It's funny to see the contrast between Vancouver and Toronto...or anywhere but Toronto and Toronto, when it comes to coverage of fairly meaningless preseason games.

In Toronto, they overanalyze every little detail, and the mainstream mediots were all panicky after the Loafs dropped a 4-0 decision. The "Holy Mackinaw" PbP guy that sucks monkeys was calling the game (from the highlights I heard) like it was Game 7 of the Cup Finals.

Meanwhile, on the left coast, it's pretty much like this:

"*yawn*, and now we see the Canucks lost 4-1 to the Flames last night in a pre-season tilt. Here are a couple of token highlights, for a city known for tokin' *yuk*yuk*. Somebody shot the puck. Oh, here's a save. Uh-huh. OK.

Meh.

Now, let's check out the pennant races"

Not only do most fans around here not care all that much, but many of the players don't seem to, either. Judging by the pace of the games that they show highlights for, it's as if somebody has cranked a big SLOW MOTION on the league and the players are sleepwalking. Sure, there are lots of scraps between goons and enforcers trying to make a name for themselves, but the games themselves don't appear to be all that exciting.

The best news seems to be the bad news that we see. Sergei Fedorov? Gone 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury. Evgeni Malkin? Sent to the hospital after colliding with John Chocolate LeClair in one of the best/worst bloopers of the year. Kinda like buying a $50 dinner, only to realize it doesn't taste all that much better than what you'd get at Denny's.




Who leads the Preseason in scoring? Yep, Sidney Crosby. Where's Alexander O'Bitchkin, eh?

Speaking of Preseason stats, I know you peeps are always scurrying around, trying to find the damn things. No thanks to Canadian sites like TSN which never seem to bother keeping stats.

So, we look to the Yanks and CBS Sportsline, where you can find all the preseason stats you need.

It's about damn time something good came out the American media.

Canucks 1st rounder Nathan Smith was cut again, and rather early. Wow, talk about a waste of a pick, and a bad reminder of the 'golden age' of Canuck scouting that brought us such gems as Brad Ference, Shawn Antoski, and Libor Polasek.

And now...my favoured White Sox are choking their way out of the playoffs and won't be repeating this year. I shouldn't complain, given how (moronic) Cubs fans have been waiting nearly a century, but it's hard to see a team blow such a great start and not get a chance to defend their title in the playoffs while we have to see the frickin Yankees back there again.