With huge apologies to my cousin in Tampa who is also a season-ticket holder of the Lightning, but imagine my relief at the news this morning on the EPSN widget.
Holmgren finally got rid of Downie for Tampa’s prospect Carle to solve the ongoing blueline problem and then promptly lost to Tampa this evening. With all the temper issues Downie had while he was in juniors plus the dirty hit he did to somebody on the Senators during last season’s playoffs, Philly got the better of the deal. Maybe Barry Melrose can knock some sense into this kid because Bobby Clarke couldn’t. Otherwise, I think he’ll have a short career.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ November 8, 2008 9:04:31 PM CST ( 0 comments ) |
It's hard to be a Flyers fan some days, especially this season. First comes the home opener with Sarah Palin [aka Dan Quayle in a dress] which became a curse; of course, I don't really believe in such superstitions, it's just a convenient scapegoat.
Now there's talk of Brendan Shanahan joining the team since the aging star got stiffed by the Rangers. He's a great a player and will easily make the Hall of Fame but they might as well sign Petr Nedved [again] and Mats Sundin. My Flyers need an experienced defenseman to fill the void left by Desjardins, Johnsson or Jason Smith. I think the only matter stopping this repeat of Bob Clarke-esque acquisitions is the salary cap, something I wasn't keen on originally.
Meanwhile, I saw the sad news about Martin Brodeur being out for surgery. He won't return until the season is close to over, thus putting him behind schedule on beating Patrick Roy's record for most wins and Terry Sawchuk's on shutouts. Brodeur will achieve them, he just won't have any additional weeks or months to raise the bar much higher.
Closer to home, Jeremy and I put in our first payments on season tickets for the upcoming Texas Stars. We are slated for seats number one and two on row three. Jeremy thinks there is no row two, it's the aisle or something between ours and the people paying double to be on the glass. I'm just happy to be on the corner [section 120] side with the Stars shoot twice. Sadly, another Bats fan called me a traitor. I think he was kidding, I hope.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ November 6, 2008 2:16:25 PM CST ( 0 comments ) |
My Cheesesteak of Suffering is now obsolete.
Congratulations to the Phillies on winning the World Series.
However, the Rays shouldn't feel bad. They overcame the Red Sox and Yankees during the 2008 season. I only hope my cousins who live in Tampa managed to get tickets to at least one game.
I need to find the author of the Widget and politely ask him to make a Flyers only version for how long it has been since the Stanley Cup was raised in Philly. Currently, my team is 3-3-3, the number of the part-time beast.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 30, 2008 3:59:34 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Seven games into the season and my Flyers finally won! At least it's against a team that matters, the Devils [who are also a shadow of their former winning selves]. Oddly, it still puts them ahead of the Islanders; at least losing in OT gets you points which I recall was the Pens' start last season. Anyhow, these possible champs of the East have become chumps thanks to their poor inexperienced defense, inconsistent goaltending [yes, I need to eat a plate of crow over Biron being the savior between the pipes], and the I-told-you-so's for trading RJ Umberger and/or letting Jason Smith leave.
Things can only get better I suppose. I won't throw away my betting slip on their chances of winning the Cup for a while longer, I'll give them until February. Currently their 14-1 odds have jumped to 40-1 and if the Phillies lose, the Cheesesteak of Suffering coming to an end will depend upon them because the Sixers are a bigger joke and the Eagles are already finished. However, let me be clear, I am neutral on Philly's other three professional franchises so taunting me about them doesn't phase me. As for the Flyers, I'm not a zealot neither.
Oct 27, 2008 Update: Sometime after I posted this, I was reading in the Philly-based paper how many are calling this opening losing skid, the Palin Curse. Too bad nothing happened to Ed Snider instead, the idiot behind bringing the unwelcome politician to the game. Nothing awful I would wish on him, maybe something inconvenient such as a zit, constipation or a blister. Serves him right because many attendees said, cheers were piped in to counter the live boo'ing.
Meanwhile, it looks likely that the Phillies will win the World Series; making my Cheesesteak of Suffering widget obsolete at 9289-90 days. Maybe the guy who created it can make one exclusively for the Flyers winning a Stanley Cup.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 25, 2008 11:12:39 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Once again, poor Clint Malarchuk makes headlines with another accident. The poor guy is a magnet for near misses.
For those who don't recognize Malarchuk's name, he's the goalie from this horrific incident, it's not for the squeamish.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 10, 2008 11:16:57 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Last night the NHL's 2008-9 Season really kicked off. Those games in Europe counted for the teams who played in their 82-match season but c'mon, the NHL is a North American league despite all the Europeans on the various 30 teams. There are rumors and plans to have the NHL expand into Europe which would be a mistake. Why? The NFL did this sporadically for 16 years. You don't remember? Then I've made my point. I say, let the Europeans have their own stuff because they're not as homogenous as Americans and Canadians. The best compromise would be to have a new trophy to be awarded to the winner of a match between the Stanley Cup champ and whatever the Europeans work out. Personally, I think the World Cup was cooler since hockey will be eliminated from the Olympics after Vancouver's 2010 hosting duties. What? I don't recall where I read that but hopefully I'm wrong. Who knows? We probably won't know for sure until 2010.
The bigger musing [or should I say gripe] I have is over my team's opener tomorrow. Originally, I was only peeved about Umberger being traded to the pathetic Blue Jackets. Then I realized, he was the last active American player. What a bummer! I used to feel a tad of pride in my team having so much American talent: LeClair, Amonte, Roenick, Esche, Umberger, so on. Now all the forwards are Canadian. Yes, I know, Mike Knuble is a US citizen and plays for America in the Olympics. He grew up in Canada due to his father's job. Trust me, it's the same slippery slope to classify Brett Hull as an American player by ignoring his upbringing in Winnipeg.
