New Summer Look

Note: New blog header uploaded. I like it, but feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

Three weeks into the real world and I already understand why people always say college is the best four years of your life. If you've got any sense at all, you know you have it good, sometimes great, during those four years. But once you get a real job, it hits you: I have to work? Like, every day? Fuck.

Yeah, not a great realization. Especially when the average time I woke up last semester was about 10:30 or 11 a.m. and I'm currently an hour and a half into my shift right now and it's 7:30. Jesus. But at least the only thing I'm responsible for right now as the only person in the newsroom (and probably the only human being awake at such an ungodly hour) is watch the idiots on WMUR, check three local newspaper websites, check the fax machine for police logs, check the AP Wire for anything interesting, listen to the police scanner, check the news computer for press releases that come in, and write up little live briefs for the web. Sounds like a lot, but believe me it's not. Why do you think I'm sitting here blogging for the first time in over a month?

Certainly, the MoJo shift (6am to 2pm) has a lot of responsibility. Say, if a massive fire or a major arrest or something crazy like that happens this early in the morning, it's all up to me to cover it and get it online. Moderately terrifying. But then I remember we live in New Hampshire, and I can breathe again. All I've had to do in the past two hours is write a three-inch brief about a Hudson kid who rolled his car yesterday, post two wire stories, and make four or five useless walks over to the fax machine/news computer. So that's what I get up for in the morning. What did you do? Sleep? OK, probably about equal effort then.

You can check out some of my front page stories so far though. Here, here and here. Enjoy. The rest of the stuff I've written is pretty meh. Even I'd tell you to skip it and pick up a book instead.

Speaking of books, I'm up to 22 so far this year for a total of 6,135 pages. And since the fax machine was empty again and the 'Send/Receive' button on the News computer came back with nada, I've got more time to write.

So I'm going to review them here. Yes, all of them. Because I'd prefer to do that than call more police officers who'd rather get shot than tell me about a minor accident in their no-name New Hampshire town.

Anyway, the book thing started with a New Year's Resolution to read 100 this year (a number that I've noticed is astronomically high for anyone younger than 80 years old) and so far I'm way behind. But, I have been reading consistently, and that's the real goal. And 22 books halfway through the year is a decent number. Here's what I've read since January, in order of when I read them:

• Piecework by Pete Hamill - Hamill is one of my favorite authors and until I read this book, I had no idea he was a journalist for a long time. This is a great book for travel writing and has plenty of good stories in it.

• Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote - Funny, short and famous. Good characters. I wanted to read some Capote and this was a good way to get a sense of his writing style.

• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - One of the best books I've ever read. Chilling, intense, page-turning. It's shocking to believe a story this good and this incredibly detailed could actually be true. A must read.
  

• On Writing by Stephen King - I didn't really think I was going to like this book, but I actually loved it. The last thing I read by Stephen King was The Shining when I was about 15 and I swore I'd never read him again (I don't do well with horror anything). But On Writing was candid, realistic and helpful for anyone who wants to write. I loved it.

• The Tender Bar by J.R. Moeringer - Great memoir about a guy who grew up in New York City around a bar his whole life. I think I liked this book so much because I felt a strong connection with the author. Seemed a lot like me. A good pick if you like memoir.
  

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - Good fiction by a great writer. I'm not sure I agree with his Pulitzer for this book, but it was a good story. I enjoyed it. I was a little annoyed with the crazy amount and length of his footnotes, but I'd say it's worth reading.
  

• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - So wonderful and beautiful it's hard to call it a book. What's that? No, I don't have a vagina. Men can be romantic too. And I loved this book. It might even be my all-time favorite. I just love the language, the words, the story, the way he tells it; it's woven just perfectly. Another must read, but it helps if you have a romantic side.
  

• Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver - A great collection of short stories by one of fiction's best short-story writers. Read it if you like short stories. I'm not big on them myself, mostly because I like stories that don't abruptly end ambiguously in ways I can't understand (always feel like I'm missing something). That said, Carver is still a great read.
  

• The Good Soldiers by David Finkel - Unbelievable true story of life in Iraq. The author spent two years over there with the troops and he came out with one hell of a book. Seriously, if you think you know anything about a soldier's life in the Middle East, think again. This book changes your whole mentality and will depress the hell out of you. It'll color up your vocabulary and make you feel for anyone's family with a kid over there. Truly an amazing story.
  

• Justice by Michael Sandel - I read it for my persuasive writing class. The guy who wrote it is a Harvard professor and writes well. Pretty cool stuff about philosophy and all that. But it gets slow at times and asks way more questions than it answers.
  

• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - I hadn't read any Salinger since I was in high school, so I picked up Catcher in the Rye a little while after the writing legend died in late January. Still as great as I remember, with Holden Caufield as one of literature's greatest characters.
  

• Trash by Dorothy Allison - A bunch of vivid stories that seem fictional but aren't. The author is a lesbian who grew up on a farm with a family of nutjobs. The book is mostly little vignettes of her life, and they vary from interesting to crazy.
  

• Born to Run by Christopher McDougall - A good book about the Tarahumara runners in Mexico and the author's experience with them. To be honest, the guy's a pretty crappy writer but the subject was interesting to me. I thought it was very cool that wayy back in the day, humans used to run their prey to death. It's the only explanation as to how we could have evolved as a species, since humans are slower and weaker than just about everything else.
  

• High Fidelity by Nick Hornby - I love this movie and I've always liked Nick Hornby, so I had high expectations for the book. It met them. I thought the book was just as funny, if not funnier at times, than the movie and it was a quick read. It helps too that the movie wasn't entirely scripted from the book, so there were new parts of the story sprinkled among the great lines of the movie. I wish they had Jack Black's line in there somewhere though..."That's the worst fuckin' sweater I've ever seen man...it's COSBY sweater, a COS-BY SWEA-TAH!"
  

• Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger - I already said I'm not a big fan of short stories, but Salinger is a different breed. His writing is just so inviting. You can always relate to the characters, I feel, because they talk and speak and act like real people. The generation is different and the language is clearly outdated, but that doesn't take away from the connection. Each of these nine stories are worth reading many times over.
  

• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - Amazing amounts of research usually makes for a boring-as-hell book, but not in Gladwell's case. He writes with such ease, such relatability, that I went out and bought his other two books to read sometime this year. I really like his writing style and how much work he puts into his books. Crazy guy to look at though. Makes you wonder if he's actually the abandoned lovechild of Harry Potter and Sideshow Bob.
  

• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - The only book of the 22 that I didn't enjoy. The subject matter didn't particularly interest me (all about the health crisis in our country and nutrition) but I read it because I had to for my persuasive writing class. Not great writing and not a great approach to his argument, I thought, but lots of people like this book. Then again, lots of people like NASCAR, American Idol or mayonnaise on their french fries. It ain't right!
  

• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson - A very cool 'get in touch with nature' kind of book. Bryson is a hilarious writer and I'll probably read more of him. This book is about his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail and the only thing I didn't really like about it was the history and preachiness of "Save the Wildlife!" every once in a while. Other than that, I'd recommend it.

• Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern - It's amazing to me that a guy can get a book contract (and soon a TV show) based on nothing but a Twitter account. It's hilarious and awesome and a quick read, but it still boggles my mind.
  

• When the Game Was Ours by Jackie MacMullan - No, I'm not giving any credit to Magic Johnson or Larry Bird for "writing" this book even though they're the main authors on the cover with UNH alum Jackie MacMullan's name in small print underneath them. She wrote it because she's the writer. Very good sports book though. Really cool angle on how these two superstars were so obsessed with each other throughout their careers. I don't really like professional basketball and don't particularly care much about what it was like in the 80s, but MacMullan's writing got me past all that.
  

• Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger - My most recent read is another Salinger masterpiece. Everyone talks about Catcher in the Rye, but if you read anything else by him you really start to understand why he's so good. I liked this book even more than Catcher in the Rye, to be honest, because it was almost like it had two Holden Caufields. Franny and Zooey aren't anything like Holden, but they are two separate characters that you can connect with in the same way. It's really an amazing little book.

I'm more than halfway through my shift now since I've had to periodically stop blogging to start working, but it felt good to actually spend some time doing something constructive at work rather than update my Twitter feed 10 times in four minutes or check ESPN every minute on the minute. So, I'll be back at some point. I'd like to make this blog not always about Red Wings and get it back to the space where I can just let go and write. It's an essential part of life, after all.

It's over.

Another year gone. This one doesn't hurt like last year, but knowing that three of the remaining four teams will, or probably will, be the Sharks, Hawks and Pens is truly disturbing. I don't really want to talk about it. If you care about the Wings, you know it all anyway. See you in October.

Total domination. Wings 7, Sharks 1.

I saw almost none of this game, except the Sharks' lone goal and Mule's fourth and final tally. I had one of those days, you know the ones where everything goes right from start to finish? It was amazing. And at about 9:15 tonight, I'm happy and thinking it wouldn't even matter if the Wings head home for the summer. Then I turn the game on and it's 6-0. The day gets better.

