True Puckheads Unite!!!

What a weekend!

2009-10-11T21:21:00.002-04:00

Well, now that U2 is finished, I can catch up on Lightning hockey. I have the last two games DVRed, and I should be able to watch them both tomorrow. Another post or two will follow. All I know for sure is that they're still terrible on the draw (I listened to the beginning of the game Thursday on my way to my game), and they're at .500 for the first time in a long, long while.

U2 puts on such an amazing show. I have to say that I'm not a huge fan, but they go all out for sure. I'm told the stage and lights cost $20 million to purchase. I heard a few different figures for how much it costs for each show, I'd put it in the $5 million range. They started loading in last Sunday and finished this Sunday evening. The amount of work that goes in to this just boggles the mind.

I've been asked what takes so long, so for those of you that don't know, I'll try to explain. When a band plays a big show, like at The Ford Ampitheater, the stage, infrastructure and a lot of the sound system is already there. When they play stadiums, everything has to be built from scratch. It's quite a process for any show. Add to that the fact that U2 has a huge stage setup with a massive video screen and a ton of moving parts and you can just imagine how much is involved. Somewhere in the area of 160 tractor trailers.

Someone tried to do the math and put the ticket sales somewhere around $15 million. That's not including parking, concessions and merchandise, so even if it costs three times what I heard, they still do alright for themselves. And they didn't disappoint. Like I said, I'm not a huge fan, but I work behind one of the barricades in the inner circle, in front of the main stage for the last hour and a half or so and I really enjoyed it. I don't get the opportunity to watch much of the show from there, my responsibility is to watch the crowd, but it was so big that I saw a lot of the show anyhow. 72,000 people and I don't think I saw a single complaint, I can't even say that about the 5,000 fan shows that I have worked. I never even heard of a problem.

The closest thing I had to a problem was in the line outside my gate before the show. We had 10,000 people come through between 5:30 and 9:00 or so. It was crazy. At about 1:00 we had about 3000 lined up waiting to get in. It was miserable-hot. We lost about 30 to the heat, and almost had a fight, but when I politely explained that there were two entire groups of people who were on the verge of not being able to see the show, no matter who was at fault (I didn't have the energy to try to figure it out) all because it was hot and tempers were short, they calmed down. That was the closest think I saw to a problem, and that one was easy.

So, after the 18 hours Saturday, yesterday was a late sleeping day then a dinner and movie date with a beautiful woman. Then eight hours today, followed by some more time with the same beautiful woman. So now it's time to watch the end of the game and then some bed. Another post to follow, as I said, tomorrow after I watch at least Thursday's game, maybe both.

Talk to you all later.

Gee, how'd it go?

2009-10-07T05:44:00.004-04:00

Okay, first off, I'm pissed. I made a comment on my facebook page last night about it too. How do you hope to generate interest in a team when they play pretty well in their first game, and then there's no tv in their second? If there was a contractual conflict on Sunshine, I could understand, but the Rays are finished and the Magic didn't start yet. All they had on last night was fishing shows! That's just plain unacceptable. The game wasn't even on the hockey package.

So, needless to say, I didn't see any of the game.

Hedman led the team in ice time again, this time even on the power play, except this game he didn't have a shot on goal. That seemed to be all about Stamkos (6 shots).

The Lightning outshot the Hurricanes, but the only goal they got came from Malone at the end of a 5 on 3. The 'Canes goal was on a power play too, with Vinny in the box for a hooking call. Wish I had an opinion on that, but since the game wasn't on any freaking tv, I don't know if the penalty was good or bad, just that it cost dearly. Of course, that goal came from a player who is still wearing a Lightning sweater in his profile picture on nhl.com, Jussi Jokinen. I don't mind that he's there, he didn't do a whole lot last season here, and I'm not sure where I would put him if he were here anyhow (playing the left side, he's at least the third line behind Tanguay and Malone), I just thought it was ironic.

Vinny apparently hit the post with a backhand on his shootout attempt and St. Louis' was saved, but since there was no tv (did I mention that yet?), I really have no idea what happened there.

Vinny was horrendous on the draw again tonight, going 3 for 12. The top three centers last night went 22 of 47. I know Brind'Amour is an elite center as far as draws go, but Halpern owned him. The Hurricanes had all three of their main centers over 50%, so that's still an issue.

