The Outsiders' Edge

Hello everybody I hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl. I thought it was a a hell of a 4th quarter and lived up to my expectations, seeing as how I was was more interested in the halftime show then the actual game itself.

Springsteen kicked ass, Warner is a hall of famer, Tomlin is a hell of a coach. Well thats enough Super Bowl analysis for now, thanks for reading. We’ll be back next week with the next edition of the Edge.

Bruce Springsteen waves goodbye to the rest of the blog entry

Alright, I fooled you. I’m back for an encore. Saturday night’s UFC 94 was a mixed show.  Lyoto Machida, Jon Jones, and GSP put on fantastic performances in their wins over Thiago Silva, Stephan Bonnar, and BJ Penn. I learned a few things:

1) No matter if Rampage or Rashad Evans is the Light Heavyweight Champion, like I said New Year’s, Lyoto Machida will be Light Heavyweight champ by the end of the Summer. He really deserves the next title shot, but it seems like Dana White is dead set on giving Rampage the next opportunity, assuming he beats Keith Jardine at UFC 96.

2) Jon “Bones Jones” has fantastic potential to be a major player in the stacked 205 division. I felt like I was watching a professional wrestling match with Taz or Kurt Angle, when he suplexed Bonnar. Jones has incredible strength and a freakish ability to use Greco Roman throws to down his opponents. For a 21 year old he is damn impressive. As long as he improves his cardio and keeps working on his throws, he’ll be a force in the light heavyweight division. However, Lyoto Machida will probably defeat Jones three years from now when he gets his first title shot.

3) I was so glad to see Georges St. Pierre pan the fucking tar out of BJ Penn. I’m tired of hearing about this bullshit Vaseline controversy. A little lotion on GSP’s back was not the sole reason Penn got completely demolished by Rush. Penn showed up completely out of shape, undersized, and with a shitty game plan. I know GSP and Penn had a really close fight back in 2006, but Penn and his management teams should have recognized that GSP has gotten freakishly good in all areas of the fight game, since those two last met. Its time for Penn to quit worrying about other weight classes and stick to light weight. If he is too busy day dreaming about future fights with Anderson Silva or whoever else, Kenny Florian will beat him.

GSP pounded BJ Penn to near retirement

With UFC 94 chat over, I’d like to move on to the real focus of my blog entry. Georges St. Pierre’s recent beat down on BJ Penn got me to thinking about Canda and its impact on our sporting world. So for my next ranking, I would like to present to you the greatest Candaian athletes from the past 25 years.

PS- I know the list could probably have 5 different hockey players, but I’ve decided to have only two in the ranking just to free up the opportunity to discuss a few different sports.

Beating the biggest douchebag in MMA makes GSP a very deserving member of the Candain 5 pack

5) Georges St. Pierre

Are you really surprised to see GSP on this list?  His dominance over the past two years has moved him from being one of the best champions in the UFC, to one of the greatest champions in UFC history. With the exception of losses to Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, which were later revenged, the welter weight class of the UFC has been GSP’s personal play thing. Due to his last 5 victories over BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes, and Josh Coscheck, GSP has established himself as a dominant competitor willing to face head on, some of the toughest challengers his weight class has to offer. His victory over Serra at UFC 83 in his home town Montreal, last February will always be remembered as one of the greatest moments in Candain sports history, and may have been the UFC moment of the year.

Steve Nash: the greatest Canadian basketball player in the history of the NBA

4) Steve Nash

Steve Nash is the greatest Candain to ever play in the NBA. He just barely beats out Bill Wennington, Rick Fox, and Mike Smrek. I’m lying. He really beats out Bill Wennington, Rick Fox, and Mike Smrek . The 2 time MVP established himself as the best point guard in the game playing in Mike D’ Antoni’s run and gun offense. Things have cooled off considerably with the idiotic Terry Porter at the helm of the team, but Nash remains one of the best point guards in the league. He has inspired a generation of Canucks to step away from the pond and the curling lanes to try their hands at basektball. His bellyaching over Raja Bell getting traded to Charlotte this season was near gay, but it shouldn’t take away from his greatness on the hardwood.

