Steven Chia » Sports

Life-long contracts? Bleh.

Steven Chia — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:48:28 +0000

Why is the NHL allowing such long-term contracts these days? Players like Luongo, Sedins, Ovechkin, Richards and Zetterberg all have 10+ year contracts. Some of these contracts lasting until they hit around 42 years of age. In my opinion, this does make watching NHL any more exciting than before. In fact, it makes the NHL more predictable and consequently less exciting. So you have the key players on the same team their entire careers. It is way more exciting to see them move from team to team, stir things up, win Stanley and move on. To be fair, there would be some players who would naturally stay in one team their entire career (e.g., Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman), however, this should be a choice and based on their previous success within that team instead of being bound to a big, fat juicy contract.

I can’t blame all this on player’s greed, however. It should be considered that the NHL low salary cap has a huge impact on how NHL has evolved (or devolved) into today’s game. Furthermore, the NHLPA should also think less about the money and more about the game.

I was a strong Luongo believer before. Not quite anymore. Not after consecutive disappointing post-seasons. I personally want someone else to step up and proof to the fans that they can be consistent in net. And hopefully they will be able to help us (finally) bring home the prize trophy.

Players should be awarded based on their performance and not based on their current play.

There’s an interesting article on whether long-term contracts in the NHL makes any sense. Good read! http://www.sportsperspectives.com/archives/2166

By writing this post I am by no means retracting my passion for this sport. I am still a strong supporter of the NHL and hockey as a sport. October 7 is when the puck drops for the regular season!

Cauliflower ears

Steven Chia — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:42:19 +0000

OK so after watching some UFC I’ve noticed something disturbing: these guys that fight for a living have messed up ears. Observe, BJ Penn’s ears:

Matt Huges’ ears:

And after looking up some more pictures (which I won’t post because some are really disturbing), I found cauliflower-ear.com. This site actually dedicates itself to these type of ears, also known as cauliflower ears. Warning: the pictures posted on that site is not for those with weak stomaches. There was even a clip of blood being extracted from the ears. Disgusting!

Of course, the invincible Anderson Silva, doesn’t have this “cauliflower ear” syndrome, since, well, he’s awesome and untouchable.

Lesson to take away: Don’t ever get into a fight with a stranger with cauliflower ears. They have fought before. And most likely many times.

Markets Down, Luongo Down, Steven Down

Steven Chia — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:27:11 +0000

YIKES! That’s all I can say at the moment. TSX has seen red for three days straight — with a 5% loss over those days. Now I wish I didn’t splurge on AIG and CENX stocks last week. By the way, CENX released their third quarter earnings just yesterday and they did pretty well, yet managed to falter with the market. YIKES! YIKES! YIKES!

And what?! Luongo injured? He was playing a couple games injured?! Should he even be that dedicated this early in the season? Come on Bobby Lu. Let’s heal a bit quicker, shall we? By the way last night’s game was a gongshow. It felt like I was watching game six of the Canucks and Blackhawks series. Ouch… (even I can’t believe I went there)

Go Canucks Go! Go Ovechkin Go!

Steven Chia — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:16:41 +0000

Vancouver Canucks’ first game is on tonight as they take on the Calgary Flames. The Canucks look fresh and ready to play. They have three superb lines including their new additions Sergei Shirokov (a.k.a. Pavel Bure #2) and Mikael Samuelsson. Wow, I remember having Samuelsson’s hockey card back in elementary school. He didn’t look young at all in those cards. The D is not bad also. I very much liked our off-season transaction, picking up Christian Ehrhoff.

My prediction: Canucks – 4, Calgary – 1

Watch out Flames! Go Canucks go!

Remember last year?

#8 – Ovechkin

On another note, Ovechkin is picking up where he left off — a monster… err… I meant a force in the NHL. Already up three points and two goals in the early third period. Absolutely the most exciting player on the NHL. If only Canucks picked him up…