Looking over some of the stats on nhl.com, one thing that jumped out at me was that Steve Downie led the team in ice time in OT and Ohlund didn't see the ice in OT. Downie must have had a great camp, because he sure is getting the chance to make an impact. Ohlund didn't play the last five minutes of regulation either, so he either got hurt or wasn't playing well. I'm not sure which, since there was no damn tv, but it's curious to me that Hale was even on the ice to get a penalty at the end of OT, so my first thought is injury. That's not good.

I didn't like to see that the Lightning got out hit 42 to 25. Sorry about all the stats, but there was no tv last night, so it's all I have to go on.

Well, I guess that's all that jumps out at me, I'm going to go bitch to someone about the fact that the game last night wasn't televised anywhere, did I mention that?

Not terrible, but...

2009-10-04T07:44:00.004-04:00

Wow, welcome to the NHL Victor Hedman... I know it's only one game, but can I just say that this kid seems to be the real deal? How does an 18 year old kid lead and NHL team in ice time in his first game? By playing like you are the 23 or 24 year old superstar that everyone expects you to become. He didn't play a perfect game, but his mistakes didn't rattle him, and he played every situation with patience and poise, something this team missed desperately last year. He got beat early on that fourth goal, but he got back and sealed his man off in his own end. Smith made a nice poke check, it just ended up right on Peverley's stick. What a passer this kid is in the offensive zone! A lot is said about a player's "first pass" out of their own zone, and that job seemed to be Ohlund's last night, but his passes in the Thrashers zone last night were great. The first goal was definitely a pass, and he tried to get that pass to the far post several other times, great vision and he can deliver it. He was also second on the team in shots on goal, good job!

6 goals doesn't look good at all, but I think Smith was the better goalie last night. Not a single goal was soft, several "bad bounces" (I hate that phrase, but I think it applies here). We had Ranger trying to play the puck into the corner and scoring on his own keeper, Smith's poke check that ended up right on a player's stick, second goal was a cross ice pass through the slot to an open man who had the patience to wait, a deflection on the fifth goal that he made the save on but couldn't control the rebound, well I thought he played well. For the record though, that fourth goal was NOT offside and that's the kind of thing that drives a coach insane. Play to the whistle! Noone likes to see someone without a whistle on their finger putting their arm up to call the offsides...

I really like our top 2 lines. We'll see if that other wing with Tanguay and Lecavalier is consistent or Tochett changes it up a lot throughout the season, but I thought that Downie looked okay there. Then you leave Stamkoso with Malone, which worked great last year, and add in a former MVP and Richard winner in St. Louis. Stamkos and St. Louis played together at the world championships and look like they have some chemistry too.

The PP looked really good in my opinion, they were only 1 for 3, but those three power plays only lasted a total of three and a half minutes. Great passing and puck movement in general. One thing worth noting though, Lecavalier, St. Louis and Stamkos played every second of all three of them.

By the way, that first goal was set up by a nice little check by Ohlund to cause the turnover. I didn't hear the announcers mention it on TV, but then Ohlund turns around and picks up the loose puck, gets it to Hedman and he makes his play. Just a little kudos, that was big and I don't know that he got his just props.

It wasn't all good though, one game in, one injured defenceman. That's not a good sign, especially the way he got hurt. I didn't see who made the pass that left Foster unable to protect himself, it might've been Ranger, but whoever it was owes Foster a drink or something, that was bad.

The faceoffs were atrocious. Maszaros' goal was off of a clean win by Vinny, but that should only tell us how important they are, not how well we did. 6 /17 from our captain and first line center and 20/45 from our starting centers is not good. Hopefully that will improve.

Too much room in the neutral zone for the Thrashers. They seemed to have very little problem getting in to the Lightning zone with speed. That needs to be addressed, but it's not as bad as it looked in my opinion. The Lightning did a great job on the forecheck. They looked almost like Tortorella's "safe is death" team on the point. That makes for a very exciting style of hockey in the offensive zone, lots of pinching in and challenging. That leads to lots of chances and a lot of pay deep in the offensive zone. It also leads to a lot of speed and scrambling back checking. I personally like that style. If the Lightning start finishing more of their opportunities, then there will be fewer pucks coming out of the zone and into neutral ice. There were a few times were they were over-aggressive, but I think that comes with the territory. I'm not sure that the media will see it that way, and they'll probably get roasted for it, but I would rather have that than last year's "back off and keep the play in front of you all the way into your own end" style that Melrose wanted.

