The latest edition of the Sports Media Watchdog Podcast with Mike Silva features the president of Maxx Sports & Entertainment, Mark Lepselter.

Via Silva’s website, Sports Media Watchdog:

By Jerry Brown

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Before a standing-room only crowd packed with Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks fans, Jeremy Roenick entered the Coyotes Ring of Honor on Saturday – but not before coming up with one more stunning effort on the ice.

He held his acceptance speech to less than the allotted four minutes.

Roenick joined former Coyotes teammates Keith Tkachuk and Teppo Numminen on the ring high above Jobing.com Arena and was presented with an array of gifts – including the special mask attachment he wore to protect his broken jaw in Game 7 of the postseason series against the St. Louis Blues.

Roenick thanked “everyone in the state of Arizona for making us proud to be Phoenix Coyote,” and reminded the current players to “wear that crest with pride.”

He talked about the electric atmosphere of White Out playoff games at then-America West Arena in downtown Phoenix and how much he reveled in the chance to play for the Coyotes followers.

“Arizona has plenty of great hockey fans and you going to keep the team here. It shouldn’t go anywhere. We’ll show them,” he said.

Videos featuring testimonials from former teammates Greg Adams, Dallas Drake, Craig Janney, as well as Numminen and Tkachuk, were shown before Roenick’s name was placed next to his good friend and running mate Tkachuk on the ring.

“I’ll be next to that guy forever now. Thanks a lot,” he quipped.

Roenick’s No. 97 joins Numminen (27), Tkachuk (7), former Coyotes coach and owner Wayne Gretzky(99), and former Winnipeg Jets players Bobby Hull (9), Thomas Steen (25), and Dale Hawerchuk (10) in the Ring of Honor.

[NHL.com]

By Craig Morgan

Coyotes owner Richard Burke, executive vice president of hockey operations Bobby Smith, general manager John Paddock and assistant general manager Taylor Burke had just arrived with the transplanted Winnipeg Jets in Phoenix in the summer of 1996.

They liked the young talent on their roster and liked the opportune timing of their arrival.

The Suns were three days away from trading Charles Barkley to Houston, ending a memorable yet unfulfilled era for the franchise. The Diamondbacks wouldn’t begin play for two more seasons, nobody knew what was in store for the 1996 Arizona State football team and brash-talking coach Buddy Ryan had just been fired because the Cardinals were still the same ol’ Cardinals.

But the Coyotes’ brain trust knew it needed something more to sell hockey in a nontraditional market.

“We didn’t have a face,” Taylor Burke said, “an elite, exciting player that the community could rally around.”

Jeremy Roenick was that guy. He had posted three straight 100-plus-point seasons in Chicago before suffering a horrific left knee injury in the strike-shortened 1994-95 season on a knee-on-knee hit with towering Stars captain Derian Hatcher.

Roenick’s agent, Neil Abbott, had made it clear Roenick was available via trade after a few contentious years of contract squabbles with notoriously miserly Blackhawks owner William Wirtz.

So the Coyotes pulled the trigger on a deal that sent center Alexei Zhamnov, forward Craig Mills and a first-round pick to Chicago. Once he touched down in Phoenix, Roenick’s myriad off-ice talents were also apparent.

“He was a PR dream,” Coyotes longtime senior director of communications Rich Nairn said. “Any TV, radio or print request we got, he would accommodate it. Anything outside the game or the media we asked him to do, he did it. He just got it. He understood the importance of marketing hockey in this new market, and he was one of the few players who had the personality to pull it off.”

Contrary to popular opinion, Roenick wasn’t born that way.

“My wife always asks me, ‘What happened to the shy, nerdy guy I met in high school?’” Roenick said, laughing.

Roenick credits a chance encounter with hockey legend Gordie Howe for planting the seeds for who he became. Howe was playing for the old Hartford Whalers in the 1979-80 season at the Hartford Civic Center when he came over to the glass where Roenick was seated and dumped snow over the top of the glass onto Roenick’s head. Howe continued to skate but looked back at Roenick again and winked.

