So I'm back to my old ways already. (And in honor, I will also be returning, briefly, to the ramble-a-thon minus multitudes of pictures and videos.) Three posts here. A month of silence. And returning with apologies. Although, this summer the blog writing has been fairly successful. We'll see how that holds up during the season. Because it IS summer, I can't break down the last game and rant about what a fuckin douchebag Sean Avery is (On the ice. His rather gung-ho support of gay rights has me aww-ing at him at near inappropriate levels. Damn him.) or how spectacular JStaal's defensive work was in the third period. I can't make crazy-ass predictions for tomorrow's game about MISTERBENLOVEJOY's imminent hat trick or the absolute inevitability a stolen game on the backs of the "third line." (I'm not sure what to call Mr. President-Mr. JStaal-Cookie Monster. Because they weren't really the third line last year and probably won't be for a while. Even if they do get split for a while. So they are just going to have to become the "Third Line.") Instead, I am stuck with pulling crazy predictions from the depths of my shoe bin (i.e. previous post...CRAZY) and educating all y'all on the finer, more useless facts on the players. Or reminiscing. Not that I mind that. But I'm itching for some real live hockey to take place that I can talk about. Too bad.
In news since the last post (Note that this is all selective and pulled off the top of my head, so don't be offended if I leave off some piece of hockey news which you hold near and dear to your heart.) the world is dying to know every scrap of Sidney Crosby concussion related news. Count me as part of that. Like, dying. The logical, caring and understanding portion of my brain understands that it's really not any of my business and is really not anyone's business at all if he felt a twinge of a headache at 4:27 p.m. last week Thursday. It also understands that it's perhaps better for his recovery if he's not being bothered about it all the time. This portion of my brain is frequently overwhelmed by the incessant voice in the rest of my brain saying "Tell me EVERYTHING!!!" Also, how the hell am I supposed to build a decent fantasy team if I don't know how Sid's going to play this year (Assuming I luck out and play with Red Wings fans, who stubbornly refuse to draft him. It's what made my first year playing fantasy AMAZING. I could draft all the kick ass Pens that I wanted to. Which I did. Thank you Sid. And Jordy. And TK. And Cookie Monster. And Orps. And Tanger. And Flower. I did actually have some non-Penguins on the team. Give me a few years to remember who. They also contributed.) I digress. The last Sid news I saw, which was a couple hours ago, reported that he's seeing "specialists" about his concussion. Namely some in Georgia and...Michigan! Damn. I missed him. Other than that, there is no timeline for his return to being awesome. And by that, I mean that there's no timeline for his return to the goal-scoring leader board where he will return to kicking ass and taking names (DOWN!).
UPDATE! If you're just now reading this, like I'm just now posting this, it should be obvious that much of this was written some time ago. As in pre-Sidney-Cosby-press-conference. Today was an epic day (as in September 17th). Sid SKATED today. IN PRACTICE. AT TRAINING CAMP. Yes, that all required caps. I'm not going to rehash it all, because he's Sidney fuckin Crosby. If you don't know that he's been out with a concussion than you are obviously under a rock or reading the wrong blog.
I would like to take a moment here to acknowledge the incredibly sad news in the hockey world. And would like to send out condolences to the family and friends of Rick Rypien and Wade Belak, both of whom passed away this summer. Apparently he had a long struggle with depression. As something very close to my heart, I hope that something good comes of this. This is a serious illness and not something to be ashamed of. I hope that people will take the time to become more aware of it and to show some understanding and compassion for those dealing with it. If you are dealing with it, don't be ashamed to ask for help.
I'd also like to take another ten million moments. (It's been a bad summer for hockey players.) Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of those who died in the plane crash in Russia last week. Including the plane crew and the KHL Lokomotiv players and staff. Special prayers for the only survivor, one of the crew, who is (still?) in the hospital. Last I heard, he is still in pretty bad shape, but has been taken out of intensive care.
