Gameday/Devils

-Which team will show up tonight? No, I mean which Thrashers team will show up tonight?

-Knobes has a great writeup on the Kaluha line; Slava, Litts & the Todd seem optimistic the chances will soon turn into points, and that's half the battle.

- Boults racked up 26 PIMs in the last matchup with NJ. 3 guesses as to what they were for. Nope, not delay of game. He and Devil Mike Rupp may have to renew their acquaintance before the end of the night.

- Lehtonen in goal tonight. Let's not make him work as hard, shall we, boys?

- The NJD are on a 3 game roll at Phillips. Uh oh.

- Still no Army on the top line with Pevs & Kovy. When will we learn?

- I will eat a copy of the gameday program if we don't get outshot this evening. Promise.

- Speaking of eating:

No Marty yet. Sad face.

Go Thrashers.

(Um)burger with Pickle

Wow. This. Is. Teh Awesum.

http://nhlol.blogspot.com

For gems like this:

Pavorosgood.

Even better

Low Tide, Nothing Doing

You know what they say, "boredom begets blog posts."

- Off-topic. Write this down: Fiction Family is worth your time.

- Hats off to the Crabb Shack. Joey Crabb pots 3 in last night's victory against Peoria, as the Wolves jockey for playoff positioning. Machacek & Lavallee with the remaining goals. My gut tells me that young Joseph was sent down more because of his contract flexibility than anything else, and it's good to see him contributing.

- All this technology's getting out of hand. Is that the real Alfie on Twitter? YOU make the call....

- Who's house? Gabby's house! Tarik El-Bashir examines the Caps winning home record, and the reasons why. Some quotage:

Winning consistently on home ice and making Verizon Center an unpleasant environment for opponents have long been among Boudreau's priorities. In his postgame news conferences, he often makes mention of an arena's "atmosphere" and how it played on the Capitals' emotions -- and ultimately affected the outcome of the game. After Tuesday's 5-2 win in front of a sparse crowd in New Jersey, for example, Boudreau said the subdued mood at Prudential Center negatively affected both teams but that it mostly dragged down the Devils...

"If there's no fans, there's not that energy," said Boudreau, who has a 42-11-4 record at home. "And if you're not winning, there's no fans. You can't have one without the other."

Hmm. Y'don't say. In all seriousness, I was expecting the Nasty Nest road trip to spark our guys a little more. Who wouldn't like 150 crazy fans following you to an opposing town and screaming like nutjobs? But what we got was... another shutout. Any feasable reason will be accepted.

- Something useful on TSN.com? The Eastern Conference Trade Dealine Playbook. For those (like myself) who will be in front of a computer hitting 'refresh' the whole of March 4.

- Something stupid on TSN.com? That's more like it... From the Canuckistani Ministry of Manufactured Propaganda:

"[Vincent Lecavalier is] not being traded today, he's not being traded tomorrow or anytime soon."
-- Tampa Bay Lightning GM Brian Lawton, Jan. 15

Look, I know how the GM-speak game works. But for some reason, I believe Lawton when he says he doesn't want to trade Vinnie. To me, that adds up to "It would literally give me a coronary to trade Lecavalier, but the right return could afford me a lot of asprin." The problem is, for Lawton to trade Vin, I think the return would have to be able to buy an asprin factory. So why is TSN making him the posterboy for their "Tradecent(e)r(e) '09" coverage?

EDIT: ...and that face on J-Bo? Priceless.

- Moment of Higher Culture. For us heathens, Mortimer Peacock with today's Moment of Higher Culture.

Kari Topples The King: Thrashers Win

Snuck little listens to the game last night, even though I promised myself I wouldn't. My thoughts:

- God bless Adam Graves. As a younger pup, I watched Ranger games on my dad's new-fangled cable-equipped TV. Even then, I could tell some players were different. Gravey might not have been the flashiest, he might not have been the most prolific scorer (though he was no slouch), but you knew to keep your eyes on him. If you could bottle whatever it is that he's got, let me be the first to order each Thrasher a case. As a matter of fact, I move to make Adam Graves an assistant coach, pronto. Classy move with the 9's on all the jerseys, Rags.

- Oyster man read him his Reitz. Yea, that's all I got on that.

- Motzoh ball. The Motzko goal was good old-fashioned hard work. More, please. More.

- Put Army back on the big line. Please. For us.

- Kari = Teh Hotness. He is straight gas over the last two games. But with Sunday come the Flyers. At home. Let's hold off 'till then.

- The Watch Is On. Knobes @ the Atlanta Junk/Crap is getting all Geico'd out with the Scout Watch.

Things That Are More Fun to Blog About Than Thrashers Hockey

- It's pretty freakin' cold in Atlanta today.

- I've begun recording again, and I've found some suh-weet (and FREE!) limiter (it's the W1, for the recording-minded) and compressor plug-ins.

- No lie, I have lost 13 lbs. in 40 days on the sadistic slice of evil known as the Wii Fit. You'll lose weight, but you will never curse more at a piece of plastic, ever. Actually, in the balance-board's defense, it's that snide SOB digital trainer that'll really getcha.

- After finishing A Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich, I'm starting Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground. I don't know what it is about Russian literature... There's a certain plain-spokenness that never seems condescending, just factual. Even in Tolstoy's short stories, which in lesser hands could be simple moralizing, there is a... reality that I can readily identify with. I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, and it seems to me that Oscar Wilde (through the mouth of Lord Henry Wotton) really hammers home his almost nihilistic worship of beauty even as he presents the horrendous eternal consequence of Dorian's actions. It's came off (to my ears) as heavy-handed preaching. But maybe that says more about me than it does Oscar Wilde...

Wow. Didn't think that would happen...

- Big Star's only rival in the Most Underrated Rock Band of the Century debate is Cheap Trick. I would put #1 Record/Radio City up against the Trick's 1977 self-titled debut any day of the week. September Gurls is transcendental, while He's A Whore is the best song about a (metaphorical) gigolo you will ever hear in your life. Srsly.

- I made scones last night. Me = win.



So yea, there's a game tonight. I may feel motivated to expound on that later, I may not. But hey, at least Nuke Laloosh is on our side. (from Puck Daddy)

My, he looks happy.