Gordon Lightfoot is a huge fan of Steve Nash

I don’t know why Candain singer/song writer Gordon Lightfoot made this list. Lets ignore Gordon and move on to #3………………..

So you don't think Bret Hart is an athlete? You might just find yourself in a sharpshooter.

3) Bret Hart

Hey its me Elevation. You just knew the Hitman was going to pop up at some point or another on my Canadian athlete ranking. Bret Hart is a two time rankings member following his appearance as a member of the Hart Foundation, from the best factions entry. Hart just may be the greatest in-ring performer in WWE history. Sure he wasn’t as good on the mic as Stone Cold or the Rock, but the Hitman never had a bad match. His WrestleMania 13 match against Steve Austin, with Ken Shamrock as the special guest referee, may just be the greatest match in WrestleMania history. His rivalries with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Davey Boy Smith, and Owen Hart are the stuff of legend. All the bullshit with the Montreal screwjob tends to overshadow just how fantastic the Hitman’s career was, but Bret Hart is without a doubt the greatest professional wrestler in Candadian history.

(Pause for obligatory SJX Chris Benoit joke)

Alright moving on to #2 and #1…………………………….

Wayne Gretzky as he is about to throw the Stanley Cup in a fit of rage at Elevation for saying Super Mario was better then him

2) Wayne Gretzky 1) Mario Lemeiux

I’m not going to lie, this decision may attract a bit of controversy.  I was originally in the Gretz camp until listening to a compelling argument from my friend Dave Dameshek (Google him) who does a podcast on ESPN. Many of the points in my argument are lifted from Dave’s screed.

I know that many people consider Wayne Gretzky to be the greatest hockey player of all time. I don’t have a problem with people who say that, but I tend to view Mario Lemeiux as the Ted Williams of hockey. I feel like he was the most physically gifted player to ever play the game, despite dealing with a crippiling back injury and cancer. He missed two months in the middle of the 1993 season to undergo treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Upon his return the team went on a 17 game winning streak, and Super Mario beat out Pat LaFontaine for the title despire missing two months of the season! The Pens went on to eventually lose to the Islanders in the playoffs, but they still set a franchise points record with 119. It has to be the most underrated sports story of all time. Can you imagine in the ESPN age, if Peyton Manning missed half the season due to cancer, but still had the most TD passes and led the Colts to the playoffs? It would be the most over-reported story of all time. Rick Reilly would be spinning yarns about it for decades on end. ESPN classic would rebroadcast every Peyton Manning game from that season on a constant loop for the end of time. Lemeiux’s cancer return is totally underrated in the pantheon of legendary sports comebacks.

This is not to say that Super Mario is better then Gretz, solely based on the 1993 season. I feel that Lemeiux was somewhat under covered due to playing in a smaller market like the Iron City. Gretzky was part of the great Oilers dynasty and played in Los Angeles and New York, the two biggest media markets in the world. Had Mario played in a similar situation his fame would be on par with Gretzky’s.

I know Gretzky was a great player and all, but doesn’t it seem strange that the Oilers were able to win the Stanley Cup for the 89/90 season after trading him away in 1988? The Penguins had nowhere near the success, in their years without Mario, that the Oilers had without Gretzky.

Also in recent years, Mario has been responsible for the hockey Renaissance in Pittsburgh. His ownership group saved the franchise from moving away and was responsible for the drafting and development of Geno Malkin and Sidney Crosby. Gretzky’s tenure in Phoenix is more notable for the Rick Tocchet gambling scandal that involved his wife then anything the Coyotes have done on the ice.

66 and Jags Jagr alugh about their glory mullet days, and Mario's honor of being Elevation's greatest Canadian athletes of the last 25 years.

So there you go Edgeheads. Check out the Radio Show website. www.blogtalkradio.com/lordelevation

A very special guest, who just happens to be a former UFC champion will be joining me. Tune in this Friday from 3PM to 4PM East Coast to hear who!

~ by lordelevation on February 5, 2009.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Bret Hart, Bruce Springsteen, Georges St Pierre, Lyoto Machida, Mario Lemeiux, Montreal Screwjob, Steve Nash, Wayne Gretzky