Cheers to the Fairfax Connector

When I have had problems with certain companies, I have been quick to write about my experiences (ex. Saturn, The Washington Post and Metro). Therefore, I want to give some credit to a company that provided excellent customer service. Surprisingly, I’m giving credit to the Fairfax Connector bus system.

Last month, I got on the wrong bus. No, this is not another entry of the “I am an Idiot” series. You see, the front of the bus which shows the bus number was not working. Therefore, I got on the bus and asked the driver the number. I thought that he said 557, which is one of the busses I can take. When I paid with my SmarTrip, I noticed that the cost was $3, $2 more than it should be. When I questioned the driver he said that I was on the 597, which is not one of the busses I can take. Even though he gave me a transfer slip, I was still out $2.

Although $2 really wasn’t that big of a deal, I decided to call the main Fairfax Connector office to explain the situation. They were extremely helpful and did not mock me, which is always a plus in the customer service field. Fairfax Connector also mailed me three $1 bus passes along with several bus schedules. So this message is simply to give credit to the Fairfax Connector.

I’m sure that I’ll criticize someone else again very soon.

Jeopardy Online Contestant Test

The online test for Jeopardy! is back. Here are the specific test dates and times:

EAST COAST
Tuesday, January 29th at 8PM EST

CENTRAL/MOUNTAIN
Wednesday, January 30th at 8PM CST/7PM MST

PACIFIC COAST (Including Alaska and Hawaii)
Thursday, January 31st at 8PM PST

These tests are for adults 18 and over only to qualify for the regional auditions. Eligible adults must register before taking the test by going to the Sony/Jeopardy! website.

Good luck!

Update 1/29 8:13 PM EST Well, you won't see me on Jeopardy anytime soon unless I'm in the audience and decide to run on stage to give Alex Trebek a high-five. I bombed the online quiz. Of course, having the George Mason-VCU college basketball game on television in the background probably did not help.

Sunday Morning Musings

This car commerical features Pittsburgh Penguins Colby Armstrong, Max Talbot, Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin. Talbot (the second player in the video) may consider the acting profession after his hockey career ends. (via Scribbled Noise)


All the Sunday morning news shows are obviously talking about Barack Obama's impressive win in South Carolina. However, I want to point out that Joe Biden, who quit the race several weeks ago, defeated Dennis Kucinich, who dropped out on Friday, 694-552 to finish in fifth place. (Bill Richardson received 727 votes to finish in fourth.)

Songs with Time

Every once in a while, I get an idea that I think would be brilliant to post here. In many cases, these ideas have to do with music (for example my list of the top songs of the 2000s and the 25 greatest Canadian musicians and my compilations of songs with alcohol in the title and songs with states in the title.) This time, I decided to create a list of songs that have a specific time in the lyrics. While Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers, Time by Pink Floyd and Time by Hootie and the Blowfish all literally have “time” in the title, I’m looking for songs like Billy Joel’s Piano Man which starts with the line, “It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday.”

Here’s what I’ve come up with thus far:

* Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4 (I still have no idea what this means)
* Matchbox 20 - 3 A.M.
* Simon and Garfunkel – Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. and 7 O’clock News/Silent Night
* KLF – 3 A.M. Eternal
* Anna Nalick – Breathe (2 AM)
* Dolly Parton – 9 To 5
* Alan Jackson – It’s Five O’clock Somewhere
* U2 - 11 O'clock Tick Tock

* Bell Biv DeVoe – Do Me
"The time was 6 o'clock on the Swatch watch
No time to chill, got a date, can't be late
Hey, the girl is gonna do me"

* Destiny’s Child – Jumpin’ Jumpin’
And all you fellas leave your girl with her friends
Cause it's eleven thirty and the club is jumpin', jumpin'

* R. Kelly - Hotel
‘Cuz we`re having an after party, checkin` out 6 in the mornin`

* Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around the Clock
One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock

* Jermaine Dupri & Ludacris - Welcome to Atlanta
And parties dont stop til' eight in the mornin'

* Ben Folds Five – Brick
6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark

* The Bangles – Manic Monday
Six o'clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream

I thought I was putting together an excellent list until I found The Human Clock’s list of songs with time. After reviewing this catalog of dozens and dozens of songs, I quickly realized that I was wasting my own time. I guess my brilliant idea was not so brilliant. If you want to add songs in the comment section BEFORE you visit The Human Clock’s website, please feel free to do so.

This Is CHIP

I posted information earlier this morning about the Washington Capitals search for a mascot handler and the fact that I used to be a mascot myself. Thanks to Arjewtino for converting the TIF file to a JPEG, I am proud to show a sketch of CHIP.


Although I will always have fond memories of CHIP, you can see why he/she/it is no longer the festival mascot.

Mascot Chronicles

The Washington Capitals are seeking a Mascot Handler whose duties include ensuring that the mascot stays on schedule during games and events, assisting the mascot with interaction with the fans, and being the mascot's "eyes and ears." The individual must be outgoing, friendly and comfortable interacting with groups of fans. You may think that I am making light of the job, but the mascot handler is an extremely important position. I say this as a former mascot.

As a high school junior, I auditioned to be the school’s mascot. The audition consisted of me unsuccessfully attempting a summersault and cartwheel while dressed in full mascot attire. During the cartwheel, the mascot’s head fell off and while everyone laughed uncontrollably (including myself), the coach berated me because apparently the head was fairly expensive. Fortunately, I did not get the job.

Fast-forward about ten years, a friend of mine recruited me to be CHIP at a Northern Virginia festival that I have mentioned numerous times on this blog. You see, mascots, including CHIP, are not allowed to talk. In addition, it is difficult to see out of the giant mascot head. Therefore, you need a good handler to explain what CHIP is (CHIP is not a robot or an alien; CHIP is the festival mascot), make sure kids aren’t scared of CHIP and to be there for moral support (“Take a step up CHIP or you’ll trip on the curb.”). It was amazing how many kids loved CHIP, but conversely, CHIP made several kids cry. The handler must be able to steer the mascot near the kids who want to say hello but also away from the kids who are screaming. It’s a tough job. Of course, if you’re the mascot/mascot handler at the Capitals game, you don’t have to worry about drunk fans who want you to get out of the way! The Caps fans want you to block their view of Alexander Ovechkin on a breakaway. So to the potential Capitals’ mascot handler out there, good luck and be the best you can be!



P.S. In case you were wondering, CHIP has been retired. I wish that I had a picture of CHIP, but all that I have is a sketch in a TIF file, which Blogger does not allow me to add as a picture. If you know how to do add a TIF, please let me know, because you haven't seen CHIP until you've seen CHIP.

P.P.S. (or is it P.S.S.) A sketch of CHIP has been posted here.

Fun Tuesday Links

Here are a few activities for your Tuesday:

How many countries can you name in 5 minutes? I feel like I could do much better than 55 if I tried this again. Please note that spelling counts!

55

What is your blog wanted for? Apparently, Sean's Ramblings is WANTED FOR THE ABUSIVE ROBBERY of an ADORABLE DONKEY. How did they know? The reward is $2600.

I am the type of person who can look at maps for hours. They fascinate me. The folks at Strange Maps created this map in which the US states are renamed for countries with similar gross domestic products.
US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs. Enjoy!



Oh, try not to look at this map while completing the name the countries quiz. I think that would count as cheating.

Random Cloverfield Question

I saw Cloverfield over the weekend, and while I am not going to give away any spoilers, I have a simple question that anyone can answer just from seeing a preview or commercial. Although we do not know for sure, let’s assume that the monster came from the water and is rather large, based on the fact that he/she/it beheaded the Statue of Liberty. So why would the monster choose Manhattan over anywhere else?

