mr. blackn'white: GO PATS

Pats / Colts / B's and Maple Syrup...

Hype it up baby. This Sunday, the greatest football game of the century will take place in Foxboro MA with The Pats facing The Undefeated and assuredly, this time, unstoppable Indianapolis Colts. At least, that's how the sports writers are talking about the game.

Haven't we been here before? The Colts come into Foxboro toting their ridiculous offensive numbers and best in the AFC record. HOW CAN THE PATRIOTS POSSIBLY STOP THEM?? Of course, this time around, people have come to the realization that the Pats HAVE stopped them, almost every single time, in this same type of situation, so the guys at ESPN are hedging their bets a little with this game. They've become a little gun-shy about picking against the Pats, even if deep down in their hearts, they really, really want to. That's you I'm looking at Tom Jackson.

Personally I would prefer to see the Patriots get a complete and total lack of respect heading into this game. I wish everybody at ESPN and the national sports media would unanimously pick the Colts to win and talk about how nobody can cover The Colts receivers and how The Pats don't have a chance because they no longer have Deion Branch and Adam Vinatieri is now kicking for The Colts.

That kind of thing just gets Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi and the rest of The Pats D that much more fired up. In my mind, a seething mad Harrison is a good thing. Unfortunately, the 'Experts' have learned their lesson about picking against The Pats over the last few years, so the disrespect factor is not as high as I would like to see.

I expect The Pats / Colts game on Sunday will be a good game and there are playoff implications riding on the outcome, but in the long run it's still just one game half-way through the season. Regardless of who wins the game, there's still a lot of football left to be played in front of both teams and anything can happen in the 2nd half of the season.

Ok. Now that I've gotten the rational part of the post out of the way, I honestly think The Pats are going to kick The Colts ASS on Sunday. I think this will be the one of those famous 'blueprint' games where Belichick shows the rest of the league, 'This is how you beat the Colts. Here you go. Have at it and have fun with it.'

A few random thoughts:
- I can't believe the Bruins lost that game to the Buffalo Sabers last night. I turned the TV off and The B's had a 3 goal lead in the third period. I came into work today and saw the score was 5-4 Buffalo and could not believe my eyes. Unbelievable. The fucking 'Hub of Hockey'. The Hub of Frustration is more like it.

- My Wife did not feel like arguing with my kids about dinner last night so she made them waffles and gave them some apple slices to go with it. My kids were dipping the apples in the maple syrup. To quote my own children when my Wife puts a vegetable on their plate, 'Yuck.'

I thought it was bad enough that they like to dip apples in ketchup, but apples and maple syrup?? Ug.

Then they were asking me, 'Want some Dad?'

'Ah, that's very nice sharing but no thank you.'

My Wife tells me to just be happy they are eating something healthy. True. I have always said that she is the smart one.

- The fact that not a single member of the Red Sox starting infield from this past season was awarded a Gold Glove is ridiculous. It is beyond ridiculous. It is recockulous. The Sox had one of the best fielding teams in the history of baseball last season and no Gold Glove love for a single player? I guess so. No Gold Gloves for YOU Red Sox infielders!

Add in the fact that a Gold Glove was awarded to Derek Jeter and that makes things even more recockulous.

Yes, that's right. When you get beyond ridiculous things become 'recockulous'. And that is what this whole Gold Glove fiasco is. Recockulous. Feel free to use that word by the way.

20 Minutes Away...

Stanley Cup Finals. Game 7. Game fucking seven. Go Whale. Why win the series in 5, when you can take it in 7?

2nd period intermission: "You are 20 minutes away from the Stanley Cup."

You can almost feel the electricity as we wait for the 3rd Period to start..

The NHL may not be the most popular sport in North America, but in my opinion, there is no other competition that requires so much of an athlete than the NHL playoffs. There is no other game that has the same level of speed, skill and brutality required to win the Championship and to hoist the Trophy at the end. The only thing that comes close to the skill and physicality involved to win is the NFL playoffs, but to win the NFL Championship, you only have to win 4 games, or in many cases, if you are a team that earns a bye week, 3. In the NHL you have to win 16 games. 16 games. That's a lot of tough hockey.