“I totally remember the way I felt when I was given some time — the attention of a superstar — and I took that with me my whole life,” Roenick said.  “I knew that if I ever got to that level, that would be a gift that could imprint on people’s lives.”

Roenick imprinted thousands of Valley lives. He never refused an autograph, he handed out more than his share of pucks, stick and jerseys, he talked endlessly with perfect strangers, and when the Coyotes scheduled visits to a nearby children’s hospital, Roenick was the last guy to leave, making sure he’d given every kid some of his time.

“None of that stuff was ever on camera. Nobody ever wrote about that,” Nairn said. “He just wanted to brighten those kids’ days.”

That very public side of Roenick’s personality had a downside. His teammates sometimes called him “Styles” or “Hollywood,” and the media often referred to him as “P.R.” instead of “J.R.” — all derisive nicknames for his love of the limelight.

“Maybe I was an attention whore. It’s not that I wanted it all the time, but I accepted the responsibility all the time when other guys didn’t want it,” Roenick said. “There’s nothing wrong with being flamboyant, but if you can’t go on the ice and back it up then you look pretty ridiculous. I always felt I could flash it off the ice but then bring it on the ice.”

Roenick never came close to matching those magical seasons he posted in Chicago with a perennial Stanley Cup contender. Part of the reason was that knee injury, which robbed him of just a fraction of his speed and recklessness. Part of it was a host of rule changes that made 100-point seasons a rarity in the NHL. Part of it was the overall talent on the Coyotes’ roster, which couldn’t match what Roenick enjoyed in Chicago.

But Jim Schoenfeld, Roenick’s coach for two seasons in Phoenix, remembers a player whose style belied his talent level.

“Sometimes skill players aren’t as willing to play the other rough and tumble parts of the game, but he was that type of player,” Schoenfeld said. “He didn’t shortcut the process.”

Schoenfeld knew right away which role he wanted Roenick to fill.

“For a while in the NHL, the idea was to match your best defensive line against the other team’s best offensive line, but we wanted Jeremy to go against the other team’s top line because he was a great two-way player. We wanted him to outperform and outscore the other team’s top talent,” Schoenfeld said. “We didn’t win a championship that way, but there were a whole lot of other reasons for that.”

One of those was a fractured jaw Roenick suffered on a hit by Derian Hatcher in the 1998-99 season as retaliation for a hit Roenick leveled on the Stars’ Mike Modano that knocked Modano out of the game.

“I wouldn’t say it was flapping in the breeze, but you could see it was shattered and badly out of place,” Schoenfeld said of Roenick’s jaw. “It looked pretty ugly.”

It was broken in four places. Roenick played a few more shifts, including a power play, but he was out of the lineup after that.

“It wasn’t fractured — it was broken completely through,” he said.

Schoenfeld initially told media members Roenick was out for the season, but that was a ploy intended to throw off the opposition. He had an inkling Roenick would try to return. He did, in Game 7 of the team’s first-round playoff series with St. Louis.

The jaw was wired shut, and so was his mouth, meaning he had to breathe solely through his nose, which required frequent blowing to clear any obstructions. Roenick understood the risks, but he was more concerned with the potential reward.

“Who cares if your jaw gets broken again? It will heal. You don’t have too many opportunities to win the Stanley Cup,” he said. “I didn’t have to use my mouth or jaw to play hockey. I used my hands, my feet and my heart.”

The Coyotes didn’t win that game, falling 1-0 in overtime, but Roenick won the hearts of Coyotes fans forever. Almost 12 years after he left via free agency, he remains one of the Valley’s most popular athletes — even as a hockey player — and still keeps his only house here in the Valley.

“That’s our home, and I’m very passionate about that city and that community,” he said. “Besides, I always loved playing hockey one night and playing golf the next day. That was my perfect scenario.”

