Vancouver 2010, Eh!

It's been a great past two weeks for fans of winter and winter sports.  In New York we've seen record snowfalls and world was treated to the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  As a New York who enjoys and embraces seasons [Editor's note: that was a cheap shot at a certain San Diego friend] I prefer the Winter Games over the Summer Games.

Since I have this bad habit of typing to no end, I will dedicate a later post to discuss my thoughts on what should constitute a sport.  Here are some of my observations from these games in no particular order:

[Obligatory Disclaimer: all observations were made prior to watching the closing ceremonies]

1)  It took awhile but I finally learned curling.  Not that I want to watch people throw rocks down an ice surface for three hours, but at least I can explain it to someone in under 90 seconds.

2) A Double McTwist 1260 is not an item on the McDonalds Dollar Menu nor a character on Grey's Anatomy, rather two flips while doing 3.5 twists (rotations).  Thank you Shaun White.

3)  Two-man luge continues to make me uncomfortable.

4)  Favorite Olympic name:  Torah Bright (Australian snowboarder)

5)  Do the Olympians have any say on what they wear?  I plan to purchase a Ryan Callahan USA hockey jersey (image on right).  I'm still undecided about the USA snowboarders "uniform" (with the fake jeans) but what were those Norwegian curlers (curlists?) thinking.  Still undecided about the USA snowboarders and I'm not going to discuss the outfits worn by the figure skaters.

6)  I can do without the NHL and the all-star festivities for the two-week Olympic tournament.  I just hope someday soon the women's tournament can be competitive.  Watching the USA and Canada dominate the women of the world is just painful. 

7)  The Russians continue to be sore losers.  After a male Russian figure skater lost to an American, he took a shot at the victorious skater's lack of performing a quadruple thingy, and called his performance something more fitting to ice dancing (another winter Olympic event).  My take:  Is there a difference between figure skating and ice dancing anyway?

8)  And finally, the Olympic games will always be remembered for the tragedies and negatives of the games and less so for all the great moments.  Vancouver will be probably be remembered for its glitches and tragedies rather than its amazing stories.  More on this here.  All non-believers should do a quick search of the Summer Games in Atlanta in1996 or the Winter Games in Munich in 1972.

Eight observations in honor of Apollo Ohno's total career Olympic medals.  Congrats to all those who competed in Vancouver and I'll see you all in Sochi, Russia in 2014!

And for those keeping score at home...

...and you should be, let's have a little recap based on yesterday's post:

1. I got three less than friendly emails regarding a sarcastic comment about abortion. Look, it's your body do what you want--until it becomes my child!

2. I was tempted to watch last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother again just for laughs (but I didn't)

3. I was however so inspired by that episode that my period of inspiration extended to this exact moment in time as I type this, making this two posts in two days (again, for those of you keeping score at home and I know you are)

4. I was also able to keep my promise of making today productive. I sent out those emails I needed to respond to but kept pushing off, sent out several resumes for job postings, and dealt with my stupid insurance company for hopefully the last time. I also spent 3 solid hours doing legal research and actually learned something! I even set up my calendar on my pocketPC for the next two weeks. This is actually a big step because it also means I got to throw out scattered post-it notes and little pieces of paper with small notes on them. The rest of my day was so much less important that even if I had Twitter and was the uber-twit (or is that uber-tweet), I still wouldn't tweet those details.

5. Of course the productivity ended a little after 5pm when I got a call asking if I wanted to go play tennis. I'm not all that good at tennis but I have a tendency to drop what I'm doing to play most sports. I hope to improve on both my tennis and golf games over the summer so stay tuned. Either way, after tennis, I showered and went for dinner and then it was bum-city for the rest of the night until now, as I type this. At least my day ended on a productive note!

Credits
Steve Somers - host of local sports radio show on WFAN; known for using that line on the air referring to either ad numbers or segment numbers (I don't recall having stopped listening to "The Fan" many years ago with the exception of actual sporting events)

Ted Mosby - see earlier posts

"We all wanna live forever
we all wanna be something, someday
ready to face whatever's yet to come
and I'm starting it all today"
Stir - Climbing the Walls

Ode to Hockey

The last couple of weeks have been very disappointing for my beloved New York Rangers. [That's hockey for those non-sports fans] Before last night's win, they had 2 wins in their last 14 games. Not a good stretch this late in the season.

I had the chance to watch the last 3 games in full and was reminded why the hockey, more specifically the NHL, is the greatest of all major professional sports Enjoy the list of reasons why and I await the debate that will follow.

