Monday

Pssst! Hey Buddy! Yeah...you. Wanna know a secret? The VALOUR-IT fund raising deadline has been slipped 24 hours to include all of today. But don't tell anyone, just slip over to that "Donate" button on the right and...ya know... HIT IT! That way we can maybe be a lil less embarrassed and fulfill half our goal, like the Ground-Pounders and Jarheads have done. If you help, of course.

A Cold War Secret…Revealed. In today’s NYT:

He had all-American cover: born in Iowa, college in Manhattan, Army buddies with whom he played baseball.

George Koval also had a secret. During World War II, he was a top Soviet spy, code named Delmar and trained by Stalin’s ruthless bureau of military intelligence.

Atomic spies are old stuff. But historians say Dr. Koval, who died in his 90s last year in Moscow and whose name is just coming to light publicly, was probably one of the most important spies of the 20th century.

On Nov. 2, the Kremlin startled Western scholars by announcing that President Vladimir V. Putin had posthumously given the highest Russian award to a Soviet agent who penetrated the Manhattan Project to build the atom bomb.

Dr. Koval might have been born in the USA, but he was Soviet/Russian to his core. And he did a lot of damage. No message here, other than the fact the article is an interesting read from a bygone era.

And while we’re in the NYT, here’s a comment to an entirely lackluster editorial bemoaning the care provided to our returning veterans:

The best way I feel you can thank me as a combat veteran is not simple. It is not "benefits for life;" How does that thank our Heroes who are no longer alive to enjoy those benefits? The best way to say "thank you" is to answer the call of duty yourself and thus reduce the load I and especially those 22 year old Heroes who have returned to War three or more times face. Hard fact to acknowledge that we have Americans who only know War in their young adulthood. God Bless them! I do appreciate the little benefits we have as veterans, and I appreciate the "Thank-you's" and I appreciate the kind woman buying me coffee at Starbucks on the Jersey Turnpike, but there is more that Americans can do for their country. Just please give that some thought. Thank you.

— Scott, Florida

The emphasis is mine, and I agree with Scott in Florida. More to the point, Middle and Upper-Class America: change your mindset and encourage your sons and daughters to serve. You know, like your parents and grandparents did. Actions DO speak louder than words. They always have.

More of this, please:

At "Hockey 'n Heels" night, 88 women joined a behind-the-scenes tour of the arena, and talked about the challenges of being a female fan after a panel discussion with local media personalities. Many of the women heard about the event from announcements before other Penguins' games or on the Penguins' Web site. The $130 ticket included a meal and box seats for last night's game. Sarah Swartz, marketing coordinator for the Penguins, said the team wanted to reach an untapped market.

[…]

The break down for season ticket holders is now 50-50 men to women, she said. Swartz said the overwhelming response to the first "Hockey 'n Heels" event will lead to many more; there's "something in the works" to make the event even bigger, she said.

It’s the 50-50 season ticket holder bit that surprised me. Other than that? Not so much. After all, I’ve been to waaaay more than a few Wings games, and the women fans in Detroit are legion...as in: numerous. And vocal. The women fans I’ve known know their hockey. And lemmee tell ya sumthin: women hockey fans are HOT. Especially the Deetroit variety; case in point to the right. That’s probably true elsewhere, as well, but I have…um…an affinity for gals wearing Winged Wheel jerseys. Shared interests and all that.

Speaking of Deetroit…and the Wings…here’s Bill Clement, former NHL’er and hockey analyst for Versus and NBC, writing at MS-NBC:

Count on the Red Wings making a 17th straight playoff appearance as this team is driven to win its first Stanley Cup since 2002. And come June they certainly could be living that dream.

Detroit, which broke from the gate by winning 12 of its first 15 games, has the right pieces in the right places. The Red Wings don't fear any opponent, and if the playoffs started today they could beat any team. On coach Mike Babcock's roster are the best all-around forward and best defenseman in the game plus a whole lot of other talent.

Clement knows from whence he speaks, seeing as how he has a couple of championship rings from the Broad Street Bullies days. And I’d sure like to see ol’ Billy’s speculation come true. We missed the Cup last year by just this much (Visualize my thumb and index finger millimeters apart). I think the Wings might be hungry enough this year to win it all. That happens when you get close. Let’s hope they stay healthy, which is probably the longest pole in any team’s play-off tent. We’ve got a long way to go until May/June...but we're off to a brilliant start!

