If that game didn’t create a few new hockey fans nothing will. What an amazing display of talent we were treated to in the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Game. Wow, just wow.
Let me introduce you to my favorite sports blogger on the Interwebs, Bob Sturm of SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket. He has expressed so perfectly what I and many other hockey fans feel today, nobody does that better than the Sturminator, so without his permission I’m gonna’ steal his words below:
To suggest I have a number of varying opinions about the hockey genius we witnessed yesterday and for the last 2 weeks would be an understatement. I feel that I should blog today from a number of varying perspectives, so please find the one that matters most to you and read on:
From the perspective of the USA hockey fan who felt a punch to the stomach a few moments before 5:00 pm yesterday when Sidney Crosby stole the show:
This one really hurts. I must tell you though, this team also exceeded my expectations and renewed so much hope in the state of American hockey in the post- Modano, Hull, Guerin, Richter, Roenick, Tkachuk, Leetch, Chelios-era. Many fans, like me, did not want to cut the ties with the old legends of American hockey, and were a bit uncomfortable with not bringing along a few gray-beards for the sake of nostaligia and leadership. But kudos to Brian Burke and company for having a vision and darn near riding that vision all the way to a gold medal. They believed in the next wave of young and talented studs – who grew up inspired by the old guard – and those young players demonstrated a fight and grit and spirit that gave us plenty of hope moving forward.
I really am proud that our country can produce players like Patrick Kane, Ryan Miller, and Zach Parise to carry on the torch. The gap still exists, as our American team may not have had more than those 3 make Team Canada, but we obviously can skate with them, and on our best day we can beat them.
I was also quite excited about the job that Jamie Langenbrunner did as captain. It is hard to consider him an old man, but in a young man’s game, he did very well in making sure that if the USA was going to drop a hockey game in these Olympics, it would only be at the climax of one of the greatest games ever played.
From a US perspective, I will never forget jumping around my living room with sheer joy when Parise scored to tie the game, nor will I forget standing there motionless when Canada celebrated. It is certainly different living and dying with a team you didn’t really know or understand 2 weeks ago, but it doesn’t take long to embrace a team who wears your flag.
In my lifetime, I look forward to my countrymen winning Olympic Gold when all of the best are playing. I doubt we will ever see the day when we are favored, but surely we know now that we can compete 20 on 20 with Canada’s finest. For a while yesterday, I started thinking it was destiny, and that it would happen in 2010. But, I must say, they played so well and courageously that I don’t leave these games feeling like an American player let us down. I think they squeezed everything they had out, and fell one puck short.
Proud of USA Hockey. Thanks for the ride, boys.
From the Perspective of a fan of Hockey who bangs the drum for this sport even when it annoys and frustrates me:
I think we now fully understand why this show is worthwhile. The NHL players who must work this into their sometimes-100 games + season to promote the sport are certainly pressed for time, but this is worth it. Hockey may be the only sport of the big 4 that can have a tournament where the teams are this close and as many as 6 teams have a chance at the Gold Medal according to experts (Canada, Russia, Sweden were the 3 favorites – with the USA, Finland, and Czech Republic also in the mix). Basketball isn’t far off, but the advantage the US has in hoops is far greater than the advantage Canada has on the ice. Of the first team NHL last year, 0 members of Team Canada made the list.
But, this is what happens when when the best show up and play with the passion to be the best. There is a clear difference between skating hard and skating hard with a gold medal on the line. The level of play was awesome. It was Stanley Cup Finals intensity, with 300% more talent on the ice than in any Stanley Cup Finals. The teams are loaded – uneffected with over-expansion – and playing like they mean it.
And obviously, this is key, because the world was watching. Or, at least North America was watching. I have never seen so many people talking hockey as I saw yesterday. On Twitter, people from every walk of life were trying to figure out what they were looking at as they gave hockey a chance for the first time in years.
I have no delusions that those same people are now signing up for NHL Center Ice and gathering around for the stretch drive of the NHL Season or reading up on who might be moved by the Wednesday trade deadline, but it is nice for them to see what it is that obsesses us.
This sport, at its best, takes second place to nobody. The intensity generated by a game of that magnitude and the nerves that accompany it cannot be duplicated. I love hockey for moments like yesterday. I sit through 1,000 games waiting for yesterday. And it is a pleasure.
As I said yesterday on twitter, “This. Is. Hockey. – Welcome”
I’ve been a fan of Leo Laporte for years, actually for over a decade now. From the old Screen Savers and Call for Help shows back in the nineties to the Tech TV days, the This Week in Tech podcast and Tech Guy Labs – Leo Laporte is the man when it comes to technology news and info. Sadly, he’s not on TV in the US anymore (at least not at the moment) but you can still find him on Twitter, The Lab with Leo, on syndicated radio doing the Tech Guy Labs show, and of course at TWiT.
This past weekend Leo got an interesting phone call from a women who has been stealing Wi-Fi for over a year and a half. She was actually dim enough to call up and complain that her “Linksys” had disappeared.
