The Sports Bar

[Bad furday 57]

So Uncle Du..are all those bandwagon Pens fans fleeing the sinking ship? ;)

[Uncle Du 22]

Not yet. It's going to take them losing in the playoffs and then sucking more the following season. It'll be some time before most of the people here forget about hockey. Mostly cause they're building a brand new arena here. But it'll happen.

[Master Hayes 1]

Du that article about bettman was spot on! That stuff about versus is even better, and get this; I have directTV and they are having a dissupte with comcast(they own VS.) so direct TV isn't even airing VS. because comcast wants to charge more for the channel. How f'ing stupid is that?!?!?!? I'm annoyed I can't watch "national" games, but I'm glad directTV isn't pushing more costs to it's subscribers.

I was well aware of bettmans time with the NBA, and when appointed I thought, WTF??? He's totally usrupped the tradition from the NHL, the worst of which was renaming the divisions and conferences. I even heard the other day from a couple of guys at my work that they may rename NHL trophies so more people would know who they are named after. WTF kinda crap is that?? It's obvious that more teams aren't doing well money wise. The fact that bettman won't let a team move back to Canada is a load of crap too. If bettman had any brains he would let the Coyotes move back to Winnipeg. Just imagine the fans that would've should up if Gretzky was still their coach?!?! That bettman guy is just nuts!

Now I do have answers to your questions regarding why no one has come close to those scoring records, and it comes in two parts.

1. Goalie equiptment was getting much much bigger. Just look at a game from the mid 80's to even the early 90's. My favorite example, and I get really irked just thinking about it, was from 2003 when the Wild played the Ducks in the Western final. Before the game started tehy showed that JS Guigere guy in the hall warming up. He had on his lower body gear only, so you could see his upper body. You could've fit 2 more guys in his breezers(hockey pants)! That proof enough for me that goalie equipment was way to big. I'm sure JS was't the only one like that either. Also, just about every goalie now plays the butterfly style. Back in the day goalies were more stand up stlye, would flop around a lot, and wouldn't be in as good of position as todays goalies.

2. Even though kids growing up today can prety much play hockey year round they don't work on the same things that, when they were kids guys like Gretzky and the like would. If you ever get to see or hear Hall of Fame NHLers talk about hockey has a kid it always include the "I would play until I was told I had to come home, or until it got to dark to play." They would spend hours on ponds or in rinks their dads made in the back yard and work on little things like shooting the puck. Gretzky used to tip a picnic table on it's side and shoot at it for hours. He got to the point where he never missed.

Young kids now don't really spend that much time away from hockey after practice, at least not around here anyway.

I really love the fact that there's some puck heads here. It's one of the few passions that I have. I'd post more, but it's time to watch the NHL Winter Classic.

[Uncle Du 22]

I'm totally with you on the way kids learn to play the game. It seems that more and more, parents are the ones that push their kids to play. I'm not saying that there aren't kids out there that are truly passionate about the game, but none of have the passion that the Great One brought to the league, and that's why his record may stand forever.

I love hockey. I could talk it all day, but I'm hungry. ;)

[Uncle Du 22]

So my sister and her husband are huge Sabres fans and the Avs are playing them in Buffalo next Saturday. I guess they already bought tickets for us too. God I hope that we can get up there.

[Uncle Du 22]

More lunacy from the Broncos head coach, benching our star player in the season finale.

I am so freakin' sick of this dude. Everyone wants to laude mcdaniels about what a great job he's done with the team, but how much can you really say about a team that went 6-0, and then followed it up in the next 9 weeks with a 2-7 record? Love em or hate, there is a need for prima donna players in the league, because they're the ones that bring in crowds, and they're the ones that are making the big plays to win games. B-Marsh is going to be gone next year, and the Broncos will be without ANY standout players. Yea, we might get a good 1st and 3rd round pick, but for what? A couple of guys that won't even begin to produce for a few years to come? I am so tired of seeing mcdaniels try to be Belichik, because he's not. For some reason mcdaniels thinks that he can do with Marshall what Belichik did with Moss. Totally different thing, because Bill had already established himself as an elite coach, and Moss CHOSE to play for him. mcdaniels is out there trying to be a tough guy, when if he REALLY wanted to grab a berth in the post-season, he would be starting his star receiver. Couple that with the fact that Scheffler got demoted to the scout team, and that Eddie Royal more than likely won't play, that pretty much leaves a bunch of scrubs for our scrub quarterback to throw to. But they have heart. And they're all about the team. That's what matters at Dove Valley now I guess, heart. Not winning. F you mcdaniels, I never liked your smug ass to begin with.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Du

[Mara 29]

And as for the Pens, well, that's the second time in a week and a half that Brodeur has shut them out. That is soooooo freakin' awesome.