Roenick will become the seventh player to be inducted into the Coyotes Ring of Honor on Saturday when Phoenix hosts Chicago. He joins Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull, Thomas Steen, Dale Hawerchuk, Teppo Numminen and Keith Tkachuk.

He is one of four American-born players to score 500 or more goals. In 20 NHL seasons, he posted 513 goals, 1,216 points and 1,463 penalty minutes. In 454 games in Phoenix, he had 152 goals, 379 points, 596 penalty minutes and scores of memorable moments.

“I always say that hockey is a hard way to make an easy living,” Schoenfeld said. “You have to have a high level of resolve, courage and physical sacrifice, but once in a while, a player takes all of that to another level, and Jeremy did that.

“It would be fair to say that he endeared himself to the fan base for the way he played, and by doing that, he really helped put hockey on the map in Phoenix.”

[Fox Sports Arizona]

While NBC received high marks for its broadcast of last night’s Super Bowl across the board, many in sports media have been praising Rodney Harrison for his stand-out performance.

See below for some excerpts from Sports Business Journal and The New York Times, as well as a feature article from the New York Daily News.

Via Sports Business Journal:

[Tampa Bay Times, AP]

Via Richard Sandomir of The New York Times:

Harrison was at his best, bringing emotion to the broadcast, especially his lingering disappointment that his former team, the New England Patriots, lost to the Giants four years ago in the Super Bowl. An on-field segment paired Harrison with David Tyree, the former Giants receiver who made that epic, side-of-the-head catch late in that game.

“I’ve seen that play maybe 500 times this week, and sitting next to David right now, I’m still emotional,” Harrison said, sounding as if he might need counseling. “I blamed myself for six months, and it was devastating to the point where I felt like walking away.”

Each time Harrison appeared onscreen — in the Patriots’ locker room or on the field to show how to defend New England tight end Aaron Hernandez — he demonstrated an electric personality that contrasts nicely with Dungy’s calm, even priestly demeanor.

[NY Times]

Via Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News:

It was no shock, not even a mild surprise, that Rodney Harrison — with Dan Patrick — opened NBC’s Super Bowl XLVI pregame show in the Patriots locker room.

It seemed totally appropriate.

Not that it could be classified as true baggage, but coming into Sunday’s matchup between the Giants and Patriots, no NBC voice was schlepping a bigger load than Harrison.

There were the memories of Super Bowl XLII, when his Patriots lost, 17-14, to Big Blue. The most glaring moment was the nightmare of being draped all over David Tyree as he made the unforgettable glue-helmet catch.

So it seemed logical Harrison would be on national TV Sunday afternoon talking about Tom Brady’s mood the night the Giants ended New England’s perfect season in Arizona. Before that game, Harrison said, “you didn’t even want to look Brady’s way” as he sat near his locker. Harrison talked about Bill Belichick’s mood before that game, too. He also interviewed the coach midway through Sunday’s pregame.

All this left a perception, the perception — shared by a segment of Giants fans — that because of Harrison’s strong Patriots connection, his analysis would be tilting toward New England.

During Sunday’s pregame show, you could draw your own conclusions. There’s always a given with Harrison. He’s consistently outspoken. This has not changed since he joined NBC’s “Football Night In America” cast in 2009. He got a small taste of Supe TV work when NBC used him as a “guest” analyst during Super Bowl XLIII.

As opinionated as Harrison is, did he really expect Big Blue fans to believe that while he badly wanted the Pats to exact total revenge on the Giants last night for the loss in XLII, he still could be considered objective?

“Of course I can say that I want them to get revenge. Obviously, my heart is with the New England Patriots,” Harrison said during an interview before Sunday evening’s collision in Indy. “But I was the same guy who came out on our (NBC) Pro Bowl coverage and said I would take Eli Manning in the fourth quarter instead of Tom Brady, a guy who I won back-to-back championships with, a guy that I won 20 straight games with, and had a 16-0 season.”