And We're Off!

This is Fall? {sigh} Today looks like another scorcher. But then again, in a mere two months or so I’ll be pissing and moaning about the cold. I suppose I should just take the heat, coz I’m damned sure not about to get out of the kitchen, metaphorically speaking.

I do hope the wind stays down, though. Now that I’ve got my awning back I’ve come to rely upon it heavily in the “keep El Casa Móvil De Pennington cool” department.

Well, It’s begun, and we’re off to an auspicious start. Sorta.

The myth of Hockeytown officially passed away Wednesday.

Historians will mark the time of death at 7:44 p.m., at the conclusion of the first period, when at least a third of Joe Louis Arena sat empty on the evening of the regular-season opener with the defending Stanley Cup champions as the honored guests.

There was little, if any, foot traffic heading down the aisles. The late arrivals had already arrived.

Some club officials desperately sought false comfort, believing the masses of empty red seats were the result of ticket buyers staying home.

That's a valid explanation when Columbus makes its 22nd visit of the season and it's only December. But this was the season's first game against the foe that bounced the Wings out of the playoffs last spring.

There's clearly a disconnection between the Wings and a fan base that once crossed the border into blind obsession.

Wednesday's game snapped a streak of 396 consecutive regular-season sellouts -- dating to Dec. 10, 1996. That was the season that culminated in the Wings' first Stanley Cup in 42 years, as they embarked on a decade-long run of sustained excellence.

"It's more than a little disappointing," Nicklas Lidstrom said after the Wings outlasted Anaheim in an exciting overtime shoot-out.

Lidstrom just might be the master of understatement in this case. Still, a nearly 11-year run of sell-outs is nothing to be ashamed of. And I noticed the empty seats at The Joe while glued to the teevee last evening. One couldn’t help but notice, and it felt a little odd. There’s a whole helluva lot behind the “whys and wherefores” of the Wings' soft ticket sales… the state of the economy in Detroit (bad), the price of hockey tickets (high, even back in the day when I was going downtown for the games), and the slip-shod “they’ll always be there” attitude of the Wings organization towards the fan base. And that last reason is probably the biggest. One should never take anyone for granted…whether it’s your Mom, your best friend, your lover, or your fans.

Just sayin’.

Still and even…hockey season is here, and not a minute too soon. Prepare yourself, Gentle Reader, coz you’re gonna get more hockey than you probably want. Around these parts, anyway.

(photo credit: Detroit Free Press)

So. A good friend is in town (well, in the Big(ger) City^TM, that is) all week on business. She had offered to take me out to dinner sometime this week, and I accepted her invitation during a conversation we’d had Tuesday evening… last night was the agreed-upon night. And then it hit me, about a half an hour before the puck dropped last evening, and, coincidentally, about a half an hour before I was supposed to meet the lady: the season opener is on. Tonight. Oh, Lord…what to do? So, I did what any rabid hockey fan would do…I called and asked for a last-minute rain check. The lady knows me all too well, and…bless her heart…she understood.

What’s even better, Gentle Reader, is the fact that she offered to (a) stop by Ben’s Bar-B-Que and pick up a variety of goodies and (b) bring said goodies over to El Casa Móvil De Pennington, where we would (c) dine together and watch the game. And so it came to pass… and a Good Time was had by all.

I ask you, Gentle Reader, does it get any better than that? Well, does it?

Answer: No, it does not.

"I Never Saw That Coming..."

…on at least two levels. First and foremost, the Wings dominated—no other word for it—the Ducks last night. Owned them. In their house. It wasn’t close; it was never close. Who’d a thunk it?

Secondly, that could be Tomas Holmstrom talking about the vicious hit he received from Ducks Neidermeyer and Pronger. The headline in today’s Toronto Star: “Two goals and 13 stitches; Holmstrom leads Red Wings attack, takes vicious hit”

ANAHEIM, Calif.–Tomas Holmstrom was left in stitches after scoring twice and adding an assist in the Detroit Red Wings' 5-0 rout of the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of their NHL Western Conference final.

