How convenient. Fabio Capello resigns as England manager on the day the prime candidate to succeed him — Harry Redknapp — is cleared of tax evasion. You think Capello would have resigned today had a guilty verdict come down on Redknapp? The cynics amongst us would say no. But here we are, four months before another tournament and England are without a manager, without a captain and without a chance. Though the later we always knew about.

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I don’t mind the NFL but I must say that I need to have my iPad, a book or a magazine in hand in order to watch a game in full. That allows me to fill the massive gaps of down time. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes a sport with all those gaps and stoppages can be good if you have other things going on at the same time or just want a power nap, but the reality is that the tedium of the distorted commercials to play ratio exposes the frailties of the sport.

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This isn’t the way it’s meant to be. We’re in to the nitty-gritty stage of the NHL season and not only are the Toronto Maple Leafs very much in contention for a playoff place, but they are getting some solid goaltending along the way. If it isn’t the strong play of Jonas ‘The Monster’ Gustavsson, it’s the back-to-back shutouts by James Reimer, that has the local media declaring it a ‘goalie crisis’ for the Leafs.

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Young Sam Gagner, the 22-year old Edmonton Oilers centre, once seen as their top young forward until a couple of awful years in the standings ensured a host of more kids came in to take his spot, was on the verge of a trade — if rumours are to be believed — until last Thursday night when he rattled up eight points (four goals, four assists) in his teams 8-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. The slew of points tied a team record set by none other than Wayne Gretzky (twice) and Paul Coffey, and immediately seen Gagner — if rumours are to be believed — withdrawn from the trading block.

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Earlier in the month what with Baseball and Major League Soccer still in their closed seasons and tickets for an NHL game still averaging above the average mans weekly salary, I was looking for a sporting event to go and watch when I read something online about the Toronto Rock, National Lacrosse League outfit. Their season was just getting underway and they were the defending champions — a rarity indeed in Toronto sports — so I decided I’d hop online and grab a ticket to see what this Lacrosse sport was all about. It more than met my expectations.

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Anytime Liverpool take on Manchester United in a game it can go one of three ways for me. If it’s a draw you feel somewhat let down that nothing was resolved and it leaves both sets of fans delving deep into the suitcase of excuses as to why their team deserved to win it but didn’t or how the referee prevented them hammering the other. If it’s a a defeat you know your Facebook page is going to light up with abuse from friends out to remind you of your teams real status as a result of that game. It’s best often to sign off from the world for a few days, find something else to watch for a while and pretend it never really happened. But, if it’s a win, then your weekend is made and you can spend whatever free time you have ensuring those same friends are on the sharp end of your delight.

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Last night was the NHL all-star draft live from Ottawa. A gimmick whereby four all-stars are selected as team captains and assistant captains — in this case Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson with the New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist and Boston’s Zdeno Chara along with Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul — and go about taking turns picking their teams much as you might have seen before in the school playground. Naturally there is the pride of someone getting picked first — though that is in time quickly forgotten — and, much like the school playground again, the humiliation of someone being left standing alone — which is never forgotten. Last year Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs had that dubious honour, this year it was Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks.

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