mr. blackandwhite

ONETWOTHREEFOUR

I'm loving drop.io. Drop some more on me here.

The other night I was practicing the geetar while watching the Celts / Hawks game in the background. The game ended with a C's loss after holding 10+ point leads throughout the game.

As the game was winding down, the last couple songs I happened to play were 'Shot Down in Flames' (AC/DC) and 'Death or Glory' (The Clash).

Appropriate.

Note:
I turned off the Social D track after I realized it was loading every time somebody opened the page, which can be annoying to the reader. (See, I care.) You can still hear it on my drop page.

Send me some shite at my drop.io

I just started fooling with this: drop.io.

I found it after listening to some of the recent episodes of The Daily Sourcecode and so far it seems super cool.

I made my own drop.io and you can go look at it right here .

I don't have much on there right now but I'll probably drop all kinds of junk in there over time. Feel free to send me your shit, junk, nonsense or anything that you think will make me laugh while I'm sitting here in hell, I mean.. at the office. It's a free-for-all, for now anyway, so go nuts.

{Mood: Ted Nugent - Free For All}

Stunning news: I know absolutely nothing about the NFL Draft..

Despite a seemingly non-stop and never ending barrage of draft news, mock drafts, draft pick contests and all things NFL draft, I can honestly tell you that I know absolutely nothing about a single player in the NFL draft, who the top prospects are or anything of the like.

If I were hard pressed, I think I could name two people in the NFL draft this year, some Michigan O-Lineman named Long that Miami already signed, and Matt Ryan from Boston College. That's it.

I know people go nuts about the NFL draft, and seem to get nuttier every year, but I have never been able to understand the NFL draft phenom and trying to guess which player is going to get picked by what team in which spot. Is anybody ever right about these things?

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I'm picking on anybody who's a draftnic, I just don't get into it that's all. I admit it's a little strange considering how much I enjoy football, but there you go.

Saturday afternoon I'll go to Patriots.com at some point, check to see who the Patriots picked, nod my head and say to myself, 'Hmmm I wonder who that guy is.. Well he must be pretty good. Go Pats. Ok back to the yard work..'

If I had to make a prediction about the Patriots and their 7th Round draft pick this Saturday, I'd say the chances are very high that they will draft a football player, one that plays offense or defense, or they will trade their 7th pick to get other picks, in order to draft some other football players who play either offense or defense.

This much I know for sure, Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli are very shrewd when it comes to the NFL draft and I have no doubt that they will make some moves that will improve the Patriots this coming weekend, and that's the only thing about the NFL draft that I need to know.

In Bill and Scott We Trust

Here's my, 'who I'm rooting for' for the Stanley Cup semi-finals.

Alright everybody, with the quarter finals wrapping up last night, I can list my 'who I'm rooting for' picks for the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs..

East:

Montreal vs Philly - I hate both teams so it's a no win situation. I hate Philly only slightly less than I hate Montreal. I find it impossible to make a pick here. I will just say that I hope it goes seven games so whoever wins is totally exhausted for the Conference Finals..

Pittsburgh vs NY Rangers - Although I don't hate the Rangers, and have actually rooted for them in the past back when Messier was there, I find I cannot bring myself to root for a New York team right now. So, Pittsburgh gets all the love from me, not only in the Semi's but I hope they win the East and go to the Cup Finals. You hear that Johnny?? I'm rooting for your team!!

(If Washington had won last night they would have been my 'who I'm rooting for' pick for the East. Oh well.)

West:

For some reason I always tend to like the Western hockey teams a lot more than the Eastern teams. It probably has to do with the various rivalries that the Bruins have with the other Eastern teams.. In any case..

Avs vs Wings - The Avs have been my 1A hockey team ever since Ray Bourque went there and they remain so today. The Avs have provided me with my most enjoyable hockey memories, watching Ray hoist the Cup and there's also the fact that my kids were conceived between the 2nd and 3rd period of Game 6 in 2001.. So yeah. Go AVS!

Sharks vs Stars - Gotta go with San Jose here. It's the whole Worcester Sharks connection. Plus Joe Thornton remains a big fave of mine.

There you go!

Damn. Just damn.

I'm going to tell you something, coming into this opening round Stanley Cup series with the Habs, I was just happy to see The Bruins in the playoffs again and I was not expecting much. I was mostly hoping the Bruins would at least avoid an embarrassing sweep at the hands of a team they had not been able to beat all year..