1. Stanley Cup
   This is the holy grail of professional sports. Weighing 35 pounds and displaying the names of every player and coach from every team to win the cup, there is no championship trophy that even comes close.
2. Changing on the Fly
   If you watch the sport, you'll know what this means. For the rest of you, I will elaborate. During play, players from both teams are free to come on and off the ice so long as they don't exceed the maximum number allowed at a give time. They change shifts as players get tired or to better match the players on the opposing side. This would never work in baseball or football, but how great would it be if the NBA allowed changing on the fly?
3. True International Sport
   There is no sport played in more (real) countries and there is no sport with as many nations represented in the greatest league in the world. Baseball is a distant second, but it's easy to argue that the entire Latin America is just one nation. [No apologies to my Latino friends]. Also, the top players all time are NOT Americans.
4. Fighting
   Is there any other sport where fighting is virtually expected? Someone takes a cheap shot at your star player, you drop the stick, drop the gloves and go at it like men. It won't lead to fines or suspensions, rather a few minutes in the penalty box or possibly an ejection. Sometimes even the goalies go at it!
5. Referees
   The game is played on ice. Only in hockey are the refs in such great shape that they can skate around the ice for 60 minutes watching the play, dodging pucks and dodging players that are flying around at all times. Can you name another sport where the refs jump in the middle of a fight to try to break it up?
6. "Hits the Post!"
   There is no sound that gets a crowd up off their feet in all sports. The swoosh of a jumper doesn't make the cut and how many cracks off a baseball bat sound like a home run only to fall well short of the outfield wall? To hockey fans especially the clank off the post or crossbar is the best or worst sound one can hear in a game. If the puck is shot at your goalie, it's a gasp of relief and if your player takes the shot the crowd lets out a collective "ugh" as the puck sails to the corner.
7. The Names
   You can't make up some of these names or the nicknames. Hakan Loob, Jeff Beukeboom, Jarko Ruuto, or the legend--wait for it--dary Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, or Maurice "Rocket" Richard (who had a brother Henri known as "Pocket Rocket").
8. The Moves
   You watch SportsCenter on a given day during hockey season and you're bound to see at least on goal or save on their top plays. Search "Alex Ovechkin" on YouTube and you will see poetry in motion [I have no idea what that means]. Put him up against ANY move in basketball. It would compare closest to football where a running back makes a bunch of moves to get by the opposing defensive line. The difference is that after he gets by them, he still doesn't have a goalie blocking a goal only six feet wide.
9. The Calls
   There's something about hockey announcers that's different from any other announcer. [Disclaimer: there are always exceptions, but for the following observation, I'm speaking of the norm.] There may be an unwritten rule that announcers are not allowed to get too excited while calling a game. In hockey you don't have that. While you're on YouTube, check out the "Matteau Goal" or listen to the Pittsburgh Penguins radio voice with his growling "hhhheeee shoots he scooooores." This is more than your Marv Albert or Joe Buck. Think Al Michaels' call from the "Miracle on Ice."

Oh Canada!

Today's post is a special shout out to our neighbor to the north...good ol' Canadia [misspelling intended]

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post is especially late because now I've been back in New York for about a week and a half.

While I sit around wasting time, looking for a job, and starting a business (or 3), I figured that such a stressful life deserves a vacation. Presidents' weekend is a nice long weekend so I figured that would be a good time to go away. So then I needed to decide where to go. My income is limited so it would have to be cheap and even these days, flights are too pricey. That narrowed the vacation radius to 7 hours of driving.

What better than to spend Presidents' weekend in a country where the weekend has no significance!?!?! Montreal, here we come! So I packed my stuff and planned to visit some friends from college and their kids and other friends up there. The week leading up to the weekend happened to have been incredibly busy so planning was last minute. I packed my skis with the intention of skiing one of those days, but between everyone schedules (the friends I drove to split gas and other friends) skiing wasn't going to happen so I my skis at my friends apartment in the city.

Over the weekend we realized that this was my ninth trip to Canada. The next time I go and get my card punched, I get a free sub, or car wash, or pint of Labatt.

