Hockey …. hockey … hockey … hockey

June 4th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Confession: I don’t watch hockey. I know, right? Shocking. That said, I feel like there is a large contingent of people who don’t watch hockey who actively dislike hockey, as if the notion of this sport they don’t watch, played in arenas they don’t attend, is somehow reason to get worked up. Hockey sucks! Ugh! I don’t watch it, but it still sucks! Theoretically! (I find most of these people also hate soccer. So I empathize.)

Anyway. It’s that not I don’t like hockey, it’s just that my time is thinly spread enough as it is, and adding another three-hour-a-night sports obsession is not in the cards. Not to mention, after years of apathy, the sport feels awkward to me. Hockey is foreign enough to me that at a friend’s hockey game in high school, all of my friends — who were attending both to root on our friend and to ironically advance the notion that there was nothing better to do in our hometown in high school than go to a hockey game — started simply chanting “hockey.” Just … “hockey … hockey … hockey.” Etc. To this day, I find it hilarious: how often do you see people, even dumbass high school kids, chanting the very name of the sport they’re observing? It was either a celebration of the fun we were having, or a slap at the sport. I remain convinced it was the former.

Tonight, after just watching the fifth or sixth period of hockey I’ve watched all year, I kinda felt like that again. You probably couldn’t force me to watch a non-live regular-season hockey game any time in the near future, but anyone who saw any of this year’s Stanley Cup would struggle to deny the sport’s entertainment potential. Hockey is back. It just needs is for people like me to realize it.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Red Wings won. I haven’t watched the sport since the mid-90’s, and it’s like I haven’t missed anything!)

Czech league goalies know how to dance

February 5th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

This guy’s name is Miroslav Kopriva and he totally stole my dance moves. The pads, the stick, the shirt over the face — I totally was busting that out Saturday night. Sure no one wanted to be around me and I think I even got slapped in the face by a woman, but hey, I’m just a revolutionary ahead of my time.

{HT: Southern Bohemian Ho(c)ke(y)}

This is a hockey post

June 7th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

First thing is first: I do not subscribe to the “I hate hockey; hockey is stupid; How can you even see the puck?” state of mind a majority of the sports blogging ilk classifies themselves under. I appreciate the game. It is physical. It is fast-paced. It is entertaining and somewhat exciting. Not to mention, the Stanley Cup is the finest trophy in all the land.

However, I do not watch the sport. I didn’t watch a minute of the finals. (Seriously, when did the Ducks change their colors? Congrats on the championship, fellas.) Save for a few random St. Louis Blues games my roommate had on earlier this season, I didn’t catch a minute of live hockey. I’m not really sure what to attribute to all of this. Maybe it’s the fact that the games are hard to come by on TV. Maybe it’s because I don’t really hang out with a large contingent of people who watch the sport. Maybe it’s because I didn’t play the sport growing up.

I think the largest reason I don’t watch hockey is rather simple: I never did. I knew of Jeremy Roenick and Ed Belfour and the like when the Blackhawks were in their heyday, but I can’t really ever remember actually watching them play. I have been to a fair amount of Chicago Bulls games. I have been to a lot of Chicago White Sox games. The only Blackhawks game I ever attended was a scrimmage before the season at the old Chicago Stadium. Hockey has just never run through my veins like other sports have.

I don’t know if this is everyone’s reason for not watching the sport. But, it certainly is mine.

Snoop Dogg at a hockey game. He’s amusing as ever.

May 1st, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

I can’t begin to express everything that is brilliant about the above interview conducted during a Wild-Ducks hockey game. Whether it’s the middle-aged white man actually holding his own with the rapper, Snoop proclaiming “I’m right next to the snow” when talking about his seats or that he “loves the way they move around so swift on the ice” it’s all pretty awesome and makes me wonder what I did with myself before YouTube.

Oh, and clearly, he’s high as balls. Only natural, right?

(Via the wonderful Ballhype.)

And the prosecutors all laughed …

February 21st, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

Presumably, prosecutors are serious people. They are, after all, charged with protecting the average American citizen from a score of indicted criminal activity. Like murders. Or drunk driving. Or, say, some college hockey goalie mooning an opposing team, the referees, and a host of Mormon spectators.

Awesome:

Mickey Meyer rode his stick like a horse, dropped his bulky pants, mooned the crowd and slapped his buttocks during a game against BYU, police said.

He was ejected and ticketed for lewdness, a misdemeanor, after an officer who was working security at the rink said he witnessed the scene Saturday.

“I had my fill of these refs,” Meyer said on an Internet broadcast of the game, according to The Herald-Journal of Logan.

It will be up to prosecutors whether to pursue a case against him.

If the reaction of Utah House member and designated prosecutor Scott Wyatt is any indication, Meyer should be OK:

Prosecutor Scott Wyatt laughed when told about the incident Tuesday at the state Capitol, where he is a member of the Utah House. He declined to say whether he would press charges. The maximum penalty is six months in jail.
“Well, that’s my call, but I haven’t seen anything” from police, Wyatt said.

Gotta love the recognition of humor here. If something is so funny a serious, politically minded, “tough on crime” Utah prosecutor can chuckle in front of the media … that shit is verifiably funny.

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

June 12th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanR

So, it’s been what us in the business would call a downer of a day. The US didn’t show up in their first match of the World Cup and Big Ben has been seriously injured in a motorcycle crash.

But never fear sports fans! There is great news to report! And it’s out of our favorite sport, HOCKEY!

Out of the 1,406 drug tests administered by the NHL this season as part of the league’s new anti-doping program NO ONE tested positive!

Rejoice. Celebrate. Go do something with this news. It’s worth it.

In other NHL news, the Carolina Hurricanes lead the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game four is tonight in Edmonton on NBC at 8 pm EST. Although, the game is running opposite ‘Wife Swap’ and ‘Nanny 911’, so you make the choice.