Slewfoot on Keith Ballard Showcases One of the Many Ways a Player Can Needlessly Injure Another Player

If you haven't seen it yet, here's a clip of the Keith Ballard injury, via Kukla's Korner. Last night, during the game, I wondered aloud to my wife if Milan Michalek was guilty of a slewfoot here. Kukla's Korner asks the same question. Ben Kuzma also asked. Mike Gillis straight up said it was. Let me tell you: if it looks like a slewfoot and quacks like a duck, well, it's probably a slewfoot, but then why the Hell is it quacking?

Anyway, this is probably a slewfoot, one of the many oft-overlooked ways one player can give another player a completely needless, totally avoidable, longterm injury. Word is Ballard will miss 2-4 weeks with an MCL sprain, and if the MRI reveals a tear, well, longer. Frankly, Hips is lucky his knee didn't pop clean off--the fate that befell my poseable MC Hammer action figure when I was nine.

And if it is a slewfoot, where's the outrage? I don't like the way this is being brushed off. Slewfoots are exceedingly dangerous, just like the headshots that dominate the daily discussions of NHL issues. They happen surprisingly often, and yet nobody really talks about cracking down on them.

Today would have been a great day to discuss yet one more way hockey players aren't showing each other enough respect on the ice, one more dirty play on which the league needs to crack down. But instead, when I turned on the radio, I was dropped into yet another rant about headshots. Let's get serious, radio guys. You had a major slewfoot in your market and you go right back to the well of overplayed topics? Granted, Cam Cole's article on headshots and the Code is brilliant and worth discussing, but if the above video tells me anything, it's that headshots aren't the only way to shorten a guy's career, and the others deserve some discussion as well.

Pratt's Day Off & PITB's Brief Team 1040 Mention

So in case you missed all the fun this afternoon (and I suspect you did, as I was alone for most of the day), here's what happened:

I was listening to the Team 1040 (which I often do) while doing some laundry. After discovering one minute after 2pm that I wouldn't have the pleasure of the incorrigibly fractious Pratt-half of the Pratt & Taylor odd couple, and would instead be listening to Jeff Paterson and Don Taylor be agreeable for the next four hours, I tried to start a new Twitter meme: #PrattsDayOff. I tweeted The Team 1040 and worked my tail off for the next little while trying to get the hashtag rolling.

It started promisingly. My first tweet was read on-air. (just after the 6:00 mark), as the featured tweet of the Poison Mailbag:

@Team1040 Vancouver's favourite blustery, cyclist-hating jingoist is off today? Why? Pratt helps me feel. #PrattsDayOff

Unfortunately, the meme jumped the shark right away. We had a few amusing contributions (click the hashtag and have a gander), but the Team 1040 mention was the pinnacle of Pratt's Day Off.

It would have been nice to see more people taking cheap shots at Dave Pratt. I actually really like and respect him, but ripping him is fun and super easy to do because he's such a cartoon character at times.

In fact, it's not too late. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: Don't let #PrattsDayOff die. Don't let this great day be in vain.

Tom Larscheid Retires, Leaves Gaping High-Pitched Laugh-Shaped Hole

"Let's face facts: Jan Bulis is just a dumb hockey player."

~ Tom Larscheid

It was announced today that after 33 years as the Canucks radio color commentator, Tom Larscheid will only be calling one more game. He and John Shorthouse will call the season opener against the LA Kings and will subsequently hang up the headphones and mic.

Tommy is a legend in Vancouver and he will be sorely missed. He had a way of bringing the game to life on the radio that is hard to match. As a former football player, he wasn't always the best analyst of the game of hockey, but he had an infectious enthusiasm and a straight-shooting personality. He was always up front with his homerism, but wasn't afraid to call out players (like Jan Bulis), when they weren't performing up to par. He was blunt, but fair, and it always felt like he was the fan's representative in the booth, upset when the fans were upset, happy when the fans were happy.

He could also turn a phrase like few others. "Bingo, bango, bongo, his name is Roberto Luongo." That line wouldn't have worked coming from anyone other than Tommy. He talked about "fire in the belly," "calling the coppers," and laughed his incredibly recognizable high-pitched laugh. He's also given some memorable lines for, well, other reasons, such as the infamous "I just came from the Canucks dressing room and Pavel's groin has never felt better."

He's been hinting at retiring for almost five years now, but he kept signing on for one more year. I knew this day was coming, but I was hoping he'd get a chance to call the Canucks winning the Stanley Cup. He was there for 33 years of futility, calling both the Canucks appearances in the Finals ("He'll play on crutches!"), but never saw them hoist the Cup.

He will then be replaced by Dave Tomlinson, who is the exact opposite of Tommy in many ways: cynical, dry, and knowledgeable. The Team 1040 broadcasts will be the poorer for it.

Farewell, Tommy. Enjoy your retirement: you've earned it.