Stars Saga pt. 2

The Dallas Stars have a new president, too. Dont say I did not warn you, if you look at my chain of firing order from the previous post.

A day after firing general manager Doug Armstrong, Stars owner Tom Hicks let go of president Jim Lites and replaced him with Jeff Cogen, the president of his other franchise, baseball’s Texas Rangers, and past head man of the Stars when the first moved here in 93 under Norm Green.

Tuesday, Armstrong was replaced by interim co-general managers Brett Hull and Les Jackson.  The shakeup occurs after a 7-7 start that followed three consecutive first-round exits in the playoff. Lites was the Stars president except for an eight-month stint with the Phoenix Coyotes in 02. He will move into a role with the Hicks Sports Marketing Group, the Stars said Wednesday.

Sports Hero

A retired New York Giant is walking through Knoxville today as part of a larger journey.

George Martin is spending nearly six months walking across America to raise money for 9/11 charities.

A defensive end and co-captain of the New York Giants Super Bowl-winning team in 1986, Martin started his walk, called “A Journey for 9/11,” to raise money and awareness of health issues of recovery workers and the first responders at the World Trade Center tragedy.

“As a transplanted New Yorker, it’s a blending of two passions that I have,” Martin said.

Martin, a Greenville, S.C. native, said he’s always wanted to walk across the country and loves the outdoors. Raising money for charities also allows him a chance to give back.

Martin arrived in Knoxville Monday night and walked along Magnolia and Western Avenues toward Oak Ridge on Tuesday. He estimates his walk through Tennessee will take about 40 days.

He’s traveling with three other men and the weather has not slowed them down much.

“We did get drenched a little bit earlier,” Martin said.

If it thunders this afternoon, the group will break for the day and start again Wednesday morning.

Martin’s walk began on Sept. 16 at the George Washington Bridge in New York and will conclude at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in February or March.

To date, Martin has raised just over $1.4 million and hopes to reach $10 million when he finishes.

For his efforts, Martin will be awarded the second Heisman Humanitarian Award in December by the Heisman Trophy Trust

Giant Walks For 9/11

*Submitted By Olbroad*

We Were Lied To Again!!!

Just to refresh everyones memory.. John Daniels.. GM for the Rangers held a press conference after trading.. Gagne, Tex, and Kenny Lofton this season.. and gave us the same tired speech about how the Rangers are going to rebuild.. Go with a younger team.. explore the farm system, to see what they have.. well I called it BULLSHIT then, And I call it BULLSHIT today!  The Rangers are looking at the following free agents to bring in for next season..

 1. Kenny Rogers.. Are you serious?? He turned down 2, different 1 year deals form the Tigers… Why are we even thinking about bringing this 43 year old.. camera man beating, starting pitcher back?? And before the original Kenny Rogers, Homer *looks at SLASC* starts bashing me.. I’m not saying he is not a good pitcher.. I’m merely bringing him up because he contradicts John Daniels master plan of “rebuilding” Bringing Rogers back.. takes a roster spot away..

2. Torii Hunter.. 32 year outfielder..Torii still has some good years left in him.. Most likely Hunter could stay healthy for the duration of his contract.. but once again the takes away a roster spot..   Plus seems Torii has his sights set on New York right now..

3. Andruw Jones.. 30 year old outfield.. Coming off a really bad season.. Streaky player at best.. takes away a roster spot..

Ranger fans, do you see a pattern forming here?? Were told each year the team is going in a new direction.. but the direction is always backwards! JD tells us that the team is going to rebuild every year.. and every year in the off season.. the Rangers run out and try to put together a team that might make a run at the post season.. then mid season, when we are last in the division.. its time to rebuild..

I know liverdamage will agree with this next statement.. Tom Hicks is not interested in winning.. only making money! And before Hockey Guru chimes in.. Yes Tom Hicks was the owner when the Stars won the Stanley Cup.. ALMOST A DECADE ago! The unwritten rule about fans not being able to bitch or complain for 5 years after your team brings you a championship.. That time has passed in Dallas.. Tom Hicks should just sell the Stars to Mark Cuban, so he can go ahead and lock up the A.A.C.. Mark wants to win Championships.. and Hicks should sell the Rangers to Jerry Jones.. because just like Mark Cuban.. Jerry Jones is about winning championships!!!

Just my HSO’s!

Follow Up to Stars GM getting AXED

Well let me just start off folks with saying this came as a huge shocker on my end. Doug Armstrong was a very good GM while his tenure with the Dallas Stars. This is a wide jump from in what i consider changes being made to a struggling team. Usually the chain is coach, players dropped or traded, GM, and then President. Granite Tippet is a GREAT coach, but he needs to go back to running his 2-2-1 instead of this 3-2 that he is doing. Those of you who don’t understand the 3-2 is your 3 forwards advance into the zone as your 2 D men stay back and then join in once forwards have control in the zone. We often run a 2-2-1. meaning 2 forwards carry the puck into the zone while the 3rd stays in the neutral just in case a takeaway occurs leaving the one forward and two d men to defend. This is a neutral zone trap. Teams have beaten us because of the 3-2 where they can dump and chase against us. Partly this is players fault due to speed and being out of position and not enough hustle. The goalie core have been great but a being to look awful due to bad team play and not getting any support. I stated before the season Dallas needed one more veteran D man and one more winger who is a proven scorer. Due to team effort, which I am very sure the Stars know is the problem, we lost a good GM. Armstrong did however decide not to shop free agency and is probably seeing why he should have. I know we were trying to save money and such and try to copy the like of Rangers, Capitols and Penguins with its youth movement. These clubs succeeded because it got top youth players in the draft the past few years due to bad seasons and records. Dallas has always been a club in the hunt and that left us on the low end in draft years. So if you want to keep being on top you pay to play or you pay to rebuild. Rebuilding is hard because 9 times out of 10 the success rate is not good for a few years. So with Hull taking the reins i hope to see some roster moves, lines changes and maybe some trades brewing in the following weeks. Again Armstrong sorry our boys let you down and you had to face the chopping block.