I know Vinny had 8 shots, and he almost made Sportscenter 4 or 5 times, but none of those fancy moves showed up on the stats sheet. That's always been my biggest problem with him. If you watch the other superstars in this league, the highlight reel plays are not planned, they are reactionary. Vinny tries to make fancy plays when I don't think they're needed. Marty didn't have any highlight reel plays, just two important (at the time at least) goals.

Aside from the goal, I didn't think Meszaros played well at all, he was out of position several times and did not pass the puck crisply at all.

The last thing I want to say is that if this team continues to play like last night, not only will they improve on last year (not a big accomplishment) but they will be a fun team to watch. They were hitting everything in sight and really controlled the pace, they just couldn't finish and couldn't catch a break.

I don't grade games, but I thought they played a lot better than the score indicated.

Two things about the game that don't really matter, but I noticed anyhow. First, how can Ranger put the puck in his own net and two assists get awarded? If they continue to hand out free points like that there will be a record number of points this season and the owners will lose more money than they already are trying to keep up with the bonuses they have to pay out. Secondly, before the game even started, my 16 year old daughter made a comment about Bobby Taylor needing to grow the 'stache back. Totally immaterial, but still....

And away we go....

2009-10-03T09:14:00.002-04:00

Well, last season I obviously wasn't too pleased with the direction ownership chose for my beloved Lightning, and I was somewhat right. Sure, they had over 20 defencemen and 4 goalies last year, that's no way to play in the NHL, but even at the beginning of the season they were terrible. Well this year, 2 things that I've never heard of happened, first, I'm going to agree with a decision the little man in New York made, and an ownership group was told that they had no say in their team's sports decisions while they bitched and moaned about each other. This put the man that they hired, at least in theory, to actually run the team. Can you imagine if Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder were told they couldn't make player decisions? What a great thing that could be, but I digress. Thank goodness that Lawton was in charge at least through July 1. Two great things happened that day, Mattias Ohlund and Vincent Lecavalier were both added to the roster that day. I know Lecavalier was always there, but it was always in pencil until that day.

Now, the draft is the same as always, you never know for sure what you're getting, but two seasons in a row like we've had, and there's a pretty good chance that it'll be better than, say the Wings are used to. By the way, look what the Pens can do with a couple of high picks and some key free agents. I'm not saying that the Bolts are going to win the cup, hell at this point if they win a series in the postseason, I'll consider this season wildly successful, but I think this summer was quite a start.

I feel like it might take a season for Hedman to learn the mean streak that everyone says he doesn't quite have yet (he must have grown up playing in Europe). Having said that, playing on the smaller North American rinks should help that transition, the kid is an ogre and he can skate. Like I said, Ohlund may have been the best signing of the offseason. Not because he's going to contribute more than Tanguay, if he does then there's a huge problem with Tanguay, but because he should make Hedman's life here in the states a little easier and let him concentrate more on learning the game, which Ohlund should be able to help with too.

I'm not entirely happy with some of the roster decisions made this year, but they are not nearly as glaring as last year in my mind, so I'm more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Lawton and Tochett.

Oh yeah, Tochett.... Well, I wasn't sure about that decision, and I'm still not. Not because of anything he's done, I just feel like there are a couple of guys out there more qualified and more familiar with the challenges of keeping young people with a good deal of money focused on hockey here in Florida. I think that either Larry Robinson or Craig Ramsey would've been perfect. Having said that, I always liked Tochett as a player and he seems to be capable of firing the team up, so he should be fine too. Besides that, Adam Oates, as an unpaid consultant got the power play to 24% in the preseason, that's just insanity! Now that he has a contract, if he can stay over 20% for the regular season, that's another 6-8 wins just on it's own. For the record, 8 more wins last year puts them at .500, without any other improvements. That won't suck.

There are still some questions of course, Mike Smith is, in my mind, unproven. He needs to play a full season at the level that he showed off and on when he got the shot here, and that doesn't mean I hope for 72 or 73 starts this year, but I think he needs 65 or so before he proves that he can handle starting in this league. Nittymaki is solid, but I'm not a big fan of Flyers goalies, they have a new guy every couple of years who is a superstar and fizzles out in the playoffs, the two that come to mind before Nittymaki are Brian Boucher and Roman Cechmanek, solid for a season or two, then gone. So I think we need Smith to carry the load, and so far he hasn't been able to do that. I think with Halpern back, we have great players up the middle all the way down the roster, we're a little short on natural wingers, especially on the left side, but at this level wings are pretty interchangeable even strength, as long as the center is solid.