But then something happened along the way. The Bruins showed that they were not going to just celebrate their entry into the second season and call it a series. They came out and really fought hard against The Habs, a team that, frankly, was a superior team. The Bruins gave Montreal all they could handle and yesterday evening, prior to the game, I really did believe the Bruins were going to pull off a Game 7 win, so as you can imagine, I am mired in disappointment today.

I thought that The Bruins played hard during the game and had a ton of opportunities, but Montreal goalie, Carey Price, was just too big in the net last night. The Bruins had numerous power-play chances and just could not get the goal. I think The B's spent most of the opening of the 3rd period (what 10 min? That's what it felt like,) on a power-play and could not get it in. There was a point in the 3rd when the B's had a point-blank shot on Price and still could not score. That play really stands out in my mind and basically sums it up right there. Once the Habs went up by two, things looked bleak. When they went up by three, I felt there was still a chance if the B's could score quick in the 3rd but that chance ticked away like the minutes the Bruins spent on the power-play.

I am disappointed with the loss, and coming at the hands of Montreal once again certainly does not make it any easier.

I think I can honestly say that Montreal has leap-frogged (frog. heh.) The MFY to solidly take the #2 spot on my list of most hated teams. I still have no love for the MFY, but The Sox have exorcised their demons with that team, at least in my mind anyway.. The Bruins were almost there last night. Almost.

Despite the disappointment, I am proud of the Bruins for their accomplishments this year. They are a young team that will take this playoff experience and store it away. They are a team I am confident will continue to get better. I can only imagine what might have been this year, and during the playoffs especially, if Patrice Bergeron had not been, literally, knocked out of the season back in October.

We are left to wonder.

So now that the B's are out of it, I fall back to the annual ritual of picking backup teams and rooting for others to get knocked out of the playoffs. In that vein I will now say, GO CAPS!!!

I'll wait till the round two match-ups officially get squared away before listing my 'who I am rooting for' picks for the 2nd round..

C's win, Sox win. How about getting the Hat Trick tonight Bruins?

Well it's been a few weeks and there's been some dates added to the list, but it looks like Mike Ness is not going to grace the Boston area with his presence during his solo tour this Spring. Crazy as it may seem, I actually considered making a road trip to one of the NY or NJ shows. In fact, I am seriously considering the Saturday May 17th show in Asbury Park, NJ as I write this, but soon reality will sink in. Dammit.

Oh well maybe Mike will come back around later this year..

In the meantime, The C's won in dominating fashion last night in their first game of the NBA playoffs vs The Hawks, The Sox won today against the Rangers, getting the series sweep I might add, and the Bruins will play in the winner take all, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup quarter-finals tonight vs Montreal.

Let's make it 3 out of 3, a Hat Trick if you will, shall we Bruins? Yes, I think that would be nice, because I need to see more of Cam 'Mungo' Neely as lunatic fan, obviously too pumped up to be able to sit down during the game (I know that feeling) and jumping around like, ah, well, like one of us does whenever the Bruins score a goal. I should try and see if there is a youtube video of Neely's excited antics somewhere because it is truly awesome to behold.

A win tonight for The Bruins would be an almost complete reversal of the B's previous playoff appearance in '04, when the then #2 seeded Bruins blew a commanding 3-1 series lead to the 7th seeded Habs. A win tonight erases that collapse from my mind, something I would very much appreciate. Plus The Bruins have not won a playoff series yet this century. So they need to do that. Tonight.

I will now direct you to this wonderfully written prayer to the Hockey Gods on the Bruins behalf by Hockey Chick Courtney.

LETS GO BRUINS!!

Update:
Well I dug around a little for video of Neely losing his mind in the press box after the B's scored a goal and this is the best I could find. This is pretty funny too.

Dear NESN, The Bruins are playing Saturday. Might want to think about showing the game..

The Bruins made me proud last night. In taking Game 5 over The Habs by a score of 5-1, The B's not only kept the round one series alive and forced Game 6 in Boston this Saturday, they opened up a bottle of kick-ass on The Habs on their home-ice along the way.

The noticeable lack of 'ole!' 'allez!' (Thanks Courtney) from the home crowd in Montreal was sweet.

The B's still face a daunting task. Down 3-2 in the series, they are still on the brink of elimination, but I'm not going to worry about that right now. Right now is about enjoying the moment and The Bruins win in Game 5. It is so awesome to see them putting up a fight against this Montreal team that had completely owned them all year. I think it's safe to say they have given The Habs something to think about for Game 6 at The Garden.

