LOS ANGELES – After years of hiding in the shadows of the rival NBA, the NHL made its way back into the ratings and into Hollywood’s spotlight after the last season’s playoffs. Just days after the Red Wings clinched the finals, the Stanley Cup made a trip down the red carpet and appeared on several popular television shows including “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

Since the notorious lockout season, there have been many questions surrounding the lack of marketing and publicity for the NHL. Ratings had dipped to historic lows while some national sports commentators grew apathetic to the league and its stars, until last year’s dream finals match-up between the Red Wings and Penguins.

The rating numbers reported by NBC for the prime time finals indicated the NHL was on the way back and the league used that momentum to kick their marketing and publicity into high gear as soon as the finals were over. After the Red Wings returned home with the Cup and completed their photo day, they gained an onslaught of attention from the national media and publicity soared.

Chris Osgood and Nicklas Lidstrom helped make that happen. Still battered from a long season and finals series, they gratiously accepted an invitation to fly to L.A. and appeared with the Stanley Cup.

After their “Sexy Back” dance performance on  Leno’s show, we shouldn’t expect Osgood and Lidstrom to  make it to “Dancing With the Stars,” but their representing the NHL and Red Wings that night in front of millions of coast-to-coast viewers was exposure the league desperately needed.

While on the same West Coast trip, Osgood and Stanley were again in the spotlight when they joined some of Hollywood’s stars including Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba and Verne Troyer for a walk down the red carpet at the opening premiere for the hockey-related comedy “The Love Guru.”

Born in Scarborough, Ontario, Myers grew up an avid Maple Leaf fan and getting exposure from the Austin Power’s star may have helped the NHL “get its mojo back.” In addition to Myers, Hollywood has a long list of celebrities who love the game including producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Armageddon, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Verne Troyer who portrayed Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies to name a few.

This year, the NHL should take their relationship with Hollywood to the next level and continue to include these stars in their marketing plan. Hollywood stars have helped promote other leagues like the NFL and NBA and there is a lot to gain by inviting them to functions put on by the league.

Every year there are stories about the trips Stanley makes throughout the summer. Tales are about the far away countries visited or the occasional strip club stop. Those journeys do get attention, but that exposure is minimal compared to the exposure the league gained by these Hollywood trips.

The NBA promotes their relationships with celebrity fans including Jack Nicholson and Ashton Kutcher. If the NHL continues to pair Hollywood with their sport in 2008-09, what celeb might be sitting on the glass during the next Stanley Cup playoffs?

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

After this past week, you have to be convinced that professional sports in America are operating with a shortage of brain cells after Dallas Maverick, Josh Howard, made his way back into the national media, going out in public without his common sense.

While attending a charity football game earlier this summer, Howard decided to snag an additional 15 minutes of fame and delivered his controversial comment to a nearby video camera. “The Stars Spangled Banner is going on right now; I don’t even celebrate that shit, I’m black.”

First of all, it is Howard’s right to not celebrate Francis Scott Key’s tune if he chooses, this is America, but he should not imply that every other African-American in this country does not.

Howard’s comments are worthy of the onslaught of negative publicity that is swallowing him up right now. This isn’t the first time the NBA star has made the headlines.

He’s admitted smoking dope and after these comments surfaced, he definitely inhales. Only a severe shortage of brain cells could cause someone of his stature to use such idiotic judgment.

Since we’re on the topic of poor decision-making, Matt Millen must have been envious of the attention given to Howard over the past few days. He crawled out of his hole and came out from hiding to meet with the Detroit media to talk about his 0-2 Detroit Lions.

Millen who looks emotionally drained and homeless half the time, for good reason, has become an expert of being incognito to the media. This week he faced the music and answered a few football related questions.

As reported in The Detroit Free Press, when asked about his 0-2 Lions and their record-setting string of losses under his management, he responded, “What we are doing is the right thing to do . . . stay the course.”

This incompetent exec, who should be arrested every time he cashes his check, confirmed he is happy with “the course” his 0-2 Lions are on. If a team is 0-2 and stays on that course, as the Lions are very capable of doing, they will then end up at 0-16. Is that “the right thing to do.”

Sounds like Millen is also inhaling . . . outdoing Howard in bong hits at a 3-1 ratio.

When people Millen and Howard display their inability to think, we end up forgetting about dumb-ass comments like the one made by Mike Shanahan after NFL referee Ed Hochuli made one of the shittiest calls of his career and handed a victory to the Broncos that clearly should have been won by the San Diego Chargers.