And you know what's really cool? They all shake hands and congratulate each other at the end. You beat the hell out of each other for an entire playoff series and when it's over you shake hands and say, 'good game'.

No other North American professional sport has that great tradition.

We are about to witness twenty minutes of the most intense hockey of entire the season. Carolina has a 2 goal lead but Edmonton is going to come out with everything they've got. Carolina needs to smother Edmonton in the 3rd. Expect to see balls-out, nothing left to lose hockey out of The Oilers...

1:03 into the 3rd and Edmonton scores to make it a 2-1 game. Edmonton is right back in it... See? What did I tell ya... Now they'll ratchet it up another notch. Did I say Go Whale already?

Oh yeah, I did.

Update:
Carolina wins, 3-1. Nice job you guys.

(AP Photo/ National Hockey League/Doug MacLellan)

Skate it baby, skate it!

It's called Bruins...

So let me get this straight... The Bruins have hired a new GM, Peter Chiarelli, but inexplicably, he can't come to work for the Bruins for another month. He's got to continue working for his current team and The Bruins divisional rival, The Ottawa Senators. So... if I understand this right, before Chiarelli can get to work on improving the floundering B's, he's got to work on improving one of our division rivals first? Ummm... WHAT?? I hate bashing the B's but what the hell kind of screwed up deal is that? It's called Bruins.

In the long run though, I am hoping Chiarelli can help turn things around for the B's. This team desperately needs some new blood in the front office. Once Chiarelli gets to work, I am looking forward to some changes for the better for the Bruins.

Meanwhile, there's 2 min and change left in the Eastern Conference finals and the 'Canes are up 3-2 over Buffalo... Game 7 baby. Nothing like it. LETS GO WHALE!!!

Update:
14 seconds left and Carolina is up 4-2. It's going to be an Edmonton / Carolina Stanley Cup Finals and this is gonna be good...

I like both teams so it's really a no-lose situation for me, but I'll mainly be rooting for the old Hartford club to hoist it at the end.

(AP Photo/ National Hockey League/Doug MacLellan)

Quest for the Cup: Best possible scenario at this point...

Now that my 'B' team, the Colorado Avalanche, has been swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I can now start looking ahead to a potential best case scenario, from my perspective that is, as to how the rest of the playoffs will turn out:

In the West: The clear choice for me here is for San Jose to advance to The Stanley Cup Finals, but first they have to get past Edmonton and then Anaheim.

In the East: The Sens are the team that I have been rooting for the most in the East, but they are down 3-1 in their series with Buffalo. If Ottawa comes back from being down 3 games to win their series I will be amazed. Of course anything is possible and I would like to see them do it but I don't see it happening.

Assuming that Buffalo does not pull a 'Boston Bruins vs Montreal' [choke, cough, ahem.], The Sens will eventually be eliminated, meaning I must go to my backup team in the East, The Carolina Hurricanes. Hopefully the 'Canes sweep NJ and then get past Buffalo, leading to a San Jose vs. Carolina Stanley Cup final.

At that point, I would be happy with either team winning.

I'd like to see the former Hartford Whalers win a Cup, but I'd also like to see Joe Thornton raise Lord Stanley's Cup overhead as well, and not because I am a bitter Bruins fan who has it out for The Boston Bruins management (even though that is an accurate description), but because I like Joe and would like to see him get his name etched onto The Cup, not to the same extent that I wanted to see Ray Bourque win a Cup Championship, but in that same vein.

We'll see what happens...

Ho-Hum...

Waz up yo? Nada. Very boring around here right now, eh? Yup. This is what we call, 'The Sports Lull' that exists during the week prior to the Superbowl. Not much goin' on at all... And this is just the primer. After the Superbowl, that's when things really slow down.

Thankfully, there is hockey this year. Last year's NHL lockout, in a word, sucked.

The B's face the Isles tonight and will go for 4 straight wins. After flailing around for the majority of the season so far, The B's are finally starting to figure out how to win games on a consistent basis. I don't want to get too excited about this, but it looks like The B's are beginning to get their shit togethah.

