Caps vs Pens Last Night: A Thriller Once Again. And New Headshot Rule

If you didn't catch the Capitals and Penguins game at the Verizon Center last night here in DC, then you missed a great one. Washington won the game via shootout style 4-3 on home ice. Yes, I understand that some of you may be turned off because of the media hype between the Crosby and Ovechkin "rivalry." But you must not be a hockey fan if that alone makes you ignore such a great matchup and ultimately, and great game.

The Caps were down 2-1 entering the third period when Alex Semin began the surge with a shorthanded goal to tie the game, followed by Eric Fehr's 21st goal of the year to give Washington the lead. However, Jordan Staal of the Penguins tied the game again at three, and the game went into overtime.

In the shootout, things looked bleak early on for Washington, as Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby lifted the Penguins to an early twi goals to none lead. Alex Ovechkin, who has not always been so successful in the shootout, scored, along with Alex Semin and Mike Knuble, who recieved his first career shootout goal. Along with Jose Theodore stepping up in net after the first two Penguins goals, the Caps ended up winning 4-3 on home ice against Pittsburgh.

For a full recap of the game, check out my post on The Hockey Writers at http://thehockeywriters.com/capitals-penguins-game-3

While I claim this game to be one of the best games to watch all year, the whole first half of the game was dominated by the team in black and white - yep, the referees. I try to avoid making complaints about officiating these days, but when it was as blatant as it was last night, it's hard to avoid the discussion.

The Capitals had five penalties called against them, while the Penguins had one penalty. What was hilarious was how the Penguins power play dominated the flow of the game. The Caps penalty kill was rather impressive, allowing only one goal, despite the constant pressure the PK unit faced.

It was difficult to watch the seemingly uncompetitive matchup. Still, the Cardiac Caps did a great job of persevering through all of that and ultimately winning the game in the shootout, which isn't always the case in those situations.

Nonetheless the officiating was HORRIBLE and ATROCIOUS! Like as if it was illegal to call a penalty on Pittsburgh. It's one thing to see a lot of calls, but for it to go all one direction is ridiculous. Even the most neutral of spectators got livid at the number of missed calls that should have been on Pittsburgh (tripping anyone?).

Whatever, the Caps won, and are up 3-0 in the season series with Pittsburgh. I look forward to leaving the series to the regular season. I want to see the Caps win a Cup after all (will be revisted at a later date).

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Also, today it was announced that the NHL has approved a new rule prohibiting "a lateral, back-pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact..."

...Meaning, they're disallowing headshots... which I thought was already kind-of-sort-of against the rules, but I suppose not if they just approved of one today. Ottawa Senators center Jason Spezza called the decision a "band-aid" solution. According to The Ottawa Sun, an unnamed player says this is partially because the players had wanted this rule implemented last season, and it was not put in until this season as a result of the outrage from the Matt Cooke incident.

That is a little unfortunate, since concussions were an issue the League was trying to look at before, and logic tells me that cutting down on head-hunting and risky hits would help decrease the number of concussions players were experiencing. But since when did logic matter in sports?

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Finally, as if anyone's bracket wasn't already burned, shredded, or eaten up by some animal/child/adult-person, the wildness continues. Cornell is out of the tournament though! The one underdog team that I was willing to cheer for is now out. You don't go with logic when it comes to this.

In fact, I heard some guy's 6-year-old was on point this year with some picks based on mascots... If there's something I NEVER put money on, it's NCAA basketball. Every year. I get angry watching some game because I did not pick that team to win, and they go almost all the way, if not entirely to the final two.

*If you were unaware, I don't like underdogs. Davidson? I hated them (I can revisit this later too)... well, unless they were American University *open bias*.

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I' will be at the Calgary Flames/Capitals game at the Verizon Center on Sunday. The game starts at 3pm. Follow me @LadyHatTrick1 for in-game updates and commentary.

Ovechkin Suspended for 2 Games - Fair?

During Sunday's thrilling Capitals 4-3 OT comeback win against the Chicago Blackhawks, Alex Ovechkin was ejected after what appeared to be a boarding infraction when he pushed Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell and Campbell fell injured on the boards.

I'm going to post the hit here so that once again, you can make the call:




I will concede to this: The hit wasn't the best hit that Ovechkin could have made. I don't agree that he hit him in that situation. Knowing that Ovechkin has probably the strength of a god, he should have known better and probably have drawn back while Campbell recovered the puck - THEN lay a big hit on him.

HOWEVER, the most was given to Ovechkin as a result of this hit. Following the incident, Ovechkin heads to the penalty box for a five minute major. Then, it was learned that he received a 10-minute game misconduct. THEN, Ovechkin is ejected from the entire game!

Luckily for the Capitals, this happened early on, and gave the team ample time to adjust so that they could comeback from a three-goal deficit to win.

Unfortunately for Ovechkin, today there was a hearing and it was decided that the Capitals' superstar forward was going to be suspended - again - for two games...

Now, like I said, I'm not entirely defending the hit. Ovechkin has to learn how to keep his strength in check, regardless of how "reckless" he wants to play. But did it warrant a suspension? No. It didn't even warrant the ejection even, and the major penalty would have done.

Where Ovechkin hit him (referring back to the video), it was actually on the shoulder pad of Campbell, and not entirely from behind, as originally thought. Also, the hit occurred a little further than where a typical boarding penalty would be called. Nonetheless, Ovechkin still hit Campbell in a dangerous spot, and in the position of an official, of you are on the fence with a call, especially like boarding, you would go ahead and call it.

So in a perfect world, Ovechkin would have been still called for a five-minute major penalty for boarding. A game misconduct might be a little more, but the hit was dangerous, and I would even let that go. But an apologetic Ovechkin still had to leave the rest of the game? Not so sure about that one.

As harsh as it may sound, Campbell is slightly also at fault for not obeying one of those rules that every hockey player is told from youth: keeping your head up. Campbell could have been more prepared for an incoming body. Campbell was also not in the best place to play the puck; thus, putting anyone who came across him at risk for hitting him dangerously. There is no benefit to this, as that is no strategy, so it wasn't done purposely.

Here's where the biggest of big problems lies... Why isn't Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins suspended? Where was his penalty/game-misconduct/ejection/suspension sequence? In my previous two posts, I make reference to Cooke's elbow to Boston's Marc Savard's head. This hit ended Savard's season, and puts the Bruins without a key player. However, it was concluded that Cooke will receive no punishment...

O_o... Yet, for a much less intentional hit that was not to the head, rather an unfortunate situation of bad timing aka shit happens, Ovechkin got a suspension added to his in-game punishments. Funny, because this Cooke hit just occurred last week!

It is in hope that the NHL gets a consistent system together - and not consistency regarding lack of suspensions for headshots. The second the NHL got some good press for the Olympics and the success of the Capitals, then things like this take precedent. I will not disclose further thoughts as to how I feel about how they made this decision to suspend Ovechkin. But, if you know me personally, you already know what I have to say.

At least Versus and Direct TV have reached a new deal today. Now to get hockey on a better channel... Not gonna happen under Gary Bettman's watch unfortunately.

In Light of Matt Cooke's non-Suspension...

It was deemed today that Matt Cooke will not be suspended for the headshot on Marc Savard that was discussed in the last post. On Thursday, March 18's Penguins/Bruins matchup, I will be looking for Bruins players to be hunting down Cooke...

...Meanwhile, I came across this today and...

...*Dead* I died. This ENTIRELY made my day.



Hope you laughed.

The Hit: Matt Cooke goes without a suspension yet

Oh my goodness! I finally have a laptop back! I have missed y'all so much!

The last thing that occurred before we were separated was the final result of the 2010 Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament. Team Canada won the gold medal against the United States in quite dramatic fashion. But we already saw it, we already know, and it was brought up again on the cover of last week's edition of Sports Illustrated.

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Anyway, I thought I'd give mention of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Matt Cooke's "legal" hit on the Boston Bruins' Marc Savard a few days ago. After all, I shall give Boston some love after last night's awesome Dropkick Murphys concert here in DC.

If you haven't seen the hit, here it is:

From about 1:00 to 1:23 they do a slow motion replay of the hit



I'll let you decide if that hit is dirty or not. But I will be the first to say I think that deserved a suspension immediately, and certainly more than two games.

Matt Cooke, first of all, is a repeat offender and known for being a dirty player. He was suspended two games last season for another headshot incident against then-Carolina Hurricane Scott Walker. There have been other occassions where Cooke has made a questionable hit on players i.e. (you may hardly remember but) the hit on Vincent Lecavlier when Cooke played for the Washington Capitals.