Moving on. We can return to my regularly scheduled ridiculousness now. NHL.com is currently doing their "30 in 30" special. The day before yesterday (or a number of days ago) was Pittsburgh's day. My response to "You know you're a Penguins fan if...?" You know you're a Penguins fans if you go to a bar in Michigan so you don't miss the Pens game and it seems wrong to watch without your jersey, so you wear it to the bar. By yourself. Fun fact? The last time I went to a bar to watch a hockey game it was for game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals this year. I was on my way back from retrieving my Crosby jersey (STOKED.) and got back in time for the second and third periods. Walked in to this pizza place and bar (My place of choice because it's not like...BAR, bar. And it's small and they'll change the channel to the hockey game when I ask. Also, fewer drunk assholes.) to discover a few guys there already watching the game. The one sitting next to me was talking about how he was still on the fence as to who to root for. (Remember, Red Wings county. Not many Bruins or Nucks fans here.) Me, being me, couldn't just keep my mouth shut. So I freely told him that I had felt the same when I first found out who the finals would be, but I had decided to fully support a Bruins win. Which of course he then needed me to turn around and explain. By this point, three other guys were sitting there, in on the conversation, and I explained that while my sister was really just rooting for Tim Thomas, that I had forgotten (in my hemming and hawing) about all the other really amazing players that I enjoy watching that play for the Bruins. Pretty sure that last began with Mark Recchi. And then about the style they play versus the pure offensive power of the Canucks. I had a whole speech. It was awesome. And they were decently impressed (I love doing that to people. It never gets old.). Even more so when we kept talking and they would make comments about some player and I'd know something a little crazy specific about how they play or would be able to solve their wondering about which guy was it that did that one move in that game in the first series. Of course, this was voiced and I, being me, responded with something to the effect of "If you think how much I know about the Bruins and the Canucks is impressive, it obviously doesn't take much since I don't spend a lot of time watching either team. I'm a Penguins fan. I know WAY more about them." Needless to say, this was not received all that well by everyone. It spurred a long conversation full of digs at Cindy Crysby. Assholes. (Sorry.)..........(No, I'm not.) Of course, the guy sitting next to me insinuated that Crosby was obviously only my favorite player because he's cute (Which he IS, btw. Cute, that is. But that has nothing to do with his awesome moves.). Now, if you've met me, you should know how much I HATE being compared to some floozy who picks favorite players for their looks (Unless of course you're with me at a baseball game. Or a sporting event in which I have little investment or knowledge of. In which case I'll pick my new "favorite player" by their looks. Or their awesome last name. Or their number. Or what song is playing for them. Or some other completely inane reason.), so I was quick to say that Crosby is NOT my all time favorite player, THANK you very much. But that Jordan Staal is. He apparently had quite a bit more respect for Jordy. But did seem to imply that he was never going to be the kind of player Eric is (I object! Marc is going to be the best out of all of them...sorry JStaal. Eric is going to continue on how he has been doing. Good. Very good, in fact, but just out of reach of great. Jordy is going to break out and be the offensive demon I know he can be (while not straying from his sexy defensive play) and BabiestStaal will finally step it up in the next couple seasons, thanks to Gary Roberts, and join his big bros in not having to work on the family sod farms in the summer time. AKA, he'll finally play in the NHL. He'll be a role player. Solid, with decent offensive production, but not enough to boost him into rating a top 6 spot.). Hopefully you didn't just try to read everything in the parentheses in one breath. That was a little over the top. Umm...Oh! More respect for Jordy. So the estimation went up with my "Staal is my favorite." bit, but I couldn't let him think that Sidders doesn't get my complete and utter admiration and devotion. Because, there's like different planes of hockey players. There's the normal pool. Where pretty much all hockey players are. That's who you can pick from for favorite players. And then there's a plane above that where you have players like Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Maurice Richard, Bobby Orr... They're kinda above "favorite players." They're like...the Pearly Gates. And the "normal" players are on Earth. And then there's Mario Lemieux. He's what you get when you OPEN the Pearly Gates. Hockey Heaven. (Pretty sure I've made my Mario=God comparison before...) SOOO...I assured this gentleman that Sidney is awesome. And that I had, in fact, just bought a Crosby jersey that day. Which was why I was late getting there. Needless to say, he was tres disappointed. However!!! One of the other lovely gentleman (he gets a lovely because of the following) said he actually liked the Penguins and wanted to see the jersey before I left. So. AWESOME. Penguins fan. In Michigan. Woot.
Hopefully you're still with me and I haven't confuddled your brain too much. The above story was really just for the last few lines. Long-winded much? Nah...
This seems like a lovely place to end. Especially because now I can REALLY start talking about the players and line combinations and TRAINING CAMP and rookies and REAL hockey games (I've already been to one!!!!!!!!! Go Jr. K-Wings!). So I'm gonna go and do that now. Well, after the Music Moment of the Day.
And pour le Music Moment of the Day...THE KOOKS! Specifically the song "Sway."
I'm also going to put in the acoustic and live version of "Naive," because their acoustic sets are just as brilliant and amazing. Also, this is my other favorite song of theirs. One of. Cause I kinda love 'em all! HAHAHAHAHAHA! (Listen to more of them and you'll get that... Although it's probably not as funny as I think it is.)
I am SO addicted to them. Almost as much as hockey. Maybe just as much. I started listening to them about three...maybe four years ago. And I just can't stop. Luke Pritchard just has this fantastic quality and uniqueness to his voice that is so enchanting. Soulful. I've gotten in my car and listened to "Sway" on repeat for two hours before. Adore.
P.S. (Because this is totally a letter.) Title? That's right. I put The Kooks, hockey, and Camp Rock in one post. Props to me.
