Nick Wright and more stuff you don't care about

Well, the season is over for my beloved Bruins, and one word stands out to sum up the season: disappointing.
It started with the idea that Marco Sturm, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder could produce everything they managed to produce last year, PLUS make up for the loss of Phil Kessel via trade to Toronto.  In theory, this seemed possible, but not probable. Young players tend to go up and down their first year, so Lucic, Wheeler and Krejci were unpredictable. Ryder and Sturm are not getting any younger, so expecting them to SURPASS their individual totals from last year is ridiculous. We’re talking about 60 points and a FAST presence on the ice. Without Sturm, the Bruins had only Ryder with any sort of pickup in the playoffs, and he couldn’t find an empty net on a breakaway. They never adequately replaced Kessel. I’m not saying they should have kept him, but they should have had a backup plan. Zach Hamill is still in the wings, but the coaching staff obviously doesn’t have any confidence in him. (read:Whitfield,Trent)

Meanwhile, SI is picking the Bruins as their Stanley Cup favorite! Great! That always goes so well!

As the season wore on, their were some glimmers of hope, but there were SO many holes. Thomas was shaky and they wouldn’t commit to Rask. Wideman was horrible, admittedly, and couldn’t seem to shake off his lack of confidence. Chara and Lucic forgot to bring their hardhats, and they had to rely on Thornton to do ALL of the fighting. Krejci, Wheeler and Ryder were mostly invisible. Sure, we won the Winter Classic, but I’m pretty sure Philly gets the last laugh. Injuries exposed their lack of depth (read:Whitfield,Trent) and they became… lackluster. I couldn’t tolerate watching them play on multiple occasions this season.Whether it’s Claude Julien’s style or intimidation, they spent a lot of games skating backwards, especially with a lead that they would soon squander.  Most of us (*raises hand*) wrote them off in February.

They stayed at the bottom of the pack and on the back-burner in Boston until Marc Savard had his brains scrambled by Matt Cooke. They stunk up the joint in the “retaliation game”, which was one of many signs throughout the season that this team wasn’t mentally tough. When the pressure came, and people started paying attention, and expecting something from them, they shriveled up. The Penguins thumped ‘em, but for some reason it gave them a boost for the rest of the season. Everyone wanted to play long enough to get Savard back, even though they hadn’t been producing when he was IN the lineup…They managed to make the playoffs, but no one had any faith in them. I remember someone on the radio reporting that Savard might be able to return in the 2nd round.. I snickered to myself, as the Bruins couldn’t score goals and they were facing the best goaltender in the world in Round 1.

Well, they whooped him. Evidently, Ryan Miller has a tough time with the spotlight, too. All of a sudden, things were clicking. Chemistry on every line, everyone doing their job, even Wideman had a couple of good games. It gave us hope… The Bruins win the series in 6, and the city starts caring about them again…Uh oh.

The Bruins open up and TEAR through the first 3 games against Philly. At the time, and my old man can validate this, I was a bit concerned.  The Bruins are horrible front-runners, and their ability to lose games in the 3rd period all season verifies it. They came out swinging in game 4, but couldn’t squeak it out in OT. The return of Simon Gagne mirrored the return of Savard, as both had OT winners in their first game back.  Unfortunately, Gagne was not done and was a big part of the Flyers making history.  After the OT loss, the Bruins lost their swagger (as usual), and lost the next 3 games in gruesome fashion, none worse than Game 7. (not going to rehash it, but they went up 3-0 like in the series, and lost 4-3…like in the series.) This game creepily and accurately depicted not only the series, but the entire season. Not enough…anything.

So, what are we looking forward to next year? I know, it’s crazy, I have something positive to write…

1. Johnny Boychuck – This guy is Bruins hockey. He plays stay-at-home D, isn’t afraid to step up into the play and make a big hit, and has a ripping slapshot. I expect better numbers next year, now that he knows he’s sticking with the club for good.

2. Tuukka Rask – He played out of his mind most of the time. He’s young, so bad games are going to happen, but he was the showstopper during the playoffs. He outplayed Miller, which no one saw coming, and made up for a lot of mental errors by Wideman & Co.

3. Hallguin – I don’t know which we’re getting, Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, but both are expected to be ready to contribute immediately. I’m hoping for Hall, who has the potential to replace Kessel’s production, but converting Seguin from center to wing might be possible. (no room for any more centers, which is nothing new)

4. A new coach – I doubt this will happen, as Claude and Chiarelli seem to be buddies, but there were a lot of issues with motivation and mistakes. This falls on the coach, unless his GM is making lineups. (quite possible) I’m rooting for the return of Mike Milbury, but I think he’d pull a Barry Melrose. Press guys have a hard time earning the trust of a team, and a lot of people associate Milbury with TV now instead of coaching.

Will these things get us a Cup next year? Probably not. Luckily/Unluckily, most of the key players are signed for multiple years, so we have a foundation to build something on. If only we could find the right contractors…

They say it’s my birthday. 28. Ew.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. 28 isn’t “old”. Keep this in mind, though. I’m like 19 in my head. At some point during my 19th year, my brain paused itself. Although I may have absorbed more information since, I really haven’t changed my opinions on any of the standard “adult” concepts. So, being reminded of my ineptness by adding another year to my age is not high on my list. Here’s why.

