R.I.P. John Barbero

In case you don't know who John Barbero was, he used to be the P.A. announcer at the Pens games. His booming voice was fantastic...loud, yet not brash. We will all miss you Mr. Barbero.



On another note, this is horribly disgusting:

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5408587

Most cases of food poisoning go undetected, with most people thinking that they just got a bad "stomach flu" (Sorry, I'm a Public Health major in college, and this story caught my attention). Damn stadium food is too expensive anyway. As long as the beer is O.K., I'm good.

No major news going on in the hockey world, unless you're into the whole Kovalchuk thing. I really don't care about that money-hungry bastard, and I'm getting sick of hearing about it on every hockey blog I follow. So that is my rant of the day.

What exactly is the red guy doing, anyway?

I'll openly admit that I kinda like silly bandz, but I think some of them are trying too hard. It's kind of like what happens when you're laying down, looking at the clouds in the sky. "That one looks kinda like a puppy, if you drop some acid and squint REALLY hard."

I'm not dead yet.

Anything I can report here you have already probably heard. Sorry I've been so lazy with the blog, but I've been busy reading the 8 million books I've accumulated. On another note, I get to go to the oral surgeon for a consultation about my wisdom teeth that I probably should have had yanked a few years ago, but decided to put off. I want to get this done before I go back to school in the fall, plus the things are starting to piss me off. Thankfully I only have 2 of them instead of 4, so I guess there's something to be happy about. I'll try to keep up on the blog...promise.

The first day of free agency

Lots of surprises during the first day of free agency. Here are some notables:

1. Gonch signs with Ottawa. This was surprising in a few ways. First of all, I didn't think that the Sens needed a player like Gonch. Second, I'm surprised by the length of the contract. I think a 3 year contact is a little risky with a player his age.

2. Niittymaki signs with San Jose. We all know that Nabokov's time with the Sharks has ended, but I, like a lot of people, expected them to sign Turco. Now the mystery is where Nabi and Marty are going to end up. Turco is a great goalie in my opinion, he just needs a change of scenery and a better defense in front of him.

3. Ray Whitney has signed with Phoenix. Good move by the Coyotes.

4. Colby Armstrong signed with the Leafs. This one wasn't a huge surprise, but I has still clutching to the small possibility that he would come back to Pittsburgh. Thanks for crushing my dreams, Brian Burke.

5. Hamhuis is pawned off on yet another team. This one wasn't too much of a surprise, but it would have been nice to see him in a Pens uniform.

6. The Pens signed Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek. Good move getting some afforable defensemen who can get the job done. Bad move because now I'll need to spell Zybnek correctly in this blog...

7. I'm a little pissed that Shero didn't re-sign Leopold. With the two additions above, it's understandable, but I think Leopold is an amazing player who fit in well with the Pens. He's fantastic at moving the puck up the ice, and could have been a key piece of the power play in the absence of Gonch. Oh well...

8. What is Billy G's fate? I really don't want to see him go, and with the Pens' lack of wingers, it would make sense to keep him for one more year to play along Sid.

So there ya have it. A pretty interesting Day 1 in my opinion. Another note: since Modano won't be with the Stars again next season, I think he should just retire. That would be like Stevie Y playing one more year for a team other than Detroit...it wouldn't be right.

You will notice that I haven't posted anything on the draft. I'm not much of a draft person. Two words: Milan Kraft. Nuff' said.

Also, please disregard the previous post. Sometimes my predictions blow.

Just a quick thought...

I'll have a much longer post in the coming days, but I wanted to get this idea out of my head before the possibility of it actually happening. If the Pens don't sign Gonch, I believe the Avs will sign him. Even though they want to build the team from the ground up, they need an experienced D-man. Just remember, you heard it here first.

But does it make toast?

The answer is "Why yes. Yes it does." I finally got this in the mail:



Oh yeah! Now to see if it works. We'll take two slices of bread:



Pop em' in the toaster, and wait impatiently:



And we have awesome, yummy toast!



And then we sing a song:



I feel kind of bad for putting Country Crock and blueberry jam on it. Oh well, it was tasty. Now I'm probably going to end up eating toast every day until I die.

Awards show...

So the awards show was pretty much as I and a lot of other people expected...a lame bit of fluff as always. I only got through about half of it before I shut it off. The presenters, for the most part, were horrible and not funny at all (I'm looking at you Jay Mohr). Here's an idea: get REAL celebrity hockey fans (Denis Leary, Kevin Smith, Vince Vaughn), and some women who know at least SOMETHING about the game to present the awards. I think it would be fun to have a contest for the fans where the winner gets to present an award (and not the Lady Byng...I'm talkin a real award here). The only good part about the ceremony was the skit with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan.



Funny shit right there.

In other news, the Hawks have begun their Stanley Cup winning liquidation. Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, and Ben Eager are the first casualties, being traded to Atlanta for Marty Reasoner, prospect Jeremy Morin, the New Jersey Devils' first-round pick (No. 24 overall) and the Devils' second-round pick (No. 54 overall). Honestly, I think this was a win-win situation for both teams. The Hawks got a lot from the deal without having to dole out a lot of money, and have a little bit of wiggle room in the salary cap now. Atlanta got some solid, proven players, and everyone knows they could use it. What's left to be seen is if the Thrashers will trade their new acquisitions for a bag of pucks and a jock strap. Have a good one, and try to stay cool...it's been hot as hell here.