Back in Black, or Shiny Spandex?
Two disturbing items from Wednesday’s pre-game news conference
1-Tracey Kelusky is still listed as doubtful with a concussion.
2-Apparently, the Roughnecks as a team are closet ‘American Gladiator’ fans.
The news on Kelusky, while tough to hear, is not entirely unexpected. As anyone who’s had to deal with one knows, a concussion can be the furthest thing from your mind until you try to exert yourself, then it becomes the main thing your mind is trying to deal with. According to GM Kurt Silcott, Kelusky was set to check in with the specialist Wednesday, and while he’s not 100% out, confidence is not high in his ability to go Friday against Buffalo. As Kaleb Toth told me, while the team would be happy to have the captain on the floor, pushing it before he’s well and truly healed could be a ticket to a season on the sidelines.
Item 2 is just plain creepy. Ryan Avery let slip that the team is hooked on the resurrected 80’s trashsports extravaganza. Apparently Andrew McBride thinks he’s gladiator ‘Wolf’. Google it and put the picture next to McBride’s mug shot and you’ll see it’s not that big a stretch. Somehow this disturbs me. What’s next guys? Is Ryan ‘Corporal Punishment’ McNish secretly ‘Militia’? Who’s ‘Tor’? Who’s ‘Titan’? I don’t know. I don’t want to know.
On a brighter note, the team is asking fans to ‘Black out the ‘Dome’ on Friday night. In a repeat of the successful Champion’s Cup night against the Bandits, the Riggers are pulling out the black jerseys and asking fans to wear black in a show of intimidation noir. C’mon, it’ll look cool!
Updating an item I posted a couple of weeks ago, charges of assault laid against Toronto Rock head coach Glenn Clark have been dropped. The charges were laid after an under-the-stands dustup involving a Minnesota Swarm player early in the season. Clark remains under indefinite suspension by the league, but hopefully with lesson learned and proper humble expressions of remorse, this will clear the way for his reinstatement.
If you can’t make the game but want to catch it wherever you are (with high speed internet of course!) I’ll be calling the B2 networks webcast of the game starting at 7:30 local. Just link to the game through the NLL website, at the low low price of just 7 bucks. Pity I can’t be in two places at once, because this means I’ll miss the Joe Sports memorial gala at Flames Central. Hey Colin, just because I’m not there in person doesn’t mean I’m not thinking good thoughts. We miss you.