Ahashaha. My sister is complaining about it--5 loses in a row!--but I don't pity her at all.

Pointing to my 'Canes' record helps. :p

[Uncle Du 22]

Yea. I sure as hell hope that teams in the NHL continue to pummel the penguins. I want to see them have an epic meltdown just like the steelers.

[Master Hayes 1]

More lunacy from the Broncos head coach, benching our star player in the season finale.

I am so freakin' sick of this dude. Everyone wants to laude mcdaniels about what a great job he's done with the team, but how much can you really say about a team that went 6-0, and then followed it up in the next 9 weeks with a 2-7 record? Love em or hate, there is a need for prima donna players in the league, because they're the ones that bring in crowds, and they're the ones that are making the big plays to win games. B-Marsh is going to be gone next year, and the Broncos will be without ANY standout players. Yea, we might get a good 1st and 3rd round pick, but for what? A couple of guys that won't even begin to produce for a few years to come? I am so tired of seeing mcdaniels try to be Belichik, because he's not. For some reason mcdaniels thinks that he can do with Marshall what Belichik did with Moss. Totally different thing, because Bill had already established himself as an elite coach, and Moss CHOSE to play for him. mcdaniels is out there trying to be a tough guy, when if he REALLY wanted to grab a berth in the post-season, he would be starting his star receiver. Couple that with the fact that Scheffler got demoted to the scout team, and that Eddie Royal more than likely won't play, that pretty much leaves a bunch of scrubs for our scrub quarterback to throw to. But they have heart. And they're all about the team. That's what matters at Dove Valley now I guess, heart. Not winning. F you mcdaniels, I never liked your smug ass to begin with.

I gotta say Du that the benching of Marshall was a ballsy move, stupid of course, but ballsy. Don't be so hard on "The Legend Killer" Kyle Orton. All he ever did was win as a starter for the Bears, and of course lit the Vikes up good too. The QB can only be as good as his receivers. I did chuckle when I heard Marshall point out that McDaniels never played the game.

[Master Hayes 1]

So to go back to hockey for a minute, and Du you're going to love this.....

My boss comes up to me today, and he's flipping through a SI magazine. After not finding what he wanted to show me he tells that in order to save money for the NHL bettman is considering this; Playing the games 4 on 4 for the whole game. With fewer players on the ice he figures teams could reduce their roster size thus saving money on payroll. I damn near had a melt down at work about this, and had to do some slow breathing for about 30 minutes after.

Now I tried find something about this on the SI website, but found nothing. I don't see anything on the NHL website either. MY boss know my love of hockey and hatred of bettman so he could've been yanking my chain, but something about it makes me think it's something bettman would do because he's such an idiot.

Now I've seen that the Wild owner blogs, so I'm thinking I might randomly reply to his blogs and ask him to do NHL fans a favor and rid the NHL of bettman. What to do you think? ;)

[Princess 35]

Well, hopefully the GMs won't be stupid enough to let him do that

[Uncle Du 22]

I gotta say Du that the benching of Marshall was a ballsy move, stupid of course, but ballsy. Don't be so hard on "The Legend Killer" Kyle Orton. All he ever did was win as a starter for the Bears, and of course lit the Vikes up good too. The QB can only be as good as his receivers. I did chuckle when I heard Marshall point out that McDaniels never played the game.

I catch constant flak for talking down on Orton, lol. I know the guy has a career winning record, but the problem is, he lacks the latent talent and ability to lead a team all the way. The ultimate goal in the NFL is to win the damn Super Bowl, not to just do better than the previous year. It's not that I don't like the guy, but he's not going to win us a title. He'd be a great back-up to a better QB. I just get so spun up about this whole mcdaniels business. He does not have enough experience under his belt to be benching his star players. It cost us a playoff berth, I honestly believe that. Not that we deserved to be there, but still. Come next season, I can almost guarantee that B-Marsh and Scheffler are gone. They're both extremely talented, and why the hell are they going to want to play for a coach that will bench them because of a personality conflict? They can both get paid better some where else, and play the game the way they want, without some young, untested coach trying to make a tough guy statement. OK, enough about that.

So to go back to hockey for a minute, and Du you're going to love this.....

My boss comes up to me today, and he's flipping through a SI magazine. After not finding what he wanted to show me he tells that in order to save money for the NHL bettman is considering this; Playing the games 4 on 4 for the whole game. With fewer players on the ice he figures teams could reduce their roster size thus saving money on payroll. I damn near had a melt down at work about this, and had to do some slow breathing for about 30 minutes after.

