Saturday Trends and Indexes 06/23

[pm530]

Six-pack for Saturday

NHL Draft edition

-- The NHL Draft is the best, because all the honchos in the league are right there, sitting at their team's table. What can be cooler than watching Wayne Gretzky eating chips, while his Coyotes trade their draft pick to Edmonton?

-- Another great part of the draft is that if a kid slides in the draft, he is still sitting out in the crowd with his parents, not by himself in a room, looking like an outcast.

-- Canadiens drafted Ryan McDonagh, nephew of former Miami, FL/NFL QB Steve Walsh.

-- Patrick Roy was 12th goalie taken in '84 draft; not the 12th player, the 12th goalie. He turned out pretty well.

-- 11 of Detroit's last 14 first round picks had been players from Europe, until they drafted Brendan Smith Friday.

-- San Jose drafted Nick Petrecki, whose dad was a buddy of mine back in first grade, a very long time ago. The first rod hockey game I ever saw was in the Petrecki house.

[pm530]

Saturday's List of 13: Random facts on a summer Saturday

13) NBC will pay Paris Hilton $1M for her first interview after she gets out of prison; this amounts to $43,578 a day, or just a little less than I make for an entire year at my day job. Great. [ed. note: NBC dropped this idea]

12) Do major league players hate hearing from people about their fantasy league teams? I would think most do.

11) A's pawned Milton Bradley off on Royals, who cancelled the trade because Bradley has an oblique injury, at least that was excuse they used. Maybe they just came to their senses.

10) Why didn't Pacman Jones just buy a strip club, instead of running amok and getting arrested all the time?

9) The thought of Hillary Clinton becoming President makes me want to go house hunting in Saskatchewan.

8) Speaking of Canada, the CFL season starts next week, and we'll have writeup son every game, starting in Week 2.

7) There is a bar in Seattle that has a promotion called "Cheap Sexson Mondays" when the price of Bud/Bud Lught bottles is whatever Richie Sexson's batting average is that night.

6) I still think Steve Young was better QB than Joe Montana; his unique running ability made him almost indefensible.

5) I'd love to know if John Beilein was aware of the buyout in his contract, before he bolted West Virginia for Michigan. I'd guess he didn't know. If so, that must have been fun to watch his (former) agent explain it to him.

4) Very bad sign for the NBA; their draft is more interesting than their playoffs. At some point, they're hopefully going to realize that they need to promote teams, not individuals.

3) I mean, draft prospect Brandan Wright was criticized in his college days for not always playing hard; what is he going to do with an 82-game regular season? Who would take him?

2) One of the great ways to spend a summer afternoon is to sit by the 15th hole at River Highlands in Hartford, driveable par-4 at the Greater Hartford Open, and watch the pros come through. They also tee off on 18 right behind that spot.

1) I graduated from high school thirty years ago today. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

[Dennis14072]

Thanks Guys, good luck today!