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Monday, July 31, 2006

Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em 

Given today's Hasek signing news, looks like this guy would be a good fit in the Wings front office.

Jinxing the Lynx 

Of course, as soon as I break my blogging silence to rave about the Lynx's recent offensive tear, they're promptly shut out in back-to-back games.

As pennance, I offer these videos. First, the credits from the best Simpsons episode ever.



Also, a Brian McGrattan montage, set not to the customary turned-to-11-heavy-metal-fight-montage music, but to a bluegrass tune. Yee-haw!


Saturday, July 29, 2006

The best team none of you have bothered to go see 

Just when I was excited to write a blog post about one of my favourite Sens upping for four more years, I sit down and see it's already been written. While I generally haven't been as down on Muckler's performance as Chris, I agree that this is a great signing. Schaefer deserves to be in the York/Calder arbitration range more than Calder and York (especially) themselves. Instead, he's signed for four years, for even cheaper. He's one of the best in the league along the boards, and his scoring touch has been getting more consistent.

With that out of the way, we move along to the matter at hand. For most Ottawa-ans, it seems to be an obscure one, as compared to rehashing the CBA debate for the umpteenth time, but sources say that Ottawa has a AAA baseball team. Upon further investigation, it's a pretty damn good one. It's a team that among other things at one point or another this season has featured future pitching star Hayden Penn, the developing comeback attempt of he-who-once-hit-two-slams-in an-inning, Fernando Tatis, a touching ceremony to honour Jackie Robinson, an Andy Tracy tape measure shot that rolled through the Canadian Tire parking lot, and red-hot hitting from Luis Terrero (before he was called up) , Ed Rogers and Keith Reed.

Great ball, criminally underappreciated.

On Monday afternoon, I witnessed possibly the craziest inning I can remember that didn't involve Jeffrey Maier or Steve Bartman. With the Lynx down by a run, 4-3, it started out innocently with a single to left by Keith Reed, his 3rd hit of the day. Andy Tracy followed up by working a walk. Then the inning turned into that time I played Hardball II against the computer with the level accidentally set to expert. Single. Single. Single. Single. Single. Single. Single. Single. Single. No typo, nine straight singles, with a couple of pitching changes mixed in. Then a double. Ten runs crossed the plate before a single out was recorded. In my softball league, the mercy rule for an inning would have been triggered at this point. Eli Whiteside sensed this and offered a pity K. Tony Alvarez, who's been flirting with the Mendoza line for most of the year and thus can't afford such pity, singled to cash in run #12 of the inning. Norfolk then brought in their fourth pitcher of the inning who ended the slaughter by inducing a 4-6-3 double play on the first pitch.

Phew!

Get out to see them while you still can folks.

On another entirely different note, be sure to drop by Vancouver Canucks Op Ed today. Alanah is doing a 24-hour blogathon in support of