Actually there is other stuff goin' on, but it's stuff that I'm just not motivated / interested enough in to write about. Theo's back. Yay. I was pissed when he left and I'm glad that he's back. Now get to work building the 2006 Red Sox. That pretty much sums up my feelings about the whole 'Theo' thing.

I love the Sox but I really can't stand all the off-field drama. I know some people think that the drama is what makes The Sox, 'The Sox', but personally I could live quite happily without it. Give me a well oiled machine [The Pats] any day of the week. Whatev...

The Sox have acquired a center fielder who should provide a reasonable replacement for Johnny Damon and I expect they will have a SS in place soon, possibly within a few days if reports are accurate. Whew, what a relief. Phht. The talk shows and papers sure did a great job whipping people into a frothing lather over this whole CF / SS situation.

I still have not told my kids that Damon is a Yankee. They were asking me about him the other day. I had told them that football was over and it would soon be time for baseball.

"OOOOOHHH! That means it's time for JOHNNY DAMON!!"

I'll wait till spring training to break it to them...

Finally, this is the last weekend in January and that is a great thing. The hardest part of Winter is in the rear-view mirror now. February is no picnic but it goes by quick. Then, before you know it, Springtime baby.

I'm calmer now...

Ok. I had a little rant last night over the Joe Thornton trade but I'm feeling much calmer now. I still don't necessarily like it, but this is not due to any 'attachment' I have to Thornton. I don't get attached to players. I root for the laundry.

The primary reason for my being upset by the trade is that I feel like the Bruins gave up a lot more than they got in return. I don't see how this improves the team other than the fact that they got 3  decent, what I would consider 'mid-level' players in return for 1 upper-echelon guy, and unloaded a bunch of salary. Maybe this allows the B's to go out and get more guys that can help fill in some holes as well?

(Note: as you can see, this is the part of the post where I start to try and convince myself that things are really not that bad.)

To me it feels like the Bruins made a move just for the sake of making the move. The B's managment obviously felt like they had to do 'something' to appease the fans and show people they were trying to fix the team, and trading a high-profile player was their solution. That's pretty much what it looks like to me.

At the same time, I must confess that I don't know very much about the 3 players the Bruins are getting in return for Thornton, so the chance that I sound like a total moron who does'nt know shit when I complain about this trade is entirely possible. I don't claim to be an expert on every hockey player in the league. I only know what I have read and heard about these players from the press.

Hopefully this will turn out to be a great move that will help to turn things around for the B's. Could this wind up being the Bruins equivalent to the Nomar trade the Red Sox made in 2004? Like I said, defenseman Brad Stuart, left wing Marco Sturm and center Wayne Primeau seem like decent utility-type, mid-level guys. Maybe the addition of 3 lower profile, but potentially harder working guys with a little more 'drive and determination' will provide the spark that the Bruins need to start winning some of these games. Only time will tell I guess... We'll find out soon enough!

Bruins trade Thornton! OH FUCK

I was happily watching the Celts post game show after another awesome episode of Lost had ended. The C's beat the Sixers and things were going good until they announced that The FUCKING BRUINS HAVE TRADED JOE. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!! FUCKING TOOLS!! ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!!!!!!

After I picked myself up off the floor I went on the Bruins site and it's for real my friends. It's right there on the front page:

Breaking news: The Boston Bruins have acquired defenseman Brad Stuart and forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Joe Thornton, it was announced tonight by Bruins General Manager Mike O'Connell. All three players are expected in the Boston lineup Thursday night when the Bruins host the Ottawa Senators at TD Banknorth Garden at 7:00 p.m. More to come...

Firestarter or Ms. Brightside, tell me how this could possibly be good?

Felger's trying to spin it on FSN right now. So far it's not sinking in for me. I think this SUCKS!

Rough way to start the playoffs...

Okay... Well. That pretty much blew. What was the final score in today's Red Sox / White Sox playoff game, 1132 - 2 or something like that?

Hopefully The Red Sox (and The Patriots, now that I think of it,) have gotten all the 'suck' out of their systems and are ready to play for real from here on out.

We need a big game from our big, big game pitcher tomorrow [Mr. Wells, that's you].

