on the Sporting News site ranks the top receivers in the NFL. Number one is Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans, followed by Brandon Marshall of the Broncos and Steve Smith of the Panthers. The names Terrell Owens and Randy Moss have slipped precipitously down the list…Roy Williams has three catches for the Dallas Cowboys in three games since leaving the Detroit Lions. This acquisition is going to haunt the ‘Boys for an awfully long time…how low have the Rams sunk this year? Six point underdogs to the aforementioned 49ers, off the short week, kind of sums it up…DeAngelo Hall, ex of the Raiders, has landed with his hometown Redskins…the Fan’s Bob McCowan was livid at NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman after the perfect one announced all 30 teams are in good shape. The Bobcat at his finest essentially described the comments as lies…the Detroit Red Wings have not raised their ticket prices in three years. Despite this, they are battling a steady erosion of their season tickets base, declining from over 17,000 to under 14,000…the leader in the John Tavares Derby, last overall in the NHL, is currently the New York Islanders. They could be there for a while, especially if rumours about their reacquisition of winger Jason Blake pan out…CC Sabathia went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA for the Milwaukee Brewers but received only one first place vote for the National League Cy Young. Winner Tim Lincecum, was 18-5, 2.62 ERA for the San Francisco Giants…Promoter Bob Arum reported the recent Bernard Hopkins-Kelly Pavlik fight did a paltry 109,000 buys. Desperate figures but instead of a slap at boxing I read it as just another indicator that the buying public never warmed to Hopkins the way the “purists” did…the stunning, “out of your seat” moment in the Joe Calzaghe beat down of Roy Jones on Saturday was clearly the first round knockdown of the Welshman. Every other aspect of the fight went as expected with Jones looking weary and shop-worn. Both fighters should call it a career, though if Calzaghe does continue I hope his next big fight is a rematch with Mikkel Kessler…this is a treacherous time to be playing the ponies at Woodbine. As the season comes to an end numerous stables will be attempting to off load their expensive charges by placing them in the selling ranks for bargain prices. Now, mixed in with that lot will be the sore, beaten up animals that are anathema to the punter. Jennifer Morrison, handicapper for the Star, advises watching for stables that seem to be dropping their sound animals into likely spots. With the current financial turmoil placing pressure on any business enterprise, we can expect a wild final few weeks in Toronto. It is simply cost prohibitive for many owners to either pay for upkeep during the dead winter months or to ship their runners to New York or Florida…huge fields abound tonight but I’m going to spend the first four races reading Raymond Chandler and taking notes. In the fifth, FIRST PRIORITY ships up from the Fort while seemingly sound and in good form. He ran an even race against slightly better and a move forward would be beneficial tonight. Try a couple of longshots who are in reasonable form, Sonjabella and Sweet Theatrical, to complete some fat exotics…in the sixth EXECUTIVE PRODUCER takes a slight drop after an impressive run last out. The gelding passed runners at every call before finishing just behind the winner…in the seventh, the night’s feature, DASH IT DREAMER is intriguing. The filly has demonstrated both sharp speed and rallying power in her last two starts. The move to two turns could have the daughter of Kiridashi set to run her best. McAleney bails but a better rider, Emma Jayne, takes over…in the eighth COLD HARBOUR, an expensive three year old son of Distorted Humor, can surely notch his initial lifetime win. The long overdue runner has slowly matured and increased his velocity and it is simply time for graduation…

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