Okay, so if Harrison is that objective, would he produce a blueprint to beat Brady?

“If you force Tom outside the pocket to his left you can rattle him,” Harrison said before the game. “Now you don’t know which Brady you’re going to get because he has been up and down this season. Part of that has been because he hasn’t trusted his teammates. He’s put a lot of pressure on himself.”

For Harrison, that kind of intense pressure is long gone. Yet he still had a hard time shedding the angst associated with the Tyree catch. On the pregame, he went one-one-one (in an interview, that is) with Tyree.

“It (the Tyree catch) haunted me for months — sleepless nights. I just haunted myself, trying to think if there was some way I could have ripped his arm or pulled it back,” Harrison said.

It’s doubtful, though, a Tyree-like play in the regular season would have stayed with Harrison so long. That’s why a play such as that one in the Super Bowl can linger.

“For a long time I carried a bitter taste in my mouth. But after months and months of really carrying the burden of such a heck of a play by David Tyree, I’ve been able to recently release that,” Harrison said. “But it still hurts.”

He admitted that he had some help shaking the memory.

“My mom and my wife allowed me to get over it. They looked at me and said, ‘Hey Rodney, there comes a point, you did everything you could have done to prevent that play from happening. What else could you have done? Move on. It’s part of life.’ ”

This is all getting too serious. Let’s face it, from the outside looking in it would appear that having to work with Patrick would be a worse nightmare than reliving the Tyree catch in your dreams every night. We did not pose that question, fearing it would cause dissension within the Peacock ranks.

Then again, maybe we should have. Harrison gets his back up when his objectivity is questioned. So, he probably would give a straight answer concerning Patrick, or any other performer, no matter if he or she works — or worked — with him on or off the field.

“Yes, I’ve been objective,” Harrison said. “I’ve criticized Belichick, and the defensive backs from the Patriots. I’ve been complimentary at times to that team. That’s my nature. If I feel something, I’ll let you know it. But I’m not going to shy away from what I feel. If it means criticizing my former team, I’ve never been shy about doing that.”

Maybe we should’ve asked Harrison to critique his current team.

Wonder what Harrison thinks of Bob (Rapping Roberto) Costas? Or Tony Dungy.

What about Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth?

It appears Harrison will be around for quite awhile. His three seasons at NBC have brought growth. The guy who seemed so angry as a player is even developing a sense of humor, sort of. Last night, he worked in front of a huge audience looking to walk away with new memories.

Harrison had a chance to create some, too.

He hoped they would be better than the ones the Giants left him with the last time around.

[NY Daily News]

During NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show, #maxxclient Rodney Harrison will be featured prominently in several interview segments that look to take advantage of his days with the Patriots.

Via Richard Deitsch on SI.com:

NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood, the executive in charge of the pregame, said the pregame show will attempt to capitalize on studio analyst Rodney Harrison’s relationship with the Patriots. Segments are planned featuring Harrison, a former All-Pro safety for New England, interviewing Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and defensive lineman Vince Wilfork and his wife, Bianca. Harrison will also be featured in a segment with Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, as the two line up against one another in a simulated pass play.

Other pregame features include NBC visiting the hometowns of five of Sunday’s featured players — Manning and defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul of the Giants, and Brady, Hernandez and Wes Welker of the Patriots — and interviews with former coaches, teachers and neighborhood friends who influenced the lives of those players. (Flood said the latter piece will include the person who caught Brady’s first pass as a high school football player, which sounds like a sweet touch).

NBC will also re-examine David Tyree’s famous catch against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, and (no surprise) Tyree will appear on the pregame set to talk with Harrison (one of the defenders on the play).

[Sports Illustrated]

NHL analyst and former All-Star Jeremy Roenick pens a weekly blog for NHL.com. “World According to JR” appears every Wednesday and includes Roenick’s sharp, can’t-miss opinions on What’s Clicking and What’s Missing in the National Hockey League.