After watching the 'game' this evening, I got an e-mail from The Red Sox that said, 'ALCS Ticket Purchase opportunity'. I got all excited because I thought I had been selected for the chance to enter the virtual waiting room and once again try my hand at getting some Red Sox tickets. Unfortunately, the e-mail said I was not selected, but I'm auto-magically entered in the World Series Tickets drawing. They should make the title of the e-mail say, 'Better luck next time' or something so they don't get folks all psyched thinking they're gonna have a chance at tickets when really it's just a big let down. Oh well. The Sox will just have to get to the World Series now so that I'll have a chance to get tickets.

Oh and in case you forgot, starting tomorrow, NHL HOCKEY IS BACK and regardless of what the media may have you believe, people care and we are excited about it! I watched some pre-season hockey over the weekend and it was great to see The Black and Gold skating again. Hockey Rules. The B's face off against the much-hated Habitants of Montreal tomorrow. The last time we saw them, they were sweeping us out of the playoffs.

My wife is very irritated with the current number of sports teams playing right now.

"Football, Baseball, Hockey... It's a nightmare!"

She likes to go see games live, but does not get into watching sports on TV. She'd rather watch some home makeover show or something. Plus putting up with all my antics during games can get a little... ridiculous (or so I'm told.)

It's game night

I just turned on my radio and was greeted by the golden, soothing tones of Gil and Gino during the Pats pre-game report. Ahhhh. It's time for football, people.

At the same time, The Sox are playing what some folks are calling an ALCS preview against the White Sox tonight. Despite this appealing prospect, I will be showing my true colors and watching The Pats pre-season game vs The Bengals. Actually, what I'll most likely be doing is driving my wife nuts switching between the two games...

We are quickly reaching that time of year that she dreads the most, The Sports Nexus, when Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball and NASCAR are all in season. I don't really follow Basketball or NASCAR that much, but according to her, Football, Baseball and Hockey are more than enough to deal with.

The 1st Pats game of the year is something to look forward to, even if it is only pre-season. I'll be interested to see who's doing what on defense, who's calling the game on offense, and the usual, pre-season battle to find out who's going to stand on the sideline and hold the clipboard for Brady.

In my living room, I'll be taking a good long look at the pre-season competition between mini-prezels and chips and salsa for the football snack of choice this year. A long time, veteran starter, Mini-prezels will be tough to unseat, but a little competition is always good.

In a completely unrelated topic, Joe Thornton signed a 3 year deal with The Bruins. I've got a good feeling about the B's this year.

Go Pats!

Various topic quickie...

Multiple topics in this post.

First, The B's. Yes, that's right. The Boston Bruins. Hockey. Regardless of what the press wants you to think, a lot of people like hockey and I am one of them.

I was very happy to hear the news a few days ago when The Bruins signed Glen Murray. I'm used to reading about the B's losing guys like Murray to other teams because they're so effing cheap. This time the Bruins stepped up and did the right thing for the team. This is great news for the B's offense.

Then, in today's paper, I read that The B's have signed Brian Leetch. Another great move. It makes me think that the Bruins are actually trying to build a Stanley Cup contender. They even made a concerted effort to sign Mike Modano. Even though it didn't happen and Modano signed with The Stars, the fact that the B's were in the game was very cool. Very un-Bruins like, but I'm not complaining!

The Bruin's will open up the season against the much-hated Habitants, which is quite fitting. In case you forgot, the last time we saw them, they were sweeping us out of the 1st round of the Playoffs.

Next, The Sox. The Manny / Edgah collision last night was scary. The pucker-factor on that one was very high and I was seriously worried that they had hurt themselves. Thankfully both Edgah and Manny seem to be ok. Guys, don't do that again!

How about Manny holding onto the ball and getting the final out even after Renteria bashed into him? Awesome job by Manny. You're a gangstah!

Between this and Clement getting hit last week, that's 2 serious injury near-misses. No more horrifying, potentially terrible injury producing plays for The Red Sox please. We've had enough now. Thank you.

Saving the best for last, The Pats. Richard Seymour is back on the field and recently interrupted a meeting with the Offensive Linemen to tell them he's "been eating raw meat and gunpowder."

