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  • What is Darrelle Revis Worth to the Jets?

    Revis Island can be a lonely place for receivers.  At the moment it’s also a lonely place for a Darrelle Revis.  The man who was hands-down the best defensive player in the league last year is not practicing or spending time with his teammates, and it HAS to be a frustrating way to follow up [...]

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  • Ponikarovsky Signing Gives LA a Line of Corsi Kings

    For those of us that believe outshooting the opponent is the most surefire way to victory in the NHL, the LA Kings signing of Alexei Ponikarovsky should set off fireworks. 

    In his book, Moneyball, Michael Lewis referred to Kevin Youkilis’ as “The Greek God of Walks”.  For NHL GMs, Ponikarovsky could be Ukrainian for “Net-peppering Ninja”. 

    I [...]

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  • Sports Opinionated is 1 Year Old!!!

    Exactly one year ago, I decided to start the Sports Opinionated blog over on Blogger.com.  The goal was to give myself a creative outlet to express my many views on sports, whether misguided or fact-based. 

    My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to [...]

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  • The NHL’s Most Intriguing Free Agents

    Let’s put it this way.  I don’t give a flying puck where LeBron is going on July 1st.  I care about celebrating Canada Day and seeing where NHL free agents end up.  As a fan, there are always players that are more fun to track than others, since they could have a big impact on [...]

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  • Published on Puck Prospectus: The Tomas Plekanec Contract

    Here is the latest analysis I wrote for the great team at Puck Prospectus.  Feel free to read it over there with this link or continue reading below. 

    The reason I wanted to explore the contract value was the initial reaction so many people had to the dollar figure.  I personally felt it was WAY too much [...]

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Sports Opinionated is 1 Year Old!!!

Exactly one year ago, I decided to start the Sports Opinionated blog over on Blogger.com.  The goal was to give myself a creative outlet to express my many views on sports, whether misguided or fact-based. 

My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to [...]

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Departing ‘Dinho?

It’s only been a few short seasons since Ronaldinho’s over-hyped arrival at Milan.  He arrived with a lot of fanfare at a club that needed to sell tickets and jerseys. He was brought in as much for his fame as his talent, which had been dwindling at Barcelona.

For 21 million Euros, he brought two seasons [...]

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Italy's Great Forward Debate: Who SOARed the highest?

It’s a topic we all love discussing, and we all have different opinions about.  Some of us would rather see a pure poacher in the lineup while others believe that target men are the most effective and still more believe that a striker who plays well with the ball at his feet is essential.

We can [...]

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Tribute to Italy's World Cup Hero

Ever since the World Cup in 2006, there has only ever been one name I would have had stitched only my Italy jersey.  Most people would naturally assume that name would be Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero or Fabio Cannavaro for their outstanding performances. 

Some Italians would undoubtedly have Francesco Totti’s name adorning the [...]

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UEFA Champions League Final: 5 Players to Lead Inter to Victory

As we talked about on the Pink Shirt Wise Guys podcast earlier this week, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Inter will beat Bayern for the UEFA Champions League title this Saturday.  While no game is ever a sure thing, there are 5 players who will play key roles for Inter in the match.

#5.  [...]

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Lippi's Bias Leaves the Azzurri Living in the Past

Marcello Lippi is relying on old and past prime players for his Italy squad instead of bringing youth and the talent of Fabrizio Miccoli and Antonio [...]

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Can Inter Milan Rescue Serie A?

Serie A is in serious need of a makeover and Inter Milan may be able to help in more ways than one.

With Inter’s resounding defeat of Barcelona, they’ve already restored some of Serie A’s lost prestige.  Bragging rights over La Liga and the EPL have at least been made relevant again, even if it is [...]

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New Soccer Podcast Up

This week on Pink Shirt Wise Guys: Italian Soccer podcast.

Pete and Pops discuss:

Roma’s slip from top spot in the table
Serie A possibly dropping to 3rd in the UEFA league coefficients
Ibrahimovic vs Eto’o
Milan lab
the Scudetto hunt

And a few other surprise rants.  Check out the podcast on iTunes or listen to the feed here.