Shanahan, somehow wearing a straight face, addressed the media after that game and had the audacity to say, “That’s the best crew we’ve had in the last 20 crews. They did a heck of a job.”

You are full of bullshit, Mike. And so is Matt Millen. Josh Howard on the other hand was just plain stupid to make that ‘home video’.

Be sure to vote on our home page for one of these three morons. We will crown one of them with the “Dumb-Ass-Quote-of-the-Week”.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

Detroit vs. Mike Martz – The Lions make a trip to the west coast to play the San Francisco 49ers and face offensive guru, Mike Martz, who was fired by the Lions last season. Seems like every week somebody has a career day against the Lions who again boast one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

Expect Martz to unleash a smorgasbord of big plays and unmercifully run up the score against Lions defensive coordinator, Joe Barry’s group. This week, JT O’Sullivan may suddenly look like a seasoned NFL quarterback. The biggest challenge for Martz will be removing the shit-eating grin on his face every time his offense scores another TD. Thing to watch for: Mike Martz hiding the smirk on his face with his clipboard throughout this blowout and struggling not to gloat during his post-game press conference.

Dallas at Green Bay – These two teams, who both started 10-1, were expected to meet in the NFC Championship game last year, until they ran into the overachieving Giants.

In the nationally televised SNF game, the Farve-less Packers have an opportunity to show the world they are for real and what better way to do that than to beat Tony Romo’s Cowboys. Should be an entertaining game featuring two young QB’s who love standing back and heaving bombs. Things to watch for: A record number of those stupid-ass looking cheese headgears in the sold-out crowd.

NFL Referees – After Ed Hochuli’s controversial game-stealing call against the San Deigo Chargers last week, eyes will be on the NFL’s whistle-blowers like never before. The media pounded that one into the dirt, exposure the league prefers to avoid. Expect more zebra huddles throughout the games this week on any plays even remotely questionable. Things to watch for: Head-scrathing, ass-pickin’, dumbfounded looks . . . the usual things that occur in zebra huddles.

Cincinnati at NY Giants – The champion NY Giants and their 2-0 record seem to be on cruise-control through the first few weeks of the season. It’s almost do-or-die time for the Bengals who cannot afford a 0-3 start. The Bengals have struggled offensively, scoring a mere 17 points over the first two games.

Buffalo’s punter, Brian Moorman has more TD passes than Carson Palmer, who has averaged two TD passes a game throughout his career and not yet connected for one this season. Things to watch for: A lot of high-fives and chest-banging from the NY Giants ‘D’ while they feast on Palmer and the Bengals struggling offense. Palmer trying to surpass punter Moorman on the stats sheet.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

NASCAR has been squeezing itself onto prime-time sports shows on ESPN and some of the other major networks after last week’s steroid investigation of driver Ron Hornaday and the all-out brawl that took place at the end of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in New Hampshire.

Many mainstream sports fans seem to be jumping on the NASCAR bandwagon because, let’s face it, nothing like a good hockey fight, a first-round knockout or a plain old-fashioned brawl between a bunch a’ good ole Pabst-drinking boys from the south, kickin’ each other’s ass; just because.

The fight started after David Starr spun out Todd Bodine. Bodine retaliated by ramming into the back of Starr’s vehicle-sounds like a day on the L.A Freeway during the road-rage 90’s without the guns.

The pit crews for Bodine and Starr both took offense to their rival driver and decided to start throwing a few haymakers right there in the pit. Spectators who viewed the “main event” said the fighters left the arena with a split decision.

The Las Vegas Speedway tried to lighten the incident up by offering to set up a “friendly” tug-of-war bout between the two cranky crews before this week’s truck series race in Vegas and said they were, “Happy to supply the rope.”

I’m sure they are . . . but what really for?

The incident put NASCAR back in the news for the second straight week after last week’s Hornaday steroids inquiry earned national airtime. NASCAR borrowed a chapter from the MLB and NHL marketing books; combating steroid accusations one week, then going toe-to-toe the next.

Both got ‘em a spot on sports highlight reels.

Fights between drivers seem to be stealing the attention away from the sport that many sports buffs think of as nothing but a bunch of rednecks driving wreck-less as hell in the same circle hundreds of times, without turn signals or horns.

The cat-fight the fans really wanted to see ended up just a tease when Danica Patrick and Venezuelan Milka Duno got into each other’s face after a race recently; the argument only elevating into towel-throwing. That knock-down-drag-out-ripping-each-others-clothes-off event can only happen in all of our minds now.