How's that quote from Kevin Millar go? 'Don't let us win tonight..'

Which brings me to this. I have to say it:

April Baseball DOES NOT trump April Hockey, ever.

Last night NESN dissed the B's and went with the Sox / Yankees game over the Bruins / Habs Stanley Cup playoffs game. They chose to show an April baseball game over a Stanley Cup playoff game between two Original 6 rivals, and one of the biggest rivalries in all of hockey I might add, in which the home town Bruins were facing a win or go home situation in enemy territory.

Flip it around. Imagine if it were October and NESN chose to show an early regular season B's / Habs game instead of a Red Sox / MFY playoff game. I know that would never happen and I realize The B's are on the bottom rung of Boston Sports popularity right now, but come on, they deserve better.

Yeah, I know, Red Sox / Yankees... The RIVALRY! /rolls eyes./

I forgot. Nobody watches hockey anymore. What-ever.

Ok. Got that out of my system. Happy Friday and LETS GO BRUINS!!

{Mood: Turbonegro - Locked Down}

(Image: Getty Images, Bruins.com)

Pats schedule is out: back to back West Coast trips, 5 prime time games

Ok, the next milestone on the road to recovery has arrived. The Patriots 2008-09 schedule is here and we move one step closer to next season.

Travel-wise, I'd say the schedule looks pretty killer.

There are 2 sets of back to back West Coast games in there (ack!) and there are a total of 5 prime-time games scheduled for The Patriots, although it looks like the prime-time games have been spread out pretty well, for the most part, and there's only one Monday Nighter.

Having the Monday Night game follow a Sunday Night West Coast game might actually be helpful. Since they will essentially lose a day traveling after the game, the extra day to recover might be good for the team.

Who knows what will happen with flex-scheduling..

Sun, Sept. 7 - Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00pm, CBS (ok, fine)
Sun, Sept. 14 - @ New York Jets, 4:15pm, CBS (yup, no biggie)
Sun, Sept. 21 - Miami Dolphins, 1:00pm, CBS (yeah, home game in Sept. No broiled Patriots)
Sun, Sept. 28 - BYE WEEK (kinda early. Eh.)
Sun, Oct. 5 - @ San Francisco 49ers, 4:15pm, CBS (West Coast Trip #1)
Sun, Oct. 12 - @ San Diego Chargers, 8:15pm, NBC (West Coast Trip #2, ACK)
Mon, Oct. 20 - Denver Broncos, 8:30pm, ESPN (A back to back prime time game but at least we get the donkeys at home)
Sun, Oct. 26 - St. Louis Rams, 1:00pm, FOX (yup)
Sun, Nov. 2 - @ Indianapolis Colts, 8:15pm, NBC (Away game, prime-time, as expected)
Sun, Nov. 9 - Buffalo Bills, 1:00pm, CBS (yup)
Thu, Nov. 13 - New York Jets, 8:15pm, NFL Network (A Thursday prime-time game, icky.)
Sun, Nov. 23 - @ Miami Dolphins, 1:00pm*, CBS (Ah, down to warm Miami, (for The Pats, not me, dammit))
Sun, Nov. 30 - Pittsburgh Steelers, 4:15pm*, CBS (home against the Steelers, good)
Sun, Dec. 7 - @ Seattle Seahawks, 8:15pm*, NBC (West Coast Trip #3)
Sun, Dec. 14 - @ Oakland Raiders, 4:15pm*, CBS (West Coast Trip # 4, ACK)
Sun, Dec. 21 - Arizona Cardinals, 1:00pm*, FOX (Yup)
Sun, Dec. 28 - @ Buffalo Bills, 1:00pm*, CBS (Yup)

As far as the teams the Pats will face, it does not look overly challenging, but that is based on last season. It is impossible to judge which teams are going to make the big turn around this season and go from sucky 1st round draft pick hopeful to playoff contender, but that is what makes the NFL what it is..

Well, there you go. The schedule is set. Bring it on.

GO PATS

Bruins finally draw blood against the Habs..

First off, before I get into the B's this past weekend, I want to send some congratulations out to the Boston College Men's Hockey Team for their NCAA National Championship! Super cool.

Congrats as well to my good friend Brent's team from Zurich, the ZSC Lions, for their Swiss Championship win as well!

