the 4th star

Usually I just pick teams out of a hat (you didn’t know‚ sorry). This time I’ve decided to poll the vast Manitoba celebrity community. OK. It’s not that vast. But lucky for us there are only 11 National Football League post season games to cover. Shouldn’t be that hard to find 11 people, should it? We will see, I guess. Please note: On the off-chance these people don’t reply to the pick requests that I probably won’t get around to sending them in the first place, these selections (or responses) may not actually be from them. We’re down to the short strokes here. Golden Boy, show us the light!

Minnesota Vikings (12-4) at New Orleans Saints (13-3)
Sunday, 5:40 p.m. on FOX
Previous meeting: Nope
Vikings road record: 4-4
Saints home record: 6-2
The spread: Vikings +4
The money line: Vikings +170
The over/under: 52.5 points

Bet you didn’t know that I’m from France, did you? It’s true, though I can’t really carry a meaningful discussion anymore. I have trouble with sentence structure. You know who else has some French in him? That’s right, one Mr. Brett Favre. He also has trouble with speaking in complete sentences, too. Yeah, Manitoba purchased me like some 100 years ago from some guy in Paris. It was 1918, to be exact. You know who else is 92-years-old? Yep. Brett Favre — though he doesn’t act (or speak) like he’s a day over 15. With my wheat and my torch I stand alone, perched atop the Manitoba Legislative Building facing north. Brett Favre came back to the NFC North this season. He also moves like a statue. According to my official web site, I embody “the spirit of enterprise and eternal youth.” According to people who try to justify shelling out some $200 bucks for a purple No. 4 jersey they’ll wear for one more game, Brett Favre defines “the spirit of enterprise and eternal youth.” I know, it’s hard to tell — I’m quite stiff most of the time — but I’m really pissed off at this Favre clown. Is he trying to steal my thunder? Donny Lalonde learned this the hard way. There can only be one Golden Boy. Get bent, you phony.

Wild Card #1
Wild Card #2
Wild Card #3
Wild Card #4
Divisional #5
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Divisional #7
Divisional #8

I usually agree with William Houston’s angles. I read him religiously when he handled the sports media beat for the Globe and Mail, his mix of praise and candor a healthy escape for those looking to learn a thing or two. Since resurfacing on the web, Houston has been even better — offering a honest take on everything under the sports media sun. Some would say that he continues to undermine his writing with the constant attacks on his former employer, but not me. I choose to look at it this way: He didn’t like the way things were done and now, with the treat of job security no longer present, he can give his two cents.

Like I said, I’m usually on the same page. Until his latest post. Or at least the bottom of it, where he compares a clean, perfectly acceptable open-ice hit to a pre-meditated, out-for-blood elbow smash from the top rope.

But the real reason the junior ranks can’t rid themselves of these incidents is the NHL, which influences all levels of hockey, but particularly major junior hockey. The NHL condones this stuff. In October, Mike Richards, the Philadelphia Flyer captain, delivered a head shot to David Booth of the Florida Panthers. It was as bad or worse than Cormier’s attack, because it was a blind-side. Booth was knocked out, carried off the ice and taken to hospital. He hasn’t recovered. He continues to suffer headaches and hasn’t played since.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Here are some video examples of what Houston is saying. The first is the assault by Patrice Cormier in a Quebec junior game on Sunday. Be warned, the aftershocks are not for the faint at heart:

Here’s the Richards hit:

The differences are quite apparent. One is a direct elbow pad to the head of a player skating through the neutral zone, a player who looked like he saw Cormier a second too late. The other is a shoulder to the head of a player who was too busy admiring his drop pass to understand that he was in an NHL hockey game and you need to keep your head up. It was a text-book hit, one that players make at all levels of hockey all the time. The results (Booth’s health) are unfortunate, but he had   his down. Players have to protect themselves, and if that means thinking twice about cutting through the middle of the ice with eyes not looking for danger, then that’s where things are at. For Houston to call the Richards hit “as bad or worse” than Cormier’s is laughable, and frankly, a little disappointing. There was no blind-side. Richards went front-side.

Want to compare the two incidents? Sure. One was dirty, the other was clean. Game over.