So here are the highs and lows from the weekend (in no order):

• Didn't see any moose
• Good homemade pancakes on Sunday with (probably) authentic maple syrup
• Didn't see any mounties
• It was a little colder than I packed for (even after traveling there twice in the last 4 years, both in the winter)
• Whatshername (there's always a girl involved)
• Making it home in 5 and a half hours even after being stopped at customs for trying to smuggle a Canadian into the states (and no crazy speeding either)
• Playing hockey with my friends oldest kid in the living room (I love hockey)
• Those kids REALLY tire me out
• Drank a lot, but didn't have any Canadian beer
• Not as much snow as I thought
• Getting out of New York
• Not exchanging any money or speaking a word of French
• Waiter at the restaurant Saturday night who was a little too excited to talk politics with an American

On a side note, while waiting for whatshername to pick me up, I found some hockey on TV. The only problem was that the game was televised in French. I know about 7 French words that have nothing to do with hockey. No problem as I watched the game on mute and listened to NHL radio. I'd rather deal with a 5 second delay in the play-by-play than have to listen to the action in French

USA! USA! USA!

#9

1994 was a magical year for the New York Rangers. For one thing, they ended their 54 year Stanley Cup drought, and also that was the year Adam Graves broke the Rangers record for most goals in a season, with 52, breaking a 22 year old team record. Tonight the Rangers honored Adam Graves and raised his number to the rafters of the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.

Tonight I would like to dedicate this post to Adam Graves, #9. Adam Graves was not the biggest, strongest, fastest or hardest shooter, but he was a solid all-around player. His teammates enjoyed the time with him and he was good to them. Adam Graves played hockey the way it should be played. He was smart, quick, played solid defense, and stood up for his teammates. Getting a busted lip or broken nose or teeth knocked out was a regular occurrence for Graves.

Not only that, Graves was a solid role model off the ice. Many athletes have their own "foundations." There may be some generosity, but it's also good for tax purposes when athletes make a hefty sum of money. Adam Graves not only gave to charities, but also gave time and served as a vehicle for others to donate. Writing a check from your millions is easy, but giving your time and being the solid role model that gets others to give is something special. Both on the ice and off, Adam Graves was as selfless as it gets.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, sports is a metaphor for life. It's the good people who are truly happy. Graves' accomplishments on the ice will not get him into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but he has been recognized by his teammates, the City of New York, nationwide organizations, and the National Hockey League for his actions on and off the ice.

He could have been greedy and selfish, but that's generally not how any team or individual achieves success. The whole is always the sum of its parts and Adam Graves was successful on a team that hadn't won the greatest trophy in all sports in over 50 years. He also played on a team with names such as Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, and Mike Richter, yet was able to be successful in his own right.

On the night Graves broke the Rangers goal scoring record, he was interviewed after the game by former Rangers goalie John Davidson and Sam Rosen who called the game. It was noted that shortly after he scored the Rangers record-breaking goal Wayne Gretzky scored an NHL record 802nd goal breaking Gordie Howe's record (same night, different game). The Rangers were in Edmonton (Gretzky's original team) so at a stoppage in play, they made an announcement about Gretzky's accomplishment to a standing ovation at the Oilers-Rangers game. Graves simply laughed it off telling Sam Rosen that his name should never be used in the same sentence as Wayne Gretzky-the best player to ever play the game.

That is #9 for ya.

So pop open a HE'BREW Mr. Graves because you earned it!

PS: If there are lots of errors on this post, it's because I had a few shots earlier at an engagement party but this post had to go up tonight for Adam Graves night.

Things that Bother Me

I may have mentioned at some point that I have no patience or tolerance. It's true. With that I bring you some of things that have bothered me lately.

Here's a collection of just a few of the things that have gotten under my skin:

1. Nancy Pelosi
OK, I get that people from California are strange and different but Madame Speaker of the House is trying to turn this country into China, and not the good kind of China. Part of the new trillion dollar economic "stimulus" plan (yes, TRILLION) includes birth control funding. Her reasoning is that "it will reduce costs to the states and federal government." (Source: ABC's This Week with George "My Last Name is a Spelling Test" Stephanopoulos). Next she's going allow Americans to keep only one child. Keep the first male child and throw the girls into the Potomac.

This comes from a woman with 5 children and, as of this posting, 6 grandchildren.

2. Hugh Jackman
How does a guy go from Wolverine on X-men to this? I don't care if you've been voted hottest man alive by a bunch of middle-aged women, you can't be Wolverine and that guy opposite Siegfried in "Siegfried and Roy." Next we'll have Clay Aiken star as the next Batman.

3. Foreign Currencies with Ridiculous Conversion Rates
Go to Japan with a crisp $20 bill and what do you get? A little over 1818 Japanese yen. 2 million of these yen will fetch you a stripped Toyota Camry while $2 million will land you any exotic supercar. I've never been to Japan but hope the smallest paper bill is a 100 yen note. I know I get excited when I look into my wallet when I see anything with a $100. If I were in Japan right now I would be carrying around roughly 5158 yen.

