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Reminiscent of the Florida Central Voter File that spawned controversy surrounding the US presidential elections in 2000, and hockey scrub Rory Fitzpatrick finishing 3^rd among defensemen during a grass roots movement to get him into the 2007all star game. The NHL is looking into voting irregularities in this year’s all-star voting process. It seems that some Canadiens hockey fans were not being honest. Really?

Apparently a scheme by Montreal Canadiens fans to flood the NHL All-Star Game ballot box with artificial votes was uncovered, in which a computer script augmented vote totals for Alexei Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek and Carey Price. Les Robots du Montreal.

The NHL is aware of the issue, and has taken some initial action by removing some of the artificial votes from Habtastic Five. But even after that action was taken, Canadians players are still the only players that are over 200,000 votes in the all-star balloting. Canadiens fans are defending the results by implicating that since this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Canadiens franchise combined with the all-star game being held in Montreal, there are more fans voting for Canadiens players. The Canadian Media is also down playing the entire incident. Who is running the voting, “ACORN"?

The NHL’s conclusive solution to the problem was to install CAPTCHA technology to the voting process. This technology protects websites against bots by generating and grading tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot. This sort of technology is used everywhere from Myspace to online ticket ordering to prevent SPAM or fraud or any other unwanted intrusion from automated systems.

While it isn't unusual to see an overabundance of interest in the host team of an All-Star Game (particularly one in the hockey-mad city of Montreal), the degree to where the votes outpace any other team are 4:1. Unfortunately, in the age of the mighty Internet, cyber-weasels are bound and determined to ruin any possible enjoyment for the rest of us. 

But lets not put all the blame on Canadiens fans and computer geeks. That wouldn’t be right, or fun. Satan Bettman and his minions of greed and larceny have been bad for the NHL since his inception in 1993. While some may profess that Bettman has been the Savior of the NHL, most will disagree and one illustration of this, is that NHL marketing has sunk to broadcasting games on the hunting and fishing network. The latest in “real time” on-line voting is nothing more than a clandestine attempt to increase attention for the NHL and at the same time open up such types of espionage to the voter selection process.

So before you tell me to put on my tin foil helmet and preach NHL all-star voting conspiracy theories. Think about this. The NHL's approach to this years all-star ballot voting, has turned selecting all-star starters for an exhibition game into one of the most illicit publicity campaigns of the year. Ask yourself. When was the last time the NHL all-star game ever attracted so much attention? What size hat do you wear?

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Heading into Dean Lombardi’s 3rd season as GM for the Los Angeles Kings it’s still a struggle for the Los Angeles Kings to get above sea level and seriously challenge for a playoff position in the NHL’s difficult Western Conference. The tide appears to be turning though for a franchise that hasn’t reached the playoffs in five seasons. After 18 games into the 2008-09 NHL season, the Los Angeles Kings are at .500. The last time the Kings were .500 was in the 2005-06. It may seem that Lombardi has secured the future of the team by signing young stars Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown to long term contracts, making the team tougher by trading away softer finesse players like Mike Cammalleri and Lubomir Visnovsky and has created a fat amount of cap space in the process. Kings fans have a lot to look forward to this season.

Playing in over eight seasons in the NHL as a player.  First year Head Coach, Terry Murray, appeared in 302 career NHL regular season games as a defenseman for Washington, Philadelphia, and the Detroit Red Wings.  He was also the Head Coach for the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and the Philadelphia Flyers, where he led that club to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Paired with Assistant Coach and long time Kings defenseman, Mark Hardy who returned to the Kings bench in August of 2008. They will bring a much more aggressive style to the Kings play.

Recently this has been displayed in Murray’s decision to reunite D Patrick O’Sullivan with line mates Dustin Brown and Andre Kopitar. The three played together much of last season but spent only part of one game together this season. Kopitar has only 3 goals so far this season, but leads the team in assists with 11. Brown has 7 goals and 6 assists in 18 games played. Murray also added fan favorite John Zeiler, who played the last two games at Manchester on a conditioning assignment, back into the Kings lineup this week. The Z train will slow down games with big hits and intimidate the opposition’s players.

