Odds & Sods

NEWS
For me, when a head of state dies so tragically it's a pretty big deal. Yet, the death of Lech Kaczynski in the plane crash which killed the Polish President and 95 others, as well as the entire crew, doesn't seem to be getting as much attention as say a certain lowlife golfer.

Nice priorities.

SPORTS
The Rangers are finished. Talk has naturally turned to people wanting head coach John Tortorella to take the fall. For me, that’s too easy. Unless the Blueshirts get rid of GM Glen Sather, nothing will change.

Looks like Donald Fehr is the lead horse to become head of the NHL Players Association. Can you say work stoppage?

It was recently revealed that former junior hockey coach, Graham James, was secretly pardoned in Canada in 2007. James fled to Europe after being released from a three and a half year prison sentence for molesting kids while he was a coach. Shockingly he is now coaching youth hockey in Europe. Sheldon Kennedy is pretty upset about the pardon, as is Theo Fleury, both former NHL players that were abused by James. Kennedy and Fleury have had well-documented battles with drugs, alcohol and depression.

The Knicks season ends tonight in Toronto and now all the talk will be about July 1 and can New York land free agent LeBron James. But get ready for some serious damage control if the Knicks can’t land James. Right or wrong, for many fans the summer of 2010 is LeBron or bust.

HBO is back with another edition of 24/7 and this time it is about Floyd Mayweather and “Sugar” Shane Mosley as they gear up for their May 1 fight in Las Vegas. In all due respect to Mosley, I think he is going to get smoked like a sausage.

Brock Lesnar will make his return to the cage to fight Shane Carwin; that is a definite. The 'when' is the real question. In all likelihood it will take place this July.

Former pro wrestler Chris Kanyon died at the beginning of this month. It is suspected that Kanyon, 40, took his own life. Phil Mushnick wrote on Sunday that Kanyon successfully sued the W.W.E. for depriving them of health care and other workers’ benefits. I vaguely remembered this case and so I did a Google search. One of the first hits was “Wrestling Lawsuit Dismissed.” I emailed Phil and told him that the case was dismissed and provided a link to the story. I never heard back from him, but I just checked the article and it has been changed to ‘Kanyon once unsuccessfully….’

MISC.
Catch my buddy Doug DeBeech in "The Perfect Game" which opens this Friday in theaters.

Hitting the Road
Roger Daltrey has some more solo shows coming up as does Eric Clapton; Paul McCartney is touring; Heart will hit the road this summer; Rush will be performing this fall; and Roger Waters is going to be touring The Wall in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

From YouTube
Someone brilliantly mixed Jimi Hendrix singing "All Along the Watchtower" and Jay-Z's "99 Problems." The link is here.