Monday Musings

The following will be some ramblings from someone who is very tired and bored right now.

DISMEMBERED
Bobby Lashley is the new ECW World Champ having won the Extreme Elimination Chamber match at "December to Dismember" on pay-per-view yesterday. Lashley eliminated the Big Show en route to victory. Show is scheduled to face the new champ tomorrow night and will probably lose due to the fact that he is scheduled to take some time off to heal some injuries.

FIRED
"The Godfather of Extreme" and Scarsdale resident and native Paul Heyman has been fired by Vince McMahon over a disagreement about the direction of ECW and some problems at yesterday's pay-per-view. What a shame this is.

Heyman built ECW in the mid-90s before being bought out by McMahon who then flushed the ECW brand down the toilet before resurrecting it this past summer. This version of "extreme wrestling" is more like an extended version of the WWE. The problem stems from the fact that when Vince bought out all his competitors, namely WCW, he had an overflow of talent. Hence, he spread the wrestlers around on two rosters, Raw and Smackdown. Those two brands were not enough so more talent has been spread to ECW making it look more like WWE than anything like the old ECW.

I am not saying it's bad but over the last month or so it has more and more resembled WWE as opposed to being like the old ECW.

Heyman, I believe, will show up in TNA(Total Non-stop Action) which has a show on at 9 p.m. on Thursdays on Spike TV. Although Heyman and Vinny Mac have had their disagreements before and have made up, so you never know, maybe before long he will be back with WWE in some capacity.

NEW YORK RANGERS
The Rangers got off to an ugly start last night against the Islanders at the Garden last night. After the game Head Coach Tom Renney and Brendan Shanahan had a long talk about defensive zone coverage. Shanny came from a great system in Detroit and maybe he can bring some of that experience to the Blueshirts who need to play more like last season when their was an overall greater commitment to defense by d-men and forwards. Let's also not forget that Dominick Moore was traded over the summer and was a key component to the Rangers forwards doing a better job backchecking; ditto for Jed Ortmeyer who is due to return in early January; and let's also not forget that for some unknown reason Darius Kasparaitus continues to sit in street clothes.

Kasper was very good on the Blueline last season and was a fan favorite delivering punishing hipchecks and really getting under the skin of the opposing team's top forwards. Kasper needs to play, now! Fedor Tyutin is constantly improving and is benefiting tremendously from being paired with Aaron Ward, but I would rather see Toots with his fellow countryman, Kasper. I know, Kasper is from Lithuania while Toots is from Russia. But you get the point. Kasper has played in international competition for the former U.S.S.R. and also Russia. So you get the picture I hope.

Speaking of Russia, I have finally seen a guy who resembles Pavel Bure in his skating and play on the ice and that is the fabulous Maxim Afinogenov of the awesome Buffalo Sabres. I have never seen a guy skate as fast with the puck as Pavel but Maxim is a close second.

MISSED OUT
I missed out on getting tix to Rachel Fuller's In The Attic concert at Joe's Pub and apparently I would have seen some surprises. Jimmy Fallon hosted with Fuller and Pete Townshend teaming up as they usually do along with the other 'Attic folks such as Simon Townshend (who is a pretty good guitarist), Martha Wainwright (very good singer and from an impressive family tree), Mikey Cuthbert (I don't know him), Sean Lennon (son of a legend), and Ryan Adams (I have never heard any of his stuff). But in addition, David Bowie showed up!

I hear Joe's, which is located in lower Manhattan, is a great place to hear some music so maybe I will be able to check out the In The Attic gang next time around. I have read that full-time Oasis/part-time Who drummer Zac Starkey is expected to be on the bill which I would love to see up close. Also, tickets were only $50 which is a bargain for what you get back.

Finally, get well soon to Rowdy Roddy Piper who was recently diagnosed with a low grade lymphoma cancer. Ironically, it was discovered during surgery after Piper hurt his back while wrestling in the UK with the WWE. Reportedly a full recovery is expected for the legendary "Hot Rod."