oh, but to be a fly on the wall in the new jersey locker room....

For all that Buffalo has become the new rival and for all that I still pretty much can't stand any of the other teams in the Southeast Division, New Jersey still sits atop my list of teams I enjoy seeing the Hurricanes beat. If we eliminate them in the playoffs? Even sweeter. If the Hurricanes manage to do everything but stand over them and rip their hearts out just as they were tuning up the celebratory horn? Excuse me, I'll have to collect myself.

While I do that, why don't we let the Devils explain what the 'Canes did to them in this series.

"I really don't know what to say. I am shocked, stunned," Devils coach Brent Sutter said.

Zach Parise sat in front of his locker with his hands in his face. Most players spoke in very low voices, and none could recall a more gut-wrenching loss.

"These guys do a lot of those things against us," Brodeur said. "They beat us with two-tenths of a second to play and now this, it's stunning."

"They scored two goals in the final two minutes of a hockey game to win it," Devils center John Madden said. "I will never forget it."

Yeah. Good, good times.

Now let's go beat Boston, yes?

i agree with this video

It's long been Andi's opinion that we should give Texas back to Mexico, but this will do just as well.

for the sake of clarification and directed towards someone who probably has never read anything i've posted here

You think that, based on your reading of the Bible, that God hates gay people. You also think that - and I'm assuming you somehow also have scripture to back this up - God is okay with torture.

Yeah, we can't be friends anymore. Not even on facebook.

a few super-late thoughts on the tea bagging of america

No, not this tea bagging of America, but the little parties that made the news rounds last week. You know, the gatherings of people who are protesting...something...maybe taxes?...because guys like Limbaugh have been screaming that the sky is falling.

Because I sometimes spend a few minutes listening to right wing talk radio (as I've said many times, it's important to know what they're saying no matter how crazy/asinine/evil it happens to be), I know that Hannity thinks that no one except the people at these little parties understands what they were about. He offered no explanation, just that the mainstream media missed the point. So what was the point?

- People are out protesting "tax hikes." I put "tax hikes" in quotes because, as you no doubt know if you've been keeping up with the pesky little facts out there, most people will end up paying less in taxes. These "tax hikes" they're protesting are largely the rolling back of Bush's massive tax cuts. Even if that weren't true, none of these people are being taxed into the poor house...or even the middle class house...or even out of their summer house on the beach...so I have a hard time seeing the problem.

- Some are upset because their perception of taxes is President Obama taking their money from them and giving it to deadbeats who are too lazy to pay their mortgages. Maybe none of them noticed the economy tanking, but there are people out there losing their homes right not largely because of the whole "suddenly not having a job" thing. There is absolutely nothing that infuriates me than the assertion the poor are only poor because they want to be/are too lazy to get rich. And it's being perpetuated when Limbaugh goes on the air and actually says that people who can are going to look around and stop paying their mortgages and just assume that the government will take it over for them. This is stupid. Of course people want to achieve on their own. Of course it stings when they have to have help, especially when it comes right after having their job and life pulled out from under them. The idea that this is suddenly going to create a "welfare state" (Hannity again) full of lazy people just waiting for President Obama to come and help them out is one that's being put out there to frighten people who don't know to think about things for a second. Guess who showed up at the tea parties...

- Some aren't protesting taxes so much as the notion that Obama is deficit spending. For the record, these are largely the same people who were okay with Bush the W borrowing tons of money for an ill-advised war that was sold to the American people based on the repetition of a lie...but they're mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore when President Obama is spending money to, you know, help people live their lives and take care of that basic "pursuit of happiness" thing.

- But hey, maybe, just maybe there are people out there who opposed both the spending on the Iraq fiasco AND the spending on fighting off a depression. If someone truly believes that people need to be thrown to the wolves to fend for themselves in a sort of economic darwinism where only the people lucky enough to work for companies that aren't having to make massive cuts survive...I have nothing for you. We believe different things and your beliefs actually make me sad.

- What, in the end, I think most of these people were protesting - if they really knew what they were protesting at all - was a Democratic president.

wednesday.