Putting past incidents aside and just based on the hit itself, there are plenty of things that show there should have been a suspension. There was no intent by Cooke to avoid Savard after Savard took the shot. While it would have been difficult for Savard to move out of the way of a looming Cooke, Cooke had time to take a extra step to the side or so to get out of the way of Savard.

While the argument that NHL disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, gave stated that there were no flying elbows, Cooke seemed to have raised his left elbow a little bit while passing Savard. Had he not intended to hit Savard, there would be every effort to tighted his elbow to his own body.

He was finishing a check? I think not. That check need not to have happened to begin with. Had I been coaching a group of kids, there's no way I would let my players hit a player in that situation in that manner when there is a way to avoid it. Cooke's check/take out would have had no impact on the play; therefore, I deem it unecessary. I would not advise my players to make an unecessary check when there would be maximum four other more plausible options on the ice.

I could go on and on about why I hate this hit and I think it deserves some kind of suspension. The best justification for a sspension to me though is that Cooke is a repeat offender. This way, it's not just a "knee-jerk reaction" to suspend him, which I would say to a first-timer (*cough* like they do to Ovechkin *cough*). Headshots>knee hits

The NHL has to stop these kinds of hits. Concussions are a huge risk, and there have been a lot lately. And I do think that the David Booth hit earlier this year on Mike Richards deserved a suspension too, so I wouldn't be a hypocrite.

Like I said, I'm not the disciplinarian here. I'm just a well-versed hockey fan that has no role in the NHL and its decisions. So whatever I say has no bearing on what happens aka it doesn't really matter. I know this. But I'm still going to complain because I can.

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If you REALLY missed me, don't worry, I'm still on here, Crashing the Net. But I also write for TheHockeyWriters.com, listed as the Washington Capitals correspondent. I do hope you all check it out and feel free to comment there as well.

USA will play Canada on Sunday

Just for some quick notes, the United States will look to win their first gold medal in 30 years against Canada on Sunday at 3pm EST.

Canada played tonight against Slovakia and seemed to be in control of the game, leading 3-0 after 2 periods. Canada kept getting power plays, and if Slovakia was lucky enough to even get a shot off on Luongo, Luongo was impossible to break through.

About halfway through the game, Slovakia finally was able to get one shot past Luongo to make the game 3-1. But after this, Slovakia suddenly obtained more opportunities down in the Canadian zone, and with 5 minutes to go, Michal Handzus scored for Slovakia, and they were only down by 1 goal.

The rest of the game was spent in the Canadian defensive zone, and had Pavol Demitra not BARELY missed a wide open net, the game would have gone into overtime. Who knows what would have happened then?!

Nonetheless, Canada held on and won 3-2.

People get your drinks up, it's "Hockey Day in North America" - via @stlblueschica on Twitter.

USA wins 4-2 against Canada.

A very shaky Canadian team that hasn't quite gelled yet, a confident and determined Team USA with Ryan Miller in net should aid in a gold medal for the Unites States of America.

I haven't really thought about it, but I woul dhave no clue as to how I will react if Team USA was to win it all. It would probably be extremely surreal, so it probably won't hit me for a bit. Regardless, expect me to be super happy and doing something silly.

Unfortunately, the silly thing would not be having the privilege to miss my psychology midterm on Monday; my professor is Canadian. No way I'm gonna get out of that one.

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On a side note, in regards to the Canadian women's celebration, I have mixed feelings.

I'm okay with OPENING the bottle of CHAMPAGNE on the ice, to be honest. I mean, after all, it is their home ice, and it must be pretty special.

But, on the other hand, BEER? Really ladies? Beer on the ice? And trust me, being a lady who is used to hanging out with the boys, I'm not mad at them because they are women and drinking. But that's just not classy. If the men won the gold medal there, I would oppose them drinking on the ice as well, especially beer. I mean, rappers don't pop beer anyway.
Either way, I'm not a fan of the move by the Canadian ladies.

They were wrong, and I hate that they even apologized, because a.) they weren't sorry; therefore, b.) the apology was half-assed. Their "apology" is not accepted by me.

We're exposing a lot of impolite and hostile things about our "peaceful" neighbors. LOL... of course I love all my Canadian folks though. You all are fantastic and DIE-HARD fans. *whisper voice* but we're beating you Sunday ;).

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Finally, I looked on ESPN, and they had Zach Parise talking, but had labeled it was Jamie Langenbrunner speaking. Sigh... Even at this point, they still give hockey the poop-end of the stick.

From here on out, GO USA! (And props to Slovakia! I have them winning bronze)

USA for the Gold

The Americans are kicking global ass in the Winter Olympics, leading the world with 32 medals and 8 gold medals. Next in line, the Germans, are 12 back with 20 medals. So it's pretty clear that the United States is awesome in sports.

Team USA can do no worse than silver after they throttled the Finnish 6-1 in today's semifinal match. The United States will be aiming for the gold, however, to add to the country's totals on Sunday. We are currently waiting on their opponent, who will come out of the Canada/Slovakia match later on tonight.

I've emphasized it all week, but now that it has been confirmed that Team USA is in the gold medal game, Americans can really get their hopes up.

I hesitated to get amped for the Americans playing in the final because of how inconsistent almost every team in the Olympic tournament looked. Teams like Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and especially the Russians should have blown teams like Norway, Latvia, Switzerland, and even Slovakia out of the water. However, that was not the case.

The Russians got a whipping from Canada, losing 7-3; Sweden lost to the elderly... er, aged Slovakian team; Canada struggled heavily offensively until the Russian game; and just to throw it out there, Switzerland lost expectantly, but gave a LOT of teams trouble, thanks to goalie Jonas Hiller.

The United States was supposed to be growing and building toward the next Olympics - well, in the eyes of the public. Even I fell for that trick. But Brian Burke, forever unsatisfied with the team's performance despite the USA being the top seeded team in the tournament, had other plans. Burke stated from the start that they would be competing for the gold medal. I laughed it off, but look where Team USA is!

In regards to the final game, Team USA will play either Slovakia or Canada. I would say I'm pulling for Canada because I'm loving the hatred from my normally loving Canadian friends. However, think about it: would you WANT to play Slovakia if they beat Canada? I wouldn't want to.

So for all purposes, let's say Luongo and Team Canada play the United States. Luongo has indubitably been the best goalie for Canada. He is seemingly impenetrable, but if the United States were to start the game similarly to the one they played today, that would be ideal.

Of course, I hardly see the Americans getting six goals in ten minutes likely against Luongo. But if Team USA could score as quickly and early as they did against Finland, maintain the same pressure and momentum on the Canadians, the United States would be set for a victory.

I would advise Team USA to keep a level head, and to prepare for the toughest match yet in this tournament.

I'm ready, and so are my hockey watching buddies...

In fact, you could be just as ready as I will be by following this fun little set of "Games".
Just check it out. It's hilarious.

Gotta say though, I LOVE hockey. These are reasons why. GO TEAM USA!

USA Defeats Switzerland 2-0

If you thought the USA vs. Canada game was thrilling, then you were peeing in your pants watching the United States barely but surely earn the victory against the Swiss by a score of 2-0.

The game was a very fun and exciting game to watch from the standpoint of a fan. It was scoreless until the last second of the second period... well, we thought the tie was broken. Unfortunately for the Americans, time had expired before the puck crossed the line, so the goal was disallowed.

A few people's nerves were worked up after that incident, and were worried that Team USA wouldn't be able to penetrate the Swiss wall that was Jonas Hiller and might lose.

The third period had another instance where the puck went into the net. This time... it was the same result. USA goal was disallowed, except this time, it was because Ryan Kessler interfered with Hiller. This came right after Switzerland also had a disqualified goal because the puck went off the inside of the post, and never crossed the line.

Team USA disproved all critics though, as Zach Parise of the NJ Devils finally scored about 2 minutes into the third period.

For the rest of the game, however, the game went back and forth between possessions. Both teams had quality shots on net at this point, and there were so many power plays. With USA only up by one goal, it was a very nerve-wrecking experience for fans of either side. Anybody could still win this.

Then with about a minute left in the game, Switzerland pulled Hiller and went on attack in the American's zone. USA did a good job of clearing the puck out though, and eventually, Parise grabbed the puck in Swiss territory, and scored the empty next goal with 11 seconds remaining.