Two teams out in the Western Conference have piqued my interest this week. One is red-hot and deserves our attention; the other is near and dear to my heart, but needs some type of jolt to get back in the hunt. Read on to find out who I’m talking about and why:

What’s Clicking?

The Nashville Predators are on fire despite having very little fanfare around them other than Ryan Suter‘s contract talks.

The Predators don’t get the respect and the attention they deserve, but I can tell you they’re a team I didn’t like playing against. They’re a very tough, stingy, competitive team, and it seems their coach, Barry Trotz, is a wonderful guy.

He’s extremely smart and he seems like a good players’ coach. He always has a very solid, sound system that he displays to his team. His team believes in the system and plays hard for him. Every single night they are disciplined, they work hard and they are sound defensively.

If there is any one knock against the Predators it would be their lack of consistent goal scoring, but lately they’ve found ways to win games by scoring goals. Mike Fisher is scoring like crazy right now. When Martin Erat starts scoring a little bit more, the Predators are going to be even harder to beat than they are right now, and in the last 15 games they are 13-2.

Look at the standings. Nashville is only three points behind the top spot in the National Hockey League, and yet you don’t really hear anything about that. It’s disappointing to me, because the Predators have paid their dues. They’ve sat in the basement, worked their way back to respectability, and now they are arguably one of the strongest and most disciplined teams in the NHL.

Pekka Rinne is one of the best goaltenders in the world and he’s anchored by probably the best tandem in the NHL with Shea Weber and Suter.

Hopefully Suter’s contract situation doesn’t distract this team and he’s able to sign eventually. We’ll see what happens with that, but right now I’m just very impressed watching this team play hard together, play a very organized system.

Trotz is one of the most tenured coaches in the NHL right now, and I don’t think anybody should question why he’s been in Nashville for so long. His team really loves playing for him and always responds to his coaching tactics.

I would not want to play this team in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Trust me, I know they’re a very difficult and frustrating team to play.

What’s Missing?

The Phoenix Coyotes are very dear to me. They’re a team I love to cheer. You can see how hard they work on a consistent basis and are backed by a fantastic coach in Dave Tippett, but they’re also a team that I seriously worry about right now.

The Coyotes lost Tuesday night at home to Anaheim and are just 3-4-3 in their past 10 games. They sit No. 12 in the Western Conference because for some reason they can’t get over the hump; they can’t string three, four or five wins together to find their way back into the top eight.

They’re a team without any major superstars or big-time goal scorers they can market and be that game-breaker, so in my opinion GM Don Maloney has to start thinking about making a trade for a proven scorer before it’s too late. He has to do it in order to have an opportunity to make the playoffs this season.

And we all know how important it is for the Coyotes to make the playoffs and get that extra revenue from selling out the building for playoff games. They can’t afford to miss the playoffs.

Radim Vrbata is trying his hardest to be that offensive punch, but Phoenix is not going to rally around Radim Vrbata. I mean no disrespect to him, because he’s a fantastic player and he should have been in the All-Star Game this year, but the Coyotes need a marquee player.

The first name that comes to mind is Jeff Carter from Columbus. I know he has a big contract, 10 years and millions still left on his deal, and he has not played his best as a Blue Jacket. But this could be one of those cases where desperate times call for desperate measures.

If they want to get into the playoffs, they need a marquee guy that is going to score on a nightly basis. And I don’t think they’re going to be able to get a consistent, marquee goal scorer on the cheap.

The Coyotes are a very difficult team to play against because of their defensive structure and hard work, but they always seem to lose in overtime or by one goal. And by getting a marquee goal scorer, if they can, I think the Coyotes can make the playoffs and therefore make some extra money that would greatly enhance the interest in Phoenix.