Another one of this years surprising factors is the outstanding play of Kings goaltender, Erik Ersberg. The Iceberg, as he is often called, has a GAA of 1.96 in 10 appearances this season, earning him the Kings number one spot at goaltending. The Iceberg has been shutting down opponents with a .909 save % and ranked third in the NHL among all goalies with the same number of starts.

Eighteen-year-old defensemen, Drew Doughty has stepped it up since last years rookie sensation, defenseman Jack Johnson’s placement on injured reserve. Allowing Doughty more playing time. Doughty has been the league’s top rookie in the first month of season, averaging almost 23 minutes a game while playing in every situation. Every defenseman on the Kings is a minus-player, except Doughty. He is a plus 6.

With returning players, C Michal Handzus who recently appeared in his 100th game as a King Nov. 20 vs. Washington, returning 94-95 King D Sean O’Donnell who was obtained by a deal with the Anaheim Ducks in October, and RW Alexander Frolov who finished second on the club in 2007-08 with 67 points and a career-high 44 assists. The Los Angeles Kings may have the first team that could allow them to see postseason action since the 2001-02 season.

After three quarters of a decade of nightmares the Los Angeles Kings are finally daring to dream again.

In other news the Kings will debut the unveiling their 3rd jersey this week as part of the NHL’s 2008-09 third jersey campaign. The design merges the Kings current branding with the Kings original logo, and is a tribute to the Gretzky era. (See inset picture). The jersey is being given away to Kings season ticket holders. Fans have mixed reviews on the design with most looking at the selling of 3rd jerseys as a quick fix for solving the NHL and teams revenue issues.

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The entire Raiders franchise as well as Al “Da Rat” Davis is in the beginning stages of rigormortis. The last 5½ seasons Oakland has won 21 games. Oakland last won a Super Bowl in 1984 and last made the playoffs in 2003.

• QB JaMarcus (JaMilliions) Russell showed some promise early on, but has regressed. He is the NFL's worst passer in terms of completion percentage. He has been sacked 22 times, fumbled eight times and directs an offense that has scored a league-worst 107 points.
• Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has seen his “Escort Service” sink, to a ranking of 30^th out of 32 in rushing yards allowed per game and are near the bottom in average yards allowed per carry and touchdowns allowed.
• Owner, Al ”Da Rat” Davis has committed to shelling out millions of dollars in free agency or via trade to, OT Kwame Harris, WR Javon Walker and CB DeAngelo Hall. All have started, but none has made the kind of impact commensurate with his salary, with Hall being cut only eight games into the season.
• Oakland's offensive line has struggled consistently protecting Russell and opening up holes for the Raiders running game.
• The Raiders offense averaged 19.5 points the first four games of the season. That figure has dropped to 7.2 in the last four games four games.
• The Raiders are last in the league in red-zone offense, only having scored six touchdowns on 20 trips inside their opponents' 20-yard line. The Raiders have also scored only one touchdown in 48 first-half possessions.

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The entire Raiders franchise as well as Al “Da Rat” Davis is in the beginning stages of rigormortis. The last 5½ seasons Oakland has won 21 games. Oakland last won a Super Bowl in 1984 and last made the playoffs in 2003.

• QB JaMarcus (JaMilliions) Russell showed some promise early on, but has regressed. He is the NFL's worst passer in terms of completion percentage. He has been sacked 22 times, fumbled eight times and directs an offense that has scored a league-worst 107 points.
• Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has seen his “Escort Service” sink, to a ranking of 30^th out of 32 in rushing yards allowed per game and are near the bottom in average yards allowed per carry and touchdowns allowed.
• Owner, Al ”Da Rat” Davis has committed to shelling out millions of dollars in free agency or via trade to, OT Kwame Harris, WR Javon Walker and CB DeAngelo Hall. All have started, but none has made the kind of impact commensurate with his salary, with Hall being cut only eight games into the season.
• Oakland's offensive line has struggled consistently protecting Russell and opening up holes for the Raiders running game.
• The Raiders offense averaged 19.5 points the first four games of the season. That figure has dropped to 7.2 in the last four games four games.
• The Raiders are last in the league in red-zone offense, only having scored six touchdowns on 20 trips inside their opponents' 20-yard line. The Raiders have also scored only one touchdown in 48 first-half possessions.