From a hockey mind, this game was AWFUL! Exciting still? Yes. But the American power play was atrocious. Not just because they didn't score, but they had such a difficult time setting up their power play. USA struggled with lost pucks into neutral zone, and offensive zone turnovers. The Swiss had a handful of short-handed opportunities, and that's too many for one game.

If the Americans want to prepare themselves for the winner of the Czech/Finnish game and potentially a rejuvenated Team Canada for the gold medal, they are going to have to minimize their mistakes. If the Swiss were that close to scoring on short handed opportunities, imagine a team like Canada getting the same chances.

Thankfully, Ryan Miller has been fantastic throughout the Olympics; whether he was under intense pressure (against Canada - 42 saves) or if he was not challenged (against Switzerland -19 saves). He has been the one source of consistency for the United States, and if all else fails, at least folks can rely on him to keep the score low for USA to make a move.

Team USA can also rely on their faceoff crew, who saved the team in a lot of situations where the Swiss would be in their zone.

We'll be waiting now for the Finnish team to beat the Czechs so that they can play on Friday for the semifinals. I'm ready to watch so let's go!


In other USA news, the USA women's team will play Canada tomorrow at 3:30pm for the gold medal. That wasn't really news, as we all knew the two teams would meet. But we'll see who actually wins the medal. You know how I'll pick... USA!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I'd have to say that I am utterly disappointed in the Russia/Canada game. Russia LOST the game 7-4. It was an awful, atrocious showing - or lack thereof - against Canada, who was ready to play. A team who was ready to play facing off against a team that felt like sleeping in a quarterfinal game makes for... a boring ass game like the one we just saw.

Oh well, a tout a leur to Russia. T'was fun we're moving on with Finland/Czech Republic and Sweden/Slovakia. I predict an EXTREMELY exciting finish to this tournament. GO USA!

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A little shoutout also to Finnish player Lasse Kukkonen and Team Canada's Shea Weber. Word has it they checked out this page and liked it. Whether they read it again is another issue, but hey! They read it once! Ha!

http://baltimore.sportsthenandnow.com/2010/02/alex-ovechkin-russia%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cpinch-hitter%E2%80%9D/ Peep this by the way... this is my first post on Sports Then and Now about the Ovechkin hit against Jagr in Sunday's Czech/Russian game.

Enjoy!

USA defeats Canada - A chance for USA hockey

For the first time since 1960, the United States of America defeated Canada in the men's Olympic ice hockey competition 5-3.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" against the Soviet Union, the United States held a lead throughout the whole game to achieve the win.

Ryan Miller had 42 saves in protection of the game, as Canada dominated in offensive onslaught through shots and opportunities to score. His performance exceeded the Canadian attack and kept the Americans in the lead to the victory.

This win not only marked the end of a 40-year drought, but brought hope for the underdog Americans to win the gold medal.

I'll admit. In an earlier post, I didn't have much faith in Team USA regarding hockey. I dismissed the team and thought they had a better chance the next Winter Olympics for silver or gold. Later on, I researched more information on the team and developed more faith in the idea that the USA was good enough to secure a spot to win the bronze medal, at most.

However, with the United States being the only undefeated team in the tournament besides Sweden, they definitely look like the best team to compete for the gold medal. For all of those people who would like to doubt the capabilities of the USA, just check out the record. THEY ARE UNDEFEATED against the SAME teams that Canada lost to. Yes. I am referring to Switzerland.

Of course, I can't guarantee a win for the Americans. That would be just as bad as the elitists saying that a certain team who is playing at home deserves the gold. But I will say that I have faith that they can do it. Thirty years celebration - I certainly hope so.

*Tidbit for the Day*All of Team USA's goals were scored by current or former New Jersey Devils players. :O

Part two coming up later today on the coverage of the win

Just for Fun - Which One?

So I figured since I'm all busy with re-designing Crashing the Net, writing heavily for The Hockey Writers, and mid-terms at American, I would still try to do little things on here to keep you all looking.

I came across this site on Twitter called PuckingHilarious.com (I love the subtleties). Every few days or so it has a few hilarious hockey-related designs that you can put on a shirt or a hoodie. Even though I think the hoodies are a little pricey, their t-shirts are pretty nice from $16-$18.

When I checked out the designs, I really liked two of them. However, I don't really feel like buying both of them, at least at the same time - college student budget - so I want to know which one I should get...

This first one is of the amazing Alex Ovechkin. I don't know how many people would really get it, but it sure made me chuckle:



Then, there was this one. I thought, now THIS is MAD hilarious! But I wouldn't know what to do if they started winning again and won a Cup like next year. Nonetheless, I'm still a fan of this shirt. There's also the possibility of getting it in red. What do you think?



I'd love to know what you all think. It doesn't matter whether you're a hockey fan or not, although I would hope your feedback does keep the mind of a hockey fan in perspective.

Feel free to check out the website for yourself as well, or to tell me of an entirely different design that you think I should get.

You are also more than welcome to check out the new piece I wrote about the increased number of complaints toward NBC's coverage of the Olympic hockey tournament and Mike Milbury's anti-Ovechkin commentary at TheHockeyWriters.com

Enjoy and thanks for the feedback on my clothing decision!

For the Love of the Game

The Olympic freeze for the NHL is here, and we'll have sometime to relax and enjoy seeing our favorite NHL players in Vancouver.

Sometimes though, I wonder what the Olympics would be like if they reinstated only amateurs into the Games as they did in the early '80s. What would the odds of winning look like for teams like the USA and Canada? Would the involvement of amateurs motivate more players all over the country to reverse the declining numbers of North American players?

It pops in my head that with the decline of North American players comes with the question: What's the point? There are only so many opportunities to play professional hockey, and the goal would be to get the maximum amounts of exposure and pay from doing so. We tend to forget sometimes that kids play hockey just to play hockey.

As mentioned before, the movement toward professional players filling rosters in the Olympics took away the chance for young players to have another aspiration to play hockey - for the glory. No monetary awards are provided for winning the gold medal in the Winter Olympics hockey tournament. You play to win for national pride, and because you love to play hockey.

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I came across an email sent the other day by Michael Bergen, a science educator from Massachusetts. He saw I was quite a hockey fan from this site, and he just thought he'd pass along a 3 minute 36 second time lapse video of his son, Ross, building an ice rink outside in his backyard.

To some, the video is just a quick tutorial of the process of making a backyard ice rink. So they watch and keep it moving.

However, Ross' father pointed out that the video actually represents more than just the building of a backyard ice rink using wood, tarp, and water. If you notice from watching the video, there's no audience, no whistles, and certainly no sponsors or earned money involved.

Instead, this video expresses how much Ross really just wanted to shoot the puck around. One could bring up that, "He could have just gone to a local ice rink." After all, the guy is in Boston. They should be plentiful...

...But that's missing the point. This rink didn't take 3 minutes and 46 seconds to build. It took a few days of almost non-stop work putting the wood pieces together to create the right shape to balance out the rink. To put the water on the tarp over the wood takes a bit to freeze over. It's not an easy task, and for someone to complete such a task with little help takes a lot of dedication to his or her work.

The end of the video epitomizes the final outcome of Ross' project. It shows that this is all he wanted to do - shoot around. To make the perfect ice rink just so that he could go outside and shoot around or play with some friends whenever shows that there is a love for hockey that you cannot live without - literally. As a die-hard hockey fanatic myself, I can entirely relate to this.

Michael asked me, "Isn't it time that we look at sports like we used to as kids?"

And it is. You remember going out to the closest place with hoops to ball for hours when nobody was watching. You remember going out to the tennis courts and skating out on roller blades to play a little shoot-around even though it was against the rules. You just played just to play.

So here's a HUGE shoutout to folks like Ross out there who will always love the game, and build their own rinks in their backyards to show for it. Dedicated people for sure. And trust me, it can be done in the DMV.

If sports could be brought back to this simple form, amateurs playing for the USA would be a possibility once again, and as a result, it could stir more North American kids playing hockey.


Special thanks to Michael Bergen for allowing me to do this story on his son, Ross, and his video. Thanks guys.

NFL Conference Championship games

After last week's total embarrassment going 0-4 in the NFL playoff picks, I achieve redemption today by going 2-0 with last week's prediction of the Colts and Saints making it to Super Bowl XLIV.

Jets and Colts

The Colts and Jets began the Sunday afternoon excitement in a game that a lot of people had going either way. I was confident, however, in the Colts ultimately taking the game.

