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"You cant win with Jason Spezza as your captain."I have heard that phrase uttered countless times over the past few months, as the Ottawa Senators season has slipped away. In his first season as captain, Spezzas club has been a major disappointment. The Senators fell well short of expectations and predictably, Spezza is taking the lions share of the blame from his harshest critics. I have always said that the Spezza debate in this town is like Coke versus Pepsi. If you are a Coke drinker, its very hard to convince you that Pepsi is superior. The same goes for Spezza - those people who hate him cant be convinced otherwise. Its a black-and-white argument and its virtually impossible to sway someone from one side to the other.Anybody who has read or listened to me over the years knows that I fall into the camp of people who believe the Senators are a better team with Spezza down the middle. But in todays blog, I am not trying to convince anybody about Jasons ability as a player. You can judge that for yourself. What I do want to bring up is the idea that a captain is the person who sets the tone for how his team plays.The critics of Spezza will argue that because he has a penchant for turning over the puck and does not play as well defensively as some other players, he causes his entire team to play with a loosey-goosey mentality. If the guy wearing the "C" is taking risks with the puck, that is setting the tone for the 17 other skaters.Those people say that if Spezza was a real leader, he would play the game the right way in all three zones. He would be a rugged leader, who was more physical. He would be someone like Andrew Ladd of the Winnipeg Jets.If you were to write down all the characteristics you would want in a captain for a Canadian team, Ladd would meet all the criteria.• He is from Maple Ridge, B.C.• He plays the game the right way• He has Stanley Cup rings with two different teamsAnd yet, the Winnipeg Jets are a team that is a mess defensively. They have given up 234 goals – second-worst in the Western Conference.Their captain is there every night supposedly playing the game "the right way". His teammates see how he conducts himself on and off the ice. So why are they so bad defensively?Its because the captain can only do so much. And many times, we overrate the role of a captain on a hockey team. We assign certain characteristics to people and we have a hard time deviating from our original stance. In our minds, Ladd is a great captain – so the problem is with his Winnipeg teammates.But if Ladd escapes the criticism in Winnipeg for failing to get the Jets to play a more structured game, why does Spezza take the heat in Ottawa for the exact same thing?The tricky thing for Spezza is that he is also trying to fill the skates of the previous captain Daniel Alfredsson, who had a mythical status in this town.But before Alfredsson had his breakthrough moment as captain in 2007 in leading the Senators to the Stanley Cup Final, he had just as many detractors in Ottawa as Spezza does now. There was a prevailing sentiment that "you will never win with Daniel Alfredsson as your captain." Those echoes reached a crescendo when Jason Pominville walked around him for the series-ending goal against the Buffalo Sabres in the 2006 playoffs.However, after Alfredsson won over his critics in 2007, he was good for life in Ottawa and was never blamed for any of the problems.When it comes to the team that fell off a cliff in 2007-08 with one of the great collapses in NHL history?"Dont blame Alfredsson, that was all Ray Emerys fault."How about the team that missed the playoffs in two of the next three years?"Lets blame Hartsburg and Cory Clouston. Alfie is a great leader."When the Senators made the playoffs in 2011-12, they did so with the worst goals-against average of any of the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs. They were kind of a mess defensively that year, but did anybody blame Alfredsson?Of course not.Because they had made up their minds that he was not the problem. Being the captain is all about perception. Alfredsson was always a good leader in Ottawa. He didnt radically change his approach in 2007 when they went to the Stanley Cup Final. Things just finally worked out in his favour and as a result, all of the questions surrounding his leadership vanished overnight.Spezza probably needs time to grow into the captaincy in this town, so he can experience his own defining moment as the leader of this hockey team.Whether he gets that opportunity or not is an entirely different question. Nike Vapormax Damen Günstig . You can, too, Clay Buchholz, if we ignore the sixth inning of Game 2. Doug Fister and Jake Peavy, youre up next in Game 4 and theres a lot to live up to. Nike Vapormax Fake Kaufen . "I wouldnt read anything into what happened Saturday at Torrey Pines," Woods said Tuesday after an 18-hole exhibition for past winners of the Dubai Desert Classic. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-herren-deutschland.html .J. -- The New Jersey Devils are so bad in shootouts, coach Pete DeBoer doesnt mind seeing his team take chances in the five-minute overtime. Nike Vapormax Damen 2020 . Fielder has been out with a herniated disk in his neck, and surgery was recommended after a follow-up exam and another scan Thursday with Dr. Vapormax Off White Fake Kaufen . McCutchen was cut before the series opener against Seattle on Monday night, when Lewis was set for his first start for Texas since July 18, 2012. Texas selected Lewis contract from Triple-A Round Rock.ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Receiver Mike Williams acknowledged he has some growing up to do while addressing questions about his troubled past Monday. For Williams, theres no place better to start fresh than in his hometown of Buffalo. "Its like being drafted all over, especially to my hometown, and get to come back and play in front of the people that know me, where I came from," Williams said during a news conference three days after the Bills acquired him in a trade with Tampa Bay. "The people know what type of guy I am." Calling the homecoming "a dream come true," Williams returns to the place he was a high school star. He went on to a successful yet troubled career at Syracuse, where Williams abruptly quit the team in November 2009 during his junior season. This is the second — and potentially final — chance for Williams to put behind off-field distractions, which led to the Buccaneers parting ways with their starter in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick. The deal was made a year after Williams signed a six-year, $40 million contract. The breaking point came two weeks ago, when Williams was allegedly stabbed in the leg by his brother, Eric Baylor, who has since turned himself in to police. Williams passed his physical in Buffalo and said the injury from the stabbing wont prevent him from reporting for voluntary team workouts, which begin April 22. Williams acknowledged making mistakes and vows to do better, saying there are people depending upon him, including his infant son. "When you get a lot of bad attention or bad this, or bad that, its about: Are you going to let the bad attack you? Are you going to fall?" Williams said. "Or are you going to get up and try again? Thats why I think a fresh start is needed." On the field, Williams has displayed the potential as a No. 1 receiver. A fourth-round draft pick iin 2010, Williams led NFL rookies with 65 catches for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns.dddddddddddd Though a hamstring injury limited Williams to just six games last year, he has 215 catches for 2,947 yards and 25 touchdowns in 54 career games. The Bills are in need of an experienced player to complement returning starter Stevie Johnson, who led an otherwise young group of receivers. Its off the field where questions have arisen. The Tampa Bay Times has reported that Williams neighbours in Tampa were unhappy with noise issues and damage to the players rented home. Without providing specifics, Williams said two of the numerous accusations were made up. When pressed on which two, Williams said the Bills requested that he not discuss it. In trading Williams, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht referred to the deal as something the team "felt was best for both sides." In Buffalo, coach Doug Marrone is willing to provide Williams the benefit of the doubt. Marrone was in his first season at Syracuse when Williams left the team. Marrone signed off on the trade by saying what happened at Syracuse "is in the past for both of us." Marrone went further by picking up Williams at the airport upon the players arrival in Buffalo. Williams said he and Marrone cleared the air by speaking on the phone before the trade was completed. "He made mistakes. I made mistakes," Williams said. "The situation wasnt handled how it was supposed to be handled. But the past is the past. So were kind of looking forward." Williams acknowledged that one of Marrones concerns at Syracuse was the player skipping classes. That wont be an issue now. "He didnt think I went to class. But since its the pros, he knows Im going to go out there and do my job on the field," Williams said. "Youre always going to get the great Mike on the field." ' ' '