Popular Internet Auction Site Crashes due to Volume of Submissions

The world’s leading Internet auction site that shall remain nameless due to their extensive war chest earmarked for legal issues such as Trade Mark infringements has reportedly crashed today due to mass submissions over a very short period of time.

It turns out that immediately after the Vancouver Canucks loss to the Colorado Avalanche on March 26, 2008; fans of the once entertaining and popular ice hockey club began putting their seats on the Canucks bandwagon up for auction on the popular San Jose, California based online auction site.

Given that the Vancouver Canucks are the entire province’s only source of major league sports entertainment, the bandwagon potential for this team is quite huge. With the staggering loss to the team the other night in Denver, the trickle of auction submissions soon turned into a raging torrent that brought the auction site’s servers down.

One auction submitter who goes by the handle “WeNeedANewCoach” posted on his auction page;

“one extra wide Vancouver Canuck Bandwagon seat up for auction to the highest bidder. Bandwagon seat features 1 Red Heating Lamp in the back that never seems to turn off but to compensate for dat der iz an ever full bottle of water eh.”

A spokesman for the popular auction site informed us that the problem was only temporary and full service was restored quite quickly. When asked if there was any concern of this happening again he informed us that as far as he understood it the season is almost over for the beleaguered hockey team and given the lack of activity regarding those bandwagon seat auctions, the public doesn’t seem to be too interested in securing any of these empty seats so the odds of the site going down are about as good as the odds of the Canucks making the playoffs.

When the Vancouver Canuck star goaltender Robert Luongo was contacted about the auction site going down he allegedly responded with

“That’s not me, I don’t think we need a new coach, and besides… I don’t have time to think about hockey these days; my wife is having a baby soon.”

We tried to get a comment from Vancouver Canucks ex-captain Trevor Linden regarding the fate of the team and the lack of band wagon seat action but seeing we are not actual members of the press we couldn’t get into the press box to see him.

E. Zack Lee

NHL Hockey Video Pick: L.A. Kings V. Dallas Stars

The slumping Dallas Stars play host to their division rivals from L.A., as Mike Modano, Brad Richards and Marty Turco look to halt a 1-6 losing streak against a team they’ve handled all year. This is a must win game, but guess who Captain Canuck is choosing!

E. Zack Lee

Free NHL Video Pick: Toronto Maple Leafs V. Buffalo Sabres

The Toronto Maple Leafs visit the surging Sabres, looking to knock off Buffalo for the first time in the New Year. The Sabres are coming off a huge 3-goal comeback just two nights ago as they look to nail down a playoff spot. Check out who Captain Canuck thinks will win.

E. Zack Lee

Cycling: UCI fighting with ASO as Paris-Nice gets under way

The recent cycling headlines are all directed to the most important topic of these days, which is the fight between the UCI and ASO (organizer of races such as Paris-Nice or Tour de France, and others). And the fight seems to be all about power, respect, and of course, business. The mostly affected ones are the riders and teams which essentially has nothing to do with the whole problem.

In short, since ASO doesn’t agree with UCI’s current Pro-Tour format it choose not to invite some top level teams to it’s Tour de France, among them Astana team with the current TdF champion Alberto Contador. Obviously, this created a stir between the UCI and ASO.

In retaliation UCI wanted ASO to suffer by forbidding the professional teams to enter the Paris-Nice under a treat of fines and rider sanctions. This appeared not to work very well as all the pro teams lined up in Paris on Saturday.

Now the general discussion is who is the angel and who is the devil – UCI or ASO.

In my opinion, both UCI and ASO have some valid points in their arguments. But the painful thing is to watch riders riding Paris-Nice because they want (or have to because of sponsors) while at the same time they are worried to death about possible sanctions UCI promised.

If in fact UCI goes ahead with its plan then riders such as David Millar or Cadel Evans will be sanctioned for 6 months and fined with 10,000 Euros for breaking the UCI’s newly “invented” rules. And if that happens that it doesn’t really matter who created the whole situation because it will be only another blow to cycling and those who are still supporting it.

Stanoo Calista

UEFA Champions League heats up in knockout stages

There are seven games in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday, and there is still everything to play for in the two-legged ties that make up the knockout stages of Europe’s top club tournament. All of these games are available for action at sportsbook.

Tuesday
Arsenal at AC Milan (0-0 draw)
Milan are -105 favorites to go through after holding Arsenal to a goalless draw in London. Milan will also have World Player of the Year Kaka in the lineup, while Arsenal have been struggling with a host of injuries, especially to their strikers. Milan should go through due to their homefield advantage at the San Siro.

Celtic at Barcelona (Barca leads 3-2)
Barca claimed three precious away goals at Celtic, but their defense has left much to be desired this season. Barca are big -395 favorites at home, and their wealth of talent up front with Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Theirry Henry should be enough to get to the next round.

Fenerbache at Sevilla (Fenerbache leads 3-2)
The first leg in Turkey between these two was one of the more entertaining of all the ties, with Sevilla nicking a pair of away goals. Sevilla are favored at -235 to eliminate Fenerbache, and they will rely on the goal-scoring exploits of African Player of the Year Fredi Kanoute and Luis Fabiano, who have four goals each in the competition.

Lyon at Manchester United (1-1 draw)
United are -260 favorites to go through at Old Trafford after snatching an away goal at Lyon, and they looked like the better team for most of the game. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of four players with five goals to lead the way in the Champions League, and he will be at the forefront to carry United to the next round.

Wednesday
Olympiakos at Chelsea (0-0 draw)
Chelsea should have an edge after dominating Olympiakos in Greece, and they are favored at -345 to come away with the win at Stamford Bridge. The Blues have the injured John Terry and Frank Lampard back in the lineup, and because of their inspired play at the Bridge, Chelsea should move to the next round.

Schalke at Porto (Schalke leads 1-0)
Porto will still feel like they have a good chance after giving up only one goal in Germany, and they are favored at -140 because they have yet to lose at home this season in the Portuguese league. Look for Porto to call upon their experience in 2004, when they won the Champions League.

Roma at Real Madrid (Roma leads 2-1)
Madrid are -215 favorites to book their passage at the Bernabeu, but they will need to contain Roma’s inspirational captain Francesco Totti, who carved up the Spanish giants in Italy. Madrid’s famous supporters should be enough to push them through in what will be a close match.