The game didn't start that way, though. The first quarter ended scoreless, but the whole first half of the game was entirely controlled by NY. Often, the Colts would go through a drive marching down the field, yet they would end up leaving the drive with only 3 points.

Meanwhile, the Jets would respond with touchdowns, giving them, at one point, a 17-6 lead. The Colts put up one more touchdown toward the end of the 2nd quarter, making it 17-13, and putting the team back in contention.

On Twitter, I continuously read conversations, saying the Jets had this one, and the Colts were going to be upset, and all that nonsense. The only doubt I had was because I have this problem with sports gods and the teams that I choose to win. But that's another story for another day...

I maintained my faith, despite all of the doubters on Twitter asking me about this being the biggest upset ever. Game ain't over yet!...

...Well, it wasn't over until the Colts touchdown that came about 7 minutes into the second half to Pierre Garcon. Garcon, who ended up with 151 yards on 11 receptions, and the other big guy for the game, Austin Collie (123 yards on 7 receptions), were able to offensively lead Indianapolis to a 30-17 win over the seemingly unstoppable Jets.

1 down, 1 more to go for me.

With the Jets coming off of a win against the San Diego Chargers, a serious run game, and the top rated defense this playoff season, it did look hard to go against the momentum. Also, with the skeptics of the Colts' ability to get their receivers around Jets safety Darrelle Revis, and the idea of "resting starters" it made the Colts look weaker.

But that's exactly what it was; an illusion. It was all in their heads to rationalize why the Colts could lose to justify why the Jets would win. But no worries. I understand.

Vikes and Saints

The next game was enough to cause a heart attack for anyone who wasn't even a fan of either team. I can tell you that as a Dallas Cowboys fan, who now technically could care less about who wins the Super Bowl, I was DYING at the suspense this game provided.

The beginning of the Saints/Vikings match had the makings of a shootout between the two teams, which I think a lot of people had expected.

Now I had expected the shenanigans that occurred with Adrian Peterson to happen the previous week with Dallas (I guarantee you they would have won that way), but the Saints seemed to take ownice of my game plan and forced AP to fumble - more than once.

In fact, the Vikings had a bajillion turnovers. AP most of all must been using that wave-grease that Cowboys WR Roy Williams usually uses that makes him drop balls. As much as I knew the lack of ball control issue, WHAT TEAM GETS 6 FUMBLES!? The Saints made sure to get points off of the turnovers.

Nonetheless, the Vikings remained tied after the 7 minute mark in the 4th quarter, 28-28. The Saints let them hang around after all. But once again, the Saints defense forced the INT from Brett Favre in Saints territory, ruining the opportunity the Vikes had in winning the game in regulation.

This nail-biter now headed to OT. The Saints began OT on offense, and, rather quickly via passes and Vikes penalties, entered into the Minnesota side of the field. Thanks to a suave completion to Meachem from Brees, the Saints were at the Vikings' 22 yard line. An incompletion following that play caused a 4th and 3 to go situation.

Long story short, Saints kick a 40 yard field goal, actually make it, and the Saints made the Super Bowl for the first time in their franchise's history.

BTW, Drew Brees made a nice post-game outfit selection. Sharp, my friend, sharp.

Super Bowl XLIV Picks

The Super Bowl winner will be the Colts. I will explain why after we see all the players waste time at the Pro Bowl.

The Obvious is Too Obvious?

So the two #1 seeds face off in the Super Bowl as I predicted last week, the Colts and the Saints. It would have been easy to call this way back since the regular season.

But that's just the problem! It's just too obvious. I actually believe that everybody knew this matchup was coming. But who wants to pick the obvious teams? It looks like lazy pick because it's so easy to say they're clearly the two best teams. How often does that happen that legitimately, the two best teams in the league face each other in a championship game?

By seeding, this is the third time the two #1 teams played each other in the Super Bowl. But did that always mean that they were really that good? The world was, in fact, in denial about picking the Colts and Saints. As I explained before, people rationalized who was going to win besides the Colts or Saints.

People constantly tried to pick some sort of underdog because it seems every year, some team people least expected to make it, makes it. I mean, that makes sense, right? I suppose. And then you think about it, and this year, it really would make sense that these were the two best teams. We will see which one is actually THE BEST... in 2 weeks :-)

The Jets. (Yes, with the period at the end)

Ahh yes. The Jets lost. Good run, but you weren't beating the Colts. I won't rub it in though. I'm just going to say that Rex Ryan should have continued the "negative reinforcement" strategy.

In my mind, I see that strategy works the best. When you admit that things are going well for your team, it just messes the world order up, and makes every one work less hard. But mostly messes up the world order.

Saying your team is going to win it all in the conference championship game isn't going to work. This has been proven over and over again i.e. Tracey McGrady, Sports Illustrated (before the teams freakin' win anything they get on a cover), etc. Please, keep putting up the front that you need to play better and I promise you, the gods will allow things to work for you.

All jokes aside, however, (not entirely joking but anyway...) the Colts are a smart-as-hell team with a well-working coaching staff and players that know better. They wouldn't dare let the Jets win. After all, the Colts have a mean defense as well, in case you weren't paying attention.

Penguins and Flyers

Before all the football, there was hockey on NBC, the Flyers and the Penguins. Pittsburgh won in an also exciting sports outing by a score of 5-4.

Now, I hate to make a spectacle of hockey games because hockey is an amazing game, aside from the fights and shenanigans that happen around the game. But this was actually HILARIOUS and I had to share it because if you read carefully, you'll see how much sense this makes.

If you don't know already, one previous game between the two teams included an incident where Flyers' Scott Hartnell was accused of biting the finger of Kris Letang in a fight.

Here, this time, the accusations are from the Flyers' Aaron Asham, stating that the Penguins' goon, Matt Cooke, bit his finger.

All I'm going to say is, since when is it that "usually if you bite somebody"? LMAO! Because people just go around biting people in and out of hockey... oh Aaron Asham...

Here you go, from Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski: Penguins-Flyers Game Ends in Another Biting Accusation

*Sidenote: I will admit, after my relationship with a Lightning fan, that Matt Cooke was indeed slightly dirty even as a player on the Caps, and that hit on Vincent Lecavlier was uncalled for. This seems pointless, but I needed this off my conscience.

The Hockey Writers

Enjoy my last piece here on the Caps and Penguins game last week. The critics were hushed in the 6-3 victory over Pittsburgh. Ahhh, yes... #puckfittsburgh.

Happy reading!

NFL Divisional Playoffs - Disappointment

This is how I felt

Hello everybody!

So the NFL Divisional playoff series are now over and I was COMPLETELY, ENTIRELY WRONG in my picks to win. In fact, I was so wrong, I could probably be terminally depressed at the level of incorrectness I had. I'd might as well pack up and go home and sue myself for falsely posing myself as a knowledgeable sports fan...

...Okay, I won't take it that far, but considering I was 0-4 all weekend, picked 3 upsets that went the way they were supposed to, and the only non-upset I picked (Chargers/Jets), there was the hidden upset.

But that's not all my fault. I mean, I'm sure the majority of the world picked the Chargers to beat the Jets. A good number had the Cowboys beating the Vikings. There were more than enough cases of a few brave (and smart) souls chose the Ravens over the Colts. I can tell you that plenty others had the Cardinals winning in a close game against the Saints.

My biggest explanation here for why I failed so badly in my picks was that I mistook these teams who had bye-weeks who were "well-rested" for being "too rested". But apparently, for 3 out of the 4 teams, that was just the NFL just officially played my life. It went sort of like this:

Saints 45, Cardinals 14
Colts 20, Ravens 3
Vikings 34, Cowboys 3
Jets 17, Chargers 14

My Excuses:
Contrary to what I may say, I DO pick teams for a reason, although when I explain them now, it will sound like an excuse. To all my Greeks reading this, please don't ask for the stanzas of "Excuses". I already went through all that. So here we go...

