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Marc Crawford has an interesting take on this years streaking San Jose Sharks. He believes the subtraction of Craig Rivet and Brian Campbell and the addition of Rob Blake, Dan Boyle and Brian Lukowich has added needed leadership both on the ice and in the room. I find this intriguing as I’m still skeptical concerning the post season inclinations of both Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. It’s a long season and I’m not ready to give the Sharks the Cup yet…Detroit Red Wing goalies Chris Osgoode and back-up Ty Conklin are both coming back down to earth this year. Osgoode sports a soft .876 save percentage while Conklin has lost two of his last three…when you go on the Red Wing official website you find Dominik Hasek listed as their second goalie …Bill Marcus Stroud criticized the crowd in Toronto yesterday. He said a Buffalo gathering is rowdier and “we could have used that rowdiness today”. He should be ashamed of the effort of his team and focus his energies on their improvement. The Bills freefall, scoring six points in the last two games, has nothing to do with crowd noise or the lack thereof…when the NFL is on there is only one place I want to be, on my couch. The game is insufferably boring as a live event, featuring 12 minutes of action through a three and a half hour time span. I like the Sunday papers, a cold one and, most importantly, a remote…because of the shorter season the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers were only 0-14. No NFL team has ever sunk to a horrid 0-16, which means  this years Detroit Lions could be one for the record books…Peyton Manning, 26 of 32 for 277 yards yesterday, while dumping the Cleveland Browns, has found his game again. He is playing some serious football and that is an exciting thought as we near the playoffs…the New England Patriots made me queasy a couple of times this week;  first, for bringing Junior Seau back and second, for making Seattle Seahawk QB Seneca Wallace look like a football player yesterday…thought they could have stopped the Pacquaio - De La Hoya fight in the seventh round. Oscar was absorbing punishment and, like in the Bernard Hopkins match, broadcasting not-so-subtle messages that he did not want to continue. The Golden Boy was simply malnourished and spent. While always an entertaining and handy fighter, he was far from being a “great” one. He was gifted with decisions over Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey and was adept, at various stages of his career, of sidestepping dangerous foes (remember Michael Katz labelling him “Chicken De La Hoya”?) I thought his finest moments were the victories over Fernando Vargas, where he showed anger and steel determination, and the second fight with Shane Mosley when, though the verdict was inexplicably wrong, his determination and desire was palpable. His lowest moments include the terrible refusal to engage Felix Trinidad in the last three rounds of their encounter, and the two dreadful middleweight excursions against Felix Sturm and Hopkins. Thanks for the memories. Oscar was a money machine and a very good fighter, but he never would have excelled against a Barney Ross, a Ray Leonard, or, heaven forbid, a Ray Robinson…when ranking the welterweights “all time”, I’d put the two Rays at the top with Henry Armstrong next, followed by Jimmy McLarnin and Ross…c’mon, you don’t really have to ask which Sugar Ray gets top billing?…Juan Manuel Lopez was electrifying on the under card. He is in the junior featherweight mix now with Israel Vasquez, Rafael Marquez and Celestino Caballero. Canadian Steve Molitor mortified fans of the sweet science with his poor showing last out and has fallen precipitously in the rankings…absolutely delighted to hear that Woodbine stewards have suspended Simon Husbands for one year after reviewing his dismal non-effort on Bugs Boy in the third race Sunday Nov 30^th. I was sceptical that any action would be taken and voiced that feeling on this site. So I’ll eat a pile of crow and apologize, looks like someone is looking out for the punter in the Big Smoke…I mentioned to my brother the other day that I had gone to see Neil Diamond at the ACC last week. He paused, looked at me and said, “That’s funny. You just said Neil Diamond when you meant to say Neil Young”. Uh, yeah, I said, that is funny, while slinking away…