Very Quick Penguins-Flyers Highlights

Sure you can read all about game one of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers series on countless websites or find highlights in numerous places. However, I’m happy to provide you with a short, short recap of the game.



Jeff Jimerson nailed the national anthem.

First Period

Sidney Crosby scores! 1-0 Pens

Tyler Kennedy scores! 2-0 Pens

Fleury stones Jagr.



Pascal Dupuis scores! 3-0 Pens

End of First Period

Mike Milbury doesn’t make any outlandish, offensive or inaccurate statements during intermission.

Second Period

Fleury makes an incredible save on Hartnell

Daniel Briere scores. Boo, especially since he was barely offsides. 3-1 Pens

Couple of unsuccessful power plays for the Penguins in there.

Craig Adams & Arron Asham on a 2-on-1. Probably the two forwards on the Pens you would least like to see on a 2-on-1.

End of second period

What are the chances David Beckham has visited a Burger King since this commercial? In the unlikely event that he eats at BK, there's no chance that he knows the restaurant manager's name, right? There's even less than a zero chance that Victoria Beckham eats or drinks at BK.



Third Period

Jagr interferes with Crosby. That’s not allowed.

Steve Sullivan has a point blank chance but Ilya Bryzgalov says no (or nyet).

Jordan Staal hits the crossbar.

Briere scores again. Boo. 3-2 Pens

Crap. Power play goal for Brayden Schenn on a nice pass from Scott Hartnell. Game tied 3-3.

End of third period.

Only five shots for the Pens in the entire 3rd period.

Overtime

Jakub Voracek scores. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Flyers win 4-3. Jakub spells his name wrong. If the Pens had to lose in overtime, I'm happy that it happened quickly. There's no way I could have stayed up late watching a 3 or 4-overtime game.

A few notes:

The Pens finished 0-for-3 on the power play while the Flyers went 1-for-1. Pens need to do better on special teams if they want to win the series.

The Malkin, Neal and Kunitz line combined for zero points.

Did Max Talbot play for the Flyers? I dont think I ever noticed him.

Game two on Friday.

American Idol Controversy

I don't watch American Idol, so if you're looking for detailed commentary of who will win this season based on a brief audition, you'll have to go elsewhere. With that written, my pop culture sensibilities require that I have a familiarity with the show. Therefore, I am aware of Pants on the Ground and am particularly impressed with Ithacappella's version.



Thanks to non-stop airing of American Idol commercials during the NFL playoffs, I know the guest judges this season have included Victoria Beckham, Shania Twain & Avril Lavigne. Do you notice a common thread between these three musicians? They aren't American! Between Simon Cowell and the guest judge, the winner of American Idol is being determined by non-Americans. The British and Canadians have taken over the show! This may be worse than the Tea Tax! I demand that Fox gets rid of these foreigners. (Speaking of which, is Foreigner going to be a guest judge?) How can it be American Idol without Americans? Why is there not a revolution? At the very least, Fox should change the show's name. To show my displeasure with American Idol, I will continue my boycott of the show! Who's with me?


Keeping on the music theme, I am thinking about doing a live blog of the Grammys on Sunday night. My decision rests entirely on whether or not there are people interested in participating. If you are interested, please let me know via the comments or by e-mailing me at seanramblings at yahoo [dot] com.

More Than Harry Potter

Although this may be hard to believe, there is more going on in the world than Harry Potter. For example, I’m going to work today and have an ultimate frisbee game tonight. Here are some other things going on:

I watched Victoria Beckham Coming to America last night. With Coming to America in the show’s title and Posh’s close relationship with fellow Spice Girl Mel B., I was waiting for Eddie Murphy to appear. It never happened. Actually, when Posh met with Perez Hilton (more on this momentarily), he asked her if there is a celebrity who she disliked. Eddie was the answer.

The show itself wasn’t terrible. Considering all the garbage on TV this summer, this is actually a compliment. Victoria was surprisingly likable. She confronted Perez Hilton for what he put on his website about her, but appeared to have an enjoyable conversation with him. Her trip to the DMV was also funny. The show ended with Posh throwing out the first pitch at a Dodgers game. Mike Lieberthal came across as a nice enough guy; Tommy Lasorda, however, seemed completely disinterested.
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The Emmy nominations are out featuring 15 nominations for The Sopranos. The Washington Post’s Lisa de Moraes has a recap, but here are my own observations:

* The toughest category may be Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series. Neil Patrick Harris receives a well-deserved nomination for his portrayal of Barney Stinson. The other nominees are Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven from Entourage, Rainn Wilson (better known as Dwight Schrute) from The Office and Jon Cryer for 2.5 Men.

* How I Met Your Mother received a nomination for the Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Series category for the fabulous Robin Sparkles episode.


* Has there always been a category for “Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series?” In case you were wondering, the nominees are Dancing with the Stars, Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, Rome and Ugly Betty.

* Scrubs received two nominations for the Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics category. The show is up against Family Guy, SNL and MADtv.

* How did George (T.R. Knight) from Grey’s Anatomy receive a supporting actor in a drama series nomination?
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OK, I do have a few Harry Potter links:

A couple is getting married tonight and then going directly to Barnes & Noble. I’m guessing that there will be some upset 13 year-olds when the couple gets to cut to the front of the line.

Northern Virginia appears to have ordered more copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon.com per capita than any other area in America. Falls Church finished #1, Fairfax #3 and Vienna #4. Herndon (#28) and Alexandria (#78) also made the list as did Ithaca, NY (#80).

Why I Would Make a Poor Celebrity (or Secret Service Agent)

Well, there are thousands of reasons for both of these, so let’s make this reason number 172. One of the apparent requirements of being a celebrity is that you need to wear sunglasses in public places. The picture of Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham hidden by her child at David Beckham’s final Real Madrid match is an example of this. Sunglasses, often coupled with wearing a hat, helps disguise celebrities in public from the commoners. If you look closely at the picture, you will notice that no one else is wearing sunglasses, so it can't be too sunny.

On to the premise of this post. I cannot be a celebrity because I don’t wear sunglasses. I have had several pairs of sunglasses over the years and have managed to either lose or break all of them. Based on this track record, I have not had a pair of sunglasses in probably six years. Therefore, I have a bit of a dilemma. If I buy a cheap pair of sunglasses, I won’t really care about them and will probably lose of bend them. Conversely, why would I buy an expensive pair of sunglasses if I’ve been fine the last six years without them?

That's about it. I don't have anything else to write about this subject. In full disclosure, I just saw the Tom and Katie picture and thought they looked silly and robot-like with the sunglasses. Plus, this was another opportunity to write about a Spice Girl!

(The picture is courtesy of Deadspin).