A Few Hours Before Stars-Edmonton, “The Monster” Will Be Let Loose in Toronto

Courtship of "The Monster" (L) included trip to Rangers Ballpark with GM Joe Nieuwendyk (DRC)

Rookie goaltender Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson, whom the Stars tried to sign over the summer, will get his first start for the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at home against Ottawa. This comes after Leafs no. 1 goalie Vesa Toskala has been beaten in Toronto’s first two games.

After the 24-year-old Swede signed with Toronto, the Stars added veteran Alex Auld as backup to Marty Turco. It’ll be interesting to see how Toronto coach Ron Wilson handles this, especially if Gustavsson plays well and wins. (Even Wilson calls him “The Monster.”)

Surely there will be plenty of coverage on this during Versus’ 6 p.m. Washington-Philadelphia telecast.

Gina Miller Digs on Josh Howard’s Threads

As Eric has taken pains to point out, I’m not a sports fan. But you know what? I know sports fans. In fact, I know sports fans who work on television and are hot. I speak, of course, of the greatness of Gina Miller. I asked Gina what she thought of last night’s Mavs pre-season game. I think we can all agree that her analysis — especially of Josh Howard’s sidelines getup — is far more trenchant than Eric’s. Jump for what she told me.

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Mavs-Magic: Five on Five

We’re in the preseason here, too, and we’re trying out different Mavs bloggers and features to entertain you during the season. Right now Zac and I are trying to figure out what our regular after-game analysis will look like. Until the season starts, it feels like you’ll want no more than five observations/opinions/ramblings from the night before. That might not allow me to get all my notes in (examples: “Dirk going more to the up-and-under move after his baseline spin … McHale’s influence?” or “Bob Sturm and Drew Gooden … separated at birth?), but that’s okay. Let’s call it Five on Five, because I can’t think of anything else right now.

1. Seeing Matt Carroll start last night was a bit of a shock, mainly because I had just finished reading John Hollinger’s take on him as I was perusing his 2010 player predictions: “If Carroll wasn’t the worst player in the league last season, he was certainly on the short list.” And if this was an audition for someone other team looking to add a sharpshooter who can’t defend, can’t rebound, and has no handle, mission accomplished. Although Carroll did get frisky with Matt Barnes at one point. What’s the over-under on Barnes dropping Carroll if it came to blows? Six seconds? Four?

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Football 301: Decoding Garrett – Week 4

DISCLAIMER: This is not for everyone. It may not be for you. This is a statistical study of the Cowboys offense with lots of numbers that may make your head tired if you are not up to it. Read it only if it is something that is of interest to you.

Before Denver put the brakes on this juggernaut of an offense, the results were difficult to comprehend. In the first 3 weeks of football, the Cowboys offense had the ball for 175 offensive snaps, and rolled up 1280 yards. That is an astounding 7.31 yards per snap. High School powers brag about 7.31 yards per snap. This doesn’t happen in the National Football League. Despite the feeling that the offense was failing, the reality is the yardage they rolled up was a fabulous sign.

But, when the Cowboys offense dropped to 4.37 a snap on Sunday, was it more of just a market correction or a down week?

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