That leaves the blue line, and I have to say, I am so much happier this year than last. These guys are all solid with skill and, with the exception of Hedman, experience. Not only that, but we actually have a decent mix of skill sets this year. I was pretty vocal last year about how that mix wasn't there, and this year I think it is.

Barring injury of course, I think this team should be in the mix come April. And at that point, all bets are off, just like every season. I don't think this is a team that goes deep, but I think they could hurt some other team's chances too.

Been a while...

2009-07-28T11:44:00.006-04:00

Well, it's been a while, I got a bit fed up with the way the Lightning were going, but mostly I was just lazy.

Nothing really new on that front, Smaby re-signed, I'm not sure how I feel about him getting a one-way contract, I guess "good for him". He played something like 43 games last year, in a season where we were pretty desperate for someone to play the point. I don't think he was spectacular, but at least he didn't hurt much either. Would he have gotten a one-way deal if we didn't use 25 or however many players there last year? Probably not, but we did, he wasn't our worst, and he played the last month or so with a broken bone in his foot, so I guess he deserves something for it. I'm just curious how many times he'll be watching the game from the press box because they don't want to pay him $500k to play in the minors.

Like I said on my Facebook, I finally ended a 7 events in seven days run. It was pretty exhausting, but most of it was fun.

Tuesday last week I took my Girlfriend's son Zach to his first concert ever, Rise Against, at House of Blues in Orlando. That was a fun trip all around, he and I aren't really close, and I don't think we're any closer now, but it was a fun trip none the less. I would have considered going alone just to see Rancid open up for them anyhow. Both bands were great, as was a band from Mississauga called Billy Talent (name of the band, not a member). I never really had thought of Rise Against as punk and I still don't, but apparently, they do. They talked about it a lot that night, and in true 70's punk fashion, during "Time Bomb" Tim Armstrong dropped his guitar and jumped into the crowd to help out one of Rancid's crew in a fight with HOB security. That was interesting to watch from the balcony, but it interrupted my favorite song by them and they didn't play it again, so that kind of sucked. As an aside, the security guys there are horrible and I blame the entire incident on them, Pay Attention!!!

Wednesday had me sitting at the pub with Brian in the afternoon (surprise!) and, four pitchers in (by me, Brian was drinking bottles) I suggested we go see Reel Big Fish at The Ritz. I was supposed to work the show, but they lowered the staff, so I had the night off. I wasn't really a fan, I had just heard that they put on a great show, and boy did they, it was great.

Thursday was a band called Who's Bad, billed as the "greatest Michael Jackson tribute in the world" at The Ritz. They were booked before he died, so we expected a lot more people to show up. Ended up with 309 through the door, and a couple of them were not disappointed. I can't say I'm a big Michael Jackson fan, not because I'm trying to be cool, I own Thriller on vinyl, but it's just not really something that I'm into anymore. I thought he was okay, but you could tell it was learned, not natural.

Friday was VNV Nation at The Ritz, they were pretty good. I did enjoy them, I wouldn't pay money to see them, or even buy a record, but I did enjoy it. They brought out the rave, glow stick crowd, so our biggest issue was reminding them that they couldn't smoke.

Saturday was Rascall Flats at The Ford Amphitheater, and anyone that knows me knows that I can't have an opinion on Country music, it's all terrible to me. Nothing personal, I just can't enjoy it, no matter who it is. Darius Rucker opened for them, and he was okay I guess, but I didn't enjoy it. The highlight of the show was when Dusty Rhodes and Tim Tebow came out on stage. Tim Tebow even sang a line or two of "Life is a Highway", I sincerely hope this football thing works out for him...

Sunday was the Warped tour, I worked two stages, 18 bands across nine hours in the wonderful summer heat and humidity of Florida. At least until the last two sets, when it poured. A couple of the bands were pretty good, but I was so busy and so exhausted that I can't remember any of the names. I'll bet I caught over 100 crowd surfers just by myself, we needed air traffic controllers at one point just to keep them one at a time so no one got hurt. But if you could have seen how much fun these kids were having, you would just feel good for them.

