That’s right boys and girls it is time for another edition of my world famous This and That column! So sit back and enjoy a quick trip around to world of sports. Or should I say my world of sports.

Too Much of a Good Thing? —The WNBA has announced that it will be adding two more teams over the next two seasons.  The Golden State Valkyries and a yet to be named team in Toronto.  The Valkyries will start play next season and Toronto the year after that.  As the WNBA doesn’t use conferences or divisions in determining who makes the playoffs, it does not matter if they have an odd number of teams.  In general, I am against leagues expanding.  I think it waters down talent and does nothing good for the league except make the owners more money.  I always say that spots need someone who looks out for the sport and isn’t just in it for the money like the owners and players are.  With that said, the WNBA only has 12 teams in it right now so I don’t think going to 14 is going to be too bad.  I do think it should stop there for a while.  As far as the teams go, trying northern California as a fan base is a good idea.  Stanford has a good women’s basketball program so hopefully the people in the Bay area are into women’s basketball.  And I like the Valkyries name.  It’s different and fitting.  I like the idea of giving Canada a shot.  The Toronto Raptors have a rabid fan base.  Hopefully they feel the same way about the women’s team.  My problem is that the team plans on playing “home” games not only in Toronto but in Montreal and Vancouver as well.  That is a great way to make a team feel like it is always on the road.  It’s not bad enough they will be an expansion team but now they will have to deal with not having a true home.  Will fans in Montréal support a team from Toronto?  I know they wouldn’t if it was a hockey team.  And do people realize how far away Vancouver is from Toronto?  I hope they at least schedule it so those games coincide with west coast trips for the team.  I hope the teams succeed, especially the Toronto team.  I am still not big on expansion but this isn’t nearly as bad as the soon to be NBA expansion that is coming. 

Bad Signs Bruin? –The Boston Bruins held their end of season press conference on Wednesday.  There was some good news and some bad news.   The good news was that they announced Jim Montgomery would be staying on as head coach, not to mention Neely and Sweeney in their respective positions.  They also hinted at trying to trade Ullmark this off season (there is already a rumor that they are working on something with the Hurricanes).  Here is the bad news though, Sweeney talked about the lack of scoring and said it was his job to find guys that would supply secondary scoring, especially in the playoffs.  The problem with this sentence is that while he is correct about the scoring issues, the Bruins do not need secondary scoring, they need PRIMARY scoring!  As I pointed out in my Bruins post mortem, the Black and Gold need someone besides Pastrnak who is a true scoring threat.  Someone who is going to put up over 30 goals.  They don’t need more mediocre guys.  They have cornered the market on middle of the lineup guys.  They need another top line guy or two.  Hopefully this is just his way of acknowledging the scoring issues without getting fans hopes too high and having everyone expecting the proverbial “Fireworks” incase he is unable to land a big fish.  I really hope that’s all it was or else the Bruins could be in trouble. 

Was Debartolo Really That Bad? –The NFL managed to screw the 49ers yet again.  This time with their schedule.  The Niners have only two easy games on their entire schedule, the Bears and Patriots at home.  They have 6 prime time games.  I really thought the limit was 5.  They play not one but two Thursday night games.  One of which is in Seattle.  Can you say schedule loss?  They have to go to Green Bay at the end on November and then the next week in Buffalo.  Can they pack enough parkas for that trip?  And then they play 4 teams coming off their bye weeks.  One other team plays 3 teams coming off of byes and the rest of the league plays two teams at most with the extra rest.  Why do the 49ers get the most teams off of a bye?  They did the same thing last season.  By now the Bang Bang Niner Gang is used to being screwed over by the league.  Though I would trade a tough schedule for a holding call in the Superbowl.  Is that possible? 

Is It Getting Hot In Here? –It must be because the Mercury are rising!  (see what I did there?)  The Phoenix Mercury are looking like they can be real contenders this season, especially once Brittney Griner returns to action.  Without their All-World Center, the Mercury have ripped off three straight wins and moved into first place in the West.  One of those wins was in Vegas against the defending champs.  Kahleah Copper has been on absolute fire.  After dropping 37 and 38 in the second two games of the season, Copper “only” managed 20 in the last win against Washington.  Copper leads the league in scoring with 28.5 a game.  Meanwhile, Natasha Cloud has been on a double double streak with points and assists in the last two games and is 3^rd in the league in assists per game.  Natasha Mack has kept her break out going with an all-around good game on both ends of the court.  She is currently 13^th in the league in rebounding in only 20 minutes a game.  Everyone above her plays at least 27 minutes per with most of them being over 30 minutes a game.  Mack is also 5^th in the league in blocked shots.  And she is supposed to be their back up center.  The Mercury are currently 3^rd in the W in scoring even though they still haven’t reached their goal of 40 three pointers a game.  They currently sit at 31.3, which is highest in the league.  This team has been a ton of fun to watch.  Can they keep it up until Griner get healthy and adds a whole new dimension to the team?  Let’s hope so.  If they can get and stay healthy, this team looks like a real contender to bring home their 4th WNBA title.