Championships all around. Woop!

Ok, now onto The Bruins..

As I had written earlier, coming into this first round series against The Habs, it was hard to feel too confident about The Bruins chances. They had gotten into the playoffs, and that was great, but now they would face a team that they had not beaten a single time over the course of the entire regular season. As a Bruins fan you had hope in your heart and ignored what your mind was trying to tell you.

Game 1 on Friday night was ugly. The B's came out and got smoked by The Canadiens, 4-1. Ouch.

Chalk that first game up to first-time playoff nerves for the young Bruins team, coupled with the task of facing a team that has completely dominated them all year, and then combine it with the ultra-hostile environment in Montreal. It was not pretty. The Bruins were intimidated and it showed.

By the way, can I tell you how much I despise that song they sing up there in Montreal? There's a whole lot of despising going on.

Ok. We can let that first game go.

Game 2, different story. It was like the Bruins team collectively realized, 'Oh, so this is what the playoffs are like! We need to turn it up a notch, or ten.. Okay then!'

The B's came out and held their own against the Habs this time. The game went to OT and the Bruins played with a man in the penalty box the entire period, dealing with the result of a high-sticking double-minor that had occurred at the end of the 3rd.. Just as the B's were about to get back to full strength, they were called for a sketchy tripping penalty. I won't comment on that tripping call that gave the Habs the brief 5 on 3 power-play, other than to say, besides being great skaters, the Habs players are great actors as well.

It was a game that The Bruins really had a legitimate shot at winning, but you can only play underhanded against the Habs for so many minutes. It was not to be and the B's went down, 3-2 in OT.

Even though Game 2 resulted in a loss, the B's took something from that game. They realized they could play with the Habs and they took that knowledge into Game 3 on their home ice in Boston.

Down 2-0 in the series, last night's game was of the critical nature for The B's, an absolute 'must win' against this damn team that has vexed them for so long.

Once again, The Bruins showed that they could skate with the Habs, but the game once again ended with a tie at regulation, 1-1, and back to over-time we went.

This time, it was the Bruins' turn to take advantage in OT.

On a delayed penalty against the Habs, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas headed for the bench and The B's sent on Marc Savard as an extra attacker. Savard took a pass from Dennis Wideman and put the puck past Habs goalie Carey Price for the long awaited and much needed win.

At the risk of sounding like ESPN's Bill Simmons, 'The Russian Canadians had been cut!' Can you say confidence boost?

The B's are still down in the series, 2 games to 1, but they have some momentum on their side now, the confidence of knowing they can beat The Habs, and another game on home ice this Tuesday.

Let's even this thing.

It's about the Cup. Now get to work.

Well they did it. The Bruins squeezed their way into the Stanley Cup playoffs by winning the second to last game of the year last Friday. After clinching a spot, with one game remaining, they still had a shot at moving up in the final conference standings and thus avoiding having to play the number one seeded, and very much hated, Habitants from Montreal, but it didn't happen.

It would have been nice to move out of the 8th seed but hey, I was just glad The B's made it into the real season.

So now it's really starts, tonight. Mission 16W: v.2008. Bruins versus The Habs.

The Canadians defeated the Bruins every single time they played during the regular season, so the outlook for the series does not look optimistic for the B's. I would sure love to see The B's first win of the year over The Habs take place tonight during Game 1.

Set the tone and kick some ass tonight guys. The regular season is over and it's 0-0.
/clichés

The Stanley Cup was present in Boston the other day during the Red Sox opening day festivities at Fenway. How about we maybe keep that thing around town for a while? That would be so sweet.

I was alive the last time the B's won it, but I was too young to remember any of it.

It's about the Cup. Now get to work.
/channels Dennis Leary/

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Things I check, almost every day:

NHL Eastern Conference Standings: The Bruins are gonna take it right down to the wire it seems. With two games left they are in 7th place and tied with the 8th place Caps for points at 92. The Flyers are 1 point out.

Oh God, as if the idea of potentially missing the playoffs is not bad enough, getting bumped by f-ing Philly would make it ten times worse. Of course if the B's scrape their way into the Quest for the Cup, they'll be facing the Habs in round one. That's not encouraging, considering the B's did not win a single game vs. the g-d Habs all year.. Oh well, one step at a time. The Bruins need to win these last two games and then we'll go from there ok?