Then last night was Gogol Bordello at The Ritz, and they were awesome, I would pay to see them the next time they're through if I don't work it, they were that good.

Now I'm off until Friday night, Snoop Dogg at the Sundome, hopefully the people at the gates do their jobs, so that I can have a decent night.

Well, if nothing happens between now and then, I'll post about it on the weekend, Poco and Pure Prairie League is Saturday night at The Ritz, so at least I know I'll have a relatively quiet night there.

K, at leaast this makes a little sense....

2008-10-15T05:53:00.002-04:00

First off, let me apologize, I don't script my posts, but I can already tell this one will be long, lots of quotes.

Before I get to the Lightning, I just have to say, is it cool to be a Tampa sports fan, or what? Sure, we take our beatings, but there's usually some excitement here. The Rays are just plain amazing right now. Not trying to test the limits of hyperbole here, but is this not the best story in sports in a long time? Last to first isn't unheard of, but still, this one seems a little more amazing. And then they get the little stories inside the big stories. Rocco Baldelli hardly plays anymore, but we'll give him a late inning at bat in front of a ton of people there to see him play in the park he grew up dreaming about playing a playoff game in. K, he'll just knock it out, what the hell? Longoria, earlier in the same game hits a shot over the monster to a Rays season ticket holder, on the fan's birthday. That's the kind of thing that ruins movies for me because it's so far fetched. If this guy comes out this week and says he was just given three weeks to live, and now he can die in piece, I might throw up. Damn, how much of an asshole would I feel like if he did? I hate throwing up.

Anyhow...

So I 'm a poker fan too. I'm a decent player, nothing special, but as the saying goes, I can hold my own, and usually some of theirs too. So I'm watching the new episode of the World Series this morning, and Phil Helmuth starts his normal obnoxious, arrogant, over the top "I should never lose a hand here, but somehow, it keeps happening." rants. Now, I normally think to myself that I would love to play against him just to tell him how much of an asshole he is, even though he'd probably have all my chips pretty quick, unless I got lucky and sucked out on him. Then, I guess the rant would be justified and I'd be too embarrassed after getting my chips in against him that far behind to say anything, but I digress. What happens now is that guys try to get in bad against him so that they can get extra face time when he goes off. It's really almost his fault. Maybe he's smarter than us and he realizes that this is going to give him better odds, but I don't think he's thinking that deeply (for all his faults, he's pretty smart though, so I won't rule it out), who knows. But when Mike Matusow looked right at him and told him he was out of line, I was impressed. While on the surface this may seem like the pot and the kettle, Matusow usually bemoans his bad luck and if he starts to get personal, it's pretty quick. So far this year, it seems that Helmuth has called several people different forms of "idiots" ten and fifteen times each. It got so far earlier in the season that I was actually starting to get offended for the "Eastern European idiot". While I'm not the most politically correct person on the planet, that was getting to be racist. But this guy last night finally started fighting back, Phil made a half-hearted apology, then started again and the whole table started in on him to shut up, especially Matusow, who was the only other "name" at the table that I noticed. Good for him.

Now, on to the long-winded part of this post (sorry, I warned you). All signs are that this is going to be a long hockey season here in Tampa. I think that offensively, we'll be fun to watch. The problem seems to be that we're always in our own zone, so it's tough to be a fun to watch offensive team. I've already shared my feeling on the new defensive style we want to play, so I won't beat it up except to point out that we need physical play in our own zone in order to set up the transition. Now, I'm not a huge The Hockey News fan, but let me point out what they say about our blue line:
Paul Ranger - Struggles in front of his own net because he's a tad too passive. Tends to play better in less physical contests.
Andrej Meszaros - Is not big, nor a very physical blueliner, so he must rely heavily on sound positioning and hockey smarts to get by at the pro level.
Matt Carle - Needs to prove he can handle his own in physical contests. Must get stronger in order to avoid injuries through wear and tear.
Lukas Krajicek - Must better handle the physical style of the NHL game. Needs more bulk for his 6-2 frame, and needs to start avoiding the injury bug.
Jamie Heward - Has always had issues in the defensive zone. Doesn't utilize his 6-2, 200-plus-pound frame to his advantage.
Janne Niskala - There are no notes on Niskala, but my personal opinion is at 5-11, I'm not sure he even has the potential to be especially physical.
Mike Lundin - Doesn't own supreme offensive potential. Isn't very physical and needs to get stronger in order to log important minutes at the highest level.
Is there a trend here? Having said (or shown, to give proper credit) this, the word is we signed Marek Malik yesterday. That's a start. He's not the most physical, but I believe he becomes the only true defensive defenseman on the squad, and he plays a consistent 19 to 20 minutes per game. Now when Ranger comes back, I imagine that Malik will play with Carle, and that should allow Carle to play a more aggressive offensive game. Obviously, no one knows when Malik will be in game shape, he hasn't played since the end of last season, and I don't think he is the answer to all of our ills. But it shows effort on the part of the organization. That's all you can really hope for, try to help us out.