This goes for any country with similar conversion rates!

4. Bush Bashing
Over the last few years, Bush bashing was the "in" thing. Whether it's celebs during award shows, athletes, or the media. You know why people don't take us seriously anymore? Maybe it's because this country doesn't show any respect to the office of the president. Like the man or not, respect him for the position he holds. I know I would never want that position.

On a related note, where's Obama's exit strategy? Sure, let's close Guantanamo Bay, but where are you going to put all the prisoners? You can always send em home so we can read later that they are high ranking terrorists in Yemen. Maybe he can send em to California and reopen those internment camps that have been vacant since WWII. The media would just love that.

5. Corporate Greed
When business is booming, we love big business but in recessions, they are evil. I personally have no problem with them so long as greed never exceeds profits. The big 3 automakers got lynched for flying to D.C. in their private jets for congressional hearings to ask for money. Banks are already getting their share $700 billion and now I read that Citigroup is ready to take delivery of a rare $50 million jet. There are only 9 in the entire U.S. Way to properly spend our $45 billion in tax dollars to turn your company around.

BUT WAIT, it actually gets worse. The plane was made in France!

6. Versus and Dish Network
Versus what? Remember that station OLN? You know it...the hunting and fishing channel. Now I don't watch hunting or fishing, and have never gone hunting, but my hatred for Versus runs deep. You see, a few years back, they outbid ESPN for rights to NHL coverage. As a Rangers fan I watch most games on MSG, but on occasion Versus has the rights to the game and it's blacked out on MSG. Worse, they have the rights to the NHL All-Star Game and skills competition. It took awhile before Versus was even available to those non-rabbit ear users.

For some reason Versus is part of a premium package on Dish Network after Comcast (owns Versus) first didn't provide Versus to them. So in all my roughly 200 channels, I don't get versus and on the NFL bye week (read: no football, for you non-sportsfans) I did not get to watch the NHL All-Star Game. Stay tuned for a possible award nomination (I'm not going to say which award) for one of the parties involved with #6 come playoffs.

7. Hugh Jackman

Sports, A Microcosm of Life

I have another confession to make. I've been a big sports fan all my life.

Sports has a very important role in society. As a child, you learn about rules (each sport has quite a few), teamwork, winning and losing. As an adult, if you happen to not be one of about 600 Major League Baseball players, too short for the NBA, can't skate, or don't enjoy large men forming piles on top of you, you can still follow your team and critique the sports world. That's where I come into play.

Take the Dallas Cowboys...Many predicted that they would still be playing football today (week 3 of the NFL playoffs) yet they didn't even make it into the postseason. Why? About 99.9% of coaches use the cliche "there's no 'I' in 'team.'" I say that there is a "me" in "team" and that will be your ruination. Selfish play and in-fighting brought down this highly talented team. Hey T.O., in no world is one greater than 52. Hope you're working on your golf game living in the I-Society.

It got me thinking about one of the more underrated and underappreciated films of my era. The movie is...[wait for it]...BASEketball. For those unfamiliar with BASEketball, it's a comedy from 1998 starring the creators of South Park. If you've never heard of South Park and are over 8 years old, please return your membership card to society, proceed to the roof of your nearest tall structure, and just jump. ANYWAY, the movie predicts teams moving to new cities for money, stadiums named after brands, and endzone celebrations that are longer than the scoring play itself. Plus the usual crudeness you come to expect from Matt Stone and Trey Parker. It's a heartwarming tale of the ruination sports and how Stone and Parker save the day (and this is why I don't review movies).

I just thought I'd throw that out there in the spirit of the final two teams standing in the NFL. This is the sad state of sports. One person--athlete or agent (ahem, Scott Boras)--who gets greedy sets of a chain reaction of greed. Next thing you know, certain seats at the new Yankee Stadium go for $2,500 a pop and many families are now priced out of major sporting events. Minor league baseball is a lot of fun, but rather than seeing your hero, you see a bunch of scrubs and maybe one or two guys who you might see in the bigs eventually.

For the Citibank executives who read this (and I know you do), your company wouldn't be flatlining right now if you didn't pledge $400 million to the New York Mets for stadium naming rights! But of course the Mets need the money to cover their new stadium and to pay their overpaid stars. I understand the role of economics, but no baseball player should make more money per at-bat than most of the fans make over 365 days!