Netflix: Rescue Me Season 4 release date - I have mentioned that my Wife and I are totally hooked on this show. Looks like Season 4 should be coming out sometime in June. Yay! I expect we'll watch the whole season in about mmmmm.. 4 days.

Mike Ness' myspace: I check here almost every day to see if there's been a Boston show added to his Spring solo tour, though now that I think about it, I would probably get an e-mail first.. In any case, no dice, yet. Boston is not that far from New York, Mike! Come on man!!

The clock: To see if it's 5 o'clock yet.. Not yet? Ug. Tick-tock..

Happy Friday!

{mood: Alan Jackson - It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere}

Avoiding the spotlight: No prime-time Pats game for kickoff weekend..

Alright everybody. Back to normal. Hope you liked my April Fool's makeover yesterday. Ha!

So what's going on around here? I was following the news out of the NFL owner's meeting the last few days and I thought some pretty interesting stuff has came out of it.

The first thing that comes to mind is that The Patriots will not be featured in any prime-time games on kickoff weekend, and that Robert Kraft has requested that the league give the Pats a good old fashioned 1PM Sunday game to kick off the season.

That is perfectly fine by me.

I was watching NESN this morning while on the tread-mill (Can't wait to ditch that thing and walk outside by the way. Will Spring ever arrive??) and some of the local blabb-o-mouths were suggesting that not being featured in a prime-time game during kickoff weekend was possibly a punishment for The Patriots (/rolls eyes.. STFU NOOB) and that the coaches and players on the team may like it but the fans do not.

I'm not even going to address the 'punishment' idea, because that is just stupid, but the the suggestion that Patriots fans don't like the idea of a 1 PM Sunday game to start the season? Wrong.

A normal 1PM Sunday kickoff for the '08 season? I like it. I like it a lot.

I am glad that The Pats are going to have a plain old 1PM Sunday start. I don't know about most people, but for me, all those prime-time games last year became a real drag as the season wore on. Yes, I realize that the Pats were in the big games because of their achievements over the course of the season, and that is great, but all of the back to back Sunday Night and Monday Night games got to be a little too much for me, and I am sure that after a while it got to be too much for the team as well.

The Pats will undoubtedly have a number of prime-time games on this year's schedule, but hopefully it won't be to the level that it was last year where the Pats played in the maximum number of prime-time games allowed by the league.

Kraft has also asked the league to try and schedule more of The Pats' prime-time games as away games this season in order to make things easier on the home fans. I don't see that as a problem either. Last year, a lot of The Patriots games were flexed into prime-time slots and that made things difficult for the people attending the games.

The league should not have any problem accommodating this request. For example, you know that The Pats / Colts game is going to be a prime-time game, and that's an away game for The Patriots. Check.

I think the overall sentiment that has come out of the NFL owners meeting, as far as the Patriots are concerned, is the desire to put last year behind us and start over with a new season, a 'normal' season without the hype, without the scrutiny and without the seemingly continuous spotlight on the team.

I think it's fair to say that The Patriots and their fans want move forward and forget about last year. I know I do. That seems like a funny thing to say considering everything the Pats accomplished last year, but despite all the records that were set and all the games that were won, I have to admit, there were times last year when it felt like a season under siege for The Patriots. After everything that happened over the course of last season, to have it end the way it did, it's obvious why Patriots Nation, team and fans alike, wants to move on and get a fresh start in '08.

We fell hard off the top of the mountain, but we are preparing to make the climb back again.

A normal 1 PM Sunday kickoff to start the '08 season, just like everybody else? Sounds like a good way to start to me.

GO PATS

It's all about to change, starting now.

I've decided that all of the time, emotion, energy and money that I've poured into my love of these 'team sports' like football, baseball and hockey has just been an enormous waste of time.

I've had it!

I am done following these damn loser Boston sports teams and I am going to instead focus my energy on more fulfilling areas like celebrity gossip, reality television shows and the long over-due revival of mullet hair styles.

It's time to get off my ass and do something real with my life people!

I hope you will continue to follow along here as I start out on this new path.

If you want to know what I think about the latest trends in Fashion, Gossip and Top 40 dance hits, THIS is the place to be my friends. Not only that, I'm going to start writing about every aspect of my personal life, right here on the world wide web for everyone to read. So start looking for exquisitely detailed and revealing posts, every single day of the goddamn week. I may even start posting two or three times a day. Plus, as an added bonus, I promise to stop swearing so much.

Yes, it really is true.

Ciao for now!