I don’t care about money. I know I should, but I just don’t. My living situation allows me the flexibility to not care, and I will not apologize for that, but I’m not going to do something I hate. If I end up knocking someone up or my parents decide to move to Florida, maybe my outlook will change, but it will take something drastic to shake me out of my doldrums. I don’t like it, but that’s the way it is, and I’m just not motivated enough to care.

I don’t care about having kids. Look, someday, I might want kids. I’m not signing up for a vasectomy. Yet. It’s just the least of my concerns. If it’s not the environmental climate, it’s the political climate, and I’m not really interested in introducing another life form to this planet.

My room is always messy. This is a boring topic, but those of you that know me personally would agree. I can spend 4 hours organizing baseball cards, but I can trip over the same soda bottle 4 times before I do something about it. That doesn’t mean I pick it up and put it in the nearest trash receptacle. No, no. I just find a lesser-traveled region of my room and place it there.

I’m happy with a dead end job. I rarely look forward, so keeping a temporary job is almost out of necessity. I’m not sure what I’ll do in the long run, but the long run isn’t here yet. I’m not prepared to “work my way up”, so I’m always looking for jobs with no aspiration required. I have aspiration, but I’m afraid it won’t result in what I expect, so I suppress it.

I, of course, blame this all on Sesame Street. Sesame Street had a message. The message, of course, was “YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, GO ANYWHERE, BE ANYONE. IT IS ALL ABOUT YOU.”

As you grow older, you realize this is not the case. Up until high school, you might genuinely believe that you are special, but reality has a way of dashing your dreams. Maybe it’s true, maybe you CAN be anything, but you most likely will not. Most people fail. It is the norm to fail. Winning is the exception to the rule, not a birthright. See, Sesame Street didn’t tell you that. Sesame Street inflated your self-esteem, and you ate it up. I did, too.

The Pats are beating the bad teams, barely, and losing to the good ones. I’m not feeling good about our chances in the playoffs. Tom Brady had a horrible game (although I’m sure the cold and wind were a factor) and I’ve noticed how well the league has adjusted to Randy Moss. All of the criticism this week made him my focus on every play, and he was going hard all game. On the few plays he went deep, though, everyone in the stadium and on the field knew who was getting it. I’m not a big fan of the “Throw it to Randy and he’ll catch it” play because…he hasn’t been.

Side note: I hate snow. It was great when it got you out of school, growing up. Now, it just makes you late for everything.

I will not tell a lie. I made that part up. I just heard that Tiger Woods passed Michael Jackson for most traffic, so I figured I’d get in on that. My take on all of this: I don’t care. I understand why some people do, but I don’t. People are treating this like a political scandal, but Tiger’s job is to hit a little ball into a slightly bigger but also little hole. He has no bearing on our everyday life. He’s just a guy, that gets paid an insane amount of money, and that seems to make it the public’s business.

I hear people say that all the time. “When you’re an athlete, you’re signing up to be in the limelight.” Maybe that’s true in some sports, but golf? Really? No one cared about golf but old people until Tiger Woods. If anyone would be the exception to that rule, it would be Tiger Woods. Although you could say his dad helped create his legacy when he was a kid being paraded around talk shows, he has DESTROYED the competition. We had no choice but to take note of his skill. Maybe Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus were as dominant in their time, but I didn’t care then, and neither did you, most likely. (I might argue that I don’t care now. Oh, wait… I already said that.)

Then why did I waste two paragraphs talking about it? I’ve been saturated with it due to overnight sports talk radio. JT the Brick has mentioned Tiger Woods every hour, for an average of 10 minutes each hour, since Thanksgiving.  I’m not sure who does their market research, but from what I’ve gathered, no one really cares. If something significant occurs, like the car accident part, or the assault and battery part, I want to know. Sex with slutty chicks when you’re a billionaire? That’s not news. That’s not news. That’s not news. Even if it’s Tiger Woods? Nope. And do you want to know why?

JFK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When JFK was banging Marilyn Monroe, everyone and their grandmother (his wife?) knew it. Some things just shouldn’t be news. It’s like media thinks we’re all some nosy neighbors that want to gossip about Mr. Johnson next door. I, for one, don’t care. I also don’t think any less of him because of it. JT seems to think that because corporations and the PGA try to sell him to us, that puts him on a pedestal for us to ridicule. I think that’s ridiculous.