Playoffs. Wednesday. Who's ready for some fun?



Let's go 'Canes!

now here's a context in which i'll accept "carolina wins" as good news

A 9-0 Hurricanes win over the Islanders to keep things rolling even after clinching a playoff spot and keep my hopes for that 4th seed alive has me thinking a bit.

I didn't write what went through my head about the hiring of Paul Maurice. I didn't write what went through my head when the 'Canes biggest trade deadline move was bringing Cole back into the fold. But with a 9 game winning streak at a really great time for a hockey team to be peaking and Cole having collected 15 points in 15 games back with the team, I'm glad there's no record of what was going through my head in those moments.

I eagerly await the playoffs.

SUPER SPARKLE SHOWCASE sunday morning recap on a monday

Season Two is done. Fun was had, Lisa P came in and nailed the part of the former Mrs. Aquarius, and Brian Thacker was crowned the new SUPER SPARKLE SHOWCASE champion. Once again, the majority of the thanks go out to JMatt. The poor guy spent another six weeks making things run while the rest of us dicked around.

Honestly, if you haven't been coming to the show, you're missing out. Food for thought when I bring back the big pink banner after the summer and start sending you facebook invites to Season Three.

hey, who's not tired of hearing me talk about jay cutler?

Since the talking heads on ESPN think that somehow it's a good idea for the Broncos to ditch a top-five quarterback in a league where great play behind center has become the exception rather than the rule, I had to go to their website to find someone that made an ounce of sense. And it turned out to be Rick Reilly.

How many Broncos fans -- when they first heard that Josh McDaniels was taking over -- thought to themselves, "Boy, I sure hope we can somehow dump Pro Bowl QB Jay Cutler and start Kyle Orton this season! That would be swell!" And it all stemmed from McDaniels' ham-handed style and his Macy's-balloon ego. Years from now, the Cutler Catastrophe will go down as the dumbest thing in Boy Blunder's very short coaching career. I have a buddy who honestly believes McDaniels thinks this is fantasy football; that he gets a whole team to play with and screw over in his own image and what the hell, if his moves don't work out, his league has a special "mulligan" rule and he can start over. Only there's no "oops" rule in the NFL. This deal -- and McDaniels' Belichick wanna-be act -- will haunt Denver for years.

it's a tad premature, right?

Economy is bad. I don't make much money. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Spend. Eighty. Dollars.

omigoshomigoshomigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh...

A defining moment in the history of my sports watching came during a Bears game with Jim Miller behind center. On 3rd-and-10, John Madden announces "I don't think the Bears have a play that goes 10 yards in the playbook." Sure enough, the play that was called and it was a 7 yard pass. This was not a check down. This was the play as drawn up. This is the moment I've gone back to when it comes to Bears quarterbacks ever since.

Then something wonderful happened yesterday.

The Bears went and grabbed themselves a quarterback. Seriously, an honest to goodness quarterback. Not a flash-in-the pan who will settle to awfulness, not a "game manager," and not Cade McNown, but a real live quarterback!

The naysayers will say that two first rounders and Kyle Orton is a pretty high price for Jay Cutler. But look at the excitement this move has created. I do think the Bears will need a bona fide wideout for this to work. Greg Olson is great, but he's a great Tight End. Brandon Lloyd showed flashes of brilliance last season, but just flashes. I will say that, if nothing else, the acquisition of Jay Cutler makes the Devin Hester experiment about one million times more interesting as we go into the 2009 season. If Jay Cutler doesn't make that happen, it just isn't meant to be.

I do think the Bears are going to do what it takes to make this a good deal, now that we've made it. After we lost both offensive tackles, I was afraid the season was alredy a write-off, but Angelo actually addressed some of the upcoming offensive line problems so that this shiny new quarterback will have some protection. Spending money and trading draft picks is not how we typically roll. This is amazing.

Did we need the draft picks to fix the O-Line and find ourselves some secondary help? Absolutely we did. But I think grabbing Orlando Pace shows that the front office is committed to making a run at things next season, and maybe we're not done wheeling and dealing just yet.