So, if you made it this far, thanks for listening. I bitch because I care.

On a closing note, has anyone seen this guy SteveDangle on youtube? I think he's great. Funny and knowledgeable. If you get the chance, check out his season previews, he's got about ten up now and promises all teams to be up eventually. I can't wait to hear the Lightning commentary, he's already mentioned them a couple of times. Just thought I'd give him a plug, he also seems to give Leafs recaps after every game.

Laterz for now

And they're off!!!

2008-10-10T10:27:00.002-04:00

I know the season officially started last weekend, even though Lightning fans wish it didn't count, but the season started last night here in North America. I had a game last night, so I didn't get see much, but here's what I hear we learned last night...

Holmstom, Burrows and Cheechoo aren't going to score 164 goals, probably combined, but they started strong

Roberto Luongo is still the real deal, at least so far....

Vancouver in general seems to be pretty strong, but probably not as good as a 6-0 win on opening night make make it seem

Calgary is probably not as bad as a 0-6 loss might seem, but...

Kiprusoff didn't look much better than last years disappointing season seemed to show. It's kind of rough when after the first game of the season (and remember, I didn't see a single second of this game) your goalie, who is supposed to be a first tier keeper, makes 16 saves on 22 shots and tries to deflect criticism by saying "There wasn't too many shots but I think we have to be smarter playing in our own end." Hey Mikka, I think after that statistical performance, you should either say something to the effect of "it's only one game, I'm sure we'll bounce back", or stay in the showers until the media leaves and avoid saying anything at all. Just a thought.

This year's draft is apparently pretty special, I don't think I've ever heard of so many picks making the big club their first year. And there's probably a couple more to come up later.

Jeff Friesen is probably finished. After sitting out last year, he didn't make the Sharks this season. I don't know why, but this really hit a nerve with me. Who couldn't love his hard work, but I was never really that big a fan, just guess I respected him as a player more than even I realized. By the way, the Devil's fans seem to want him, but I don't think it'll happen. He's only 32, but I don't think he's coming back, maybe I'm wrong.

My fantasy team isn't terrible either, hopefully Luongo is as good as he looked, that's going to make my season a little more fun.

And last but not least, a week in to our season, the Lightning have only lost two, so there's no reason to stop on the Skyway Bridge yet.

By the way, the Rays start the ALCS as everyone probably knows. Wouldn't it be awesome to see the Rays beat the Phillies in the World Series? It would just solidify that Tampa owns Philadelphia. The Bucs own the Eagles, including their run to the Super Bowl, the Lightning don't own the Flyers, but they've held their own, most memorably in the Eastern Conference finals to win the cup. I just think if the Rays could do it too, Philly would really hate us (I know, they hate everyone, I heard a rumor that they go to the airport to heckle the pilots). It's been 25 years since Philly has won any championship, here's to making it at least 26!

And on a non-sports note, explain to me how one state can screw up so often? We are coming up on the first election with our new Division of Elections leadership, and they send out new registration cards without a polling place listed. They acknowledge an ooops, but I just don't know how they don't catch that. The jokes still aren't finished from the hanging chads. I know it's no big deal, just one of those things, I would like to say that I would make sure that this election went off without a hitch.

Well, on that note, I'm done for at least this morning, if the Rays win and I can stay up through the game, maybe I'll have more to say later. Wish me luck, I'm on my way to my first of three interviews in the next few days.

