You know, the constant parade of players pulling out and snubbing the World Cup of Hockey has frustrated a lot of fans.

That's why it's nice to see at least one player, Martin Brodeur, speak out and call out some of his fellow well-paid brethren:

"To me, this is the biggest competition and if you're 100%, I don't know why you wouldn't be here,' he said. "It's great to compete at this level.

"You think about Canada vs. U.S.A. or Canada vs. Russia, and the level of play will just be excellent. I'm not disappointed (in those players), I just think you would want to play in these kinds of games."

"If the guys are hurt and they can't be here, then that's fine. I understand that completely," Brodeur said. "But there are some guys who have just pulled out and they have no excuse.

Guys like Mathieu Schneider are pulling out because they can't get insurance?
WEAK

AFLAC!

You know, the one that pays you money when you miss work...

AFLAC!

I forgot the name

AFLAAAAAAAAAC!

Oh well, who cares.

Admittedly, the Canada World Cup has lost much of its luster over the years. Changing political tides and 8-year long breaks will do that. Still, this tournament is HUGE and you only get so many chances to represent your country on such a big stage.

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The Mediots Are Out!

Oh boy, it looks like summer vacation is over for the moronic mediots from the Center of the Universe.

Case in point: Mike Ulmer - Team Canada Will Rule the World

This baby shouldn't even be close.

Two years after reasserting Canada's standing at Salt Lake, Canada has retooled while the rest of the hockey world has treaded water.


Riiiight. This past draft's top 2 picks were Russian, and it's not as if Canadians are monopolizing the individual awards.

that country's entire system but even the masterful Hlinka wasn't expected to generate much out of a thin roster built around Patrik Elias and the burned-out Jaromir Jagr, especially with Roman Cechmanek in goal.

Thank Germany and Slovakia for coming out and that leaves Canada.

Hmm, Remember Nagano? 1998? The Czechs won with a roster that had almost half of it constructed on non-NHLers. (BTW, Vokoun is going to be #1 you moron!). The European countries train a lot more together than the Country-club Canadians (Remember the last World Cup? The players partied at Whistler and golfed more than skated) and tend to play a much better team game than the Canadians. Looking back at Salt Lake City in 2002 and recent World Championships, the Canadians have had a nice wave of luck and have been able to ride their talent rather than great team play.

It's one thing to win. It's another to win while setting the table for future victories. Canada should manage that fine.

Hmm, since when does winning one single-point-in-time tournament set the table for future victories? Whether Canada wins or not in 2004 has absolutely NO effect on future tournaments. Canada won't gain mystical video-game powers that allow them to shoot 130 Miles-per-hour and bodycheck opposing players 30 feet in the air because they win a tournament.

It's this kind of cockiness that has me pull for Slovakia more and more in these types of tournaments. Putting up with overconfidence, ignorance, and xenophobia really just gets tiring.

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Golbez to San Francisco!

I'll be heading off to San Francisco from August 28th to September 7th. Blogging, obviously, will be lighter (I'll have access down there, thankfully).

If any readers from the San Jose/San Francisco want to get together for a beer/meeting/whatver, and/or has some good tourist advice for a pasty polar bear, feel free to send me a shout over email at golbez@shaw.ca or ICQ: 3312164

I hope I can follow the World Cup of Hockey down there somehow (ESPN2?). I'll finally get to see my first regular season baseball game (Giants/A's), and jump off the Golden Gate bridge.