Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Insanity Of Us

Nash Brown and I love to dream about getting jobs with the NHL. But maybe we’re setting our sights on the wrong league, maybe our particular brand of crazy is made for somewhere else….somewhere like the AHL, where they hold promos like this:

Don't Be Like Mike" Night
• All fans who are graduates of a DARE program can get into the game for just $2 by bringing their DARE graduation certificate to the Admirals' office or the Bradley Center box office.
• Anyone with the name Michael, Phelps, Mary Jane, Cheech, Chong, Weed (Wied) or anyone who has won an Olympic Gold Medal can also get their ticket for only $2.
• The team is giving away a weed wacker from National Ace Hardware, signed by the Admirals.
• If the team scores with 4:20 -- a number that's synonymous with pot culture -- on the clock in any period, one fan will win a season ticket for the following season.
• The team is providing a document shredder outside of section 225 for fans to destroy their own incriminating, Phelps-like photos.

When we apply for jobs with the AHL Admirals (love the jersey, btw) we'll attach the following to our resumes as a testament to our insanity/hilarity. (The background: I’m driving up to Jersey to spend the weekend with NBMD and take in the Bruins and Sharks games. Consequently, she asked what I wanted for dinner.....)



(click for larger images, and props to puckdaddy for the AHL scoop).

EDIT: More .... Sloppy Joe Thornton and Dustin Brownies, Don Cherry Pie, Orr-ver easy eggs, Pekkan (Rinne) Pie, Bourque chops.....we could do this all night!

Oh Mike Green

Mike Green’s hot streak means more media coverage, which is a win-win for everybody. Dan Steinberg had this gem: Green was being followed around Saturday night by the NHL Network for a Day-in-the-Life segment; I asked if his performance jazzed up the producers. "I guess so," Green said. I think they were more excited about our little event before the game, when me and Ovi were driving in a cart and we almost crashed into the door. You'll see it. We were just driving this little golf cart thing, we almost took our heads off. Actually, Ovi did, he almost killed me."

I don’t doubt that Ovie at the wheel of a golf cart is a recipe for danger. (This is, after all, the guy who allegedly got pulled over for going 165 to get to a game) But it seems that Mike Green and small motorized vehicles just don’t go well together, as illustrated by the Great Segway Incident of ’08.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Lids



I'm mostly a purist when it comes to fan gear (read: no pink!) But some of these hats are just too cool to hate.

There's a red and black pin striped Devils hat I could totally see Nash Brown rocking....

2010

I don’t know a ton about how the Olympics work, but the final qualifying games were played over the weekend. Here’s the list of teams that will play in Vancouver.


Group A: Canada, United States, Switzerland, Norway
Group B: Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia
Group C: Sweden, Finland, Belarus, Germany


What I want to know is how the teams work going forward. There are all these NHLers who are going to play for their home county: Nick Backstrom for Sweden, the other Nick Backstrom for Finland, etc., etc., etc. But especially in some of these smaller counties (say Belarus, which can claim the Kostitsyn brothers), who are the players on the team now? The ones who are worked their asses of to make sure their country qualified? And what happens to them when the pros join their ranks….?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I Got My Credit Card Bill Today...

...and besides a random $3.68 charge at Target (yea.. I don't know either), it was all Starbucks, gasoline, and hockey tickets.


Yup, sounds about right.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Heaven, I'm in Heaven...


Oh hey, that's me, skating on the ice at the Verizon Center. The very same ice that Ovie scored his 7th career hat trick on just an hour earlier. Yeah.

I skate at the Caps practice facility, so I often skate on the same ice as the Caps (and it always seems cool). But skating in the VZ Center, looking up at my seat, standing at center ice....simply amazing... Also amazing: the number of people who attempted to throw themselves against the glass Alex Ovechkin-style, with varying degrees of success. I did not try that, but I did touch the ice and run my hands along the glass and the boards.

I love that the Caps do stuff like this for season ticket holders and I'm going to miss it next season, when I'm too poor to renew my seat. One of the coolest parts was that some of the players (Laich, Fehr, Backstrom, Johnson, maybe one or two others) came out to the bench and signed autographs for about 30 minutes. It wasn't planned, and Fehr was pretty much dragged off by the staff, who kept reminded the players that they had a Super Bowl party to get to. I love that the team appreciates the fans so much and that the players do little things like that.

Only I Can Make Myself Look That Dumb



So, mere hours after I posted touting Steve Mason's talents, he lets in 3 goals on 8 shots and receives the first early dismissal of his NHL career. It was later revealed that Mason had been diagnosed with mononucleosis.


I wonder if he got it from Phil Kessel...