So tomorrow - today when most of you will most likely be reading this - is election day. I suppose the proper thing to do would be for me to encourage you to go out and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! Well, guess what. I'm not going to. Don't get me wrong, I think you should vote. I think Americans are very quick to take for granted the fact that we have some say in the people who lead our country. But if you are too lazy to fill out a form, put your ass in your car and drive to your local polling place once every four years at the very least without someone begging you to do it, well, I'm not going to waste my breath. I prefer my voters educated and if you're like the hypothetical voter above you probably have no real reason to vote the way you vote - you're voting for a party or a face or an ad campaign and I'm not interested in encouraging that. If you've taken the time to educate yourself and really think about your vote you probably don't need me to tell you to vote because you can't wait to do it.
Not that it matters. I'm pretty sure Ryan Miller getting back-to-back shutouts is one of the signs of the apocalypse. We might not even live long enough for the next guy to get sworn in.
- For all the talk about Martin Brodeur being out - did you hear that Martin Brodeur wasn't playing? - if I were a Devils fans I'd be pretty upset that Paul Martin's absence didn't get more talk especially since there were times New Jersey really struggled on defense. He's their top guy and you can't underestimate his importance to NJ. As a staunch defender of defensive d-men, I just wanted to point that out.
- I know I was not the only person who saw Tim Connolly skating toward the goal with no helmet on and immediately assumed we were about to see his head blow up when someone came too close. Good grief. Timmy, your helmet should be on that bald head so tight that it only comes off with help from a crowbar. I noticed late in the game that his chin strap seemed to be a little tighter than usual. In my imagination Lindy took him back in the dressing room and hit him repeatedly until he had to fix his helmet just to protect himself.
- It was nice to hear Doc mention Nathan Gerbe and how well he's playing in Portland right now but he said he was 5'8" which is clearly not the case. The boy's not even in the NHL yet and they're already making him taller.
- Like most people, I was pleasantly surprised to see Craig Rivet on the ice tonight. It's amazing how much tighter the whole team plays when he's in the line-up. They played a nice game against the Caps after Lindy tore into them but the team defense was once again, very good tonight. I'm not completely blown away by Rivet's defensive abilities so I really think it is partly a mental thing on the part of the team. They need that kick from elsewhere. It becomes more and more clear as the season goes on that the players recognized something they needed in Rivet when they were voting on the captaincy. They may be stubborn, petulant kids sometimes but at least they know they're stubborn, petulant kids.
- I'm not a huge fan of backing off so much in the second and third periods especially with a one goal lead - that's not going to work against certain teams at the top of their game - but maybe I'm just not used to our team defense being so good. The difference between this game and the game I saw last week against Tampa Bay really is remarkable. I never thought we'd be that team that scores a couple of goals and then protects the lead but I don't know, if it works it works.
- You guys, our penalty killing is amazing. I realized tonight that I've slowly gotten to the point where I'm not even that worried when we get penalized. That is an amazing feeling to have especially when there are so many penalties being called.
- Verus's biggest problem for me continues to be a ridiculous lack of replays. Sometimes we get them but it seems like every time there's a hit or penalty or goal that I want to see again we don't get a replay. That's a pretty basic part of a broadcast.
- I've been pretty critical of the play-by-play on Versus before but I thought it was pretty okay tonight. I particularly enjoyed Daryl Reaugh. The guy clearly broadcasts in the south most of the time. Between "he's all hat and no cattle," "they're shooting cotton balls 60 feet," and "lickety split" I felt like I was in Birmingham again. Love it.
- Did I mention that our penalty killing is really, really good? Because it is. And I love it.
5 comments:
He's their top guy and you can't underestimate his importance to NJ.
AMEN! :D
*slips Heather a five and an IOU for "One Praise of Tallinder In Future IPB Post"*
They may be stubborn, petulant kids sometimes but at least they know they're stubborn, petulant kids.
To me, that's just as relieving as the beastly PK and the PP that actually feels like scoring every once in a while and the vastly improved team defense. I like this team. A lot.
...And every time I come to your blog, I always just see Kalinin in your banner, and not Tallinder. Hahahaha.
I couldn't help but notice the lack of replays on Versus. As a new fan it's hard for me to keep up with the action and replays would really help. I dare say my interest in watching hockey has even decreased because I almost never see a good view of what actually happened.
On ice Gerbe looks like he's about 5'4".
As far as I know, they base the all all star ballot entirely on last year. Meaning, they complete the ballot before the season begins. Hence the reason Brodeur is on there.
So that's why Roy's performance would not leave him off of the ballot. It should, they system is dumb, but...well there ya go.
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