I have nothing to say about this game because I hardly saw any of it. But what I know is Babcock wanted to win one game after Tuesday's heartbreak. He did it. Tonight, he'll say the same thing again. One game. Win Saturday. Nothing else matters. Let's take this momentum to California and bring the series back to Detroit. It's not over yet. Go Wings.

Blame me. Wings lose again.

I turn on the Wings game with 13:33 left in the third. Thornton scored with 13:18 left. Then some stupid rookie got his first goal ever when Jimmy was caught cheating and more bullshit ensued in overtime. Blame it all on me. I started recapping on the blog right when this round started and so far I'm battin' a thousand for Wings games to end with a 4-3 loss to the Sharks. Tonight was especially suspicious because the Wings looked to have the game in hand when I turned it on, then all of sudden it was over and the Winged Wheels are deflating rapidly. Our season can't end this way.

I don't really know what to say. I watched very little of the game but felt quite unsatisfied with what I saw. The Wings didn't play well with the lead and the officials took away two minutes of crucial kick-ass time at the end by calling a stupid penalty on Holmstrom. In overtime, I was too anxious and worried and freaking the fuck out to even notice how the Wings played. Then the Sharks scored and now I'm here typing out my feelings of frustration to whatever audience is left of the blog.

I can't stand a sweep. I really can't. Not to the Sharks. Not to these Sharks. The Colorado fucking Avalanche won two games against these Sharks just weeks ago. I really really really don't want to see it end this way on Thursday. Let's go Wings. Win Thursday. Win game four. Then we'll think about game five. No need to think ahead; no need to worry about four straight right now. It's one at a time. We can take these Sharks one at a time.

It's not over yet. Must. Keep. Telling. Myself. That. Pray to God for a Red Sox 2004. No fetal positions yet, no swearing off all things hockey. Not yet. Not yet not yet not yet. I'm not ready for the Wings to go home for the summer. Step it up Wings. If there's any team that could choke away four straight in the playoffs, it's these Sharks. Let's do this. Go Wings.

No time to panic: Wings 3, Sharks 4

Another game played well, another game lost. Two goals from that stupid streaking Pavelski, a ton of ridiculous penalties and game two ended exactly as game one. Wings 3, Sharks 4.

I wasn't watching as closely in the third period, but every time I looked up the Wings were on the penalty kill. I did some research afterward (opened my computer and clicked on the NHL.com box score) to find these numbers staring at me hard in the face:

Detroit penalties: 10. San Jose penalties 4. Detroit third-period penalties: 5. San Jose third-period penalties: 2.

OK. Maybe the 2007 Anaheim Ducks get five penalties in the third period, but we're talking about the Detroit Red Wings here. There's no referee in the world who can legitimately call five penalties on God's sacred franchise in a single period. The Wings don't have players on their team that take penalties, other than Bertuzzi. And since the 'Tuz didn't take allll the penalties, I have to assume most of the calls were crap. And since San Jose scored two goals in the third (both of which were annoying as all hell), I'm going to chalk this loss up to the officiating once again.

Call it poor logic if you want, but I don't see any other way to describe both games one and two. "The Sharks are just a better team" is a laughable rebuttal. That's like saying the Penguins deserved to win the Cup last June. Fuhgettaboutit.

Game three is Tuesday in Detroit. The Wings win and they're back in it; the Wings lose and it's all but over. The Triple Deke jinxed us tweeted earlier today that Babcock's Wings have never faced an 0-2 or 1-3 hole in a playoff series. Well they're in deep now. It's win four out of the next five or go home to book an early tee time. I love golf but I don't like the sound of that. Let's do this. See you Tuesday. Go Wings.

Another attempt to get back on the horse...

This will be my fourth post of the year, and it comes on April 30. That's one post per month. Pretty pathetic; almost as bad as my lack of running in 2010. But I think I'm going to try and re-enter the blogosphere one more time, and hopefully, I'll stick to it with recaps of the Wings' playoff games from now on. For now, I'll start with game one of round two: Wings 3, Sharks 4.

I literally can't believe how much bullshit the Wings had to put up with in this game and still almost tied it to force overtime. First, they start strong and outplay San Jose for the game's initial eight minutes. Then, the referees call a very weak slashing call on Filppula (he didn't even break the damn guy's stick!) and thus began the Sharks' scoring barrage. One, two, three and it was 3-0 San Jose just that fast. The first was a good shot on the powerplay by the suddenly surface-of-the-sun hot Joe Pavelski (who everyone is having such a good time calling "The Big Pavelski" -- We get it. The Big Lebowski except with Pavelski. Hilarious. Go snip your brainstem.) and then the Wings blow coverage in front of the net on Heatley's goal and then Setoguchi has a puck bounce right to him and he dumps it in the open net. Amazing series of events that all started with a crappy call that a referee shouldn't make in the playoffs. How in the world can a guy of Filppula's soft hands and moisturized hair slash someone hard enough for a penalty? I just don't see it.

