Toronto Maple Leafs Miss Playoffs....Again

Mike Cassese/Reuters

The Toronto Maple Leafs have missed the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for a franchise record seventh straight year, and have not made it since the year before the lockout in 2003/2004. The leafs were in sixth place in the Eastern Conference on February 16th, but went a league worst 5-16-3 since then. The players, coaches, fans, and management are all angered and embarrassed. 

Duncan Keith and Daniel Sedin

There was an ugly incident Wednesday night in Chicago where Blackhawk's defence man Duncan Keith blatantly elbowed Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks. Keith was only given a two minute minor penalty on the play, and then subsequently banned five games by Brendan Shannahan of the NHL.

Graham James

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Graham James, a former junior hockey coach who sexually abused teenagers including former NHL star Theo Fleury, was sentenced to two years in prison on March 20th. He was only charged with assaulting two players, but it is reported that there was much more then that. Also, he has the opportunity to get be on parole and be out of jail by the fall!

Manning, Tebow, and their Future

Peyton Manning has officially ended his free agent search, signing with the Denver Broncos for about $90 Million over 5 seasons on March 20th. This means that Tim Tebow, the often criticized, yet fan favourite, will most likely be traded. The Broncos are taking a huge risk on signing Manning, who has not played in 14 months due a severe neck injury.

Fabrice Muamba

Yesterday, March 17th, Fabrice Muamba, a midfielder for the Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League, collapsed on the pitch mid-game. Apparently his heart stopped for 2 hours, but it was restarted at a London hospital shortly after. Everyone in attendance was visibly shocked as they witnessed the heart attack. Many were seen crying, including some players.

March Madness

March Madness begins this weekend, and thus begins the millions of brackets being busted by surprise wins. March Madness is bet on insanely, apparently around $3.5 total and $2.5 illegally. The odds of correctly predicting all the outcomes correctly are 1 in over 18 quintillion and over 40 million brackets will be filled out. These stats are from http://www.businessdegree.net/march-madness/, which has some incredibly interesting facts.

Nick Zoricic

Nick Zoricic, a Canadian ski cross racer, died today as a result of massive head injuries received from a crash in Grindewald, Switzerland. Zoricic, 29, sailed off a jump to the right and landed on some course netting, which jetted him foward. He then was on the ground not moving when people rushed to help. 

PGA Tour: McIlroy and Woods

getty images

It has come to my attention that this past weekend there was a terrific finish to the Honda Classic PGA event held in Palm Baech Gardens, Florida. Rory McIlroy won and took over the world number one ranking, and Tiger Woods finished with a 62 on the day, his lowest final round of his career!

Peyton Manning and the End of an Era

Today, the Indianapolis Colts officially released Peyton Manning, rather then paying him a whopping bonus of $28 million to keep him. Manning didn't play at all during the 2011 NFL season due to a neck injury, and the Colts were still worried about his health and playing condition. Manning led the Colts to the Superbowl twice, winning it once.

New Orleans Saints: Bounty Hunters

The NFL has announced that they are looking into reports that the New Orleans Saints were running a bounty program which they would receive gifts or bonuses for injuring other players. This has been going one for the past few seasons, and all the coaches on the team knew about this. Players should not be rewarded for injuring people, but many NFL analysts say that it is a very common thing.