Good Morning

2008-10-08T06:01:00.007-04:00

So, I'm sitting at the pub last night, and I tell my buddy Brian something that relates to yesterday's post. I think we've got the NHL's rebirth of Dan Snyder (from the Redskins, not the one that played for the Thrashers) as our owner here. Oren Koules seems to mean well, but I still believe you need to have an active, legitimate GM. No that he can't do what he wants, he spent his own money on the team. I just feel like we're getting into a scary situation here. I would hope that this trade yesterday was done without Melrose's input, that would at least give me some faith in our coaching for the upcoming season. Then again, I get the feeling that we have our own Steve Spurrier too, the offense might be fun to watch, but when you couple it with a defensive philosophy that just plain doesn't work, it'll grow old pretty quick too. And that's more than a little contradictory, considering that Melrose played the blueline when he was a player.

On another note, I really haven't mentioned the Rays. This is a pretty big deal around here. There was a time when you would be hard pressed to find a bigger baseball fan than myself. My folks and I used to go to Exhibition Stadium with my folks all the time to watch the Jays play. I went to a World Series game in 1984 at Tiger Stadium, and I used to drive my ex-wife crazy having to watch the Jays on TV down here. Then came the strike, and I found I could live without the sport. Now, I can't watch an entire game at home if my life depends on it. I can go to the pub and watch a game while I play Golden Tee and BS with other drunks, but I'll fall asleep standing up if I try to watch a game at home. Having said that, I'll be trying to watch the games this weekend and I'll be rooting for the Rays for as long as my eyes are open.

Do two wrongs ever make a right? How is it that someone can literally get away with murder, then end up getting life for spending something like 16 minutes keeping everyone in a room to try and sort things out and being convicted of kidnapping? OJ is probably going to get life for these last charges. I actually think that this time around he was in the right. I also think that karma's a bitch, so the jury is punishing him for the murders in California, not what happened in Nevada. This is another one of those times when I'm not sure how I feel about it. Fortunately, how I feel isn't really important.

We were at the pub last night, so I have no idea what happened in the debate, but I'm going to have to listen to it on You Tube and hear what happened. I don't think it'll make much of a difference to me, but I do want to hear what was said anyhow.

On a quick NHL note, I was a little surprised that Rhett Warrener went on waivers. I really don't know the whole story, but he did have an "A" last year, and now he's going to the minors. This is a guy that played in three finals series, and never won a cup, not that I feel too bad, he lost one of those to the Lightning, and he got to spend 13 seasons in the NHL. Just sort of caught me off guard I guess.

And thanks a lot to Miss Conduct, my first visitor and commenter so far.

Laterz all.

Lightning stuff

2008-10-07T07:33:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm a pretty big Shane O'Brien mark, but I will start this by saying that while this looks like a terrible deal, according to the Vancouver Sun, he's going to start as the seventh defenseman there. Even if he moves up to the fifth eventually, he's still a third line D! Having said that, this i s a terrible move because Melrose has decided to change the defensive mindset of this team. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you challenge less on the offensive blueline, then you play more in your own zone. That's fine, several teams make that their philosophy, and it works for some. I just don't understand the logic in trading your most physical defenseman for a player who is widely considered one of the softest in the league, and still use this philosophy. The spin is that Krajicek is a good first pass, puck moving defenseman, and we need that since we chose not to keep Boyle (don't even get me started, I know, salary cap), but we have essentially a rookie Goalie with a great potential for upside, and a 38 year old back up whose best days are obviously behind him. now you want to play more in our own zone, and get less physical down low too? I just think it's too much. I understand O'Brien seems to stay in the doghouse a lot, but I just don't like this deal. Oh yeah, and we actually added cap hit from O'Brien's $950k to Krajicek's $1.1mil. Again, this is not an attack on Krajicek, he may be everything the team says he is, I just don't think that what they sa he is replaces what everyone knows O'Brien was. By the way, we got rid of Ouelett, which is good, since we obviously didn't want to use him, for Jurag Simek, but I don't know a thing about Simek. Maybe in a couple of years we'll all be saying "Remember when we stole Simek from the Canucks?). Who knows, but either way that doesn't help this team now, while trying to sell the new owners to the fans. I think we're the clear losers here.

Quick stats from last year on these two guys:

Goals and assists are a wash O'Brien was a goal every 19.25 games and assist every 4 games or so, Krajicek is every 19.5 and 4.33, with O'Brien a -2 and Krajicek -3 (although that's a little deceiving, as O'Brien played twice as many games). By the way TOI was close too, O'Brien was 18:10 per game in about 25 shifts, Krajicek was 21:13 in 26 shifts, so the numbers seem to be apples to apples. They both blocked less than 1.5 shots per game. But the rest are pretty different all the way.