[NHL.com]

Working with Panini America at the 2012 NHL All-Star Weekend, Jeremy Roenick signed autographs and greeted fans in the Panini booth at the All-Star Fan Fest.  Always one to give back to the fans, JR took it one step further for a father and son who didn’t have tickets to the game.

Read below for the details via the Panini America blog.

Jeremy Roenick took it upon himself to provide one of the real highlights of the week near the end of his signing session.

That’s when he signed for Marc and Nicholas Papineau, a father-son tandem from Gatineau, Quebec. Before the Papineaus could get away, though, Roenick asked them if they were going to the game. Alas, they didn’t have tickets.

“Why don’t you take my tickets,” JR said, retrieving them from his jacket pocket and handing them over to the awestruck gentlemen.

“I think this is really cool because I didn’t have tickets to the game and I got them from Jeremy Roenick!” said 7-year-old Nicholas. “I always play as him on the PlayStation.”

With a gesture like that, here’s betting a whole lot more of us will be playing as the incomparable “JR” going forward.

Thanks to everyone who made Panini America’s voyage to Ottawa for 2012 All-Star Weekend a trip to remember. Before we go, though, here’s one more gallery of images detailing just some of the highlights from the last few days.

Click here to read more and view the photo gallery from the event.

NFL HALL OF FAMER LAWRENCE TAYLOR TO JOIN THE CAST ON THIS WEEK’S EPSIODE OF INSIDE THE NFL ON SHOWTIME^®

New Episode Tonight/Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT

NEW YORK (Jan. 25, 2012) – The New York Giants NFL Hall of Fame linebacker and two-time Super Bowl Champion Lawrence Taylor will join James Brown, Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth and Warren Sapp on this week’s edition of INSIDE THE NFL.  Taylor, who is widely recognized as one of the greatest defensive players in league history, will be on set to discuss the New York Giants’ and New England Patriots’ respective roads to the Super Bowl.

This week’s episode of INSIDE THE NFL premieres Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.

INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films. The executive producers are CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus and NFL Films President Steve Sabol.  Pete Radovich Jr., the Emmy Award-winning Creative Director for CBS Sports, serves as coordinating producer.

POWERED BY FUSE TEAM MEMBER RONDE BARBER NAMED ED BLOCK AWARD WINNER!!!

AVENTURA, FL (January 20, 2012) – FUSE Science Inc. (OTCQB: DROP), (www.fusescience.com), wishes to congratulate POWERED by FUSE (www.poweredbyfuse.com) team member Ronde Barber on being named this year’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Ed Block award winner.

Every year, The Ed Block award goes to an active player on each of the 32 teams in the National Football League. Winners are decided by members of their own team who in their eyes, exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. According to the NFL organizers, the Ed Block Award recipients symbolize professionalism, great strength and dedication.

“Ronde exemplifies the best of the best, both on and off the field”, said Rubin Hanan, President and COO of Fuse Science, “The Ed Block award is another honor in his Hall Of Fame Career.  We are so proud that Ronde is POWERED by FUSE and this award just proves that we have chosen the right athlete partners to be part of our team. Ronde is committed to our technology platform and currently uses our products. You will see him, along with our other athletes in our out bound marketing, social media and in-store point of purchase.”

Ronde Barber holds many NFL distinctions to include being elected to the Pro Bowl five times, First Team All-Pro three times, Super Bowl Champion, and being named to the NFL 2000’s All Decade-Team. Ronde Barber’s durability is unquestioned as he now leads all active players with the most consecutive starts by an NFL player at 199 and owns the record for the longest consecutive starts streak by a cornerback in the history of the NFL. On December 11th, 2011, Barber collected his 43rd career interception and he became the oldest player to intercept 3 passes in the same season.

It didn’t take long for Brandon Tierney to answer the question.

What Bay Area story did he consider bigger? Andrew Luck? Mark Jackson becoming coach of the Warriors? The 49ers’ run to the NFC Championship Game? Or him becoming afternoon drive host on San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game?