I'm tingling.

New NHL Rules...

So the NHL is back (Yay!) and there are some new rules to go along with the new agreement. Some of them I'm not so sure about, but overall I don't really have any big complaints about the new rules.

One of the rule changes that immediately jumps out at me is the elimination of the 2 line pass penalty. In the new rules, the Red Center Line is basically ignored, meaning a team can make a pass from the defending blue line to the attacking blue line. To me this is a great change, as I think it will eliminate the incredibly boring 'trap' game perfected by teams like the N.J. Devils.

The 'trap' game is a sound defensive strategy, but I think even a hockey fan will tell you it's boring as hell to watch. There are very few scoring opportunities in this style of game. Both teams spend pretty much the whole game skating around in the middle of the ice. With this new rule, that is not going to happen anymore and that makes for more exciting hockey.

The neutral zone in the center of the ice has also been made smaller. This is another good rule change in my opinion. It means teams are going have more scoring opportunities.

The new 'tag up' rule will be interesting. Players that were in the offensive zone before the puck now can go back and 'tag' the blueline to stay onside. Sounds good. I have no problem with this one in theory. We'll see how it works in a real game.

One rule that I found a little strange was the limiting of where goalies can play the puck. In the new rules, there is a small area behind the net and that is the only area that goalies are allowed to play the puck. So that means a goalie can't play the puck in the corners anymore? That one makes me go 'hmmm'.

Also, decreasing the size of the goalies pads and other equipment seems a little strange. I understand the point of all this is to increase scoring and offense, but at the same time, a little defense is fun to watch too. Most of these new rules give a lot of advantages to the Offense. The Defensive guys are really going to have it a lot harder now (Kind of reminds me of the NFL.)

Does the NHL want to see double digit scores in hockey games? Will it come to that? I don't know but we will find out!

Other new NHL rules minutia:

Icing:
If a team intentionally ices the puck, that team can no longer perform a line change. The players must stay out on the ice. Hmmm. Again, this rule is meant to make it harder on the defense and I think we're going to see some pretty winded guys out there. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. We'll just have to see how it works out.

Shootout:
No more tie games. If a game remains tied after an overtime period, there will be a shootout to determine a winner. That's cool. Under the old rules, a lot of times teams would intentionally play to hold onto or get the tie, just so they could get the point for the standings. This new shootout rule will eliminate that and I think this is a good thing. I know when I go to see a game and it ends in a tie, it's kind of a letdown. At the end of a game people want to see a winner. Now there will always be a winner at the end of every hockey game. This is a good move.

Game misconduct:
The NHL seems to be laying down the law as far as game misconduct goes. Now if a player screws up, he is automatically suspended for one game and the coach is fined too. That will prove interesting. I have no problem with this stuff. If it makes hockey a 'cleaner' game, it's fine with me.

Obviously, the reason behind all these changes is to make hockey a more offense-oriented and exciting game to watch, with increased scoring and up and down action on the ice. I was a big fan of the way Olympic hockey was played, so if these rules make the NHL more like Olympic style play, I am all for it.

It will remain to be seen how much these new rules improve the 'flow' of the game until we actually start seeing them in action, but most of the changes are positive in my opinion. Plus, it's not like these rules are now set in stone. They can be tweaked as it becomes necessary.

Like most hockey fans, I'm just glad to see that the NHL players and owners finally got their acts together and worked out a deal. It's good to have hockey coming back. I missed it. I think these new rules will make hockey a more fun game to watch.

Neely elected to Hall of Fame...

Neely elected to Hockey's Hall of Fame.

(Robert Laberge / All Sport (via espn))

Finally some good hockey news. Cam's election to the Hall is well deserved.

Kiss it goodbye...

Its official, the NHL season has been canceled. I guess it was just too hard to figure out how to divide up all that money.

No Quest for The Cup this year. No listening to Gary Thorne calling those fucking awesome playoff games. The NHL playoffs were just the best. Every game was always exciting and fun to watch, even if your team was not playing.. No Original 6 rivalries. No 'one and done' for the Bruins... wait a min, maybe that's not such a bad thing.


It's a damn shame.