PIM - O'Brien 2 per game, Krajicek just under 1
Giveaways - O'Brien .75 per game, Krajicek .36
Take aways - O'Brien .55, Krajicek .10
Hits - O'Brien 1.66, Krajicek .69

I just don't see the upside for the Lightning, hope I'm wrong.

On another NHL note, Ryan Hollweg is going to serve his 2 game suspension in the Leafs' first two games this year. I'm not sure how I feel about this. There are a few things that I feel very strongly about in the NHL. I don't like the turn the game has taken during the current commissioner's reign, I hate stick fouls and hitting from behind and boarding are in a word unacceptable. Yes, these hits sometimes happen, it's a fast game and emotions sometimes run high. But three game misconducts for these offenses in less than 41 games, which is the automatic suspension, is out of hand. Again, we're not talking minor penalties here, it's games, so they were obviously big hits. I'm not sure three in 41 games is even harsh enough, it might need to be two in 20 games or something, Campbell loves his suspensions anyhow, so why not. But I'm also not sure how I feel about these penalties accruing across two seasons is fair, nor am I sure that a preseason offense should add to last year's totals if they do carry over. In the end, I'm just not sure how I feel, but I'm glad that the league is worrying about a dangerous play that needs to be addressed, they usually can't see the forest for the trees.

Well, Here goes.

2008-10-06T21:49:00.001-04:00

I have several friends with blogs, and I felt a bit left out. I wouldn't exactly call it "blog envy", but I think I have "blog envy" (thanks Amy and Brian especially).

Let me start out by saying all the right things - I plan on updating daily if not more often, always with clear, coherent, intelligent and relevant thoughts. Nothing controversial, always well thought out and always explained well enough for everyone to completely understand exactly what I'm trying to say.

Now, realistically, I might update tomorrow, maybe the next day. After that, I probably will get involved in something else, get drunk and remember that I need to ramble and vent, and then you'll hear from me.

If I can come somewhere in between, then that's good enough, and I don't want to hear any shit from you people! My rants will have several different themes, but because it's me, it'll be a lot of hockey and sports. I do have two wonderful daughters who I'm incredibly proud of and I love very much. This blog is not for them! If they ever read it, it'll be because someone else told them about it or they found it by accident. They will be mentioned on occasion, but not very much. This is not a reflection on them, I just don't feel comfortable talking about my teenage kids on the internet.

Please feel free to post any comment on any subject you want, I hope that this can become a good discussion forum on many subjects. I might get stupid and have a religion (I'm a non-practicing Catholic) or politics (I'm a relatively uninformed Republican), not because I want to hype the blog, but because something might have come up that I wanted to get input from strangers and friends alike about. I'm also in love with a wonderful, beautiful woman that has a bigger influence on my life than I imagine she knows. Of course, me being who I am, I'll probably find a way to fuck that up and I'll be on here whining about my broken heart (God I hope I'm wrong, but let's be realistic, it's me).

The biggest topics I will bring up are probably hockey (I try to get my fat ass up and down the ice twice a week and I love the Lightning), poker (I like to play and watch) and football (the Bucs are my team, guess where I live?). Sure, I'm actually interested a little bit in baseball right now because the Rays are actually in the ALCS as of tonight, but I really can't watch an entire game, even live I leave early. When the World Cup comes around again in 2010, I'll pretend to know what I'm talking about, mostly because I heard something at the pub or on TV, but occasionally I'll pull out an actual memory-based factoid. The economy sucks, I'm unemployed four months almost now, and that might come up from time to time, although if that doesn't change soon, I'm going to lose what little sanity I have left after everything else that has happened. And I'm a pretty big movie fan, I go to IMDB almost daily, but I don't take that too seriously. I really love to quote Kevin Smith, Guy Ritchie and those types of movies, so don't start talking classics or serious movies.

Well, I don't think that there is really anything else that I can think of now, if I ever figure this stuff out, I'll find a way to link this in all my future posts so that if my ego is ever sated, and I actually start getting people who don't know me visiting on a regular basis, they can get a clue as to what this started as (even if it doesn't end up this way).

Enjoy if you choose to, get pissed if you must, don't take yourself or me too seriously and maybe we can have a little fun.

And away we go....