Another 12 months gone by - where does the time go? There are lessons learned with each passing year. Some of them are fun lessons, some not so much. But everything is worth getting through in the end. How else are you going to be able to look back on your life and shake your head, wondering how hell you got this far without serious injury.
Nothing philosophical here just some smiles and chuckles to wrap up good old 2010
Since I'm into music: Top 10 Music Videos 2010 and Top 50 Songs 2010. See how many you've actually seen, heard, understood or enjoyed.
Movies I saw and didn't hate in 2010 (in no particular order):
The A-Team, Alice In Wonderland, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, The Town, Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, Inception, IronMan2, Tron-Legacy, The Fighter, True Grit, Shutter Island, Black Swan, Red, Tangled, The Kids Are Alright, Paranormal Activity 2.
Movies I saw and wished I hadn't:
Prince Of Persia - Sands of Time
Some Commercials We Laughed At: Funny Ha-Ha
Some Commercials That Annoyed Us: Change The Channel - Quick!
2010 Sports I Followed:
Thanks to Randy and Connie, Ginny, Nan and Benj I am an official Twins fan again. When I wasn't in the garden or on the deck I spent some of my best spring and summer hours at Target Field. I still want to have Jim Thome's babies...if only the Twins will bring him back ;) If only the Twins can find a way to stay in the play off race beyond the first round...
The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup after an amazing array of division and conference title runs by teams that poured their hearts and souls into every game along the way. Well, all except for my Washington Capitals who thought, for the second year in a row, that they'd get by on pretty offensive plays alone. Silly boys.
The Wild continue on their never-ending search for consistency and an identity. I hate how they're playing since last season. If I never hear the word Compete again as long as I live it will be too soon. I don't believe Todd Richards is the coach for this team. I don't believe our team will be a contender for another two seasons - thanks mostly to crippling contracts currently in place and the cap limit. I do believe in the healing power of simply being in the arena for each home game so yes, these days it's more about me than it is about believing in my team's ability to pull their heads out of their asses. And on those rare occasions when the team deigns to show up for all three periods and make a real game of it - a thing of absolute beauty to behold. Because you just never know when that will happen - Vicki and I will continue to make the trek to the arena each game in hopes that 'tonight will be the night'. Eternal Optimists, yeah - that's us :)
Have a safe and festive New Year's Eve celebration my friends! Get those resolutions in order for 2011, it's just around the corner. I'll be back after the Wild/Preds game, probably more likely after the Winter Classic game on Saturday. Sally and I will be throwing down since it's her Penguins against my Capitals for bragging rights.
Coldplay - Clocks Seems fitting for the count down to a new year:
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Coach Tired of Boos, Inflated Numbers, BOGO Shootout Goalies
Boo Birds Piss off Todd Richards
Coach Richards is "sick and tired of being booed by the home crowd." And what, pray tell us, are you going to do about it, Todd??
That was my question going into tonight's game at home - you know, the place where the Wild have played like crap for the better part of the season so far. Well, I don't know what else he said in the locker room but Holy Grit and Grind - the team responded with one of their top five games to date for this season. It's hard not to burst with pride when your team plays the way they did tonight. These kind of games are far and few between so I'll take them for what they are - a gift, that cool drink of water in the middle of the desert. Russo's Coverage
Not that we didn't have our less than stellar moments:
Backstrom looking lost on two of the goals against and the team pissing away 3 power plays, including the 4 minute penalty that Mikko took stitches for.
All in all, the team played with determination and pride. Man, it's such a beautiful thing - it gives me chills! I'll be taking the sleeping pill tonight otherwise I'll be too jazzed to catch more than 2 hours after watching the game on DVR. I love feeling like this coming out of the arena! When you need both hands to count the players who left it all out on the ice you know you've seen a great game.
Why - oh - why can't they do this 9 out of 10 games? Why can't tonight be the norm instead of the laziness and lack of effort which has defined the last season and a half? Why must we endure game after game like the beat down by the Red Wings and that sad effort in Columbus? I'm greedy, I want more games like tonight!
Key To Wild Attendance
It's amusing to me that nobody, not the Wild or the media, is pointing out the real reason for the higher attendance numbers for these last few home games... free tickets were given to the 10 Year Season Ticket Holders. Each 10Y STH was given free tickets for a game - our choice from the home games between November 26 through January 2.
The 12.26 game, hosting the Red Wings, was one of those games and it showed. In addition to the extra hometown butts in seats from those free tickets, there were more Wings jerseys in the arena than I think I've ever seen before. Those Wing Nuts drive and fly into Minnesota in droves...curse them.
Tonight's game was missing the huge traveling fan base from California but just about everybody I talked to from the upper deck and the lower bowl was there by the grace of 'courtesy' or free tickets. Some folks had received them from family members or friends as a gift but most said they bought them from a ticket holder. So tonight's 19,131 announced attendance was tainted. But hey, at least everyone was treated to some great hockey!
Two Sieves In Shootouts
Going into the shootout in Columbus I was comforted by the fact that it was Jose in net and not Backstrom. Nik's struggled with the one-on-one since last season and that's no secret. Evidently I was lulled into a false sense of confidence by having anyone but Nik in the net after overtime. Jose proceeded to let in the pucks like he wasn't even there and my heart just sank, thinking that we've got some serious issues in net if both goalies can't stand the heat in the shootout. Imagine my surprise the next morning to see this headline from Russo: Wild Fires Mason... I immediately thought he was saying the Wild's goalie coach, Bob Mason, had been fired. Evidently, the editor needs some help creating headlines that are grammatically correct.