I’m not an expert on New York City geography, so please correct me if I’m wrong. So you’re telling me that the monster goes from the Lower New York Bay to the Upper New York Bay to Manhattan with no one noticing until he/she/it announces its arrival by decapitating the Statue of Liberty? How deep is the water there? Wouldn’t the monster take out a few bridges along the way? Wouldn’t it be much easier for the monster just to attack New Jersey, Long Island or Connecticut? If the monster prefers colder water, it could attack Maine or Nova Scotia. Florida, Georgia or South Carolina would be much more convenient for a warmer climate.

Maybe the monster did some research and figured that New York would be the best place to attack based on its population and proximity to the water. However, by that logic, the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, which consists of the metropolis of Bombay and its satellite towns, would be a much better target. (I'm not an expert on Mumbai either, so please correct me if I'm wrong.) The population of Mumbai and New York City is similar, but the monster should have an easier time navigating and destroying Mumbai since it is much smaller in terms of square kilometers (according to Wikipedia, the area of New York city is 17,884 square km while Mumbai is 2,350).

Am I over thinking this?

Message to the USTA

Earlier today (depending on where you live – I think), Roger Federer defeated the 49th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. It sounds like it was an amazing match, which unfortunately I missed because I was asleep. Anyway, perhaps you noticed the final score of the fifth set: 10-8. There was so much drama, tension and energy on every point. I’m sure the crowd went crazy. However, this type of ending could never happen at the US Open. You see, as I mentioned in September, if the score is tied 6-6 at the end of the third set in a women’s match or fifth set in a men’s match, the winner is determined by a tie-breaker. What a terrible way to end a match! If anyone at the USTA, United States Tennis Association, is reading this, please change the US Open to follow the same format as the other three tennis majors. Thank you.

P.S. The fourth set of the Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis match airing live on ESPN2 is also amazing, especially since they are playing at 3:30 AM Melbourne time.

John Kerry is Kung Fu Fighting

I am a few days late on this one, but Express featured this picture on its Friday cover after John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama.



Am I the only one who thought that this picture showed Obama trying to hold back Kerry from a fight? I just hope that Kerry isn’t going to try and fight Nolan Ryan



or Mike Huckabee if Chuck Norris is around.



The Kerry-Obama picture is by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images.

Selling Out?

You may be surprised to know that the main reason I write this blog is for the money. Unfortunately, in the three years since I have started Sean’s Ramblings, I have earned a total of $0. Therefore, when I received e-mails over the past month or two with offers to send me free stuff, I jumped at the opportunity.

First, Turner Publishing asked if I wanted a complimentary copy of their title, Historic Photos of Washington, D.C. by Matthew Gilmore and Andrew Brodie Smith. I think I replied within two minutes of receiving the e-mail with a yes. This is one of the few books where you can honestly write that you could judge the book by its title. There’s a nice mix of pictures of historic events (Harry S. Truman’s inauguration in 1949; the Spirit of St. Louis arriving at the Smithsonian in 1928), monuments (the Capitol building and Washington monument) and pictures of everyday Washington people and places. There are some very cool pictures and makes an excellent coffee table book.



Last month I received an offer to receive the movie “Somebody Help Me” on DVD as long as I provided a review on my website. As I mentioned above, I’m all for free stuff, so in upholding my end of the deal, here is my movie review.

“Somebody Help Me” stars Omai Grandberry (better known as Omarion), Alexis Fields, Brooklyn Sudano and Marques Houston. You know all of these actors from um, um, well, if you are in your early 30s like me, you don’t know them. I guess you might know Omarion and Marques Houston from “You Got Served.” Omarion was also part of one of the worst named music groups of the past 10 years, B2K. Before I get into the movie itself, here is the description from the back of the DVD case:

From the director of You Got Served and House Party 4 comes this urban horror-thriller nail-biter on the order of Cabin Fever and The Hills Have Eyes.

Wait a second. There was a House Party 4? House Party starring Kid N Play came out when I was in high school. There was a fourth edition? How have I lived without seeing House Party 4?

Delivering a chill a minute, Somebody Help Me is the story of Brendan Young (Marques Houston) and Darryl Jennings (Omari Grandberry) as they head off with their friends and girlfriends for a weekend’s stay at a remote cabin in the woods.

"Somebody Help Me" is 100 minutes in length. There certainly were not 100 chilling moments during the movie. I’ve watched enough Law & Order so I may be qualified to write “objection, misleading statement.” The judge would support me.

After the couples settle in, things take an eerie turn.

Not Erie, Pennsylvania. The movie would have been less mysterious (and much better) if the characters ate at Perkins, Quaker Steak & Lube, or hung out on Peach Street.

One by one, the group ends up missing or dead, while the remaining few are forced to band together in order to figure out who – or what – is behind the killings.



I’ll freely admit that horror films are not really my genre. I watched some of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street films, but once was enough. Poltergeist freaked me out as a kid. However, I thought Scream was great because of the mix of comedy and horror. Therefore, I was hoping that Somebody Help Me would have a bit of Scream in it. Nope. I don’t remember laughing or even smirking once during the movie. The beginning scene features the four characters in the car on their way to a remote cabin. As the dialogue developed, I started rooting for the characters to die.

Here’s the basic story: they get to the cabin, see a strange neighbor, meet the sheriff who is mean at first but warms up to them, the main character dreams about a little girl on a swing, their friends arrive at the cabin and drink, a random person walks around the cabin, and then the friends go missing and die. There’s really not much more to the movie. It’s very predictable with a few gory moments (I fast-forwarded through them) and even set up for a sequel that I hope is never made. It wasn’t a terrible movie, but it wasn’t good. Actually, it was on the pretty bad side. While I haven’t watched a horror movie in some time, I thought they usually have nudity. Well, there was no nudity here, probably since the target audience is high school boys. Wait, that doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, if you like seeing predictable horror films geared for high school students with decent acting and not much of a plot but with some suspense and scary scenes, Somebody Help Me is for you. For everyone else, start working on your tax returns.

California Tortilla & Washington Post Updates

After 21 consecutive weeks of eating a California Tortilla burrito, I think it is time for a break. However, I still have 31 coupons for free burritos good only at the Reston location. If you are interested in buying a coupon or multiple coupons, please e-mail me at seanramblings[at]yahoo dot com. The regular Blackened Chicken Caesar burrito is $6.19 including tax and some of the other specialty burritos cost even more. I’m looking to sell the coupons for $4 each, but I am willing to negotiate, especially if someone is interested in buying multiple coupons.

As for the Washington Post, I am getting closer and closer to canceling my Sunday subscription. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I received the newspaper at 9:30 AM on Sunday, December 16 and then, the paper was delivered on Sunday, December 23 even though I submitted a vacation stop. Today, the paper again arrived just after 9:30. I submitted a comment on the Post’s subscriber services page, but I doubt that I will receive a response. If I do not hear from the Post by Tuesday afternoon since the screen stated that the Post’s “service representatives have received your message and are working to address it within two business days,” I will call them on Wednesday.

While I was waiting for Sunday’s newspaper, Good Morning America featured a story about an octogenarian couple in Edgerton, Wisconsin who have delivered newspapers for more than 50 years. The story mentioned that they generally deliver the paper around 5:00 AM. That would be 4.5 hours before my newspaper is delivered!

Silly Movie Claim

I saw a commercial tonight for the new movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. When describing the movie, the television advertisement featured the line “one of the most entertaining movies of the year.” Um, it’s January 10. There haven’t been many movies released in 2008, so of course, it is going to be one of the most entertaining of the year.