Holmstrom needed 13 stitches last night to close a couple of cuts on his forehead after a brutal hit into the boards in the second period, but he was smiling after the Red Wings used the win to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"I had two guys on me and fell into the boards," the veteran Swede said about the hit. "I never saw the guys come from behind.

"They wanted to make sure I didn't have a concussion. I was ready for the third (period)."

Dominik Hasek made 29 saves for his 14th career playoff shutout as the Wings dominated the game.

Bob McKenzie of TSN (Canada) on the Holmstrom hit:

To suspend or not to suspend, that is the question facing executive vice president Colin Campbell on the issue of the Chris Pronger-Rob Niedermayer crunch job on Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom.

The Anaheim Ducks will maintain it was a hard hockey play – two physical Duck defenders finishing their checks, perhaps a little too exuberantly, on Holmstrom – that resulted in a wholly appropriate five-minute major to Niedermayer. Case closed.

The Red Wings, on the other hand, will no doubt suggest the penalty was assessed to the wrong player – replays show Pronger's left elbow making significant contact with Holmstrom's head against the glass, although Niedermayer's arm or shoulder was also involved – and that the act was a cheap shot to the head from behind, rife with intent to injure. Suspension worthy, if you will.

Yes, it is going to be an interesting Wednesday for the NHL.

The hit on Holmstrom perhaps took away from the real story of the game – Detroit walking into Anaheim and giving the Ducks a thorough beating, chasing starting netminder Jean Sebastien Giguere and re-gaining home-ice advantage in a series where it had looked, going into Game 3, that the Wings were beginning to wear down and might be physically overmatched.

Now, though, the focus for Thursday's Game 4 is whether Pronger will be in the lineup for the Ducks.

It could go either way.

Whether fans like it or not, NHL discipline often hinges on how badly the player is injured. Holmstrom, who was bloodied and appeared groggy and dazed after the hit, eeded 13 stitches to close two cuts and returned to play in the third period, assisting on the Wings' fifth goal. The Ducks will no doubt argue "no harm, no foul" over and above the five-minute major that was assessed.

But it is safe to say the league will be, to some degree, troubled by the circumstances of the hit.

That is, the score was 4-0 at the time. Detroit was clearly in control; the Ducks were frustrated at how things had unfolded. The game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

Suspend the SOB. Give Pronger a single game suspension, the only nod I would give to the “it’s the Finals” argument. Yeah, Pronger is a key, perhaps THE key, player on Anaheim’s team. But Holmstrom is a key player, too. And where would the Wings be if Holmstrom had been injured severely last night? The NHL cannot let dirty hits go unpunished; Anaheim cannot feel free to indulge in behavior like this. The fact that no serious lasting injury was done is beside the point, serious injury most certainly could have been done. And if you saw that hit, you’ll understand.

The difference between talk and reality… This was some of The Talk before last night’s game:

A year ago the Ducks took to the ice at Rexall Place down 2-0 in the series to the Edmonton Oilers, lost another one and were done in five.

Tonight, they go into Game 3 at home tied 1-1 with the Detroit Red Wings, believing they should be up 2-0 and with a confidence about them, but not a swagger, of a team which thinks they can get it done and maybe be the first NHL team from the West Coast to win a Stanley Cup.

“We’re a very confident group and a very tough team to beat now,” is how goaltender J.S. Giguere describes the difference.

“One year later is a big difference because we’ve got that one year under our belt. Our young guys are better. The young guys know what the playoffs are all about.

“Mostly we know what it takes to win and how much it hurts to lose.”

And here’s Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle with a little Reality:

Q. Do you feel your team lost its composure in the second period?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Well, obviously things really spiraled down quickly for our group in the second. I think we must have taken five penalties in a row or something like that.
Obviously, our frustration level got up there, and we didn’t show the necessary discipline that’s required. It just seemed to have a snowball effect. What else can you say?
Did we lose our composure? I’d have to say that it left lots of room for improvement.

Q. What was Detroit doing in this game that it wasn’t doing in the previous two games? Do you believe they were more successful in pressuring your defense in this game?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Well, they were obviously the better team tonight. Simple as that. (emphasis mine)

That was last night’s reality. Hockey can be strange at times. Just because the Ducks sucked last night (and that’s being polite, folks) doesn’t mean they suck permanently. I’d love to think the Wings have found the formula and the domination will continue. But that’s not reality. This series is far from over…there’s lots of hard work ahead. But Big Mo is definitely on the Wings’ side.

What a series this is!

(photo credits Detroit News [top], Getty Images [bottom])

Monday...

Another One Bites the Dust… Initially reported yesterday, but today’s NYT has an extensive article about the killing of Mullah Dadullah.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 13 — The man who probably was the Taliban’s foremost operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, was killed in a joint operation by Afghan security forces, American forces and NATO troops in Helmand Province, Governor Asadullah Khaled of the neighboring Kandahar Province said Sunday.

Mullah Dadullah’s body was displayed for journalists on Sunday morning in this southern Afghan city. The NATO force in Afghanistan confirmed his death in a statement issued in Kabul, saying that American troops had led the operation. There were various reports of the actual circumstances and day of the death.

Mullah Dadullah was one of the most wanted Taliban leaders, close to the leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, and with links to Al Qaeda, and was probably the most important operational commander.

It’s been noted elsewhere (correctly) that leaders can and will be replaced, so this loss will have no long-term strategic effect. While the former is certainly true, I have my doubts about the latter…especially when the Dear Departed was as ruthless and effective as Dadullah was purported to be. One of the classic functions of leadership is to find, develop, and exploit “good people.” I use the scare quotes because the terrorist/insurgent biz certainly has a different take on what the term “good people” means. None the less, Dadullah won’t be recruiting and developing more Taliban fighters “in his image,” so to speak. And that’s a good thing.

Paul Bremer, former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, wrote an extensive editorial in yesterday’s WaPo. The lede:

Once conventional wisdom congeals, even facts can't shake it loose. These days, everyone "knows" that the Coalition Provisional Authority made two disastrous decisions at the beginning of the U.S. occupation of Iraq: to vengefully drive members of the Baath Party from public life and to recklessly disband the Iraqi army. The most recent example is former CIA chief George J. Tenet, whose new memoir pillories me for those decisions (even though I don't recall his ever objecting to either call during our numerous conversations in my 14 months leading the CPA). Similar charges are unquestioningly repeated in books and articles. Looking for a neat, simple explanation for our current problems in Iraq, pundits argue that these two steps alienated the formerly ruling Sunnis, created a pool of angry rebels-in-waiting and sparked the insurgency that's raging today. The conventional wisdom is as firm here as it gets. It's also dead wrong.

[…]

I'll admit that I've grown weary of being a punching bag over these decisions -- particularly from critics who've never spent time in Iraq, don't understand its complexities and can't explain what we should have done differently. These two sensible and moral calls did not create today's insurgency. Intelligence material we discovered after the war began showed that Hussein's security forces had long planned to wage such a revolt.

Bremer makes some good points and provides an “on-the-ground, in the trenches” perspective on the two decisions that have drawn the most flack from war critics. While the usual advice about taking something… anything, everything … with a grain of salt applies, the background and circumstances detailed by Bremer ring true, at least to my ears. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Your hockey update…The Wings lose in overtime last night, 4-3. The bottom line: it could have been anyone’s game. Both teams played well, played hard, and provided an exciting and thrilling game. You couldn’t ask for much more out of a hockey game…the only down-side was the final outcome.

The Wings were out-shot again last night (33-27 overall and 7-2 in the overtime period), but not by as wide a margin as in Game One. Still and even, Detroit needs to work on their offense. It’s not all that bad at the moment, but it ain’t all that good, either. You can’t win a late-round play-off series without scoring even-strength goals…something Detroit isn’t doing. The special teams scored all three of last night’s goals— two on the power-play and one short-handed. Power-play goals are essential to success, but even-strength goals are much more important. Fix this problem and the Wings will be in the Finals. If they don’t…well, I don’t want to talk about that.

The series continues tomorrow night in Anaheim; tonight it’s the Sens – Sabres, in Ottawa. I don’t really have a dog in that fight, but I suppose I should be pulling for Buffalo. After all, I lived in that part of the world for four years.

Today’s Pic: The single iris in the flower bed outside my door has added a second bloom. And the flowers are looking decidedly down-in-the-mouth in this picture, but that’s only because they’re water-logged after being heavily sprinkled for about three hours before I took the shot. If you view the larger image you’ll see water droplets suspended in mid-flight. I think that’s kinda cool. But then, I’m easily amused.

Yesterday. P-Town.

Winning Ugly

The Western Conference Finals are off to a good start… Helene St. James writes:

The Red Wings paid as hard a physical price as they have all playoffs as they started the Western Conference finals.

From Chris Chelios to Henrik Zetterberg to Pavel Datsyuk, the Ducks took aim and hit, almost as often as they threw pucks on Dominik Hasek and crashed around his crease.

It took a superb effort from Detroit's penalty killers and two power-play goals to beat the Ducks, 2-1, Friday night at Joe Louis Arena in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series. Game 2 is Sunday.

[…]

What really killed the Ducks was Detroit's penalty killing. From nullifying nearly two minutes when the Ducks were up two men to a 4-on-3, the Wings held Anaheim 0-for-7.

Special teams, in other words. Detroit’s were superlative…especially the penalty-killers…while Anaheim’s weren’t. In a strange turn of events—for the Wings, anyway—the Ducks out-shot Detroit, 32-19. But the Hockey Gods smiled upon Detroit last night, nullifying Anaheim’s shot advantage by allowing Detroit to score one seriously fluky goal and another that got lost-in-the-traffic in front of Anaheim goalie J.S. Giguere and trickled across the Ducks’ goal line. Both were power-play goals. The first Detroit goal was as ugly as I’ve ever seen, and the second wasn’t much prettier. Barring those two bits of luck the score could have been Ducks 1, Red Wings 0. But I’ll take it, as anyone would. Here’s Freep columnist Drew Sharp on “ugly:”

Ugly was unacceptable until fans discovered something even more grotesque: not advancing beyond the second round of the playoffs. That had happened each year since 2002 because the Wings were ill prepared to wallow in the muck that's often demanded during a long playoff run.

There's nothing pretty about Nicklas Lidstrom admitting that he doesn't know how his game-winning blast from inside the blue line got through Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere after hitting Tomas Holmstrom and getting an inadvertent assist from an Anaheim stick. And there certainly was nothing artistic about Henrik Zetterberg pretty much banking a shot off a sliding Duck defender's leg for another goal like he was playing a game of eight-ball pool.

But it should be understood now that this is how it must be for these Wings. They no longer play as though they're posing for a hockey magazine centerfold. They'll happily wear the smudge that comes from doing the necessary dirty work.

I’ll take ugly if it means being in the third round and on their way to The Cup over a “pretty” first-round loss…any time. Every time.

Anaheim brought their vaunted physical game into The Joe last night but it didn’t seem to do much good, in the sense that the Wings were not intimidated. And the Wings gave as good as they got. The hits were even at 22 apiece, and Detroit’s Kirk Maltby was the leading hitter on either side, with 6. These Wings are physical, too.

While Detroit’s penalty killers were superb, they need much less work. Detroit took 11 penalties last night. Four of Detroit’s infractions were offset by simultaneous Anaheim penalties—resulting in more 4-on-4 play than I’ve seen in a playoff game in a long time—that’s way, way too many penalties to be successful against a team like the Ducks.

Tomorrow’s game will be most interesting!

At the end of an ESPN article that mostly says “So, what?” about the Ducks’ loss last night, Scott Burnside asks…

... Just wondering why it is that in Buffalo, another border community, the Sabres acknowledge their cross-border neighbors by singing "O Canada" at every playoff game regardless of whether the Sabres are playing a Canadian opponent. In Detroit? Only the U.S. anthem is played.

Maybe it’s because the games are played in Detroit, and not Windsor? I know that says nothing about why the Sabres’ management feels the need to play/sing “O Canada.” I don’t be believe I’ve ever heard “The Star-Spangled Banner” played at a Canadian rink when two Canadian teams were going at it in the play-offs, but then again, there aren’t any Canadian teams in “border” towns…unless you count the Leafs, or the Canucks. That’s a stretch for the Leafs, coz (a) Toronto isn’t in the play-offs (this year) and (b) Toronto is a long way from the border (relatively speaking). (Vancouver didn’t play a Canadian team this year either…and I don’t recall hearing our national anthem played there or in Calgary, for that matter, when the teams met in the play-offs in 2004.) And Montreal? The Canadians are lucky “O Canada” is played at the beginning of games there…let alone “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Just sayin’.