There is some excited on the blue line. Philly signed Luca Sbisa, an Italian! Sure the city's ethnicity has been changing for decades yet the Italian immigrants' personality remains part of Philly's character. It's about time they signed an Italian player who may make it big in the NHL. Germany's Dennis Seidenberg is hanging in there on the Hurricanes and France's Cristobal Huet is Chicago's starting goalie. I think my sport is big enough to include Europeans other than Scandanavians and ex-Soviet Bloc citizens. Next stop, real Brits and Irishmen in the NHL.
I got off track on what was really ticking me off. My team's "ethnic" roster wasn't such a serious concern. More of a disappointment. Then nhl.com announced Sarah Palin being invited to drop the ceremonial puck at the Flyers' season opener. I just about screamed. My political leanings are no secret, especially how much I dislike this Republican toady [she's Dan Quayle in drag]. However, I prefer sports to be apolitical. What was Bettman thinking? Philly is a Democratic stronghold and if she thinks this stunt will win the rest of PA for McCain, she would've been better off doing the same at an NHL game in Raleigh or Atlanta, cities in states which will side with the McCain ticket. Even if Biden were doing this, I'd be against it. Sports are supposed to recreational. Sticking desperate PR moves for politicians in there ruins it. This better not be the beginning of an ugly trend.
Will I watch the game at D&B again? Probably. I had a good time last year.
I'll save the predictions for later. I need to see how well the opener goes for my Flyers. Then I'll know if I'm going to win $150 in June.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 10, 2008 10:28:41 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Due to the slowness of Summer, I forget to check my link to the Philly newspaper every day to see what's the skinny on the Flyers. To my horror, there was a piece Wednesday talking about my team being one of the six in the running for Mats Sundin. No thanks. We have two very expensive Quebeckers for offense and the last time we took in an overpriced, past-his-prime, has-been Swedish star, we had two really awful seasons [horrible and humiliating too] plus Floppa sat out for over a third of the games because of ongoing "injuries."
I wish Sundin luck in finding a new team, just not Philly. My Flyers need to stick with younger, faster forwards and solving their defensive problems caused by the loss of Primeau and Desjardins. If he were five years younger, then maybe. I'll stick with Briere plus he should be the new Captain since Smith left.
Two things are in my favor of them not signing him: the annoying salary cap and Holmgren proving that he's nothing like Clarke, phew!
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ August 22, 2008 8:15:15 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
The Alamo people setting up the projector and screen on the rink.
The turnout was pretty good for Central Texas. I was more thrilled over my friend Brian coming with a pair of friends. As you recall, Brian is a huge Red Wings fan and also played in the minor leagues when he was younger. We were all dressed appropriately for the event in our Chiefs jerseys. Brian and his friend had autographed home versions with all three of the infamous Hanson brothers! I can only hope to meet the trio who inspired the movie. We sat up in the “balcony” to enjoy saying some of our favorite quotes aloud. Normally I’m against magpies but this was a pseudo Quote-a-long event. I know I impressed Brian’s friend with my Eddie Shore rebuttal timing.
I hadn’t been to Chaparral Ice since the Bats won their last home playoff game. It was sad to see the place now. Oh, the rink is in great shape just all the seats behind the goal and near the team benches are gone. The people who own the place don’t need them anymore because the only teams playing will be UT [yes, Texas has a team, it’s just not in the NCAA divisions] and the clubs: aka the Roadrunners and Iceholes. All those memories, especially the 13-round shootout which had me on the edge of my seat. Now I have to jones through a season without anything resembling professional hockey in Austin until the overpriced AHL proxy for the Dallas Stars comes to Cedar Park. I probably should start saving up to make one run to San Antonio to enjoy a Rampage game when Milwaukee, Chicago or Peoria come to town.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ August 17, 2008 5:46:43 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
An interesting day in hockey. The long overdue news about Barry “Captain Mullet” Melrose finally be made the new head coach of the Lightning. I guess he finally read the writing on the wall about ESPN’s disinterest in the NHL. His first step to get some attention was hiring Rick Tocchet as an assistant coach.
The other story was about the Austin Ice Bats in the New York Times of all publications. It’s a sad story but any publicity is better than none. Hopefully I will run into some of the players who stayed behind at the Alamo’s rolling road show August 16.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ June 24, 2008 7:51:32 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
This Swiss kid Sbisa better be worth losing RJ Umberger. I know the Flyers are hurting on D but GM Holmgren is doing Bizarro Clarke moves, trading good, younger vets for unproven rookies as opposed to getting borderline, washed-up “never weres” like Nedved or Baumgartner. Of course the excuse is the Salary Cap which my team is pressed pretty close against. Kapanen retiring and Prospal going to Tampa didn’t create enough room when re-signing Carter and Jones.
Head Coach Ken Hitchcock will be glad to have a familiar player on his pathetic Blue Jackets, I blame the market not the coach or players, most of OH is just northern KY due to its hateful, redneck mindset. But Hitch gains an experienced, solid forward who only was one of the top goal makers of the playoffs. Sure, I’m one of the first people to argue how the past isn’t destiny, especially in sports. It still stinks to reward a great player with a trade to a losing franchise. Personally, I feel he was the one always singled out to be ditched because he’s an American, not a Canadian and this whole team is being rebuilt around Carter and Richards. It’s a theory easily discredited by remembering Holmgren’s nationality, American. Maybe he an old head injury from his days with the Johnston Jets [the actual team the Chiefs from Slapshot are based upon] has come back to impair his judgment.
As I thought when Briere was signed for $52 million over eight years, let’s wait and see how it goes on opening night next October before adding another 500 days on the Cheesesteak of Suffering.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ June 21, 2008 9:26:24 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
|