Now I tried find something about this on the SI website, but found nothing. I don't see anything on the NHL website either. MY boss know my love of hockey and hatred of bettman so he could've been yanking my chain, but something about it makes me think it's something bettman would do because he's such an idiot.

Now I've seen that the Wild owner blogs, so I'm thinking I might randomly reply to his blogs and ask him to do NHL fans a favor and rid the NHL of bettman. What to do you think?

Duuuuuude, I read that and ewokin' flipped out! It sounds so utterly insane, which is why I totally can't discount it. That would be the last straw. I would no longer watch anything having to do with the NHL. I would just have to start following college hockey more. Great, now I'm all upset. :p

[Ana 15]

Really? I suppose they must have been playing horribly in one game...as her Facebook status said she was"watching the Sharks lose, wallowing in misery" or something like that....and I inferred them to be not that great?

That one particular game, they were sucking balls. It was over Thanksgiving break, I go to a game, and what happens? We lose 7 to 2. To Chicago. The two top teams in the NHL, it was supposed to be an exciting match, a close one, a game for the record books. Well, it did make the record books - as, I believe, the largest gap-between-scores loss for the Sharks in four years. We were utterly creamed. We win a lot, but when we lose, we lose spectacularly - no middle ground.

Speaking of getting utterly creamed, I just got back from a game. We lost to the LA Kings, 6-2. It's not quite that they played bad - maybe at 80% optimum game - but the Kings were at 100%, and thus we were just whooped by the number 11 team. >_<

But overall, the Sharks are second in the league (after Chicago), and keeping eyes on the playoffs. Also, it should be mentioned that Team Canada has taken our entire offensive starting line for the Vancouver Olympics - Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thornton - and plan on playing them together, because they are Just That Awesome. They also took Dan Boyle, our fave defenseman. So really, at some point in the Olympics, all four will be out together and all Canadians on the ice but goalie and one defenseman will be Sharks. Represent, yo.

[James the Defender 7]

Wild card weekend predictions:

Green Bay 35, Arizona 21

Philadelphia 24, Dallas 28

NY Jets 21, Cincy 14

Baltimore 28, New England 27

[Ayingel 24]

no....not really liking the packers prediction. :p

[James the Defender 7]

I was going to ask why, but then I remembered

I'm giving Arizona more points than some analysts are, lol

Edited January 5, 2010 by James the Defender

[Uncle Du 22]

Really? I suppose they must have been playing horribly in one game...as her Facebook status said she was"watching the Sharks lose, wallowing in misery" or something like that....and I inferred them to be not that great?

That one particular game, they were sucking balls. It was over Thanksgiving break, I go to a game, and what happens? We lose 7 to 2. To Chicago. The two top teams in the NHL, it was supposed to be an exciting match, a close one, a game for the record books. Well, it did make the record books - as, I believe, the largest gap-between-scores loss for the Sharks in four years. We were utterly creamed. We win a lot, but when we lose, we lose spectacularly - no middle ground.

Speaking of getting utterly creamed, I just got back from a game. We lost to the LA Kings, 6-2. It's not quite that they played bad - maybe at 80% optimum game - but the Kings were at 100%, and thus we were just whooped by the number 11 team. >_<

But overall, the Sharks are second in the league (after Chicago), and keeping eyes on the playoffs. Also, it should be mentioned that Team Canada has taken our entire offensive starting line for the Vancouver Olympics - Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thornton - and plan on playing them together, because they are Just That Awesome. They also took Dan Boyle, our fave defenseman. So really, at some point in the Olympics, all four will be out together and all Canadians on the ice but goalie and one defenseman will be Sharks. Represent, yo.

That is just about the most bad ass line the league has seen in some time. It figures that every time you go to a game, they lose. What are the odds, lol. Oh, and you guys are tied for first in the league. You and the 'Hawks both have 61 points.

[Mara 29]

4 on 4 hockey is exciting, yes, but a full game of it? I wouldn't want to watch that.

Hopefully it's just a rumor.

[James the Defender 7]

Caity was sleeping last night, so I secretly turned on the Flyers' game and watched them trounce the Leafs 6-2. w00t!

[Ender 8]

Your wife forces you to come to bed?

[Princess 35]

He's a newly-wed

[Uncle Du 22]

:lol:

[James the Defender 7]

Your wife forces you to come to bed?

We were in the living room. She fell asleep on the couch, thank you very much. And there's no forcing into bed...I go willingly ;)

[Uncle Du 22]

We need a like button here. ;)

[Princess 35]

What do you think this is, facebook?