• I picked the Cardinals because of the way the Saints ended the season and the fact that they had a bye-week. I don't know why - maybe it's because the Cowboys had a bye-week their last playoff entry and lost - but I thought that the teams that had sub-par endings and the extra week off would lose. I should have known better because of the close call with the Cardinals in the previous game against the Packers. They should have lost and didn't. Oh well.
• I picked the Ravens because of in their regular-season matchup; the Ravens came pretty close to beating the Colts in a battle of field goals. Also, the Colts were the team that I thought had too much rest. Finally, I was impressed with the way the Ravens played the Patriots in the first round. So I thought, with a little bit of offensive tweaking, they could hang in there at least against the Colts. However, I completely forgot that the Colts were, in fact, the Colts, and they knew better than to sleep in every day, only to wake up to some afternoon television (Maury or something). Shame on me.
• Yes, I chose the Dallas Cowboys to beat the Vikings. Before you assume I did it because of bias, I did not. I chose them because they were on fire. I thought they were the most serious team in this year's playoffs. Their defense went SO hard, with 2 back-to-back shutouts to end the season, and continued the great defensive plays in the first game against the Eagles. The Cowboys offense also came out the last game to win their first playoff game in 13 years. I had to be convinced that Dallas had it going for them.
  There was an underlying feeling, however, that they will have the same type of game they had when they played against the Packers in Green Bay. For some reason, Tony Romo and his squad can't play well west of Dallas, Texas! I also would like to put Nick Folk... I mean Shaun Suisham on the firing squad for killing any shot that Dallas would have at scoring some more points. That underlying feeling of a bad game came to be true, and my heart was broken. Now I need an alternative team.
• I can tell you right now that alternative team will not be the Jets, though. But I'll get to that in a bit. The Chargers were the team that actually played well down the stretch of the end of the NFL season. They won a close one in their last game against the Redskins, but still, one would assume that was a fluke. It seemed more like a foreshadowing of what would happen next. Regardless, I'm still going to say that this was an effort won by the Jets, rather than saying the Chargers lost it. The Jets have been put onto something after the regular season that allows them their defense to REALLY come out and just suffocate the opposing team's offensive talents. I also say the Jets won because the Chargers made it very close, very late, but the Jets held on and won the game. What can I say?

The Jets...

To continue on the issue of the Jets seeing abnormal success this postseason, this is a situation that was created by people like Colts head coach Jim Caldwell. I'm sorry if I offend some people here, but the Jets were LET into the playoffs. They were straight handed two games by the Colts and Bengals to enter into the playoffs. I'll put on the DC dialect for a second and rephrase a sentence and tell those two teams, "Y'all shoulda done NEVER gave that team a playoff spot!"

Now, I'm not saying that the Jets were given a playoff spot to be condescending towards the Jets. My statement is only referring to the fact that because the Jets were allowed in, it gave them new life; therefore, they plan to act upon it. Thus, I fear for the Colts because they may have given the Jets a pass to beat them at the end of the season, but now the question is: how uncompetitive was that game? It's a legitimate question to me.

The Jets did really beat the Bengals in the first round. They beat the Chargers, who seemed impossible to beat just the day before. So can they beat the Colts? We'll see if that comes to bite them in the butt.

I'm just hoping I don't hear those "woe-is-me" Jets fans celebrating so I'm hoping they don't win in spite... >:-D... It also would destroy me to see the Yankees AND the Jets win. But that's just me...

Pick of Shame

Yes. I will still make picks for the conference championship games. Let's go:
NY Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts @3pm -- Colts
Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints @6:30pm -- Saints

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Check out the site thehockeywriters.com and see "The Writers" section. A name might look slightly familiar to you ;-).

The Dark Side...

So a bit off topic, but I thought I'd just poke fun at myself for a bit.

I was recently looking for paid jobs on campus, and I just randomly picked ones that looked like they would fit my class and activity schedules. One of the jobs was intramural officiating, and it specifically said that it would have flexible hours...

So I let the guy know that I was interested, and I have training next week to be a sports official.

One of the sports I would be officiating is basketball. I wanted to let everyone know that I will not be accepting offers to give your college or university the win. You can forget about that. And if anything, I would manipulate the calls to give MY school an advantage HAHA! Just joking.

I promise I will be as fair as possible, but it's interesting, seeing as I'm one who bashes officials and referees quite often and willingly. It would be fun to be on the other side of that. While I understand their job and how it's not easy, I want to do a sort of "inside job" and REALLY get the job of being an official.

I also have the option of being an ice hockey, flag football and indoor soccer official if I wish after basketball season finishes. I'm excited, and I hope I get the chance to learn something as a referee.

Lane Kiffin - the Con Man

Really quickly, I want to know how Lane Kiffin keeps getting top jobs (became coach at USC)! What is this! I heard somebody say it, and I couldn't have said it better: He's a con artist! I agree whole-heartedly! And I don't see any good coming out of Kiffin after the shenanigans he supposedly was a part of at Tennessee.

So then how is it that Carroll leaves USC, and then heads to the NFL to the nearest stop away from USC, and then Kiffin leaves Tennessee? I'm waiting to see who leaves their scandal-filled school to enter into Tennessee. IT'S SHENANIGANS! And nobody is held accountable because these scandals don't get found out until the players are about 2-3 years out of school. It's ridiculous.

I don't like USC, but I have to feel bad for them now (not too bad though).

Mike Wise - "it's hockey"

I have to talk about this being a DC-Native and a die hard hockey fan. In response as to why he believes the Washington Capitals don't receive props for being the lone good team in DC, DC sports "expert" , Mike Wise claims it's because "it's hockey".

And this was the attitude I have been so sick of for so many years. The fact this area gives all the attention to the worst-of-the-worst teams here and ignoring when the Caps do well is a disgrace! The reason is because it is hockey, so why should we care? Hockey is boring and barbaric and whatever other reason.

To cover DC sports, you can't just ignore a MAJOR TEAM just because you don't like it. The team finally have won a playoff round, and this year, once again, the Capitals have an excellent chance again to bring the Cup to DC for the first time as champions. And the option for ALL of sports media in DC, not just Mike Wise, is to ignore that success and to rather spend time on other things...

...Like focusing on why Gilbert Arenas had gun in the locker room even though he's such a nice guy he is, as there's nothing else to talk about regarding the Wizards since they're no good, and the fact that the Redskins are no good either.

I understand that the Redskins will always be #1 in this town, and that's fine. I understand, this is not a hockey-town. That's okay. That isn't my problem. My issue is when I'm being force-fed the Redskins through radio shows, local sports television, and the Washington Post. Of course, I take my liberties and shut it all off and don't listen.

When for the past 3 years I'm still excited to see a huge Caps win on the front page, and satisfied when then a feature story on one of the players is done, I sort of see that as a problem. Ongoing drama gets old. Can we surprise the readers with something new?

Of course I'm running on how I feel about the issue, it's my blog, I can do just that. So I will say that Mike Wise's comment was entirely rude. From reading someone else's post on this issue, I also found out what he thought of hockey fans in general. Anybody who apparently called him out his statement about the Caps not deserving attention was getting defensive because that's just how hockey fans are. Whatever man. Un-Wise.

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Finally...

Fsinally, Haiti has been a poor country suffering for years. Recently though, the country was hit by a 7.0 earthquake. Thoughts and prayers go out to those in Haiti, and all my friends and readers with family in Haiti. I wish all the best.

Wild WILD Card Weekend

I'm sure that title has been used in many publications, but how else can you describe the exciting turnout from the 4 NFL playoff games that occurred this Saturday and Sunday?

The weekend began Saturday with the Cincinnati Bengals facing off against the NY Jets. The Jets started off the game slowly, but their defense was able to hold the Bengals to the only touchdown they received in the 1st quarter until late in the 4th quarter. The Jets run game decided to put on a repeat performance of the previous week and provide opportunities for 24 points.
Final score: Jets 24, Bengals 14

I know I picked the Bengals, but I did put a disclaimer, saying that if the Jets actually won, I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit. I didn't expect the Bengals' offense to be entirely suffocated the way they were last week, yet I did look for the Jets to come out and play as hard as they could. They are the dark horse this NFL postseason.

The Jets will play against the San Diego Chargers Sunday at 4:40pm EST.

Next, the Philadelphia Eagles were set to play the second rematch of the weekend against the Dallas Cowboys. After Philly fans claimed that the Eagles didn't try last week and will come out harder this week, their words seemed to have been true. I mean, the Eagles DID tie the game at 7 all when Michael Vick entered the game for a play.

Just because Dallas had not won a playoff game in 13 years, however, didn't guarantee the Eagles a win. The Cowboys had something to prove: that their late-season run was not a fluke and that they CAN, in fact, win a playoff game.
Final score: Cowboys 34, Eagles 14

Easy as that. The Eagles defense looked entirely weak, as Dallas got about 200 rushing yards and 244 passing yards on them.

Now that that the 13-year playoff curse is off the Cowboys, is it possible that they can use this to go all the way? Well, they'll have to go through the Minnesota Vikings Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm EST.

Today's Sunday match-ups weren't about to disappoint either.

