Tootoo Vs. Valabik

I'm not typically one to post gratuitous fight vids, but the tussle below from over the weekend between Nashville's Jordin Tootoo and Atlanta's Boris Valabik is worth your time.

First, the tale of the tape: Valabik is 6'7" and got in 17 regular season fights last year, so he (ostensibly) knows how to handle himself. Tootoo is 5'9", had nine fights last season and dated Kellie Pickler.

With that intro behind us, here's the scrap (warning: you may want to turn down/off your speakers for this one):


H/t to EMac over at FanHouse on the link

Jordin Sparks Fly With Kellie

Like gossip? My wife does, so this is for her.

It appears as if Nashville Predators agitator Jordin Tootoo is in a "blossoming relationship" with former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler (pictured).

As if that isn't entertaining enough, Pickler is looking forward to visiting Tootoo's remote northern Canadian hometown so she can "build an igloo," but also presumably so she can get as far away from her father (who was just arrested for the second time this year) as possible:

The elder Pickler is being charged after getting caught stealing old cars and selling them to scrap yards. He was recently released from jail after a serving a three-year sentence for stabbing his neighbor.

Looks like Jordin may have to wait a while to ask his potential father-in-law for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Young love. Ain't it sweet?
H/t to an anonymous respected hockey journalist for passing along this smut.

You Might Want To Check Your Facts, Lites

I didn't post anything on the Jordin Tootoo incident (but feel free to discuss it in the comments to this post), but something else out of Saturday night's Preds/Stars game struck me, namely Dallas Stars owner Jim Lites' indignation about how the host Preds handled a certain NHL milestone:

Dallas Stars president Jim Lites has ripped the entire Nashville Predators organization for the 'horrible thing' they did by not acknowledging the Stars' Mike Modano tying and then breaking the record for goals scored by an American-born player Saturday, according to a published report.

"Their owner, management, public relations people, coaching staff -- I think they all failed the game," Lites told the Dallas Morning News. "It's because of people like Mike Modano that they even have a team in Nashville. He has helped pioneer the game in the South, and for him to be treated like that in a milestone moment ... it's just a horrible thing."

Aside from Lites' ridiculous over-the-top mock outrage (Failed the game? Horrible?) and hyperbole (Atlanta, a Southern city, last I checked, had an NHL team when Modano was two-years-old), there's this little tidbit:

At the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, Dallas Stars forward Mike Modano said he thought that Nashville and Carolina should be contracted.

Oops!

So, Mr. Lites, please forgive the Predators owner, management, public relations people and coaching staff for not stopping the game to fete a guy who, if he had his druthers, would see them all out of jobs.