Wow! What an incredible game that was. I literally gave USA no chance of winning this thing. After Canada messed around and needed overtime to dispose of the Swiss 2 days earlier, I thought they’d come out like rabid dogs against the Americans last night. And why not, I mean Team Canada is basically a NHL All-Star team. The 4th line guys on this team are captains on their respective NHL teams. The talent level on this team is ridiculous, but when Rafalski put the US on the board at 41 seconds I thought, “oh boy, we may have a game here“.
What an understatement, this was a terrific game from start to finish. The entire schedule of games were amazing on Sunday with each hockey super power playing their rival. Russia VS Czech Republic, Sweden VS Finland, and of course USA, Canada. I absolutely love hockey, but especially Olympic hockey. As much as I enjoy the NHL, it simply cannot compare to Olympic hockey since the rules were changed to allow NHL players to participate. No team can ever duplicate The Miracle on Ice of 1980, even if we still sent college kids to the Olympics, due to the political and economical climate in America at the time. I say we continue to send professional players to the Olympics, so we don’t have to watch the Euro-pros gloat when they manage to win a game against our college boys.
Not only did Brian Rafalski have a great game, but Ryan Miller absolutely stood on his head and showed why he’ll get a few Vezina votes this Spring, plus Ryan Kesler scored what has to be the prettiest empty net goal ever. Also, it did my heart good to see Marty Brodeur look pedestrian. My guess is we may see Luongo in net for Canada after that display by Brodeur.
The only downside of the game for the Americans is that it happened while still in the preliminary round. No matter how great this game was, they don’t give out medals for winning the preliminary round. USA wins Group A, which earns them an extra day of rest and they get to play either Switzerland or Belarus as their reward, but they’ve done nothing to earn a medal yet.
Who knows, these two teams could see each other again for the gold medal next Sunday. Next up, we get to see if the Americans can keep it going, in the medal round, when it counts.
Few people in the United States can understand the level to which I am addicted to hockey. I have not spoken about my NHL addiction previously because, frankly, it’s been just too painful for me to deal with. If I start typing about the loss of the last NHL season my tears begin to cause my keyboard to rust.
I love the game – not just as a sport, but indeed as a way of life, a philosophy for being. I’m not Canadian, but most who know me feel that I probably should be. Hockey, for me, reaches very close to the realm of religious devotion. In the past I have planned my vacations around the NHL schedule, I once quit my job due to conflicts with the NHL schedule. Did I mention that I love this game?
The entire 2004-2005 NHL season was canceled due to a labour dispute between the players and franchise owners. The collective bargaining agreement expired prior to the season, and so did the season, as owners locked out the players and vowed to cancel the entire year if players did not agree to a salary cap. A salary cap was the one thing the players swore to never accept – so we, the NHL fans, got screwed out of an entire season of hockey. This marked the first and only time in history that a sport has missed an entire season due to a labour dispute.
The last collective bargaining agreement was signed after a lockout in 1995. The National Hockey League Player Association stood strong in the face of the owners and won that contract dispute, BIG TIME! The players raped the owners in that one, and in a way, the fans as well. The players enjoyed a decade of explosive growth in the NHL, not to mention an explosive growth in the pay scale – making more money than any players in history, many players became very very rich under the previous CBA. Obviously, one day, the party had to end.
Although I am thrilled that a new collective bargaining agreement has been signed, and my withdrawal suffering has come to an end as I will be able to enjoy NHL hockey action again this season, I am quite convinced that the party is officially over. Players, under the leadership of NHLPA Director Bob Goodenow, have done what they vowed to never do by accepting a salary cap – not to mention an across the board 24% salary cut. This is a pathetic deal for the players, it sickens me to think that they could have agreed to a better deal last year and saved the season.
After a decade of making the big bucks and enjoying an all-time high in hockey popularity for the players it’s only fair the owners now get their turn. The crushing defeat of the players association was made complete today as NHLPA Director Bob Goodenow has officially stepped down from his post.
In less than a decade NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmen now has completed what he was hired to do: Expand the NHL to 30 teams, and put a salary cap system in place. Now that the owners have their salary cap, or “cost certainty” as they like to call it, lets see if ticket prices become reasonable enough for normal fans to attend a game without being forced to first take out a second mortgage.
Tabi, Tori and I went to six-flags yesterday, but only for a few hours. It was ridiculously hot, and the girls were looking beat after only an hour. It was near 100 degrees by noon, and 100 degrees in Texas feels like about 175 degrees in drier climates. So we left to grab some lunch, then decided to go home so Tabi could take a nap. Then we went back to six-flags that evening. It turned out to be a great idea as the girls had a lot more fun when we returned after the sun went down.
I’ve decided to go ahead and plop down some major bucks for a digital camera, and by major bucks I mean major bucks for moi’. I’ve never spent more than about 50 bucks on a camera, and that was way back before digital cameras became so popular. I actually do have a digital camera now, however it came free with the purchase of a Canon printer. LOL.