The Baltimore Raven and the New England Patriots was a no-brainer. The Pats were just too much for the erratic Ravens, whose impeccable defense was only a fable from about 3 years ago...

...Not so fast.

The Ravens were up 24-0 by the start of the 2nd quarter. I woke up from my slumber, only to get up close and squint at the television just to make sure that the score was indeed, 24-0. I know I picked Baltimore to win, but I mean, who expects the Patriots would be losing in Foxboro in a playoff game to the Ravens.

Despite looks of the Patriots still hanging around, and the Ravens not scoring another touchdown until the 4th quarter and missing the 2-point conversion on their final touchdown, New England lost. Yes.
Final score: Ravens 33, Patriots 14.

I wonder what Pats coach Bill Belichick is going to blame this one on. It's clearly not the turf this time... Nonetheless, after exacting revenge on the Pats, the Ravens will be put to a much bigger test in the Indianapolis Colts Saturday at 8:15, whom they also almost beat this season in a field goal-filled battle. We'll see how well resting the players fared for the Colts (I will be somewhere to watch this game for my birthday party and a Zeta Founders Day gift).

Finally, the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals wanted to blow all of the previous games out of the water and make all kinds of history with their game.

Arizona had taken complete control of the first half of the game, and it seemed like another Dallas/Philly game to be seen. Now, I chose the Packers for victory today, so I had some inkling of faith that this wasn't how the game would turn out. The Packers were MUCH better than this, being the second hottest NFC team going into the playoffs behind Dallas.

So the 3rd quarter begins and the Cardinals went up 31-10 to make matters worse for my pickings. But Green Bay didn't lay down.

I'm in the middle of the meeting while getting scores to my phone, and lo-and-behold, the Packers have almos tied this game up, down only 31-24! Arizona went up 38-24, but Green Bay found its way to a tie. Arizona went up again 45, but the Packers tied it AGAIN with 1:52 left... Overtime.

It looked as if the Packers were going in for the win, and I would have 3 out of 4 picks correct, but then "The Legend of Kurt Warner" continued, as the Cards batted the ball from Rodgers' hands and took it to the end zone.

Final score: Cardinals 51,Packers 45

This game turned out to be the highest scoring NFL playoff game in history. I really did think the Packers could have won the game, riding on that momentum and Aaron Rodgers' leadership of the team. The Cardinals, as victors, will be facing the New Orleans Saints Saturday at 4:30pm EST.

I certainly hope you all are ready for another week of predicted wildness. Here are my Reckless Picks. Ready?

Chargers over Jets
Cowboys over Vikings - disclaimer: I wouldn't be surprised if the opposite occurred
Colts over Ravens
Cardinals over Saints

Yea, pretty random again. I just like to pick for the heck of it *shrug*.

Finally, quote of the day: "There was sarcasm in my Shaq-tweet. He is as powerful as Shawn Bradley." In reference in a Twitter comment about Shaq's "double-double"... I died. Most overrated stat in basketball.


Oh and don't forget, if there's something you'd like to tell me about the site in general or ask a question, you can put it in the guestbook to the right.

And I thought I should share, that I have been accepted as the Washington Capitals writer for one of the top sites for in-depth hockey news and discussion, The Hockey Writers, also known as THW! I'm beyond excited to write to cover a team that I have followed for many years now. However, don't worry, I will still be active here on Crashing the Net :-).

Catch yall later ;-)

A Lot Going On!

Hello all! It's been a while again, but I'm back!

So I just figured I'd tell you all the things that have been going on that I haven't told you about...

Agent Zero?

Yes, I mean that exactly. No, Gilbert Arenas. You are NOT a secret agent. You are NOT allowed to carry guns into an NBA arena just because you call yourself Agent Zero.

There are plenty of gun carriers of all shapes and sizes around the country. I am pretty sure that they do not choose to take their guns into their workplace - and if they did it in DC, I'm 100% sure that's illegal, being a resident here and all.

We've heard all the excuses. We know. And I still don't think Arenas gets it. Mocking and laughing at the situation doesn't make it go away. So David Stern decided to suspend him because Arenas was "unfit" to play; hence, making him a literal Zero in the eyes of his team and the NBA at this point.

Unfit in my mind means that he is mentally unstable, and needs to go seek some help. The fact that he cannot decipher what's a joke and what's not (also going off of previous pranks he's pulled in the past) is a serious problem, and not only has it become detrimental to his team and the people around him on the court, but his lack of seriousness has gotten him in trouble with the law.

If Arenas was to plead anything in the future in the court of law, real talk, I would advise an insanity defense.

USA Won Gold!

I bet none of you cared, but in the World Juniors Hockey Classic, the final was between the Canadian junior ice hockey team and the US team. John Carlson, a Washington Capitals prospect, pulled the OT game-winner about 4 minutes into the sudden death period to give the USA gold. USA won 6-5 in a wild, wild match.

With the US winning their 2nd gold medal ever in the tournament, in a perfect world, something like this would help to prove that we have homegrown talent here in the States, and then bring on a revival of young American kids playing hockey with the hopes of playing in the NHL - then again, if it were a perfect world that already would have been the case. We'll see what happens from here.

Another note I'd like to make on this was one that I'm probably going to lose a couple of friends. Not all Canadians are peace-advocating people who have no bad intentions, as many Americans like to label them. As Team Canada INVITED the United States into their tournament in Saskatchewan (I spelled that right first try by the way).

I read an article about how the Canadians booed the US team and how the "Hockey Gods" disapproved of such Tomfoolery. The US, in my mind was booed for 2 reasons:

1. The US has been "at war" for quite some time now. Many people around the world have disagreed with the US decision to go to war since the beginning. Since then, events involving the United States in Canada, some Canadians have booed the American National Anthem, protested US teams, and booed at US victories made on their turf.
2. The US junior hockey team has been clipping at the heels of Canada's junior team for some years now. The "non-traditional" market of the United States for hockey, I suppose, has given the Canadians some sense of elitism in winning games and who deserves to win the Gold, and in the NHL, the Cup. So in a way, Canada is essentially "hating on" US hockey, who's success seems to be promising.

The result of the booing? Canada loses their shot at winning a gold medal; thus, rewarding the USA with a 2nd golds medal in a decade. It's an interesting look at sportsmanship, and I advise that you check it out.

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/2010wintergames/hockey+gods+wreaked+their+vengeance/2414889/story.html

The Real Punk @$$

So apparently, according to news sources today, the Manny Pacquio and Floyd Mayweather boxing match is OFF. Yes, I said it, it is supposedly NOT HAPPENING.

Now, I am not the biggest boxing fan out there (nothing about boxing in particular, it just doesn't interest me like that ), but I am still fully aware of the implications that this match had on the revival of boxing in the United States. Boxing sure isn't what it used to be back in the '90s or before that, but in a fight with supposedly the best boxer right now in Mayweather and the recent winner of the most recent last big fight in Pacquio, this was supposed to bring boxing back to popularity...

...And now it's off. Supposedly. Now I keep saying "supposedly" because of the tendency of boxers and their people to just talk, and just say things just to say things, but I digress.

It's off because the reluctance of Pacquio to agree to a full drug test, drawing blood before the fight. This requirement to fight, however, was pushed by Floyd Mayweather and his party. Now that Pacquio doesn't want to take this type of test over a more typical urine test, Mayweather is referring to Pacquio as a "punk a**".

My question is: Who is the REAL punk here?

Of course the obvious answer is both of them. But one is clearly more of a punk than the other. The consensus that I have spoken to has stated that Pacquio is the punk. He can't consent to a blood test even with a bajillion dollars on the line. Whether he did it because he was scared or because he was dirty, I don't call that a punk move. If he was dirty, then sure, that dumba**, but hey he's just trying to keep his job. If he was scared, he was honest about it at least.

Mayweather, however, hides behind the "brolic" facade, when probably Mayweather himself wanted an out to the fight. For whatever reason that would be, is beyond me, but nobody just goes around trying to make somebody look like fool unless they had something to hide or if they were trying to "appear" as the tough one. It may fool his followers and fans, but Mayweather doesn't fool me.

National Championship Game

Alabama rises as the BCS Champion over the Texas Longhorns by a final score 37-21. Texas made it close toward the end, getting the score as close as 24-21, but that was all that they could muster before Alabama went in and solidified their victory.