“Don’t be an ass, come on,” Tierney shot back over the telephone. “I’m not saying that. Stop.”

Shocking. Tierney, never shy about extolling his own virtues, didn’t take the bait. Maybe the three-hour time difference has humbled him. Yeah, sure. We felt like one of Tierney’s callers. The Dismissive One had more substantive issues to deal with.

Like the Niners and their fans who are calling to remind him how he put them down, even as they rolled along to a 13-3 season. “I didn’t believe in the Niners, at all,” Tierney said. “I was getting pummeled out here.”

For Tierney, who teams with former Niners cornerback Eric Davis, the taste of crow ain’t half bad. He finds himself in the middle of what will be the football universe, taking calls from fans who believe the 49ers will dismantle the Giants Sunday in Candlestick.

In the fans’ minds, Tierney, raised in Brooklyn, isn’t just from the the other side of the country. He’s from another planet. And he likes the Giants Sunday, 24-17.

For the talkie, it’s all about material. Tierney had no idea the ground would become so fertile when he decided to pull up stakes with his wife Jennifer and move across the country. See, in San Francisco, a relatively tranquil place, Bennys from the Bronx and Iras from Staten Island don’t grow on trees.

When we last left Tierney it was late July. In May, after nine years yakking at the station, ESPN-1050 boss David Roberts unceremoniously dropped-kicked him out the studio door.

Tierney landed on the dock of the Bay in August and immediately proceeded to target the Oakland A’s and their fans. Another detail: 95.7 The Game is the radio home of the A’s. He referred to their stadium as “a coffin,” said the team was “atrocious,” and characterized A’s fans as “insane” for supporting a product pitched by an owner who “can’t wait” to move the team to San Jose.

It wasn’t exactly love at first bite between Tierney and the Northern California Chapter of the Valley of the Stupid. Tierney decided to champion another seemingly lost cause. Last summer, almost every caller wanted Niners brass to dump Alex Smith.

“Every ounce of emotion was anti-Alex Smith,” Tierney said. “Fans had already cut the cord. They were convinced he was beyond rehabilitation, that he was mentally weak, he couldn’t make the throws — just not the guy.”

Tierney decided to play voice of reason. He wanted to see Smith with his own eyes.

“I said it wouldn’t be fair of me to bury this guy,” Tierney said. “Just like I wouldn’t want you (listeners) burying me after one show.”

Six months later Tierney is still talking on the radio. And Smith is coming off a memorable performance against the Saints that helped propel the Niners into the championship game. Those shovels are still in the closet.

Tierney is on the air. Two days away from the title game and you don’t hear the typical New York bashing from 49ers fans. Nor are the Giants being pounded either. It all seems so civil.

“It’s more of an anti-national sentiment from these 49er fans,” Tierney said. “They think the rest of the country is lined up against them. They believe the Niners get no respect. They have a chip on their shoulders.

“That old perception of Niners fans — a little passive, the wine and cheese thing. That’s been replaced by a new generation that hasn’t won. They are grittier, more vocal.”

As far as that “vocal” thing, Tierney can’t say the same for Niners GM Trent Baalke, who has a weekly segment on his show.

“Compared to Trent, Mike Tannenbaum comes off like Chris (Mad Dog) Russo. I’m serious. Trent is a very conservative guy,” Tierney said. “We may have had a personality conflict early on, but I will never let it get in the way of telling Trent what a great job he’s done.”

Ah, that’s sweet.

Jim Harbaugh is under contract to KNBR, the radio home of the Niners, but makes a monthly appearance on Tierney’s show.

“He’s got a little (Eric) Mangini in him. Long term I’m not sure that’s a great thing. If he has his first seven-win season that act doesn’t fly as much,” Tierney said. “He’s pissed some people off, there’s no doubt. I’d be lying if I said everybody likes Jim Harbaugh, but everybody certainly respects him.”