Anyway, Cleary comes back with an easy one. Then the Wings outplay the Sharks for the next 20 minutes and Franzen snipes a beauty. But then the Mule gets slashed in the face, necessitating more than a few stitches and much bloodshed, and the man gets called for a tripping penalty. WAIT, wait wait. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I did some research, and apparently the NHL has changed the definition of a tripping penalty.

Straight from Lil' Gary's Book o' Rules:

• "Tripping: When a player trips another player with his stick or when a player aggressively lodges his face into another player's stick and forces the pansy him to fall down due to the strength of his fantastic skin."

In that case, Franzen was guilty. But seriously, instead of the Wings having a legitimate four-minute powerplay to end the period, the Sharks get a powerplay that soon becomes a 5-on-3 when that sneaky little Diving Shark (yes, it's a new breed) Setoguchi gets whacked in the chest by Filppula and goes down in perfect Rosby form for another penalty on the Wings. I usually don't argue high-sticking calls because they are so damn inarguable, but multiple replays showed Fil's stick never touching Setoguchi's face at all. Not even an inch. Then Pavelski rolls another strike down the center of Howard's lane (Ha ha ha, another Big Pavelski joke. I hate myself) and the Sharks are back up two at the start of the third. Raffy get's us back in it after a beautiful feed from my boy Datsyuk and then the Sharks hang on for a crapshoot game one victory.

I hated it, I was frustrated for the game entirety, and I'm not going to be able to sleep for a while tonight. But I have to agree with what Mr. Triple Deke tweeted after this one wrapped up: "Not worried either. Still love this matchup."

He's right. The Wings outplayed the Sharks for almost the entire game (not vastly outplayed, but outplayed nonetheless) on the road, less than two days after the end of a tough seven-game series, and still only lost by one thanks to some bullshit from the refs. I have to think that's a good sign somehow about this matchup. The Sharks aren't playoff tested. The Wings are. They're both really talented, but the Wings have the drive. I still like the Wings a lot in this one. Let's do it again in game two.

Oh, and the best part about game two on Sunday? Not on NBC, not in the afternoon. Night game in the Shark Tank. Let's tie it up boys. Go Wings.

Return to Blogging: Wings-Flames Live Coverage

It's been two months. I have no excuses; most of my thoughts about hockey have been better expressed through 140 characters than in long form here. Anyway, now I'm on spring break and I have little to do over the next week other than celebrate my 22nd birthday on St. Patrick's Day and lie around my house. So, since this game with the Flames is huge (regular-season-wise), I thought I'd check back into the blogging hotel for a night and see what my lazy brain comes up with. Enjoy.

Detroit Red Wings at Calgary Flames

First Period

• Oh, half a minute in and Holmstrom skates off with a knee injury. I'm regretting this already.
• It gets better! Wings turnover results in a Flames goal less than two minutes in annnd we're down 1-0. Jeez, what a way to start the biggest game of the regular season so far. The fact that I typed that sentence combined with my Red Wings fandom verbs my noun in ways I can't even comprehend. When was the last time a regular season game actually mattered for the Red Wings? March 26, 1997 is the last one that comes to mind, and even that one was just bragging rights.
• Lidstrom giveaway down low almost ends in a goal if not for save by Rookie Goaltender. Who is this team?
• I like the looks of the new Cleary-Filapoola (Babcock pronunciation) - Zetterberg line. Talented, hard-working. If only they could put the puck in the net.
• Shorthanded two-on-one and no goal. Surprised? Not me. Not this year.
• Random deviation: The incredibly messed up episode of South Park with Kenny and his "cheesing" addiction is on. I love the show, but this one was just weird. Cartman posing as the Anne Frank for cats and Kenny high on cat urine for the whole episode? Just...weird. The new one where Matt and Trey take on Tiger Woods (airs on Wednesday) looks pretty interesting though. Could be hilarious if it doesn't get too crazy like the one they did about Britney Spears a while back. Anyway, back to the game.
  
• This play-by-play on FSN-Detroit is so boring. I mean it's a one-goal first period, but Mickey is talking...so slow. He's using....silence as...a filler. Maybe that's why I'm watching the game on my computer, live-blogging and glancing at the TV all at the same time. Pick it up in the second, Mick, please.
• End of the period, still down 1-0. A few chances from the Wings, but mostly just a back and forth period with an early goal scored off a turnover. Maltby's pretty bad as an announcer, by the way, but then again so is Matthew Barnaby and he got a job at ESPN. Nevermind, I don't care. Bring on period two.
  