Just to note, Colt McCoy injured his shoulder in the first half, causing him to have to sit out for the rest of his last game of his collegiate career. He returned to the sideline, however, to watch his team and cheer them on. He also handled himself well in the post-game interview, trying very hard not to cry. I don't know how he did it, because I couldn't do it.

The game was quite anti-climactic, I'm not really sure why, but I didn't feel satisfied after watching this game. I'll probably find out why tomorrow.

By the way, doesn't that smile on Nick Saban look like it hurts a little? Just a little...

Finally...

Alex Ovechkin was named captain of the Washington Capitals earlier this week. He's up for the challenge. Since then the team has won their 2 games under his captaincy and now go on a 3-game road stretch.

And Andre Dawson was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I personally would have wanted Edgar Martinez and Alomar in the HOF, but that's not my decision. Baseball writers do want to keep the HOF pure as ever anyway. So it seems as though they are very stingy with their inductions now. Another year, I suppose.

NFL Week 17 - Last week of the season :-(

The last week of the NFL season has come and gone. After all of the crazy scenarios that were possible (especially in the AFC) and the debacle of who's to be rested and such, the playoff picture has been set.

With the real games starting this coming Saturday, what ended up happening was that 3 of the 4 of these final match-ups will be the same match-ups that we will be seeing this coming weekend. The teams lined up are as follows:

Saturday:
NY Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys

Sunday:
Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots
Green Bay Packers vs. Arizona Cardinals

*Indianapolis Colts, San Diego, New Orleans Saints, and Minnesota Vikings with a 1st round bye.

Even though these are the folks who potentially have a shot at winning the championship, there are a couple of honorable mentions that I would like to give out before we get to who wins real stuff...

Honorable mentions

Houston Texans: They finished this season 9-7 today after defeating the Patriots 34-27. This would be the first time they finished over .500 since they entered the League in 2002. Then they decided to do it against the Pats, while also almost beating the Colts earlier on in the season. The Texans also almost made the playoffs for the first time, doing their part to win, and only needed the Jets to lose to the Bengals tonight. Their QB Matt Schaub has had more passing yards than anyone else this season as well. Even though Houston is staying at home this season, they've come a long way, so watch out in the next few years.

Atlanta Falcons: I didn't realize this until it was pointed out, but the Falcons never had back-to-back winning seasons until last season's 11-5 record and this season's 9-7 record. Not even during the Vick days did the team have 2 consecutive over-.500 seasons. But regardless, Matt Ryan however has silently improved year by year and has made the Falcons competitive. It might have been more noticeable had the Saints not overshadowed their division with pretending to go undefeated throughout the season. Nonetheless, Atlanta won't be a team to be reconciled with, especially if the balance of power allows only 1 team from the NFC East in the future.


Carolina Panthers: They were not over .500 this year, or even in the running for a playoff spot. But even after their atrocious start to the year, the Panthers finish the season 8-8. They could have chosen to try and fight the Lions and the Rams for the #1 draft pick. They could have fired coach John Fox for losing, or the players could have resigned and finished poorly. But the Panthers stayed with it, and played hard in their final games - including beating Minnesota 26-7, and giving the Giants the business and taking them out the playoffs essentially by a score of 41-9. I will say, however, that Jake Delhomme's days might be over in Carolina.

Kyle Orton: And finally, I would like to give honorable mention to Mr. Kyle Orton, QB of the Denver Broncos. How the hell this man has remained in the NFL, is beyond me. It's not even like he's been in and out of starting for teams, but since he was starter for the Bears, he has been named a starting QB. In my mind, after playing at Purdue, he was chillen on the street, and Da Bears came around and asked him to toss a football. He does. And then they were like, you have a pretty decent spiral and you can throw far. We need a new QB since Grossman didn't work out. Come with us. And that was how Mr. Orton became an NFL QB. Then he showed that he failed, and then went to Denver. Only to not be the biggest reason Denver fails, because in fact their coach took that honor. Mr. Josh McDaniels chose to constantly call out his players, especially his personal nemesis, WR Brandon Marshall, and refused to coach the team properly. Thus, Kyle Orton got away with being a failure, and he will probably remain the Broncos' starter. Gosh man, how do you do it? You go, boy!

The Honorable Honorable Mention goes to Aaron Rodgers. Not just because I want to put a picture of him up here, but because he was able to have the 4th highest QB rating this season, and get his team to the playoffs, AND throw for only 7 INTs (2nd lowest) with the offensive line he had. Sure, he was only sacked like, 50 times, along with being rushed and hit and hurried and whatever other action done to him by opposing defenses... but he definitely got his team where they needed to be, throwing for 30 touchdowns and allowing them to have a shot at the Super Bowl. What a stud... QB.

I don't know what it is but I like this look over the clean cut one... We can see his toughness with the skull cap and beard

I guess as a side honor, we can congratulate the St. Louis Rams on the #1 pick, and the Detroit Lions for having 3 wins on the year....

... Oh and the Cleveland Browns for having new life - 4 straight wins and Mike Holmgren as their new president. Maybe life won't be so bad in the Dog Pound...

...And I am leaving the Washington Redskins out of this. They've endured enough this year.

Playoff Picture

Many people I have noticed feel as though most of the playoff teams completely mailed it in this last game of the season, knowing that they were going to the playoffs the following weekend i.e. the Eagles, Bengals, Patriots, and the obvious ones, the Saints and the Colts.

Of course that was the case with the Colts, who oh-so upset the hell out of the world when they mailed in their season the 2nd to final week of the season, and to a degree, the Saints, although I do think the Saints' first 2 loses were genuine. Either way, I agree, some teams did put it away and left it for the playoffs.

But if you seriously think the Eagles didn't want home-field advantage, I don't know what you're smoking but it must be good. Dallas, having exorcised the December/late season demons this season to regain their NFC East champ status, has a good shot of repeating a win on Saturday. Of course, I wouldn't say the Cowboys will shut out the Eagles, but the Cowboys have shown that they might be able to get over that playoff game hump. We will see.

The Bengals and Jets game could also be a mail in. I might have to agree with that one somewhat, seeing as the Jets wouldn't have scored that many points had Cincinnati really tried. But the Jets do have a lot of confidence and momentum riding into the playoffs. They have a pretty decent defense, and with one of the NFL's premier cornerbacks Darrelle Revis, they might be able to do the "impossible" (according to now Chad JOHNSON again) and stop the Bengals offense, the way they got to the playoffs.

I hope that the Colts didn't forget to play football, because even though I'm still baffled at how the world got so upset at their blatant refusal to have an undefeated season, I still am not sure how the way their last two games are going to help them. While I don't personally feel like an NFL team cheated me of something I should have, I am concerned for the fact that the Colts are probably facing more pressure to win the Super Bowl than had they not tried their antics to "rest players". Having technically 3 weeks off before the playoffs is not always a good thing.

Oh, you want predictions? Very quickly, I will call the winners of the 1st round of the NFL playoffs: Bengals, Cowboys, Ravens, and the Packers. Kind of arbitrary, right?

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Hope you enjoyed this NFL season as much as I did. I thought it was one of the more entertaining years in football recently. Definitely looking forward to the playoffs now. May the best team win!

Happy New Year with the NHL Winter Classic!

Welcome to 2010! The NHL welcomed back its fans and viewers today, January 1st, with the annual NHL Winter Classic. The 2010 game was played in Fenway Park and featured the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers in a snowy and cold atmosphere of over 38,000 fans.

This year's Classic was one of the more lower scoring games, although with the number of chances by both teams throughout the entire 60 minutes, it could have been higher. Regardless, it was a very energetic and well-defended game.

In defense (no pun intended), the goalies did what they were supposed to do, which was stop the puck, and that they did.

The Flyers began the game well, with Flyer Dan Carcillo winning the fight against Bruin Shawn Thornton scoring the first goal early into the second period past Tim Thomas. They continued the momentum through the rest of the game, keeping up chances and taking shots.

Then, after a few power plays in Boston's favor to create opportunities for their own offense, with about 2 minutes left in the game, down 1-0, the Bruins, old man Mark Recchi put one in to tie the game.

It wouldn't take that much longer for the Bruins to complete the comeback, as Marco Sturm scored the game-winner in overtime. Bruins ended up winning 2-1.

As a die-hard hockey fan, I LOVE the NHL's Winter Classic. It's such a great national showcase that exposes the game in a unique fashion to casual fans, long-time fans, and the person passing through channels. It's always fun to see more than twice the number of fans that would be at a regular game outdoors in the snow.