Post New Hampshire Notes

I have some thoughts following Tuesday night’s New Hampshire primary.

I was really hoping that John McCain or Hillary Clinton started their victory speech by saying "Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years."

When Mike Huckabee won in Iowa, Chuck Norris was on stage supporting his candidate. When John Edwards gave his concession speech after the polls closed in New Hampshire, James Denton of Desperate Housewives shared the stage supporting his candidate. Norris vs. Denton? Advantage Huckabee.

After Edwards’ speech, Keith Olbermann made awkward conversation by asking everyone at the MSNBC studio if they watch Desperate Housewives. Chris Matthews responded no, but that he likes Teri Hatcher. Thanks for that insight Chris.

Boo to John Edwards on several counts. First, he entered the room to “This is Our Country” by John Mellencamp. Find me a sports fan who likes this song after hearing it about 1,000 times in Chevy commercials over the past two years. In addition, Edwards gave a fairly depressing speech about people who have suffered since they do not have health care. Way to fire up your supporters!

Hillary Clinton also discussed serious issues during her speech, but somehow it came off better than Edwards’ speech. Of course, it helped by the excitement in the room. At one point she discussed children who "can't afford to go to college and pursue their dreams." This was followed by loud applause and cheering. Were these people even listening to the speech?

I continue to wait for one of the primary/caucus winners to end their speech by naming numerous states and finishing with "and then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeaararh!!!"

Fred Thompson seemed like a popular candidate when he was just an actor considering running for President. Four months later, he’s in New Hampshire receiving 1% of Republican primary votes. Is he waiting for the writers’ strike to end before returning to Law & Order?

I am really intrigued by Rudy Giuliani’s strategy. He punted Iowa and New Hampshire and is hoping to win in the bigger states like Florida. It doesn’t seem like a very good strategy, but what do I know?

Although we are a long way from the conventions, I would love to a convention where we don’t know who will win. When was the last time this happened? That would make excellent television, especially on the Republican side if there’s still a chance that Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are all still vying for the nomination.

By the way, who came up with the ridiculous name Tsunami Tuesday? There was a traumatic tsunami that hit Indonesia only a few years ago? Is the name supposed to represent the tragedy of several candidates realizing that their dreams of becoming President are over? Let’s stick with Super Tuesday or even the Tuesday after Groundhog Day Tuesday.

How did I go through an entire presidential political entry without mentioned Barack Obama?

State of the Ramblings

Today marks the third anniversary of Sean’s Ramblings. Things have changed significantly here since its humble beginnings. I used to write about the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kevin Pittsnogle and how the Dr. Scholl’s “Are You Gellin?” commercials were the worst ever. Now, I write about the Pittsburgh Steelers, California Tortilla and how the Verizon Wireless commercial where the father goes around the house handing new phones to his wife and kids while telling them each individually that they are his number one is the worst ever. In all seriousness, I do think that this site has improved from when I started simply because my writing is much betterer than three years ago.

The past year has been a huge for Sean’s Ramblings thanks in part to referrals from Deadspin, DC Blogs, the Post-Gazette’s Blog ‘N Gold and Empty Netters and even Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people from all over the world visited this little place on the web looking for the Spider Pig lyrics from The Simpsons Movie (type Spider Pig Lyrics in Google and Sean’s Ramblings is listed third; second on Yahoo). More on this momentarily. Some of the highlights of the past year include my California Tortilla journal, the Jenna Bush wedding entry, my hockey road trip recap (parts I & II) and the post where I asked when Pittsburgh became a country town. In addition, there are some very interesting comments as a result of my posts about the Spice Girls, Daughtry and the terrible song “I Did Yo Boyfriend” by Melody. (Sorry for all the links.)

Over the past six months, I have averaged more than 100 hits per day primarily from people searching for Spider Pig lyrics, Jenna Bush’s wedding plans, the aforementioned Verizon commercial and the select a Presidential candidate quiz. The increased traffic is great, but my guess is that 99.99% of these folks visit this site once and never return. This is my quandary. I would like to increase the number of regular readers to this site, but I also like keeping my anonymity somewhat in check. In addition, I have read several articles stating that if you want your traffic to grow, you should focus on one particular topic. I’m not willing to do that. While I like writing about Pittsburgh sports, there are plenty of other great places on the web to visit for that information (and many of them are linked on the right). I enjoy writing about sports, but I also like writing about music, pop culture, television, and anything else going on in my life.

So as year number four begins, I still don’t know where this site will go. Since it is 2008, there will probably be a few more entries about politics and the Olympics. However, if I had to make a prediction, my guess is that I’ll continue to write what I want on dozens of different topics.

Thanks to all of my regular and irregular readers for your support, comments, and just for stopping by. Although it may not look like it, I generally put a lot of time and thought into what I write. I do this because I enjoy it, and I hope that you do too.

2007 Steelers Postmortem

Do you want to know why the Steelers lost to Jacksonville on Saturday night? Well, I hope that you aren’t looking to me to provide the answers. I apologize that I’m still in a bad mood following the game, but if you have watched the Steelers over the past month or two, you already know the team’s problems. The offensive line was useless as the Steelers rushed for a pathetic 43 yards on 26 carries and Ben Roethlisberger was sacked six times. The special teams gave up another big return and did nothing to really help the team. Besides Allen Rossum’s kickoff return for a touchdown against San Francisco in September, did the special teams do anything, well, special this year? I can’t remember any other big punt or kickoff return or a blocked kick. The play-calling, especially the Roethlisberger’s run on 3rd and 6 late in the fourth quarter, was questionable, as was Mike Tomlin’s decision to go for two after Sean Mahan’s “holding” penalty. Roethlisberger reverted back to his 2006 season in the first half with some poor decisions. While I thought the defense played well overall, they couldn’t make stops when it mattered.

You can read much more analysis about the Steelers throughout the internet, but I wanted to put the season in perspective by going back to my season predictions from September.

The team will finish 10-6 and earn a Wild Card playoff spot. They will win the first playoff game but lose in the second round.

The record was correct, but I was one round off for the playoffs.

Clark Haggans will lead the team in sacks. Ike Taylor will lead the team in interceptions.

Haggans only had 3 sacks this season. That’s a terrible number for a starting outside linebacker in the Steeler defense. Even last night, I don’t remember Al Michaels announcing his name. Meanwhile, Taylor did lead the team in interceptions with three and made a huge pick to help propel the fourth quarter comeback.

Ben Roethlisberger will have more touchdowns than interceptions. He will also not be involved in a motorcycle accident or have an appendectomy this year.

32 TDs and 11 interceptions in the regular season, but had 2 TDs and 3 interceptions last night. There were no known surgeries or motorcycle accidents.

Nate Washington will have at least six touchdowns.

I was close as Washington had five touchdowns. However, he really is hit or miss. Washington had 5 touchdowns in 3 games, but in the other 13 games, caught only 23 passes for 309 yards.

Chris Gardocki will not have a punt blocked this season (or any other season).

Neither Gardocki or Daniel Sepulveda had a punt blocked this season. In case you were wondering, Sepulveda’s punting average of 42.4 yards was 21st in the NFL and net average of 37.9 yards was 11th in the league. In 2006, Chris Gardocki finished with an average of 41.3 yards (30th) and net average of 36.7 yards (tied for 19th). That’s certainly an improvement but that needs to get even better next year.

Fast Willie Parker will have another 200-yard game rushing.

This one was wrong. Although Parker had 8 100-yard games, his high was 133 yards. Let’s hope Fast Willie has a speedy recovery.

