During the first round of this Summer’s draft, 11 Yankees (or American-trained players) were in the top 30. One went to Dallas which will be going through a major overhaul after being terrible again. It also means, the younger playmakers on my Austin team will probably taken away to fill the gaps for the parent team. It’s expected with our local organization being a development set up.
As for the American players…is it a fad or a continuing trend pushed by Herb Brooks? I hope for the latter unlike all the crap I keep hearing over the World Cup in South Africa. Soccer is a sport that’s been pushed on America for 40-plus years and when will its diehards just give it up, no one cares! I laughed about the “fact” of it being the number one youth sport. Sure. Then it runs out by college…scholarships? HA! The major television networks in the US don’t care to cover it. Take a cue from hockey, pick your battles wisely and don’t bother in a nation more obsessed over football, basketball and to a lesser extent, baseball. Once everything is over in South Africa, soccer will return to its non-existent status on Univision and Telemundo.
Back to hockey. While Chicago will continue to liquidate courtesy of the salary cap, Philly is mainly intact. One sure sign of Summer is the ongoing quest to find a starting goalie who will magically cure all the problems my team has had since losing Ron Hextall, Pelle Lindbergh or Bernie Parent (take your pick). I like Brian Boucher but I know he’s not starting material anymore, he’s a good backup. Currently, the rumor mill is surrounding Nabokov. As long as he’s not a cancer like Emery, why not.