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How to “Fix” Juventus

Unfortunately for the Old Lady, it hasn’t been a season to remember.  After an offseason that made Tiger Woods look restrained, it appeared that Juventus had spent their way to the Scudetto.

A team that had finished in 2nd place last season added Felipe Melo from Fiorentina and Diego from Werder Bremen.  It only seemed natural [...]

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The Most Wasted Talent in Italian Football

The 5 players who’s talent is most wasted in Serie A or for the [...]

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Random Thoughts on Inter vs Chelsea

Unfortunately for us Canadians, it’s just not possible to watch Champions League games live unless we skip out on work.  So for those of us interested in the beautiful game, the PVR is our best friend, as long as we can avoid the internet, Twitter, radio and others on our way home to watch.

Given that [...]

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Is It Juventus’ Turn to Try The 3-man Defense?

As I wrote about a few months ago, I was supportive of Rafa Benitez’s decision to use a 3-man back line against Sunderland. I also thought he might have been on to something with a 3-4-3 formation rather than a 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2. I felt the 3-4-3 matched up well with both the 4-4-2 and [...]

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Serie A – Not So Lonely At the Top

Nobody likes a blowout. The best part of watching a match is the suspense. Being a fan is the most fun when the competition is close and fierce.

Unfortunately, in the last few years the Serie A has been a blowout. Inter has run away with the Scudetto and frankly the only competitions that mattered were [...]

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Milan Mid-Season Report: The Good, The Bad, and The Transfer Period

With the mid-season break almost upon the Serie A, it’s time for many teams to take stock and evaluate the progress their squad has made to this point.

The Rossoneri are currently sitting in second place in Serie A, five points off Inter in the race for the Scudetto. Milan have also advanced to the knockout [...]

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A Serie A Resurgence in the Champions League?

In the past few years, the Serie A has been relegated to a second tier player in the UEFA Champions League. Back in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons of the tournament, the Serie A held 3 of the 8 quarter final spots and in both seasons had a team in the semi-finals or finals.

In the [...]

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The Weekly Serie A Round-Up:

We look back to the week of November 7th and 8th in the land of meatballs and soccer balls. Round 12 of the Serie A brought us more than it’s share of surprises.

Week 12 results:

Parma 2 – 0 Chievo VeronaGenoa 4 – 2 SienaCagliari 2 – 0 SampdoriaBari 1 – 0 LivornoLazio Roma 1 [...]

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Champions League: Real Madrid vs AC Milan

The Champions League was back in action again today with the marquee match up featuring Real Madrid and AC Milan.

After blowing an early lead at the Bernebeu last week, it was time for Madrid to venture back to Milan for a match at the San Siro.

With Milan still riding a string of success to a [...]

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The Weekly Serie A Espresso: Italian Soccer Round up

It’s been a busy soccer time in the land of pasta and vino. Serie A schedule has been packed and some very entertaining matches have taken place.

How about Milan’s collapse at Napoli? How about Juve’s collapse in Turin once again at the hands of the resurgent Napoli? How about Juve’s destruction of Sampdoria? However the [...]

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Can Milan Shake a Poor Finish and Bounce Back?

After making sensational comebacks against Roma, Real Madrid and Chievo, Milan need to mentally bounce back from blowing a 2 goal lead in extra time to Napoli. They better shake the memory quickly, as the battle with 4th place Parma is looming this weekend.

Let’s first examine the game with Napoli.

Milan scored two goals in the [...]

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The Weekly Serie A Espresso: Italian Soccer Round up

Well another weekend of Serie A has past and like tomato stains on a wife-beater, the weekend is followed by a strong espresso, a spot at the bar and some stronger Serie A chat. So order your drink and get loud.

The weekend’s winners: Catania, Bari, Inter, Palermo, Milan, Napoli, Parma and Atalanta while Juventus tied [...]

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