Considering the fact that the Steelers had a rookie head coach, multiple injuries to key players and an ineffective offensive line, a 10-6 record and a division championship is a successful season. Of course, Saturday night’s loss still hurts.

Two final comments:

Boo to NBC. Instead of showing one of my favorite things about Pittsburgh, which is driving out of the Fort Pitt tunnel and seeing the city’s skyline, NBC covered the bottom of the screen with an American Gladiators promo. All you could see was the lights on the bridge.

I watched the Pitt-Villanova basketball game in attempt to cheer myself up. That didn’t help. Pitt had a 63-62 lead until Villanova hit two free throws with 10 seconds left. With a chance to win, Ronald Ramon lost the ball, Pitt’s 22nd turnover, to end the game.

Steelers-Jaguars Preview

Welcome to Wild Card weekend! I am excited and nervous about tonight’s Steelers-Jaguars game, so I have been searching the web to see what the “experts” think.

The ESPN folks made the following predictions:
Salisbury – Jaguars
Hoge – Jaguars
Jaworski – Jaguars
Schlereth – Jaguars
Allen – Jaguars
Mortensen – Jaguars
Golic – Jaguars
Wickersham – Jaguars (who the heck is Wickersham?)

In addition, Hank Goldberg picked the Jaguars on Sportscenter this morning and Bill Simmons chose the Jaguars in his column yesterday.

Over at Deadspin, five of the seven picks went for the Jags:
Cool Standings – Steelers
Football Outsiders – Jaguars
Michael David Smith – Jaguars
Big Daddy Drew – Jaguars
Dan Shanoff – Jaguars
AJ Daulerio – Jaguars
Deadspin – Steelers

Cris Carter on Yahoo picked the Jaguars as did Peter King and Dr. Z (he’s probably as real of a doctor as McDreamy) at Sports Illustrated. On CBS Sports, Harmon, Prisco, Judge, Davis, Richard, and “Spin” also selected the Jaguars to win.

Based on my detailed statistical analysis, 29 experts chose the Jaguars to win tonight and only two feel that the Steelers will win. That seems like a clear majority for the Jaguars, so they shouldn’t even play the game tonight. I guess NFL rules, NBC and the Rooney family are the only reason why this game will be played.

Now I certainly understand why everyone is picking Jacksonville. They defeated the Steelers in Pittsburgh 29-22 just last month and the Steelers are playing without injured Marvel Smith, Aaron Smith, Max Starks and Willie Parker. However, the Steelers are playing at home where they had a 7-1 record this season. The team also has twenty players who have appeared in five or more playoff games. Something that has not been discussed (except for the Post-Gazette today) is the fact that this is Jacksonville QB David Garrard’s first playoff game. He’ll be playing in a difficult environment that will be much tougher than the game in Pittsburgh last month. Yes, he had a terrific season and the Jags rely heavily on the running game, but can he be mistake-free today and lead the Jags to victory? I say no.

Just as I was about to publish this story the ESPN NFL Countdown show aired the following statistic: Quarterbacks making their first playoff start since 2005 are 0-7 with a 55.7 QB rating. Apparently, these folks care little about these statistics as Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Emmitt Smith and Chris Berman all pick the Jaguars. Tom Jackson replies by saying that he is the only person in America picking the Steelers. You’re not alone Tom; Deadspin, Cool Standings and I are with you!

Sean On Fashion

Welcome to the latest edition of Sean on fashion. Previously, we tackled the shorts suit, Burberry scarves and what to wear at a football game. Today, I’d like to discuss the pictured polo shirt by Project E. While the picture shows the general sloppiness of the shirt as well as the trademark red Xs, the holes and tears on the sleeves may not be evident. I saw a shirt similar to the one pictured at a Northern Virginia store last week. I was amazed that a shirt in such shambles would actually be for sale. Here’s the best part: this shirt sells for $60; the one at the store was on sale for only $34.50! While I realize that I am probably not the target audience for this shirt since I have little fashion sense and no knowledge of popular trends, can you really wear a tattered shirt with holes and rips to work or even a respectable bar or club? Actually, who is the demographic audience for this shirt? This may be fashionable for high school or college students, but what students have the disposable income to spend $60 on a torn polo? For that matter, what parent is going to allow their child to spend $60 on a ripped shirt?

Although I still don’t understand the fascination of this shirt (and in full disclosure, I have never seen anyone actually wear this), here’s my suggestion if you want one of your own. Buy a plain blue polo shirt at Kohl’s for $15. Throw the shirt in the washer and dryer about ten times and make sure to jump on it repeatedly. Cut portions of the sleeve with a scissors if necessary. Then wear it and get ridiculed by your family and friends.

Why Do People Hate Hillary Clinton?

Although I rarely discuss politics, now is as good a time as any since the Iowa caucus is on January 3, 2008 (that’s tomorrow!). While many Americans have opinions about the presidential candidates, no one elicits such strong feelings as Democratic candidate and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. There seem to be a lot of folks out there who truly and passionately hate Hillary Clinton. My question is why?

I posed this question to Robert Bluey of Bluey Blog and director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, a think tank whose mission is “to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.” Speaking for himself and not necessarily for The Heritage Foundation, Rob wrote the following:

Americans began to dislike Hillary during the 1992 campaign and only grew more hostile throughout her husband's eight years in the White House. I think part of the problem stems from the fact she had no intention of following the typical role of first lady, preferring instead to be a political bulldog. This partisanship alienated a large number of Americans who won't soon forget the Hillary of old no matter how hard she tries to remake herself.

Keep in mind that during Bill Clinton's eight years as president, America became a country deeply divided along partisan lines, leading to the contentious 2000 election. This wasn't entirely Clinton's fault, but because Hillary was so closely identified with his political and policy objectives -- beginning with her failed health care plan -- Americans were left with a bad taste.

This seems like a fair sentiment, but if Bill Clinton is responsible, even partially, for the country’s partisan division, why is he hated far less than this wife? So I ask these questions to anyone out there: Why do people hate Hillary Clinton or why do you hate Hillary Clinton?

“Because she is a bitch” is not an acceptable answer. Do you not like her ideas, are not comfortable with a female president or is it something else? If you’re going to leave feedback, please keep your comments constructive.

If this entire topic is too deep for you, don’t worry. I’m sure that I’ll write about the Steelers or California Tortilla very soon.


Update: Smart Bitches took this post even further with an excellent post and over 100 comments. It's a great read.

Happy New Year - Watch the Winter Classic

New Year’s Day used to be one of the best days of the year as a sports fan. This is not the case anymore. Yes, there are still six college football bowl games on television, but the games are not as important as they once were. Only five of the top twelve college football teams actually play today. The Fiesta Bowl featuring Oklahoma against West Virginia; the Orange Bowl with Virginia Tech facing Kansas; and the LSU-Ohio State National Championship game take place on January 2nd, 3rd and 7th respectively. There are still meaningful games today for regular sports fans. You can see Darren McFadden play one last time for Arkansas, watch Tim Tebow and Florida meet Michigan in Lloyd Carr’s final game as the head coach and determine whether or not Hawaii is up for the Sugar Bowl challenge. However, none of these games have any relevance in terms of crowning a national champion.

If you’re at home today and a casual sports fan, I recommend taking a break from watching some of the football games and switch to the Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres at 1:00 PM on NBC. This is the National Hockey League’s first regular-season outdoor game in the United States. Today’s forecast calls for snow showers early which will become steadier snow for the afternoon. The high is expected to be around 35 degrees with winds at 20-30 miles per hour. In addition, 1-3 inches of snow is expected. Between the weather and the 73,000 fans at Ralph Wilson Stadium, this will be a terrific atmosphere for hockey. Seriously, how cool does this look?