Must See TV
Archer is coming back for the next season on January 27.
Burn Notice - catch up on missed episodes with the marathon of episodes 12.30
Fairly Legal - new show on USA Network. I've liked Sarah Shahi since her role on NBC's defunct series Life, where she had the hots for my man Donal Logue's character.
The Good Guys - This Fox show just gets funnier with each episode!
For Bobbi - You'll know what this is for :)
Coach Richards is "sick and tired of being booed by the home crowd." And what, pray tell us, are you going to do about it, Todd??
That was my question going into tonight's game at home - you know, the place where the Wild have played like crap for the better part of the season so far. Well, I don't know what else he said in the locker room but Holy Grit and Grind - the team responded with one of their top five games to date for this season. It's hard not to burst with pride when your team plays the way they did tonight. These kind of games are far and few between so I'll take them for what they are - a gift, that cool drink of water in the middle of the desert. Russo's Coverage
Not that we didn't have our less than stellar moments:
Backstrom looking lost on two of the goals against and the team pissing away 3 power plays, including the 4 minute penalty that Mikko took stitches for.
All in all, the team played with determination and pride. Man, it's such a beautiful thing - it gives me chills! I'll be taking the sleeping pill tonight otherwise I'll be too jazzed to catch more than 2 hours after watching the game on DVR. I love feeling like this coming out of the arena! When you need both hands to count the players who left it all out on the ice you know you've seen a great game.
Why - oh - why can't they do this 9 out of 10 games? Why can't tonight be the norm instead of the laziness and lack of effort which has defined the last season and a half? Why must we endure game after game like the beat down by the Red Wings and that sad effort in Columbus? I'm greedy, I want more games like tonight!
Key To Wild Attendance
It's amusing to me that nobody, not the Wild or the media, is pointing out the real reason for the higher attendance numbers for these last few home games... free tickets were given to the 10 Year Season Ticket Holders. Each 10Y STH was given free tickets for a game - our choice from the home games between November 26 through January 2.
The 12.26 game, hosting the Red Wings, was one of those games and it showed. In addition to the extra hometown butts in seats from those free tickets, there were more Wings jerseys in the arena than I think I've ever seen before. Those Wing Nuts drive and fly into Minnesota in droves...curse them.
Tonight's game was missing the huge traveling fan base from California but just about everybody I talked to from the upper deck and the lower bowl was there by the grace of 'courtesy' or free tickets. Some folks had received them from family members or friends as a gift but most said they bought them from a ticket holder. So tonight's 19,131 announced attendance was tainted. But hey, at least everyone was treated to some great hockey!
Two Sieves In Shootouts
Going into the shootout in Columbus I was comforted by the fact that it was Jose in net and not Backstrom. Nik's struggled with the one-on-one since last season and that's no secret. Evidently I was lulled into a false sense of confidence by having anyone but Nik in the net after overtime. Jose proceeded to let in the pucks like he wasn't even there and my heart just sank, thinking that we've got some serious issues in net if both goalies can't stand the heat in the shootout. Imagine my surprise the next morning to see this headline from Russo: Wild Fires Mason... I immediately thought he was saying the Wild's goalie coach, Bob Mason, had been fired. Evidently, the editor needs some help creating headlines that are grammatically correct.
Must See TV
Archer is coming back for the next season on January 27.
Burn Notice - catch up on missed episodes with the marathon of episodes 12.30
Fairly Legal - new show on USA Network. I've liked Sarah Shahi since her role on NBC's defunct series Life, where she had the hots for my man Donal Logue's character.
The Good Guys - This Fox show just gets funnier with each episode!
For Bobbi - You'll know what this is for :)
Monday, December 27, 2010
A Win for the Wings - A Lump of Coal for Wild Fans
Actually, a lump of coal would imply there's a diamond in there just waiting to shine through. Load of crap is what we found under the Wild Christmas tree. Youngblood summed up the game well, with the exception of how MAGICALLY AWESOME everyone thinks Backstrom is. He's not. If Backstrom was so spectacular then the score would have been a much closer 2-1...at least on the score board. Did he make some great saves in the game? YES. Did his teammates clearly made a conscious effort to ditch him from the get-go? YES. Did Backstrom give away juicy rebounds to the Wings all game long? YES - something he's been doing all season long. Did Nik look completely lost more often than not when pucks whizzed by him that he never saw coming? YES. He faced under 30 shots and gave up 4 goals. I'm not saying Nik performed any worse than the rest of the team, including the coach. They all turned in a Grinch of a performance: STINK, STANK, STUNK. Fourteen minutes of penalty time, only 17 shots on goal for the whole game, 15 players with minus ratings for the game and a clueless coach.
The Wild's multimedia team did put together a fun pre-game video teaser. It was the highlight of the night. Maybe it will keep you all warm and fuzzy until tonight's game in Columbus.
The Wild's multimedia team did put together a fun pre-game video teaser. It was the highlight of the night. Maybe it will keep you all warm and fuzzy until tonight's game in Columbus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)