The Empire Strikes Back

The Emperor finally got his Darth Vader.

And even without his best stuff, Randy Johnson kept the Red Sox at bay. Although, he did need a little help from Matsui in the 2nd inning.

But you know that as long as Johnson is healthy in the playoffs, the Yankees have got to be liking their chances. There is no way Johnson melts under the pressure in the postseason like say Kevin Brown or Javier Vasquez did last year.

MLS kicks off their 10th season

If nobody goes to the games, did they really happen?

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but poor weather and poor timing (why open up the season the same night as the semifinal games in the NCAA men's basketball tournament?), the opening night attendance is less than stellar for MLS' 10th season.

Although, the reported attendance numbers were better than what it looked like on TV. Columbus reported over 14000 fans in attendance. And on TV it looked like 3000 or 4000.

Chivas reported a crowd of over 18000 to see the defending champion DC United play in Chivas USA's first ever MLS match. But there were a lot of empty seats.

Some other random notes from MLS' opening weekend:

That FC Dallas-Chicago match had some of the ugliest uniforms I've seen in a while.

I love watching Clint Mathis play soccer. Even if it was in a tornado and nobody on the field could make a play. Just his crack on goal from just past mid-field with the wind at his back was worth watching that mess.

It's too bad Landon Donovan didn't make his LA Galaxy debut. His team sure could have used the help.

I wish I had the money to buy the MLS Direct Kick package. Although, my wife is glad that we don't.

Three weeks until the NFL draft

And this year's draft is going to be fun because it is sooooo wide open.

Nobody really has a good handle on who will go #1.

People are saying that the top of the draft is weak and people won't want to move up. But you just know that some team or teams will.

And then you have the drama of stuff like where will superfreak Matt Jones go and how far will Adrian McPherson and Maurice Clarett fall in the draft given their checked pasts.

The only problem is that the Buffalo Bills lack a first round pick, so Chris Berman's cab driving source is unlikely to give him the inside info on who they are taking.

NHL and NHLPA to meet today

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/articles/2005/04/03/raised_stakes_for_sanderson?pg=2

Now, as for what is rumored to be proposed by the PA side:
Salary cap of $42 million (includes $39.8 million in salary and $2.2 million in benefits).
Salary floor of $34 million.
Franchise player, with neither salary nor benefits to be included in $42 million cap figure, but club to pay 50 percent tax.
Unrestricted free agency lowered to age 27 from 31.
Entry-level salaries to be capped at $1.2 million (including performance bonuses) per season.
Qualifying offers for restricted free agents lowered to 75 percent (from current position of 110 or 100 percent, based on player's existing salary).
Five-year limit on all individual contracts (currently no term restrictions).
Team revenue sharing, of varying percentages, during regular season and playoffs.

If that is what the NHLPA offers up, that should be a good enough starting point to get a deal done rather quickly.

Which would then beg the question of why it took the NHLPA this long to come up with an offer like that.

I'd love to hear Goodenow's answer to that question that would have to be asked by any player with a brain.