And the games themselves always feature intense match-ups with long-time rivalries between franchises. The game has remained competitive as well, as the highest goal differential has only been 2 goals in the 6-4 win by the Detroit Red Wings over the the Chicago Blackhawks last year.

Seeing that this year was in Boston in Fenway Park, I would have no complaints of a Winter Classic game in Yankee Stadium, even though there was already one in NY. There is much speculation of a game there next year featuring the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers. Again, no complaints here.

There are a few more match-ups though that I would love to see.

• Whenever the St. Louis Blues become good again, I would like to see them play against the Colorado Avalanche in Colorado.
  
• After sometime when enough time has passed since the last Red Wings game, it would be fun to watch them play the Avs in Detroit as well, bringing back the old playoff series (Patrick Roy and Chris Osgood fight ring a bell?).
  
• If people in Hartford wouldn't be so opposed to it, the Carolina Hurricanes could play in Hartford, Connecticut against the Caps.
• Of course, there can't be anything wrong with the Toronto Maple Loafs... Leafs playing their intra-province rivals, the Ottawa Senators. They used to meet in the playoffs every year in some serious and bloody 6 and 7 game series.
  
• Likewise, the other intra-province series, Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames should also be fun.
  
• Minnesota would be a great host city. It's always snowing up there! Minnesota in the North Stars jersey facing off against the Columbus Blue Jackets or some relocated team could be entertaining.

I wonder if you could have a Winter Classic in the DMV, like having one at Camden Yards or something...

USA Olympic Team

After the Bruins/Flyers game, the 2010 USA Olympic hockey team was announced. As a player would be announced, some adorable little kids turned around with the name of the player on the back of their jersey.

Goaltenders:
Tim Thomas, 35 (Boston Bruins)
Ryan Miller, 29 (Buffalo Sabres)
Jonathan Quick, 24 (Los Angeles Kings)

Alternate Candidate:
Craig Anderson (Colorado)

Defense:
Brian Rafalski, 36 (Detroit Red Wings)
Ryan Suter, 25 (Nashville Predators)
Paul Martin 28 (New Jersey Devils)
Mike Komisarek, 28 (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Erik Johnson, 21 (St. Louis Blues)
Brooks Orpik, 29 (Pittsburgh Pittsburgh)
Jack Johnson, 23 (Los Angeles Kings)

Alternate Candidates:
Matt Niskanen (Dallas)
Ron Hainsey (Atlanta)
Alex Goligoski (Pittsburgh)
Matt Carle (Philadelphia)
Rob Scuderi (Los Angeles)

Forwards:
Zach Parise, 25 (New Jersey Devils)
Chris Drury, 32 (New York Rangers)
Dustin Brown, 25 (Los Angeles Kings)
Jamie Langenbrunner, 34 (New Jersey Devils)
Paul Stastny, 24 (Colorado Avalanche)
David Backes, 25 (St. Louis Blues)
Patrick Kane, 21 (Chicago Blackhawks)
Phil Kessel, 22 (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Ryan Kesler, 25 (Vancouver Canucks)
Bobby Ryan, 22 (Anaheim Ducks)
Joe Pavelski, 25 (San Jose Sharks)
Ryan Malone, 31 (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Ryan Callahan, 24 (New York Rangers)


Alternate Candidates:
Jason Pominville (Sabres)
David Booth (Panthers)
Scott Gomez (Rangers)
T.J. Oshie (Blues)
Brian Gionta (Canadiens)

Make of the team what you will. There were a number of American players left off the roster; Dustin Byfuglien is one of them. The team, in my mind, lacks size and variation in skill (they all play a similar style). But the USA has a speed advantage and they are very strong in goaltending, with the best goalie this season, Ryan Miller as the starter. The backups should give the team confidence as well.

So what the team could be forced into is a situation to use their speed to find a way through the opposing defense to score a goal or two, and rely on their goaltending to give them a chance throughout the game. A bunch of 2-1, 1-0 games are probably the types of games they can win. Brian Burke says that they're "playing to win" so all we can do is hope this team can perform well enough to do so. *shrug*...

It didn't work out 20 years since the 1980 USA Olympic Gold Medal team - so maybe 30 years? We'll see...

From SportsZone - "10 Years, 10 Games: The Very Best of the 2000s"

Hello all! I apologize for the hiatus. It was the end of the semester, and one would figure I would be writing every day. However, before I knew it, I was traveling to Orlando, Florida, so I was nowhere near a computer most of the time, and if I was, I still had no time to post anything. I was on.... how do you say; vacation.

Then I came back home yesterday, and of course after an early morning flight and early morning wake ups in the past 3 days, I slept.

Nonetheless, happy New Year! It's 2010; not only another year, but another decade! As we enter into a new decade of sports moments, we can't move on without revisiting the previous decade's moments from 2000 to 2009.

After hearing from a good friend of mine, Dan King, that he wrote a whole write-up on the decade's top games and moments, of course I took a look at it. Trust me, it's a great piece of nostalgia, and I would like to direct my readers to his sports blog, SportsZone (link posted under this section).

If you have comments about the post, the past decade in sports, or anything else related, feel free to put them on this page, or comment on Dan's blog as well.

Hope you enjoy the read!

http://sportszone.auatv.com/2009/12/31/10-years-10-games-the-very-best-of-the-2000s/

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What do I have to say you ask?

Well of course, I'm going to give you a couple MY favorite moments:

1.) Of course being a part of Red Sox Nation, very little in life as a whole can beat the 2004 World Series. Not only was it the World Series championship that broke an 86-year drought without winning it all (with many bumps and bruises and close seasons throughout the 86 years), but what tops beating the New York Yankees to get to the World Series.

Then, on top of beating the Yankees, the fashion that they did made it even more special. Boston decided to play, starting in Game 4. They ultimately came back from 3-0, becoming the first team in MLB history to come back from being down 3 games to none to win a playoff series.

I can't even go into detail to describe every game to state why this was the most awesome thing that could happen just to beat the Yankees alone from the "Bloody Sock game", to the wild comebacks, to scoring on Mariano Rivera. To finalize the magic though, the Red Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals - a gift from the Big Man.

Yes. I cried. LOL.... I sat down in my room watching the final Game 4 of the World Series, called my best friend, and we were trying to make a case not to go to school the next day. I think we did the same after the Yankees series, too...

... The 2007 World Series was also a great moment for me. Honestly, it is not anywhere near the 2004 World Series, as some would agree, but it certainly is a joy to watch your team win a championship. Not only did the Red Sox win 1 World Series, but they won 2 in 3 years after going almost a century without any.

2.) The same year, I would also have to put the Washington Capitals drafting Alexander Ovechkin on the list of decade moments. It wasn't a game, but it did quite some wonders for an NHL franchise and a league that were suffering. The Red Sox winning is self-explanatory. This requires a little more explanation.

Prior to Ovechkin's drafting, I was never too pleased with the job Washington Capitals' general manager George McPhee did in Washington. I actually halfway feared that McPhee would want to trade the 1st round draft pick for some star player or pick the #2 pick that year, Evgeni Malkin. I wasn't the only one with that concern either.

Now don't get me wrong, I watched videos of the two before they were drafted multiple times, then being a member of the Washington Capitals' message boards crew. I defintiely thought that Malkin was amazing and he was very talented. But clearly, Ovechkin had something different that defined him as the #1 draft pick in the 2004 NHL Draft.

Lo and behold, the Capitals selected Alex Ovechkin! I was at a draft party at Dave and Busters that year (got a poster signed by the Secretary of Defense aka Rod Langway, Yvon Labre, Joe Reekie and Craig Laughlin there too) and the Caps fans there just went wild!

This draft pick would put the Caps on the NHL map. At first, it was because we had one of the most explosive players in the league (after all, this was noted his first year as Ovie was the Calder Trophy winner aka Rookie of the Year), but soon we received media attention, giving us a look at a more charismatic Ovechkin. His marketable skill, talent, and personality really gave the Capitals a chance to finally be shown on national showcases.

Also fueled by the media-created rivalry between Ovechkin and the next year's #1 pick, Sidney Crosby, and the already existing team rivalry between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL as a whole gained new life and new viewers, showing a more exciting side to hockey.

If the NHL takes notice of the fans' love of Alex Ovechkin, and makes him a more forefront face of the League, the NHL might have a chance to gain major popularity in the United States. Of course, a couple more things might need to happen before that, but Ovechkin's drafting will be a major factor in the NHL's success, if he continues his own success.

These are just a couple favorites, but if you want to know more, feel free to ask!

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