Back to the crew vs. crew incident, NASCAR did suspend a bunch of team members and put them on probation until December 31. Fines totaling $15,000 were also handed out. That calculates out to about 2,500 cans of PBR . . . now that’s hitting below the belt.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

IRVING – In the final MNF game at Texas Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles match-up set an all-time cable television ratings record.

12.95 million homes tuned in and 18.6 million viewers watched one of the highest scoring MNF games in history.

Monday night’s audience broke the previous cable record also set by the Cowboys.

Fans who watched the game were treated to a smorgasbord of scoring plays, including a 98-yard kickoff return by a rookie, a 72-yard, Romo to T.O. bomb for a score and a fumble recovery in the end zone.

Before the final whistle, the teams scored a total of 78 points, second most ever in a MNF game with the Cowboys coming out on top, 41-37.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

NFL referee Ed Hochuli brought the zebra position back into the spotlight once again after blatantly blowing a call and stealing a game from the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

This certainly isn’t the first time an official has blown more than their whistle, but it is the timing of the call that demands so much attention.

When a zebra like Hochuli throws his common sense out the window and determines the outcome of a game, it restructures the entire division. In a league with a short 16 game schedule, the Broncos are suddenly 2-0 and the Chargers 0-2, two full games behind in the division.

The game-determining call occurred when the Broncos were on the Charger’s one-yard line with only a minute left in the game. Broncos QB Jay Cutler dropped back to pass and dropped the ball. The ball was scooped up by the Charger’s defense and while the Chargers began celebrating on Denver’s grass, Hochuli decided to pull the heist.

“Fumble, I think”, said Cutler.

“I blew the call . . . I failed miserably.” – Referee Ed Hochuli

“It’s unacceptable.” – Chargers Coach Norv Turner

“This is the best crew we’ve had in the past 20 crews. They did a heckuva job.” – Denver Coach Mike Shanahan.

Mike, stop making a fool out of yourself by making stupid-ass comments like that. It’s best to allow this fiasco to run its course and not go public to support this moron and his blunder.

Shanahan is the only person on the NFL planet that thinks so highly of Hochuli after Sunday’s blunder.

The NFL certainly does not and confirmed on Monday that Hochuli will be “graded down” after handing the game to the Broncos.

The NFLRA released a statement that included, “No one feels worse about this than Ed.”

Wanna bet! Ask every Chargers player, coach and fan. Ask the owners who have multi-million dollar investments into their business. When they win they make money; when they lose, they don’t.

Looks like another zebra blew more than his whistle on Sunday and triggered talk of rule changes, like the infamous coin toss game on Thanksgiving Day years ago; (see “This Referee Wears his I.Q. on his Jersey” in our Bizarre Moments section.)

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

The Houston Astros were forced to travel to Milwaukee to play a “home” series against the Chicago Cubs after Hurricane Ike slammed the Texas coast and damaged their stadium. In Milwaukee, they ran into another force named Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly.

Zambrano (14-5) was on the mound for the first time since September 2 and hurled a no-hitter against the jet-lagged Astros while striking out 10 and walking only one in a 5-0 victory on Sunday.

Zambrano, one of the best hitting pitchers in MLB who is batting .354 with 9 extra-base hits and 14 RBI, outhit the entire Astros line-up after going 1 for 3 and crossing the plate once in that game.

Things didn’t get much better for the Astros on Monday when they ran into a similar scenario with Cubs left-hander Ted Lilly on the bump. Lilly (15-9) mowed through the hapless Astros line-up taking a no-hit bid into the 7th inning. Fifteen innings into the series and the Astros had been held hitless. Lilly gave up a hit to the lead-off hitter in the 7th and was later pulled but not before racking up 9K’s and walking only one in the 6-1 win.

Overall the Astros were 1 for 48 for a .020 batting average and .062 OBP against the duo from the Windy City. The Astros hitters looked horribly out of synch both days and Lilly and Zambrano took advantage of it.

Zambrano’s no-hitter was the first by a Cub since 1972.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

New England Patriots at N.Y. Jets – The Patriots have beaten the Jets 9 out of the last 10 times. Brett Favre, unless he retires before today’s game, will try to put an end to the Pat’s record winning streak. With Brady out for the season and Matt Cassell starting at QB, this game has lost a lot of it’s flair. Thing to watch for: Bill Belichick on the sidelines with a video-type device, trying to make up for the loss of Brady.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay – After throwing his first NFL pass for a 66-yard TD bomb, rookie Matt Ryan will play his first road game in front of a raucous crowd in Tampa Bay. Ryan will learn quickly that this Tampa Two defense will not be like the miss-tackling hapless Lions ‘D’ he faced last week. Warrick Dunn is back in Tampa and will want to have an impressive game against his former Falcons. Jeff Garcia-injured or benched depending on who you ask-will be on the sidelines as Coach John Gruden has elected to start QB Brian Griese. Things to watch for: A grumpy-looking QB who got benched and wants Griese to fall flat on his face.