The West Coast has not interfered with Tierney’s ability to infuriate. Nor did it damage his all-knowing attitude. Tierney says he roams the streets of San Francisco anonymously. He says it’s not like New York where he was recognized by cabbies and characters looking for his opinion.

He misses that. The ego is still there (duh).

Still, Tierney has plenty of company from the old “neighborhood.” Jackson, David Lee, Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan and even Nate Robinson are all out there.

“Hey,” he said, “all we need is Isiah (Thomas) and we’ve officially got a circus.”

Then Brandon Tierney laughed.

It was the laugh of a man comfortable in his new surroundings.

[NY Daily News]

NHL analyst and former All-Star Jeremy Roenick is penning a weekly blog for NHL.com this season. Look for new entries from, “World According to JR,” every Wednesday. Roenick offers sharp, can’t-miss opinions on What’s Clicking and What’s Missing in the National Hockey League.

I have to give some kudos and offer my respect to one of my least favorite players, but I also have to get critical with one of my favorite teams. Read on to find out what I’m talking about:

What’s clicking?

Ilya Kovalchuk is really playing like the player that he should be, and that’s a really good sign for the New Jersey Devils.

One of the reasons this team is winning is because their best player is doing the little things he’s supposed to be doing to allow his team to win. He’s working harder defensively, and his coach is playing him more in penalty-killing roles because of his speed and because of how well he’s playing. When you play well, your coach is going to reward you with more ice time.

Kovalchuk is very focused on scoring goals and being one of the best players in the game, and that’s pretty commendable for him.

I’ve been all over him in terms of his team mentality. I’ve called him selfish. I’ve called him a lot of different things, but I’ve been impressed with his dedication to Pete DeBoer’s system and how he’s been playing to the system. You know what, he’s scoring goals and he’s one of the hottest guys in the League right now because of it.

I can be mean, but when you’re playing well and playing properly, within the team rules and the team concept, I can appreciate that, too. And I need to give a lot of respect to Kovalchuk for his recent play. I hope he keeps it up because if he does, the team will continue to do well and creep up the board to secure a playoff spot.

Hey, I will say that Kovalchuk is not one of my favorite players. I have no problem telling you that, but I do appreciate his dedication to the team and that his work ethic seems much more focused. I recognize good, solid hockey when I see it. He has more success when he plays a team-oriented way.

What’s missing?

I’ll go on record and say the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of my favorite teams because of their fan base, their history, and it was also one of my favorite places to play because of the fans, their knowledge, and the history behind the Maple Leafs.

But Toronto’s last playoff appearance was in 2004 when we [the Philadelphia Flyers] knocked them out with one of my favorite goals of my career against Eddie Belfour. Since then, it’s been a downhill spiral.

The Maple Leafs started off so hot, but they’ve lost three in a row and now they’re ninth in the Eastern Conference.

At the beginning of this season it looked like they were on the right path to getting out of that playoff funk. They started out so hot and Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul were off to career years, but now the Leafs have lost three in a row and they’re again flirting with the possibility of missing the playoffs.

One of my favorite coaches, Ron Wilson, just received a contract extension and some people might have scoffed at that, but this is less about coaching and more about putting enough talented players on the ice. Brian Burke is a very savvy, smart GM, but because of Toronto’s inconsistencies in winning hockey games and with missing the playoffs looming again, he needs to make a trade.

Burke needs to get somebody that will help the Leafs secure a playoff spot for this year, and he needs to do it now because time is running out for the Maple Leafs. How much are the fans and the media going to allow with this team missing the playoffs?

It’s funny, though, because I don’t know if it’s goaltending, defense or offense. It befuddles me as to why this team can’t find consistency.

It has to be the players, and Burke, being as smart as he is and being this close to the trade deadline, he has to start shopping people around and getting on the “I need” list for players to help his team get into the playoffs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs need something, and they need it now.