Anyway, I’m serious about this, I’m going all -out and purchasing an equally serious photographic tool. After a couple weeks of research I’ve narrowed it down to the Canon Digital Rebel, the Nikon D70s, or perhaps the Nikon D50. The D50 is pretty much the same camera as the D70, minus only a few features that I won’t understand how to use anyway, but a bit cheaper. The Rebel is cheaper than both Nikon cameras, although it comes with a crappy lens that will almost certainly need to be replaced thus adding to the start up costs. All three cameras take absolutely stunning photos though, you really can’t go wrong. Hmmm, decisions decisions…
All of these cameras are too expensive for me and are actually waaaay more camera than I probably need. What’s more, regardless of which one I end up buying my wife is gonna castrate me.
Saturday was Tabitha’s first ever dance recital. She performed a ballet dance to Kermit the Frog’s “Rainbow Connection”, and did a wonderful job if I do say so myself. Not that I’m biased or anything… =) She’s the only four year old in her class, the other girls are five, plus Tabi only started dance class in March while the other girls have over a full year of experience.
I’ve been watching the box office numbers for Star Wars all weekend and I am amazed at the figures. Revenge of the Sith has blown away all previously held records for an opening weekend by movies like Spiderman, Shrek2 and Titanic. By Sunday evening Star Wars had made almost 160 Million, making it the top weekend grossing film of all time.
I saw Episode III on Friday and while it was easily better than the last two Star Wars films I still left the theater feeling that something was missing. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the film and will almost certainly see it again, but it just doesn’t measure up to the original trilogy IMO. Not because I’m an old guy and still yearn for the old days, I read the positive reviews and wanted very much for this film to be the best Star Wars movie ever, but because the new trilogy lacks many of the things the original trilogy featured so prominently. Not the least of which was ‘acting’ or I suppose I should say ‘directing‘. When your cast includes Academy Award nominees like Natalie Portman, Samuel Jackson and Ewen McGregor it’s not acting ability that you lack.
George Lucas, while being a great story teller with a rich, vivid imagination, is not a first-class script writer and a very limited director – this film proves that. My favorite Star Wars film is the same one that comes out on top in each and every online poll ranking the 6 films, “The Empire Strikes Back”. Ironically, or perhaps justifiably, George Lucas did not direct “Empire”, he even had help with the script. The original trilogy of Star Wars films had more heart and emotion than the new films, not to mention subtle humor and a genuine caring for the characters. Perhaps because of the weak script, or the acting, or directing, I don’t think the new trilogy was able to capture that.
I really enjoyed Star Wars Episode III
Except for the weak storyline, pathetic script,
even worse directing, and of course
Hayden Christensen
I came this close to going to the midnight showing of Star Wars Episode III last night, honest I did. But uh, er, well, my wife wouldn’t let me… There I said it, I admit I have no testicles – as if anyone who knows me didn’t already know that.
My wife said I could go see Star Wars with her, so I told her “you damn right” and bought tickets for this Friday. I’ll show her who runs this ship…
I don’t seem to go to the movies as often as I used to. Having young children limits your time for movie going, as well as what movies you can see without turning the kids into serial killers. Also, my taste in movies is quite often very different from that of my wife. Her favorite DVD right now is Nick Cage’s National Treasure. I like Cage and I like adventure flicks, but National Treasure is about as braindead a script as you will find this year. I don’t mind checking reality at the theatre entrance in order to enjoy a movie, but even I have limits to just how ridiculously stupid I can pretend to be.
I love movies though, but I’ve only seen one film so far all year (I saw Sin City by myself a couple months back, I recommend it – but NOT for kids… or my wife either for that matter.) I must admit however, I am getting pretty psyched about the new Star Wars movie coming out on the 19th. Admittedly, I grew up with Star Wars so I have no choice but to be in attendance when the latest release opens. However, the buzz is so much more positive for “Revenge of the Sith” than for the last two Star Wars flicks that I am not only looking forward to seeing it but I’m actually considering going to one of the midnight showings on the night before it’s release like my friends and I used to do when I was a kid.
Juvenile? OK, sure, I guess so. But if this is the worst thing I ever do under the guise of midlife instability then I should be OK.
There are already two sequels
planned for Sin City.
This one really hurts. I must tell you though, this team also exceeded my expectations and renewed so much hope in the state of American hockey in the post- Modano, Hull, Guerin, Richter, Roenick, Tkachuk, Leetch, Chelios-era. Many fans, like me, did not want to cut the ties with the old legends of American hockey, and were a bit uncomfortable with not bringing along a few gray-beards for the sake of nostaligia and leadership. But kudos to Brian Burke and company for having a vision and darn near riding that vision all the way to a gold medal. They believed in the next wave of young and talented studs – who grew up inspired by the old guard – and those young players demonstrated a fight and grit and spirit that gave us plenty of hope moving forward.
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