Indianapolis at Minnesota – The Colts make a trip to the Metrodome where they face Adrian Peterson and noise levels that could make your eardrums pop. With Dallas Clark and Jeff Saturday hobbled with injuries and listed as “questionable”, and DT Ed Johnson dumped from the team after a drug bust, it will be a challenge for Peyton Manning’s Colts to come out of Minnesota with a win. Things to watch for: Peyton pointing all over the place and barking orders, even though nobody can hear him, just to look cool like in his commercial.

Philly at Dallas – Expect a hard-hitting battle in this MNF match-up. These two rivals get pumped up enough before they go head-to-head but with T.O. trash-talking and Donovan playing at his highest level again, this is the one to watch. Last year the Eagles squeaked out a 10-6 win in Dallas in the “Jessica Simpson” game. Things to watch for: The Paparazzi hunting down the club box Jessica’s hiding in.

Green Bay at Detroit – Matt Millen and Company really needs to stop embarrassing themselves and come out with a win at home against the Favre-less Pack. Last week in Atlanta, the Lie-Downs ‘D’ stood around and watched Turner the Burner and co. gallop freely up and down the turf for 313 yards, a 7.6 per carry average. Things to watch for: Lions Coach Marinelli post-game after another embassassing loss repeating his fav phrase “We just gotta’ keep pounding the rock” .

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

DALLAS – Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo has temporarily settled the turbulence surrounding the quarterback position after week one in the NFL.

Week one was a disaster. A season-ending injury to All-Pro Tom Brady . . . Jeff Garcia ticked off about being benched . . . Carson Palmer falling flat on his face with a 9 of 24 for 94 yards performance and of course the soap opera surrounding Vince Young.

Romo diverted the media’s attention away from all the negative news after his Good Samaritan act was made public on Thursday.

After spending the day running from an aggressive gang of Cleveland Browns and taking a good hit on the chin, Romo assisted an older couple who were stranded on the side of the road.

Randy Galloway of the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth received an email from Bill and Sharon White of Irving about the ordeal.

Galloway printed the following interview in Friday’s Star-Telegram:

“I don’t know, a hundred cars, probably more, had to go by. Nobody was stopping,” said Bill. “That’s just kind of the way it is in today’s world.”

“Bill was fooling with that tire, and I was standing beside the car watching him,” Sharon said. “The next thing I know, a nice-looking young man, very well-dressed, but with something strange on his chin, he walked up, smiled, and said, ‘Hey, you need some help?’ “

“I didn’t get a good look at him at that point,” Bill said. “We were both trying to get the tire pumped up.”

Sharon, however, took a second look. “You are Tony Romo, I didn’t want to bother him, but I asked again, ‘You’re Tony Romo, right?’ ” I knew it was him by then. But he smiled and said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ “

Bill’s immediate response was “Don’t tell me how you guys did. I’m going home to watch it!”

Bill continued, “He gets almost knocked cold in that game, and I read it took 13 stitches to close the cut, and then there’s a long flight home and Tony’s got to be dog tired, but he still was a good enough person to stop and help us,”

“Here’s a young man making millions of dollars, and he’s got all this fame and glory, and he does this?”

Now there’s some positive NFL publicity; on to week two!

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

NASHVILLE – Starting Titans quarterback V.Y. is expected to be out for 2-4 weeks for hurt feelings . . . well the official diagnosis is actually a sprained medial collateral ligament.

In an interview with The Tennessean newspaper, Coach Jeff Fisher made no promises as to when Young will be back. “MCL sprains vary depending on the player and the knee”, Fisher said. “Some come back in couple of weeks, some come back longer. I am just not going to speculate on how long he is going to be out.”

Facing the media for the first time since the “implosion”, Young told the Tennessean that “the media and his mother both over-reacted”.

Wonder if his mom might unlease a can of whoop-ass on him after she hears that one.

Many disagree with V.Y; saying he, in fact. over-reacted to being booed by his hometown fans after throwing his second interception of the game.

Most of the Titan fans responding to the Sports Climax feature posted yesterday, showed displeasure with their QB. In emails and comments sent to Sports Climax throughout the day, NFL fans used words like diaper and cry baby to express their feelings.

Expect this circus to continue long after V.Y. returns to the team. I can envision the signs and posters that will follow this young star around the league . . . anybody know how to draw a pacifier?

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax