Just taking a moment today to take down a few ideas for potential later things...
"Mop Wars"
"The Pond on My Stoop"
"Today I passed a parking lot that made me think I was passing a sale tent. Snow is a beautiful thing."
"I'm scared to sleep in my room because I don't want to let the warmth out."
"It's fun watching FRIENDS when you know what happens and you just wonder how far in advance the writers planned ahead."
"Bacon Wrapped String Cheese."
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Hockey
I've finally managed to get myself back into hockey mode as a result of my new schedule. I've still got good feelings about the Columbus Blue Jackets. I'm always going to love the Detroit Red Wings. I'm not particularly impressed with the Pittsburgh Penguins, nor have I really been interested in their games this season. That's not really by design though. Aside from dramatic barriers at work before my recent transfer, my days off weren't going to do me any good unless I went out to watch the game which has seemed financially unsound. But really, it's the Penguins. Then again, it's hockey...and I like hockey. With any luck I will be able to make it to a game again. Last season I hit up a pre-season game as part of my "grab Pittsburgh by the balls....or pucks..." campaign. It was short lived, but pretty fun. It was the year I completed the Pittsburgh "trifecta" so to speak.. Saw the Pirates, Pens, and Steelers in 2013.
Anyways, the game going on right now is what's provoking this post tonight. The Boston Bruins are looking like they need to hit the panic button. Tuukka Rask NEEDS some time off if he's gonna be the top dog there. The last two times I saw them play and start a backup, Rask has come into the game to try and put a cork in a leaky tank. He can't win the game for them though, the offense needs to give the defense something to fight for.
I was just saying the same thing to my cousin not that long ago regarding the Detroit football Lions. Currently (unless I missed the conclusion) the Lions are debating the contract signing for N. Suh. He'll forever be "the guy that stomped on that dude on Thanksgiving" but he's pretty good for keeping pressure on opposing QBs. He's not the whole team though. It's hard to say "build your team around ____" cause there's not really a right answer. It's easy to say build around your QB, but as we saw in Pittsburgh the past couple years you can surround your QB with the greatest receivers but if your Offensive Coordinator isn't calling the plays that accentuate your QB's talents everybody is on a different page and nobody is happy and nobody is scoring points. (Except Jason Hanson...who always kicks a field goal. He's by far the only retired football player other than Brett Favre that I can remember seeing the press conference for the retirement announcement.) Or you could say "Build your team around the Defense" and run the risk of losing a pretty talented TE or WR that can run some trick routes in a pinch because you put your extra dollars into somebody who steps on people when their temper flares up. I say just build a cohesive team. It's like an article I read about the Steelers at the end of their season. After all was said and done and the players were asked about the positives of the season the answer was a resounding "we all had a connection." They were cohesive. They may not have won it all, but they came out winners.
Wow, hello tangential football stuff. What am I trying to get at here? Anything? Yes, probably. ...Maybe. It's beginning to look a lot like hockey. And hockey season gets me all kinds of amp'd up once I get going. Off to the third period of the Bruins game here. But since I am a baseball fan and a Bruins fan, I will leave the Boston fans with the most famous line in sports movies (Angels in the Outfield):
"It could happen!"
Yes Penguins, I suppose, you too.
Anyways, the game going on right now is what's provoking this post tonight. The Boston Bruins are looking like they need to hit the panic button. Tuukka Rask NEEDS some time off if he's gonna be the top dog there. The last two times I saw them play and start a backup, Rask has come into the game to try and put a cork in a leaky tank. He can't win the game for them though, the offense needs to give the defense something to fight for.
I was just saying the same thing to my cousin not that long ago regarding the Detroit football Lions. Currently (unless I missed the conclusion) the Lions are debating the contract signing for N. Suh. He'll forever be "the guy that stomped on that dude on Thanksgiving" but he's pretty good for keeping pressure on opposing QBs. He's not the whole team though. It's hard to say "build your team around ____" cause there's not really a right answer. It's easy to say build around your QB, but as we saw in Pittsburgh the past couple years you can surround your QB with the greatest receivers but if your Offensive Coordinator isn't calling the plays that accentuate your QB's talents everybody is on a different page and nobody is happy and nobody is scoring points. (Except Jason Hanson...who always kicks a field goal. He's by far the only retired football player other than Brett Favre that I can remember seeing the press conference for the retirement announcement.) Or you could say "Build your team around the Defense" and run the risk of losing a pretty talented TE or WR that can run some trick routes in a pinch because you put your extra dollars into somebody who steps on people when their temper flares up. I say just build a cohesive team. It's like an article I read about the Steelers at the end of their season. After all was said and done and the players were asked about the positives of the season the answer was a resounding "we all had a connection." They were cohesive. They may not have won it all, but they came out winners.
Wow, hello tangential football stuff. What am I trying to get at here? Anything? Yes, probably. ...Maybe. It's beginning to look a lot like hockey. And hockey season gets me all kinds of amp'd up once I get going. Off to the third period of the Bruins game here. But since I am a baseball fan and a Bruins fan, I will leave the Boston fans with the most famous line in sports movies (Angels in the Outfield):
"It could happen!"
Yes Penguins, I suppose, you too.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Adios, Two and a Half Men
I wouldn't say there was a whole lot of quality TV in the show Two and A Half Men, but I will say watching it was a pretty amusing ride. I never really did stick with the show. Work schedules just never seemed to accommodate, plus other shows came and went on other networks. I started getting into the show mostly as a 6:30 / 7:30 time filler on Fox during the week when I was off.
I will admit that I didn't really buy into the whole second era of the show after Charlie Sheen left. I never really cared to delve into what the parameters were there, but it wasn't a show I was watching regularly when the new episodes came up. It was nothing against the people that stayed, or the people added to the show, it was just something about changing a dynamic of the show that pretty much set the tone.
Having said that, I wasn't overly impressed with the finale, but I wasn't disinterested either. It was exactly what people hoped for in a sense. I think deep down everybody won with the way it ended. I felt the closure I needed to, but then again I've seen maybe four episodes related to the past four years. I don't adjust well to change. You should know that about me by now.
The anger management bit was funny, the scenes from France were pretty funny, and the show was ultimately good for a laugh. And that's all I really wanted out of that show. So with a half disinterested solely based on my lack of involvement in the past four years, I wish the show adieu. Farewell, Two and a Half Men, it was a good run, and all runs eventually have a finish line.
I will admit that I didn't really buy into the whole second era of the show after Charlie Sheen left. I never really cared to delve into what the parameters were there, but it wasn't a show I was watching regularly when the new episodes came up. It was nothing against the people that stayed, or the people added to the show, it was just something about changing a dynamic of the show that pretty much set the tone.
Having said that, I wasn't overly impressed with the finale, but I wasn't disinterested either. It was exactly what people hoped for in a sense. I think deep down everybody won with the way it ended. I felt the closure I needed to, but then again I've seen maybe four episodes related to the past four years. I don't adjust well to change. You should know that about me by now.
The anger management bit was funny, the scenes from France were pretty funny, and the show was ultimately good for a laugh. And that's all I really wanted out of that show. So with a half disinterested solely based on my lack of involvement in the past four years, I wish the show adieu. Farewell, Two and a Half Men, it was a good run, and all runs eventually have a finish line.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Out Of The Ashes We Rise
Into the Darkness You shine,
out of the ashes we rise,
there's no one like You,
none like You.
- Our God, Chris Tomlin
Here we are again, another year, another attempt at daily blogging. With any luck, this project will help me grow versus a vain attempt at drawing attention to the things I write. I have no "schedule of events" for the project. As you know, routine and planning are not my best friends. We are acquaintances, for sure, but we're definitely not married. Plans change, lives change. "Nothing is static, Everything is evolving. Everything is falling apart" (Fight Club).
Change. There's definitely been a lot of that going on in my life. Over the past 30 days, I've gotten a new car, new job, new schedule, new co-workers, etc. Few things remained the same, but the ones that have are solid foundations in the way I live. I did at one point feel like everything was falling apart. I got some strange news just before the new year that set a LOT of things in motion. Near the end of January as things got bigger and crazier I got news that my car was going to need enough work to pass inspection that it only made sense to set it free and begin a life of car payments and being "chained to the bank" so to speak. Next thing I knew, an employment opportunity I couldn't pass up set itself in my path. Anyways, before I knew it I was throwing around the word "new" like I had made it up.
But that's kind of the theme here for Lent, too, isn't it? Creating newness, promoting change, all for the greater good. For God. It's customary (necessary?) that we give something up for Lent, but I've always kind of gone against the grain. So I'm taking something extra on for Lent... at least lately with this blog. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm ready to do this again. For me. For God. Not "because I have to," or "out of routine," or "because it's on the schedule."
Here's hoping my eyes stay on the path, open to change, always aware that there's a Plan for me wherever I am in whatever I'm doing.
out of the ashes we rise,
there's no one like You,
none like You.
- Our God, Chris Tomlin
Here we are again, another year, another attempt at daily blogging. With any luck, this project will help me grow versus a vain attempt at drawing attention to the things I write. I have no "schedule of events" for the project. As you know, routine and planning are not my best friends. We are acquaintances, for sure, but we're definitely not married. Plans change, lives change. "Nothing is static, Everything is evolving. Everything is falling apart" (Fight Club).
Change. There's definitely been a lot of that going on in my life. Over the past 30 days, I've gotten a new car, new job, new schedule, new co-workers, etc. Few things remained the same, but the ones that have are solid foundations in the way I live. I did at one point feel like everything was falling apart. I got some strange news just before the new year that set a LOT of things in motion. Near the end of January as things got bigger and crazier I got news that my car was going to need enough work to pass inspection that it only made sense to set it free and begin a life of car payments and being "chained to the bank" so to speak. Next thing I knew, an employment opportunity I couldn't pass up set itself in my path. Anyways, before I knew it I was throwing around the word "new" like I had made it up.
But that's kind of the theme here for Lent, too, isn't it? Creating newness, promoting change, all for the greater good. For God. It's customary (necessary?) that we give something up for Lent, but I've always kind of gone against the grain. So I'm taking something extra on for Lent... at least lately with this blog. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm ready to do this again. For me. For God. Not "because I have to," or "out of routine," or "because it's on the schedule."
Here's hoping my eyes stay on the path, open to change, always aware that there's a Plan for me wherever I am in whatever I'm doing.
Friday, December 12, 2014
So much to say and no words to say them
I've got so much on my mind this week, I don't even know what's going on. I don't know up from down, left from right, but I'm not finding myself upset with that. I don't know if that should scare me or not. I don't know how anything should make me feel anymore. I guess we can attribute that to my being a person who thrives on the Christmas Spirit and only getting spurts of Christmas Spirit.
It's hard to be happy when you know others are miserable, but at the same time it's easy to be miserable when others are incredibly happy too. Or maybe that's me. Maybe I'm so oppositional, with Devil's advocate always on hand, that I can't let myself feel what others are feeling. They say when it rains it pours. But maybe what I need is a little Christmas Snow to get me moving.
I've got a very important meeting on Monday morning. I'm not ready to get anxious for it yet (either in a good or bad way) but it's definitely altered how I've looked at the last week. Overall, it's been a good one. So few hiccups I really have no excuse to feel so blah right now.
Ultimately, I'm mad at myself at this point for squandering an entire opportunity to do things I love. Writing, for example. The past few days, all I've wanted to do was write. Write what? I don't know...but the mood has been, well, right. Rather, the setting has been right. The mood, however, has been this warped sense of "make yourself busy, do something, be productive." which of course, remember my oppositional ability, took all the fun out of everything...up to and including, writing.
I've been watching a lot of movies lately. That of course means a handsome sum of times watching Love Actually. And I caught myself entirely IN the movie...Passionate, motivated, ready to conquer anything like the Prime Minister going door-to-door, Sam at the airport, Colin Frizzle going to America, Jamie learning Portuguese, or Mark "Christmas Caroling." But no, I find myself being Sarah. In a world where things are within reach, making no effort and trying to use the one thing she can hold on to and love (her brother) as an excuse to avoid doing anything for herself. And thanks to that, I've been unable to let go of my excuse and do something emotionally productive.
I could've done anything I wanted this week. But I didn't. I did feel spurts of amusement, don't get me wrong, I didn't watch movies that I hate. I didn't hate any of the movies I watched either. (yes, check yourself, those two sentences are very different). And, now I'm writing. And it's the thing I've been trying to do...the thing I've been so ashamed to have not been doing lately that I couldn't just reach out and grab something to write with. And it's invigorating. It's like Hugh Grant says, "often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy [...] if you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around." Or it's something like that....writing makes me inspired. That's enough for me.
With any luck, this will be the beginning of my return to blogging. I have very VERY badly missed it, even when I didn't have anything to say. And with any more luck, I'll be writing something worth reading in the process (but don't hold your breath, I clearly write for me, not for an audience, hahaha).
It's hard to be happy when you know others are miserable, but at the same time it's easy to be miserable when others are incredibly happy too. Or maybe that's me. Maybe I'm so oppositional, with Devil's advocate always on hand, that I can't let myself feel what others are feeling. They say when it rains it pours. But maybe what I need is a little Christmas Snow to get me moving.
I've got a very important meeting on Monday morning. I'm not ready to get anxious for it yet (either in a good or bad way) but it's definitely altered how I've looked at the last week. Overall, it's been a good one. So few hiccups I really have no excuse to feel so blah right now.
Ultimately, I'm mad at myself at this point for squandering an entire opportunity to do things I love. Writing, for example. The past few days, all I've wanted to do was write. Write what? I don't know...but the mood has been, well, right. Rather, the setting has been right. The mood, however, has been this warped sense of "make yourself busy, do something, be productive." which of course, remember my oppositional ability, took all the fun out of everything...up to and including, writing.
I've been watching a lot of movies lately. That of course means a handsome sum of times watching Love Actually. And I caught myself entirely IN the movie...Passionate, motivated, ready to conquer anything like the Prime Minister going door-to-door, Sam at the airport, Colin Frizzle going to America, Jamie learning Portuguese, or Mark "Christmas Caroling." But no, I find myself being Sarah. In a world where things are within reach, making no effort and trying to use the one thing she can hold on to and love (her brother) as an excuse to avoid doing anything for herself. And thanks to that, I've been unable to let go of my excuse and do something emotionally productive.
I could've done anything I wanted this week. But I didn't. I did feel spurts of amusement, don't get me wrong, I didn't watch movies that I hate. I didn't hate any of the movies I watched either. (yes, check yourself, those two sentences are very different). And, now I'm writing. And it's the thing I've been trying to do...the thing I've been so ashamed to have not been doing lately that I couldn't just reach out and grab something to write with. And it's invigorating. It's like Hugh Grant says, "often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy [...] if you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around." Or it's something like that....writing makes me inspired. That's enough for me.
With any luck, this will be the beginning of my return to blogging. I have very VERY badly missed it, even when I didn't have anything to say. And with any more luck, I'll be writing something worth reading in the process (but don't hold your breath, I clearly write for me, not for an audience, hahaha).
Monday, June 30, 2014
VidCon 2014 Thank You Video
Youtube isn't ALL entertainment and monopolized. There is a movement for actual accomplishments and solving world problems.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Let The Re-"torts" ensue
OK, here we go. I've given myself a lengthy break from the blogging world to apparently come up with what is probably going to be a hockey fan in Pittsburgh's least favorite blog post in 2014. I preempt this with my usual "I don't read the news, I avoid as much as possible until I have my own unbiased opinion on a subject" clause. (This makes me think, already, of my post about Mendenhall retiring). But it's hockey, and I definitely have opinions on hockey.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were not just bumped out of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Round 2, they were chased off, or so it appears by the fact it looked like they just ran away from the Series. They had a chance in Game 5 to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals and await the winner of Boston / Montreal (which was neck-and-neck the entire series, even when it shouldn't have been). They were at home, in front of a faithful crowd, waving their white flags ...I mean towels... and a huge outdoor crowd watching on the Big Screen. Then, New York got the biggest boost you can get: Your star player loses a family member, and your team is on the brink of elimination. A fire lights under you, and you take your game to MSG on, of all holidays, MOTHER'S DAY. The Pens had chance to show the fans at MSG that it doesn't matter how loud the "sixth man" is, it's about playing hockey. But that wasn't how the game went. Happy Mother's Day, Mrs. St. Louis. Your son led his team to a Game 7 at the Consol against a team who has a pretty hazy Game 7 record. And that game was not meant to be either. An early goal in the first period by Boyle and the Rangers didn't look back.
Now, one might ask, "What happened here?" (one probably DID ask...) I know you guys who have been keeping up with me know my feelings towards the Columbus Blue Jackets, my predictions for the post season, and so on. So, it shouldn't surprise you that I was actually a wee bit surprised when Pittsburgh pulled past Columbus in round one. Was I rooting against Pittsburgh? Not really, but I wasn't rooting against Columbus either. I wanted a hard-fought series where the Jackets show they belong in the Eastern Conference and mark some territory in the playoffs.
But what happened? Evegeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby didn't really show up in the goal scoring column. They got points, don't get me wrong, but I can't even tell you how many times I heard rants about these two needing to step up and score goals. The first four games were a final score 4-3, two of which went to OT. It wasn't that the Pens were having a lack of scoring, they were getting goals out of their other players, which I think is awesome, considering two players don't make a team, whether they score goals or not. Can they stop the puck? Block the puck? I don't really know. I had very little contact with televised games this playoff season. A fan who likes hockey moreso than teams will tell you that the games that go down to the wire are the most fun to watch. A fan who has favorite teams gets to know a bottle of Pepto pretty well in a series like that. The teams went back and forth.... PGH, CBJ, PGH, CBJ, PGH, PGH.
Fleury got his (un)fair share of controversial speculation. Should he have came out of the net to play the puck? Should he have waited for his defense to bail him out? Should he ____? Is he worth putting in for Game _? And then there's Sid, who thinks it's funny to have to defend his goalie all the time. I think it's funny that nobody defended him during "Sidney Crosby hasn't scored a goal in __ playoff games" rant. Yeah he's your team captain. I get that. But Captains aren't there to score goals so much as encourage the team to succeed. To energize them. To do everything short of put on spanks and make a pyramid of clapping fools. That's what I never really heard about Sid: How motivational he was for his team during the playoffs. He shouldn't be worried about how many games before he scores, nor should he hear about it. If he's making feeds to guys that are open and the team is winning, he is doing one thing...promoting a TEAM atmosphere. One thing about the Red Wings I always loved is that EVERYBODY contributes and nobody took the heat, aside from Osgood and his 1998 bout with soft goals, but even still, he went out there and said "everybody gets bad breaks, everybody gets bad bounces" and the team moved on. When you're in the playoffs, you shouldn't be pointing fingers as much as pointing to the future, get over it without letting it manifest. The Jackets played a hard series, and lost at home, but they had a team in the crowd as well, people proud of their boys for making it that far. Upset for not prevailing, yes, but not devastated and overlooking the accomplishments of this brand new team to the eastern conference. It's not supposed to be easy when you go up against the 2nd place team in the conference, first in the division, but the Jackets put up one hell of a fight. Then the Pens lost on home ice. It's both very cool to me and pretty disappointing that a team with home ice advantage could do better on the road in the playoffs.
So where do we go from here? What can we take from this? Well, one thing I look at is the importance of Sid and Malkin. I really should emphasize that the way I mean.... Yes, they're both very important pieces to the organization. They are both big money tickets where Salary goes. But how important is it to have Sid and Malkin? I have been living in Pittsburgh for 3 years or so now. One thing I noticed when I started watching Pens hockey was in the first season I saw either Crosby was out with concussion or Malkin was out. There was very little dual action. Same thing seemed to happen last year, with Sid needing facial reconstructive surgery for a puck to the face, and Malkin seemed to be out of the lineup quite frequently this season. Well, all three years the Pens made it to the playoffs, right? They didn't really get a good jump on Philly a couple years ago, they did not play MENS hockey against Boston, and they got chased away by the Rangers this year. I would propose that having so much power on one bench is sort of detrimental to the team. When either of the two figureheads were out, the team pulled together and dug in their heels. They played hard so their big players would have something to come back to. It seems to me that you can't function when you have two figureheads. Who do you look to for leadership? And where is your defense? If you don't have Fleury standing on his head stopping everything, you get 4 Goals scored on you in 2 of 6 games in round one, 3 Goals against in 3 of 6, and one game that actually made sense for a dig in your heels hockey game.
Every year the focus shifts from the players who didn't come through for the team to the GM and coaches who didn't buy the right team, or teach the right plays, or do what the captain was apparently incapable of -- motivation. For a team that seemed to make more trips to the penalty box than to center ice after a tally, who do you look to to calm your team down? If you haven't picked up on it yet, I say the number one speech would come from the captain of your team. Maybe because I grew up watching a team captained by Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom, (and has been to the playoffs for 23 consecutive years). Stevie and Nick didn't have to be top scorers in the League, they had to have the drive to push a team through three plus periods though 80 some plus games, and be role models for the newbies. Yzerman started in 1983. By 1990, the Wings were a force to be reckoned with year after year.
So, I'm putting off the statement that I suspect would cause an uproar if I actually had a huge following on this here blog. I think that Pittsburgh should bring in John Tortorella. I mean, he was born with a fire under his ass when it comes to hockey. He may not be the most loved (recently fired) coach in the NHL, and he considers the Pens Organization to be "one of the most arrogant...in the league," so it's not like he'd come in and baby a team who just got their hearts ripped out in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is a defensive coach, in two ways. Obviously, he's always on the defensive, but he emphasizes the importance of shots not getting TO the net. Logic: if shots don't make it to the goalie, he can't screw up and miss the puck. He has a passion for hockey that I've always enjoyed. I mean, you don't chase an opposing coach to the locker room after a BS first second throw down if you don't have a passion for your team. You say, "Screw it, we probably deserved it." No, he's got character. Whether he's loved for the passion he has for the game or detested for his means of approach to the game, he's still got what it takes to take a team who needs a Crosby AND a Malkin to even be close to making it to the playoffs.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were not just bumped out of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Round 2, they were chased off, or so it appears by the fact it looked like they just ran away from the Series. They had a chance in Game 5 to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals and await the winner of Boston / Montreal (which was neck-and-neck the entire series, even when it shouldn't have been). They were at home, in front of a faithful crowd, waving their white flags ...I mean towels... and a huge outdoor crowd watching on the Big Screen. Then, New York got the biggest boost you can get: Your star player loses a family member, and your team is on the brink of elimination. A fire lights under you, and you take your game to MSG on, of all holidays, MOTHER'S DAY. The Pens had chance to show the fans at MSG that it doesn't matter how loud the "sixth man" is, it's about playing hockey. But that wasn't how the game went. Happy Mother's Day, Mrs. St. Louis. Your son led his team to a Game 7 at the Consol against a team who has a pretty hazy Game 7 record. And that game was not meant to be either. An early goal in the first period by Boyle and the Rangers didn't look back.
Now, one might ask, "What happened here?" (one probably DID ask...) I know you guys who have been keeping up with me know my feelings towards the Columbus Blue Jackets, my predictions for the post season, and so on. So, it shouldn't surprise you that I was actually a wee bit surprised when Pittsburgh pulled past Columbus in round one. Was I rooting against Pittsburgh? Not really, but I wasn't rooting against Columbus either. I wanted a hard-fought series where the Jackets show they belong in the Eastern Conference and mark some territory in the playoffs.
But what happened? Evegeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby didn't really show up in the goal scoring column. They got points, don't get me wrong, but I can't even tell you how many times I heard rants about these two needing to step up and score goals. The first four games were a final score 4-3, two of which went to OT. It wasn't that the Pens were having a lack of scoring, they were getting goals out of their other players, which I think is awesome, considering two players don't make a team, whether they score goals or not. Can they stop the puck? Block the puck? I don't really know. I had very little contact with televised games this playoff season. A fan who likes hockey moreso than teams will tell you that the games that go down to the wire are the most fun to watch. A fan who has favorite teams gets to know a bottle of Pepto pretty well in a series like that. The teams went back and forth.... PGH, CBJ, PGH, CBJ, PGH, PGH.
Fleury got his (un)fair share of controversial speculation. Should he have came out of the net to play the puck? Should he have waited for his defense to bail him out? Should he ____? Is he worth putting in for Game _? And then there's Sid, who thinks it's funny to have to defend his goalie all the time. I think it's funny that nobody defended him during "Sidney Crosby hasn't scored a goal in __ playoff games" rant. Yeah he's your team captain. I get that. But Captains aren't there to score goals so much as encourage the team to succeed. To energize them. To do everything short of put on spanks and make a pyramid of clapping fools. That's what I never really heard about Sid: How motivational he was for his team during the playoffs. He shouldn't be worried about how many games before he scores, nor should he hear about it. If he's making feeds to guys that are open and the team is winning, he is doing one thing...promoting a TEAM atmosphere. One thing about the Red Wings I always loved is that EVERYBODY contributes and nobody took the heat, aside from Osgood and his 1998 bout with soft goals, but even still, he went out there and said "everybody gets bad breaks, everybody gets bad bounces" and the team moved on. When you're in the playoffs, you shouldn't be pointing fingers as much as pointing to the future, get over it without letting it manifest. The Jackets played a hard series, and lost at home, but they had a team in the crowd as well, people proud of their boys for making it that far. Upset for not prevailing, yes, but not devastated and overlooking the accomplishments of this brand new team to the eastern conference. It's not supposed to be easy when you go up against the 2nd place team in the conference, first in the division, but the Jackets put up one hell of a fight. Then the Pens lost on home ice. It's both very cool to me and pretty disappointing that a team with home ice advantage could do better on the road in the playoffs.
So where do we go from here? What can we take from this? Well, one thing I look at is the importance of Sid and Malkin. I really should emphasize that the way I mean.... Yes, they're both very important pieces to the organization. They are both big money tickets where Salary goes. But how important is it to have Sid and Malkin? I have been living in Pittsburgh for 3 years or so now. One thing I noticed when I started watching Pens hockey was in the first season I saw either Crosby was out with concussion or Malkin was out. There was very little dual action. Same thing seemed to happen last year, with Sid needing facial reconstructive surgery for a puck to the face, and Malkin seemed to be out of the lineup quite frequently this season. Well, all three years the Pens made it to the playoffs, right? They didn't really get a good jump on Philly a couple years ago, they did not play MENS hockey against Boston, and they got chased away by the Rangers this year. I would propose that having so much power on one bench is sort of detrimental to the team. When either of the two figureheads were out, the team pulled together and dug in their heels. They played hard so their big players would have something to come back to. It seems to me that you can't function when you have two figureheads. Who do you look to for leadership? And where is your defense? If you don't have Fleury standing on his head stopping everything, you get 4 Goals scored on you in 2 of 6 games in round one, 3 Goals against in 3 of 6, and one game that actually made sense for a dig in your heels hockey game.
Every year the focus shifts from the players who didn't come through for the team to the GM and coaches who didn't buy the right team, or teach the right plays, or do what the captain was apparently incapable of -- motivation. For a team that seemed to make more trips to the penalty box than to center ice after a tally, who do you look to to calm your team down? If you haven't picked up on it yet, I say the number one speech would come from the captain of your team. Maybe because I grew up watching a team captained by Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom, (and has been to the playoffs for 23 consecutive years). Stevie and Nick didn't have to be top scorers in the League, they had to have the drive to push a team through three plus periods though 80 some plus games, and be role models for the newbies. Yzerman started in 1983. By 1990, the Wings were a force to be reckoned with year after year.
So, I'm putting off the statement that I suspect would cause an uproar if I actually had a huge following on this here blog. I think that Pittsburgh should bring in John Tortorella. I mean, he was born with a fire under his ass when it comes to hockey. He may not be the most loved (recently fired) coach in the NHL, and he considers the Pens Organization to be "one of the most arrogant...in the league," so it's not like he'd come in and baby a team who just got their hearts ripped out in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is a defensive coach, in two ways. Obviously, he's always on the defensive, but he emphasizes the importance of shots not getting TO the net. Logic: if shots don't make it to the goalie, he can't screw up and miss the puck. He has a passion for hockey that I've always enjoyed. I mean, you don't chase an opposing coach to the locker room after a BS first second throw down if you don't have a passion for your team. You say, "Screw it, we probably deserved it." No, he's got character. Whether he's loved for the passion he has for the game or detested for his means of approach to the game, he's still got what it takes to take a team who needs a Crosby AND a Malkin to even be close to making it to the playoffs.
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