I don’t buy Nike hats because I like Tiger Woods, I buy Nike hats because they’re fashionable and that makes chicks think you care about your appearance, thus helping you secure some sex. Tiger Woods was securing said sex, because he has money. Nike hats cost more than some other hats. Chicks know that, so they think you not only have style, but you have money to spend on it! Everybody wins! Tiger wins more, but it had nothing to do with him. It has everything to do with WOMEN! (I don’t really buy Nike hats, I was just using it as an example. I wear a 6 year old Red Sox cap.) That said, if sports talk radio thinks their target audience wants to talk about some guy banging chicks, then they should hire me or just read these keywords: Sports,Sports-related stories. When I say sports related stories, you can include this story, but it shouldn’t be your focus. It should be glanced over, and we should move on to things that are relevant. (to the audience, not 16 year old girls and housewives)

I forget about blogs. As an avid facebook user, I’m one of millions that keep a running diary of my daily grind, so I rarely need to vent.  I will try not to let this one die like the rest! Also, when my teams play poorly, there will be a noticeable dip in the post count. I can’t help it, I don’t like losing and I don’t want to go over the details of my team’s failure. Since I’m from Boston, and the Bruins and Pats are playing like crap, there’s not a lot of motivation.

On the bright side, the Celtics are predictably destroying everyone, but that’s also the blah side. There’s no need to focus on the Celtics until the playoffs, so I try to catch a game here and there, but I don’t go out of my way.

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful.” As opposed to inside?

Tiger Woods – Does anyone care anymore?

I wrote a post about Santa on another site. Perhaps I shall lazily repost it.

Wayne bitched about keeping the blog about your mom as the #1 post, so I’m replacing it with this. Censorship = bad.

I realize that the Bruins are not playing nearly as well as they were at this point last year, but that’s no reason to jump off the bandwagon. With Savard and Lucic injured, this is not the same team that will be playing in April. They lost Kessel, but he was not worth 5 million. Never pay someone for one good season. (How’s Deion Branch working out for you?)

I actually started writing this post prior to our recent winning “streak”, and it sat in my drafts folder until today, so don’t assume looking at that. I’m basing it on the most important element of all: EA Sports NHL 2010.  Kidding aside, the B’s are pretty nasty when they’re healthy, and the game verified this by getting the B’s to the conference championship, where they were ousted by the e-Sabres, who then beat San Jose for the Cup. This was prior to the Kobasew loss and the Paille gain. Also, Paille was leading the playoffs in points, which obviously benefited the e-Sabres and will now be on the side of the e-Bruins AND real Bruins! (Leading the playoffs in points? Paille? I never ever heard of the guy until I played NHL ’10. They obviously think better of him than Sabres management. )

Here in Massachusetts, we have a Senatorial seat up for grabs, and it seems none of our candidates can get their story straight. I won’t bore you with the details,  but let’s just say they’ve done more flip-flopping than John Kerry did, and we know where that got him. Special interest groups and “Women’s Rights” advocates got into their heads, and they changed their opinions overnight.

Here’s the short and sweet version: Stop. You got it right the first time. You need to concede sometimes. Not everything is black or white. Not everything is right or wrong. (See how I avoided that rhyme? I think ahead, folks.) Sometimes you HAVE to meet in the middle. I know we were brought up to crush our foes and accept no compromise, but that’s what got us into this mess.

Here’s the whole argument and I promise it will take you less time than Congress to understand:

Dems want it in there because they believe that most uninsured people are young and poor, and that makes them the “target audience” for this part of the legislature. I’m not sure why they care, young people don’t vote anyway. The other half of the uninsured are the elderly, and I’m pretty sure they’re not too concerned if abortion gets in… I understand their argument. I understand the “woman’s right to choose” aspect. I might even agree, to an extent. I’d like to think that all medical technology is “playing god”, so who am I to decide which is “moral”? I don’t like when abortion is used as a form of birth control, but I know that some circumstances require drastic measures. However….

I don’t want to pay for it. This is the Republican argument, and they make a good case. Why should taxpayers have to pay for abortion? Hell, their base doesn’t even think it should be LEGAL, and you expect them to a) sign a bill that they believe is an early feeler for socialism and b) pay for abortions???? Are you kidding me? You thought they would vote to PAY for abortion?!? That would never happen, and the Democrats should have known that.

I vote Democrat a majority of the time, so don’t think I’m swaying the argument in the Republican’s favor. (minus my vote for Mitt Romney for MA governor!)  The Republicans have a valid gripe, and this should not hold up the process. Respect your differences! This isn’t the Civil War as much as you both like to think it is. Less blah blah, more doing. If you want to fight about it later, try to get an amendment or something. I don’t know, I phased out that part of civics, but I’m pretty sure laws can be revised.

So, what we need is a gray area. I know, it’s weird, I want people to respect other people and learn to compromise. If I’m at the store, and I want chocolate ice cream, and my girlfriend wants vanilla, we’re either getting both or we’re getting vanilla. (Nod your head, gentlemen.) We’re not going to skip the ice cream because we don’t agree on the flavor, because that would be stupid.

That’s what almost happened. We almost went without ice cream.

Another blog. What makes this one different? Nothing. I finally got my real name, so hooray for that.

If you’re new to my posts, you’ve probably clicked the wrong link. You should stay, anyway. It’s kind of voyeuristic to read the blog of someone you don’t know. You know… if you’re in to that kind of thing… (send me a message) Moving on….

I bitch about sports, politics, religion and life; in that order. If you are offended easily, don’t read it. If we’re friends and you’d feel better sticking with your preconceptions, by all means, skip this. Sometimes I annoy myself, I totally understand.

If you got this far, you have passed our test, and you can be our friend.