For more about the game, visit
Empty Netters, The Pensblog and the NHL website.

2007 In Review

Welcome to my 3rd annual year in review, where I take the first line or two of the first entry of each month in order to produce a random and (hopefully) interesting summary of 2007.

January: Our friends have a terrific and lovable dog named Hershey, pictured here. Hershey has been entered in the Dog Show USA contest, and she needs your vote!

February: When I went to my doctor's office last month, he suggested that I take Omega-3 Fatty Acid pills (I've talked about this before) and exercise to help my cholesterol.

March: I received a call from my college earlier this week for its annual student phonathon program. They were asking for money, which is fine since I’m glad to contribute a little.

April: Happy belated National Procrastination Week! National Procrastination Week took place the first full week of March, so I hope that you had a productive, or not so productive week!

May: Since I missed Ben & Jerry’s free scoop day a few weeks ago, I wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow (Wednesday, May 2) is 31-cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins.

June: I’ve been away for a few days, so I have not had the opportunity to write. It may also be tough to write this week between the Pirates-Nationals series and the Celebrate Fairfax festival.

July: The following were the top stories on Yahoo News today as of 12:42 p.m. EDT: Bush and Putin meet to discuss ties.

August: In celebration of an undefeated regular season, my ultimate frisbee team went to Rio Grande Café, a local Mexican chain, last night for food and drinks.

September: I watched a few hours of the US Open on Saturday and was really impressed with the young Americans John Isner and Donald Young.

October: This was a huge sports weekend, and I plan on writing about the Steelers, Pitt, Steve Breaston, fantasy football, fantasy baseball and much more later today or tomorrow.

November: I am writing live from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Yesterday, I arrived at the Albuquerque airport and traveled north on Interstate 25 towards Santa Fe.

December: I’m back from the 2007 hockey road trip, just in time to watch the Steelers-Bengals game.

Based on my summary, the first line of many of my posts have nothing to do the rest of my entry, especially for February. As usual, it seems like I wrote about a wide variety of topics.

Look for some exciting entries to start 2008. On behalf of everyone here at Sean's Ramblings (that would be me), have a Happy New Year!

Top Songs of the 2000s

Inspired by VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs on the 90s, I decided that I would create a list of the greatest songs of the 2000s thus far:

1. In Da Club – 50 Cent
2. Lose Yourself – Eminem
3. Bye Bye Bye – ‘N Sync
4. Smooth – Santana & Rob Thomas
5. Crazy In Love – Beyonce & Jay-Z
6. How You Remind Me – Nickelback
7. Yeah! – Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludaris
8. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
9. Hot in Herre – Nelly
10. We Belong Together – Mariah Carey
11. Fallin’ – Alicia Keys
12. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
13. Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones
14. Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
15. Breathe – Faith Hill
16. Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
17. Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell
18. Hanging on a Moment – Lifehouse
19. Apologize – Timbaland and OneRepublic
20. Rehab – Amy Winehouse

If you are looking for a specific equation as to how I determined these rankings, you’re not going to find one. I just tried to rank them based on my perception of how big these singles have been during this decade in terms of airplay and sales. I have no statistical data to support these numbers. So what do you think? Are there songs that I missed? I feel like a Black Eyed Peas song (either Where is the Love or My Humps) and Hey Ya by OutKast are other possibilities.

Calling Out The Washington Post

I am having some problems with The Washington Post recently. It has nothing to do with the content or any of the writers, just the manner in which the paper is delivered. I am a Sunday only subscriber and regularly read part of the daily paper on the Post’s website. On Sunday, December 16, I received the paper at 9:30 A.M. To me, that is unacceptable. You see, my brother was a paperboy and he regularly delivered the Saturday and Sunday newspapers before 7:00 A.M. When I had to fill in for him or took over a route from a friend when he was on vacation, the paper was also delivered early. I was awake around 8:00 on the 16th, and would have liked to have read the newspaper before I left my home at 10:00. Since I was out all day, I barely touched the paper.

I was away this past weekend, so I requested a vacation stop. Nevertheless, the Post delivered the coupon section on Saturday (we left on Saturday morning and the coupons were on our door step) and the Sunday paper on Sunday. What’s the point of submitting a vacation stop if the paper is just going to be delivered anyway?

I have already contacted the Post about the vacation stop and the fact that the coupons get delivered even when a stop is requested for the Sunday. I have not yet received a response, but that is to be expected since yesterday was a holiday. However, if the situation is not resolved, I may cancel my Sunday subscription. I would hate to do it, but I might come to that.

Steelers Sign Haynes; Not Important Enough to Verron

The Steelers re-signed Verron Haynes to replace the injured Fast Willie Parker. According to the Verron Haynes website, well, there's nothing new on his website. I'm sure that Haynes is excited to be back as a Steeler. Maybe someone will now update his site.

(The picture below is Haynes on the cover of Pittsburgh Magazine's 25 Most Beautiful People. This was also not mentioned on Haynes' website.)

Pittsburgh Wins, Five Year Olds Lose

Thursday was a huge day for Pittsburgh sports as the Steelers, Penguins and University of Pittsburgh Panthers all won. I felt like my remote control skills were pretty good switching between the Pitt and Steeler game (the Penguin game was not available); however, I was late in clicking back to the Pitt game and missed seeing Levance Fields hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds remaining in overtime to defeat Duke. During Fields’ shot, I was watching Ben Roethlisberger grab his knee after being awkwardly sacked. Roethlisberger finished the game, but he can’t continue to take these types of hits if the Steelers want to advance through the playoffs, especially with Aaron Smith and now Willie Parker out for the year.

Here are a two fun links to get you through the day:

Did you ever wonder how many five year olds could you take in a fight? Probably not, but this is fun nonetheless. I can take 17. (from Arjewtino).



If you played for Brazil, what would your name be (found on Deadspin)? Mr. Sean Ramblings would be Sea. That's not a very exciting or intimidating name. Here are some other "Brazilian" names:

Denzel Washington – Roberto Washingtidas
George Bush – Georgildo
Jamie Lynn Spears – Speundo
Kris Kross - Krson Pau
Myron Cope – Copito
Troy Polamalu – Polamalaldo
Ben Roethlisberger - Roethlisbergaldo
Hines Ward – Hinaldo

Finally Something to Watch on TV

As the writers’ strike continues and the reality television programs and game shows get worse and worse (is anyone really watching Duel and Clash of the Choirs?), I am struggling to find good things to watch. Fortunately, two of my favorite things have come together: 90s music and VH1. Every night this week at 10:00 pm Eastern, VH1 is airing the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. While I love 80s music, the 90s are truly the musical era of my formative years. Each song seems to have a different memory and takes me back to high school and college. Some of the songs I have heard thus far include Groove Is In the Heart; The Humpty Dance; Kris Kross; Tennessee; and I’m Too Sexy. Almost all of the songs are great in its own special way. (I’m not sure where Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” fits in, although I remember Myron Cope doing a funny parody of the song.) Like most of the VH1 countdown shows, they air parts of the video and incorporate comments about the song from music critics, comedians, musicians, and occasionally, the artists themselves. So if you want to know where I will be tonight at 10, I’ll be watching VH1.

Of course, I will not be watching on Thursday as its Pittsburgh night on televisions across the country. First, Pitt faces Duke at 7:00 live from Madison Square Garden on ESPN. Then, the Steelers meet the St. Louis Rams on the NFL Network or, in most cases, at bars and friends’ houses. However, I won’t really miss Thursday’s episode, as I’m sure that VH1 will replay the show again and again and again.