Second Period

• Very little happening. Random thought: Does anyone else think that if the Wings had the money/means to trade for huge talents like Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester that they'd be thriving and leading the league in just about everything? The Wings develop players better than any other team. I'm not biased or anything.
• Nice, retaliatory play to check Holmstrom in the back of the head for...being Holmstrom. The drunk Canadian crowd loved it though.
• Where did this Kiprusoff come from? I thought he was still all high and mighty about playing for Finland and giving up a ton of goals to U.S.-born players. I guess he likes Calgary better. Seems like the same place to me. Cold. North. Not America. Yeah. Same place.
  
• Random deviation #2: Love that I have an automatic mute button on my MacBook: it's perfect for when that still-retarded Fillet-O-Fish commercial comes on and I don't have to have that song stuck in my head for hours. Thanks, Apple; I'm sure that was what you were thinking when you designed it.
• Yeah Mickey, Drew Miller for the Vezina this year. And I thought Murph was the lovable idiot on this telecast. Jeez I'm critical tonight. Perhaps it's just boredom. Or an overload of ice cream. Both? Nevermind.
  
• J-Will rings an easy goal off the post. Ugh. He's a perfect fit as Samuelsson's replacement.
• Nice save, Jimmy Howard. I tell ya this kid better win the Calder this year after all the crap he's been through in the minors. He's proven his worth.
  
• Do the Red Wings defensemen know they're playing in Calgary and not at the Joe? Shoot the puck at the net, not the boards, guys. They aren't the same up here in Canada, eh.
• Score. Power play. Let's capitalize.
• Bullshit. Terrible call. That's called good defense on a breakaway. Wait. How the hell is that a penalty shot? Dear God. Please Jimmy, please....THANK You. Nice save. Let's get this power play going again.
• Tie game! What a shot by Datsyuk. Honest to God I'll never get tired of watching that man play hockey. Sure, Yzerman will go down in history as my favorite hockey player of all time, but Datsyuk is the best to watch. His talent is unmatched. I feel like I should go put on his jersey. But then it would cover my "Got Yzerman?" shirt. A conundrum only a Red Wings fan would have.
  
• Oh, the period's over. 1-1 and headed to the third for eighth in the West. Let's do it.

Third Period

• The Wings have come out with a lot of fire to start this period. They better keep it up and take the lead instead of let it die out and lose it in the final minutes.
• Crap. Unavoidable four-minute power play for the Flames. Pleeease kill it.
• Whew. What a kill. I was going to interrupt it a couple times but didn't want to jinx it. Big penalty kill. Won't matter though if the Wings can't score and put the pressure on the home team.
• Son of a...Kronwall rings another post. Nice move though. Datsyuk probably would've just chipped it calmly over Kipper for the goal like this beauty, but he's a hockey deity. Can't blame Kronwall for simply being good and not perfect.
  
• Are the Red Wings really going to play a full season with Todd Bertuzzi on their roster? It's still hard to believe and the signing happened last summer...
• Five minutes to go and I'm dreading overtime or a shootout. Yeah, they're fun to watch, but Detroit has 12 OT or shootout losses this year. Not sure why, but they can't close the deal when the extra point is on the line. End it in regulation, please.
• That's what I'm talking about! 2-1 Wings after another ho-hum (amazing) deflection goal by Holmstrom in front of the net and only a minute and change remaining in the game. That's exactly what the Wings need to take this game. Hold on Jimmy!
• Nice save Jimmy! 14 seconds to play. The kid has really been huge and if the Wings make the playoffs (never thought I'd ever think those words), I say the spot is his to lose.
• Awesome comeback. 2-1 Wings final score. Big win to move three points up on Calgary and one behind Nashville with the stretch run still to come. Yes, yes and yes.

Post Game Thoughts

• Tight game. Playoff-type game. And the Wings won it with solid goaltending, good defense, a clutch penalty kill, and a timely even-strength goal. That sounds more like the championship-caliber Wings I've been watching for years.
• Four days off before what should be an easy win against Edmonton might be a bit of a buzzkill after the momentum generated from a big game like tonight, but I think it'll be good for the team. Good for rest, good for focus, good overall. I like the Wings' chances after tonight. They look determined.

I have nothing else to add. This was...fun? Yeah, fun. Perhaps I'll be back while I'm still on break, but don't count on it. I'm sure by now you've all deleted me from your bookmarks anyway. I don't blame you. I blame Sidney Rosby. He's the reason for all the world's problems.