Trivia Night

I attended my first trivia contest in many, many years last night, and remarkably, my team won! Actually, that should not have been a complete surprise since Messiah, Nick and Lee carried our team to victory. I contributed very little except that I knew the name from the lyrics of the following song:

“Stronger” – Let’s get lost tonight. You could be my black _____ _____ tonight.

I figured I would share some of the questions from the game here. Question #1 is above.

#2 – Of the 48 contiguous states, which state located entirely west of the Mississippi River is the smallest in area?

#3 – There is five nicknames in the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB that are shared. For example, the sports teams at the University of Kentucky and the University of Arizona are both the Wildcats. Of course, my example is for college teams, not professional ones. Can you name the five professional names?

#4 – What famous female singer guest starred on a 1995 “Friends” episode in which Phoebe taught her the “Smelly Cat” song?

As always, share your answers in the comments section. I’ll be back later today to provide the correct answers and to hand out gold stars!


P.S. A belated congratulations to the Miami Dolphins in defeating the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. I am very happy for the Dolphin fans, players and organization, and even happier that the win was over the Ravens.

Weekend Links

Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Get your loved one some rhino poop!

An $85,000 cell phone bill! That’s a lot of text messages (IDK my BFF Jill).

Tamir Goodman is back (courtesy of the D.C. Sports Bog).

While there really is not a TV season anymore with the current writers’ strike, I am presently in first place in the 2007-2008 Alison LaPlaca Open. There have been four shows cancelled, and I have accurately picked all four.

These cloned cats are really freaky.

See SpongeBob, Dora and Um, Joey Porter and Cleo Lemon

It is tough being a Miami Dolphins fan these days. The team is 0-13 and has an excellent chance of being the first team in NFL history to compile a 0-16 season. It’s probably not much fun working for the Miami Dolphins at this time either. If you work for the Dolphins, how can you encourage fans to attend your games? Apparently, someone has an idea; two ideas in fact.

The first is Kids Day at Dolphin Stadium. According to the Miami Dolphins website, “December 30th is Kids Day at Dolphin Stadium. The Grand Plaza will be jam-packed with kids interactive activities including a special visit by Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer as well as Nickelodeon interactive games, face painters, NFL Experience-type activities, Dolphins alumni, cheerleaders and much more. After the pre-game fun, kids will experience the emotion and glory of the NFL when the Dolphins take on the Cincinnati Bengals in the final game of the 2007 season.”

It’s nice of the team to mention that there’s actually a football game to be played.

The team is also running a $99 Dolphins Pepsi Holiday Pack promotion where you can get:
• Your choice of 2 tickets to either the Ravens Dec. 16th or the Bengals Dec. 30th game
• 2 Hot Dogs
• 2 Pepsi Sodas (This should really be pop.)
• 1 Game Day Program

As a Steelers fan, I can’t imagine a football team needing promotions and gimmicks to get people into the stadium. It makes perfect sense for baseball, hockey or basketball since you have 40 or 80, in the case of baseball, home games to sell each season. There’s only 8 home football games. Giant Jason Taylor may not be pleased.

Steely McBean Is a Steeler

There are a lot of great Pittsburgh sports blogs out there that I respect and read frequently. However, I want to give myself a little bit of credit for the extremely creative nickname for Steelers rookie Ryan “Steely” McBean. You see, I dubbed Ryan McBean Steely way back in August (here and again here) and also in September when he was cut and signed to the practice squad.

Now that Ryan McBean was signed to the 53-man roster in place of the injured Aaron Smith, everyone seems to be using the Steely McBean nickname. Here are just a few examples:

- Joey Porter’s Pit Bulls
- Behind the Steel Curtain
- Doubt About It
- Mondesi’s House

Just wanted to point this out.

Spice Girls Tickets

I am a Spice Girls fan. Feel free to mock and ridicule me. When the Spice Girls debuted in the United States in early 1997, they were unlike anything else on the music scene. Here were five attractive women, each with a memorable nickname, singing about girl power while dressed somewhat scantily. “Wannabe” was and still is an extremely catchy song, even though to this day, I have no idea what a “zigazig ha” means. Plus, all guys have to love the line, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.” Sounds good to me. A friend of mine even bought me the Spice Girls tape as a gift (it was 1997 and I still didn’t have a CD player; I’m always a bit behind on technology). Despite the fact that some of the Spice Girls really don’t sing very well, they managed to have hit after hit anyway.

As you probably know at this point, the Spice Girls have reunited. There was great celebration throughout the land, specifically in the UK as they are performing 17 shows in December and January in London’s O2 Arena. I recently learned that the Spice Girls are coming to the Verizon Center in DC on February 21, 2008. If tickets were reasonable, I figured that it might be fun to attend. Of course, finding someone to go with me would be a challenge. Unfortunately, this is all a moo point. (“It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter.”)

I went to the Ticketmaster website yesterday and found that two tickets in Section 418, Row J are $92.50 each. Ticketmaster also charges a “convenience charge” of $17.45 per ticket and an order processing charge of $4.90. Fortunately, there is no charge if the tickets are sent through Standard Mail. What a bargain! How nice of Ticketmaster to cover the 41 cents to mail the tickets. Anyway, the total charge for two tickets (and not even good tickets) = $224.80!! I think I was willing to spend $25 per ticket. That is just about the cost of the Ticketmaster fees alone. Are there really people out there willing to spend that much to see the Spice Girls? Maybe I'll try to catch them when they reunite again in another ten years.

I Hate Fantasy Football

Remember the time that I mentioned that I may need to quit fantasy sports? Apparently, I am a glutton for punishment. Of my four fantasy football leagues, I'm now out of the two leagues that I don't care much about (i.e. no $), and I'm not going to make the playoffs in the league where I'm the Commissioner. At least in the latter league, I got destroyed this week, meaning that I won’t have to second guess my decisions of starting Shaun Alexander over Fred Taylor and having Trent Edwards in my line-up only to elect to pick up and start Vince Young instead.

In my monster 16-team league, in which I won the scoring title and earned the #1 seed, I have the high score so far this week with 135 points. However, my opponent, the #8 seed with a 6-7 record losing 5 straight weeks to end the regular season has 131 points courtesy of Kurt Warner, Antonio Gates, Fred Taylor and Brandon Marshall having the game of the life. Therefore, I am 40 Jerious Norwood rushing yards from being eliminated. I will now proceed to watch the entire Monday night football game tonight between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints even though both teams have little chance to make the playoffs, and I don’t particularly care about either team.

If I do lose this week, it’s my own fault. The football gods saw that I was actually cheering for and supporting the Ravens last Monday night against the Patriots and punished me by having Willis McGahee and Derrick Mason have their worst performances of the year. Plus, maybe this is payback for me being a terrible person.


Update 11:05pm - On the third play of the fourth quarter, Norwood caught a 46-yard pass. With that reception, Norwood now has 57 receiving yards and 21 rushing yards. Unless Norwood fumbles twice or catches a pass and somehow manages to lose 48 yards on that play, my season is over. On that note, I'm going to sleep.

2007 Hockey Road Trip Recap Part II

If you missed the first part of my hockey road trip summary, click here. If you don’t want to click, here’s a quick recap: the Wild-Coyotes game was rather boring; the Minnesota fans were disappointing; the Mall of America has many stores; I ate poorly; AirTran was better than expected; the XCel arena and St. Paul were cool; and Uff Da!

Thursday, November 29

The ultimate driving day from St. Paul, Minnesota to Chicago. Did you know that there are no large cities anywhere near Minneapolis/St. Paul? Fargo, North Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Madison, Wisconsin are all approximately 250 miles away and I don’t think most people would consider any of these as, well, large. As soon as we crossed into Wisconsin and left the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, there was very little for miles…with one exception. If it is not already, western Wisconsin should be known as “Dead Deer on the Side of the Road” country. There was a dead deer seemingly every few miles until we reached civilization near where Interstates 90 and 94 meet. Are there no taxidermists who live near Interstate 94? If someone likes venison, there is plenty of free meat in Wisconsin. Actually, forgot the whole Cheese-head thing; this should be Wisconsin’s new claim to fame.

Near Madison, we started to pick up local radio coverage from the Green Bay Packers network. The pre-game show featured a version of Poison’s “Talk Dirty To Me” called “Talk Packers With Me.” It was quite silly. I can’t think of any other fans that would create songs for their team.

Friday, November 30

Welcome to Chicago! The Windy City! We drove around and pretended like we were tourists. Actually, I guess we were tourists. We ate deep dish pizza, spent a few hours at the Museum of Science and Industry, and went by Wrigley Field. The scoreboard outside the stadium stated the Cubs are the World’s Greatest Fans. According to the scoreboard and announcer at the XCel Center, the Minnesota Wild has the greatest fans. I’m confused. Anyway, I really need to return to Chicago during the baseball season to see a Cubs game.

Game #2: Chicago Blackhawks vs. Phoenix Coyotes

My pre-game prediction was that there would be more goals scored in this game than the first one on the trip. Little did I know what was about to transpire. The Blackhawks scored on their first three shots and didn’t stop. In fact, Chicago scored 5 goals on their first 7 shots before Wayne Gretzky thought it would be a good idea to pull goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Three of those goals were scored by defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. I’m sure that I can tell my grandchildren that I was in attendance for Byfuglien’s first professional hat trick! In all seriousness, Chicago looked really good in its 6-1 victory. Before leaving on the trip, Seth from Empty Netters wrote me that the Blackhawks remind him a lot of the Penguins from last season. There really aren’t any expectations, and whatever happens, happens. Rookies Jonathan Toews (a goal and two assists) and Patrick Kane (two assists) are fun to watch, they have a proven goaltender in Nikolai Khabibulin (one of the coolest names in hockey) and a good supporting cast including Martin Havlet, former Penguin Robert Lang and Tuomo Ruutu, who scored two goals and may or may not be related to Jarkko Ruutu (after searching the web for an hour to try and find a picture of the Wild fan on the ticket stub, I’m not looking this up). There was also a Patrick Lalime sighting on the Blackhawks bench as the team’s back-up goaltender. I can’t believe that it’s been 10 years since Lalime was a Pittsburgh Penguin. As for Toews and Kane, while I don’t think that they are in the same category as Crosby and Malkin, they and the Blackhawks are going to be very good for a long time.

The player that I couldn’t stop watching throughout the game and the trip was Coyote left wing, Daniel Carcillo. I found this article about Carcillo by Dave Molinari in the Post-Gazette when I returned from the trip. The article is spot on. The Penguins traded Carcillo for Georges Laraque late last year. After seeing him play live, I feel like Phoenix definitely got the better part of the deal. Carcillo seems to hit someone or get hit by an opponent on nearly every shift. He also has a scoring touch as evidenced in a nice backhand shot against Detroit in Game #3, and he plays on the power play. His temper is a problem though. He had 23 penalty minutes in the Chicago game including two double minors, the second of which was for Interference for moving the goalie's stick when it was on the ice and then an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and 10-minute major for going crazy arguing the call. I think Gretzky benched him in the third since the only time he was on the ice was going from the penalty box to the bench after the penalty ended.

Although the United Center opened in 1994, it seems like an old arena, but not in a good way. Dank may be the word to describe the place and the concourses should be much wider for a newer arena. I feel for the Blackhawk fans as they really want a winner. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2001-2002 season when they got knocked out in the first round. Plus, most of the Blackhawk games aren’t even shown on local television. As the Blackhawks improve and continue to win, the fans will return. Fortunately, the Blackhawks didn’t claim to have the world’s greatest fans like the Cubs and the Wild.

Two quick stories from the game:

1. I went to the main stadium shop at the arena looking through Bulls and Blackhawks merchandise. After a few minutes, I asked one of the store employees if they had any Aaron Gray gear. Gray played college basketball at the University of Pittsburgh and is now a rookie for the Bulls. The employee had no idea who Gray was. That’s not a good sign.

2. The highlight of the evening was a father behind me explaining the finer points of hockey to his young son, who was probably attending his first hockey game. Part-way through the third period, a rather large gentleman sitting in the row in front of me, attempted to climb over his row to exit instead of asking a few people in his row to stand up to let him get by. Oh, I forgot to mention that said guy was pretty drunk, and struggled to climb over the seats, spilling beer along the way. After he left, the kid asked his father about what he just witnessed. Although I do not remember the father’s exact quote, it started with, When you have too many adult beverages….

Saturday, December 1

Game #3: Detroit Red Wings vs. Phoenix Coyotes

I’ve written way too much already, so I’ll make this one brief. Phoenix and Bryzgalov bounced back from the Chicago game, and led 2-1 after 2 periods. However, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and the Red Wings were too much for the Coyotes and pulled out a 3-2 victory. The Red Wings are an extremely talented team, but I had the feeling that they weren’t playing their best.

I was really excited about seeing a game in Joe Louis Arena. You often hear Detroit referred to as Hockeytown, so I wanted to see the fans and the arena in person. While I liked the arena primarily because of its history and old-fashioned feel (a good old-fashioned feel as opposed to the United Center), and the dozens of Red Wings banners hanging from the rafters, I was disappointed that there were not more people in attendance. There seemed to be a lot of empty seats. What I really liked most about the arena may have been the announcer, who sounded like he was from another era. Most of the announcers I hear at stadiums over the past few years yell to get the crowd excited. This announcer was Joe Friday; simply providing the facts. It was refreshing to hear (I’m especially talking to you, Washington Capitals announcer).

During the game, we learned that Henrik Zetterberg has a website. Among the website’s highlights as mentioned at the game are a weekly podcast and the Z-Mailbox, where Hank (Hank?) answers questions sent in by fans. I visited the website and found that Hank’s weekly podcasts took place on October 2, October 22 and most recently on November 8 (Note: Right before I posted this, I saw that there is a new Z-Cast Podcast dated December 6. Damn you Z!). That’s not exactly weekly now is it Hank?


Final notes from the trip:

- I knew it was going to be a good sign for the road trip, when the license plate started with UWE, which must have been for former NHL defenseman Uwe Krupp, who played for the Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Avalanche, New York Islanders, Quebec Nordiques, Detroit Red Wings and Atlanta Thrashers in his career.

- Phoenix has a player named Zbynek Michalek and Chicago has player named Andrei Zyuzin. If Michalek marries Andrei’s sister (if he has a sister) and decides to change his last name, Zbynek Zyuzin would be a heck of a name!

- This year’s random songs heard several times during the trip: “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats and Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas song. Can someone please explain Trans-Siberian Orchestra to me? They only have one song, but they tour every year around the holidays, and seem to do well.

- Here are the attendance numbers from the games:
Minnesota - 18,568 (102.8% full)
Chicago - 16,234 (79.2% full)
Detroit - 18,557 (92.5% full)

- The total mileage for this trip was 918 miles and we visited five states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan). Indiana really got screwed when the state boundaries were developed. All of these other states have many miles of lakefront property; Indiana only borders Lake Michigan for 25 or so miles.


Finally, I have a few thank-yous I want to share (these are specifically for people who may read this):

Thanks to Andy for the excellent pizza and Chicago advice.

Thanks to Scott, Manager of Hockey Development of the Phoenix Coyotes, for providing a detailed description of the Phoenix players and even suggesting places to stay in Minnesota and Chicago. I e-mailed Scott that I understood if he and the entire organization no longer wanted me to attend future Coyote games since the team lost all three games I saw live. He replied, “Yes, please never attend a Coyotes game again,” and said wrote that he was kidding. (Or was he?)

Thanks to Seth at Empty Netters for putting together an excellent Pittsburgh Penguins and hockey site and for proving me with a list of players to watch since I really am not familiar with many Western Conference teams.

Thanks to “Uncle Chi-Chi” for organizing the entire trip. I would never do this by myself, and this really was his idea in the first place.

And thank you to everyone who actually made it to the end of this!

Happy Chanukah

2007 Hockey Road Trip Recap Part I

The second annual hockey road trip was a great success. Well, unless you were a Phoenix Coyote fan or player. More on this in a moment. This will be a long entry which includes my thoughts and observations about the three hockey games I attended as well as notes and thoughts on the road. If you’re a sports fan, there will be plenty here about hockey and the arenas where the games were played. If you’re not a sports fan, there will be plenty here about Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit and points in between. I should probably start at the beginning.

This year’s road trip actually started in the air. I was all prepared to start this post by complaining about AirTran. Although the airline provided the cheapest tickets by far, I was not all that keen on taking a 6:40 AM flight from Dulles to Atlanta with a 3-hour layover before flying to Minneapolis/St. Paul. My return flight featured only 30 minutes between stops, so I figured that I had an excellent chance of missing the second flight and staying in Atlanta for hours, possibly missing Sunday night’s Steelers-Bengals game. Plus, if you want to chose a specific seat, whether it is window, aisle or even middle, AirTran charges $7.50 per leg. So what happened? I had window and aisle seats on all four segments, the flights departed and arrived on time, and AirTran has XM satellite radio, so I was able to listen to ESPN radio on Sunday’s flight in order to get updates on my fantasy football teams. Overall, I’ll give AirTran a thumbs up, particularly for XM, but did I really need to fly through Atlanta to get from Dulles to Minnesota and then again from Detroit to Dulles? Plus, charging to choose a particular seat seems a bit absurd.

Wednesday, November 28

After arriving at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, the first stop was naturally the Mall of America (MOA). Actually, my first stop should have been an attempt to find the famous “Larry Craig bathroom” at the airport, but after a long day of traveling, I just wanted to get my bag, get the rental car and start the trip. According to its website, the “Mall of America is the nation’s largest retail and entertainment complex.” My thought: “This is a big mall.” MOA features an indoor amusement park, aquarium, movie theater and hundreds of shops and restaurants. Of course, what I noticed most was the multiple Caribou Coffee and Orange Julius restaurants. There also seems to be a good number of Minnesota related stores selling Minnesota items. Despite the hundreds of stores, including a giant Lego store and a Green Bay Packers store (in Vikings territory!), there was no Leftorium. There was, however, a Long John Silvers, which made me very happy. In case you were wondering, my food for the entire day consisted of a Dunkin’ Donuts donut; Egg McMuffin meal; Long John Silvers meal; arena popcorn; and a beer. Breakfast of champions!

Following the trip to the mall, it was time for the first hockey game: your Minnesota Wild versus your Phoenix Coyotes. A few notes about the XCel Center, the Minnesota Wild and the game:

- The XCel Center is located in downtown St. Paul, both of which are very cool. The arena opened in 2000 and still feels like a new arena with a huge merchandise shop and numerous food and beer options. I was also really impressed with the area directly surrounding the arena. Besides the numerous bars and restaurants, the arena is attached to a convention center and theatre with a beautiful small park just behind it.

- The arena was filled with signs for the “State of Hockey,” which apparently is Minnesota. They even have a neat little song and video. As much as I wanted to make fun of the song, it is significantly better than “The Hockey Song” (otherwise known as The Gold Old Hockey Game).

- I searched for nearly an hour online to find a picture of the ticket stub without success. The ticket features a picture of Brain Cutter, a Wild fan in Section 218 wearing a Wild hat and jersey. What I don’t understand about the picture is that Cutter is holding three plastic cups, one of which has the Buffalo Sabres logo and another one for the Nashville Predators. I don’t get it.

- Former Penguin Mike Ramsey is an assistant coach for the Wild.

- As for the game itself, Marion Gaborik scored a game-winning goal on a breakaway, after getting behind the defense on two other occasions and getting stopped by Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. The final score was 3-1 and was perfectly summarized by Coyotes defenseman Nick Boynton who said, “"I didn't think they were very good either. It was two bad teams out there and it's unfortunate that we didn't come out on top. They were ready to be had and we didn't play well enough."

- It really was a terribly boring game. Even though there were 18,000+ in attendance, there was no excitement and the crowd was fairly quiet. Maybe this has to do with the game itself, but if you claim to have the world’s greatest fans (or something like that), call yourselves the “Team of 18000” and retire the number 1 as a tribute to the fans, I expect some enthusiasm and passion.

Finally, I learned of the following Minnesota saying: “Uff Da.” It is featured on T-shirts and bumper stickers in several of the Minnesota stores. I asked someone I know from Minnesota what this means, and he replied that it is a Minnesota way to say Oy Vey. I really would like someone to use Uff Da in a sentence.

Oh, the temperature on Wednesday night was a whopping 7 degrees with a very cold wind chill.

I’ve only written about one day of the trip, but I’m done for now. Stay tuned for part two.

Steelers-Bengals Notes

I’m back from the 2007 hockey road trip, just in time to watch the Steelers-Bengals game. Here are my thoughts about the game:

- Are people going to think that it always rains in Pittsburgh? Last week’s monsoon and Sunday’s rain and muddy field were both shown on national television.

- I love watching Hines Ward. Eleven catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns and he passed John Stallworth for the most touchdown receptions in team history. He has such passion and enthusiasm and consistently makes tough catches.

- The primary focus on sports talk shows and the internets over the next few days is going to be Willie Parker’s fumbles. He had four overall with two either overturned or upheld by challenges. With Davenport out for who knows how long (hopefully not long), the team really does not have any viable alternatives if Parker continues to struggle (which I do not think he will). Will there be calls to bring in Kevan Barlow or Verron Haynes?

- Except for one poor Sepulveda punt, the special teams played well forcing a fumble and not giving up any big punt or kick-off returns. Of course, when I write that the special teams played well, I have low expectations. Allen Rossum seems to have mastered the art of returning punts by running completely across the field and then stepping out of bounds for a whopping three-yard gain.

- After the first drive when Cincinnati marched down the field for a touchdown, the defense also played great. Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh were held in check (especially after the first drive); although the team only had one sack, it seemed like the defense pressured Carson Palmer quite often; and Palmer was held to under 200 yards passing with a completion percentage less than 40%.

- The offensive line played much better than the previous two games against the Jets and Dolphins as the Bengals had no official sacks (the safety was erased due to a questionable penalty for holding by a Cincinnati defensive back). Parker had 87 yards rushing, but that was on 28 carries. The O-line has to perform even better next week against New England.

- NBC did a nice job of having Jerome Bettis visit a Steeler bar in New York City. Seeing Cris Collinsworth visit a “Bengal bar” was quite amusing. For those of you who missed it, Bettis went to a packed Steelers bar with hordes of fans wearing jerseys. NBC showed Collinsworth at an empty bar.

- Here is the game recap from the Post-Gazette and ESPN.

Expect complete details of the 2007 hockey road trip soon!