And now…it’s a beautiful day with light winds. I’m gonna go for a quick ride out to the base…and perhaps beyond.

Photo: The Old Man was good last night, stopping 31 of 32 shots.
Photo credit: Detroit Free Press

A Blast From the Past. Literally.

Here’s a great lil story about Bob Probert…one of my past heroes (until he got busted for transporting cocaine in his underwear from Windsor into Detroit…but that’s another story altogether).

Bob Probert, the former Detroit Red Wing and Chicago Blackhawk from Windsor, returned home Monday after joining a group of National Hockey League alumni on a tour to visit Canadian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.

While there, he got an up close and personal view of what Canada's fighting best deal with on a daily basis.

"Our second night in Kandahar, they took us over to see the spy planes," Probert said. "We were in the one of the rooms getting briefed on the spy planes and all of a sudden the sirens start going off."

"They came in an escorted us right to the bomb shelter. The bunker, they called it."

While there, Probert looked around at his fellow retired NHLers and spied Dan Daoust, Mike Pelyk, Lou Franceschetti, Dave Hutchison, Dave (Tiger) Williams and Kevin Maguire, all of them former Toronto Maple Leafs and decided to add a little levity to a tense situation.

"I said, 'Apparently, they found out the Maple Leafs were here,'" Probert said. "That didn't go over too well."

As for the missiles, they missed their target.

Good on Probie. And I’ll bet those ex-Leafs kept their peace when Probert cracked wise about the Leafs being in Kandahar. There’s one thing you DIDN’T do back in the day, and that’s piss Probert off. I’ll give you a dollar to a donut that it’s still true. Why?

There was absolutely, positively no one, and I mean NO ONE, who could best Probert back in the day when he was known as The Heavyweight Champion of the NHL. I’ll quote the Wiki:

Probert will always be remembered as one of the NHL's toughest players, and many enforcers considered him the toughest and most feared fighter in the NHL.^[1] Several web sites, such as Hockeyfights.com, chronicle his long list of fights with other league enforcers. He saw it as his job to protect his teammates, especially Detroit captain Steve Yzerman. In a recent news story, he recalled a time that he sucker-punched enforcer Kevin Maguire of the Buffalo Sabres while Maguire was fighting with Yzerman.^[7]

Some fights in Probert's career:^[5]

· Two long fights with Craig Coxe of the Vancouver Canucks in the mid-1980s.

· A career-spanning series of battles with Tie Domi of the New York Rangers and other teams.

· A memorable fight on December 17, 1993 with former teammate Joe Kocur of the Rangers, during a brawl involving several players from both teams. Probert and Kocur had grabbed the nearest opposing player without realizing who it was, and continued trading punches even after they identified each other.

· A fight on February 4, 1994, against Marty McSorley, then of the Pittsburgh Penguins, lasting nearly 100 full seconds.

In his career, Probert took part in many other classic hockey fights against noted enforcers such as Todd Ewen, Troy Crowder, Tony Twist, Donald Brashear, Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson, Bob McGill, Dave Semenko, and "Big" Jay Caufield.

It would have broken my heart to watch Probert and Kocur mix it up. Those guys were known as “The Bruise Brothers,” back in the day when they were Detroit’s top enforcers. And what memorable days those were… Nobody ran the Wings’ stars in those days. The price to be paid for that was simply too frickin’ high.

But. It’s good to see Probert has grown up a bit and that he’s giving back. As for me, IF I were still in the Air Force, and IF I were in Afghanistan, I’d have been pissed to find out Probie was visiting the Canadian troops and not us fans from Detroit. And believe me, Probert had legions of fans in Detroit. Just sayin’.

AARs, Crime, Rain, and Ducks!

Laurie is back from the MilBlog conference in Dee See and has a narrative and pictures. Good stuff, there! It seems like all I’ve been doing this morning is reading After Action Reports from the conference. Lex has a good narrative, too, and lotsa links to others writing their own reports, as well. Partying went on well into the night this past Friday! Dang! Wish I woulda been there!

Damn. I committed an “eco-crime.” And what would that be, you ask? I have three children…one more than is good for the planet. How uncaring of me!

HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a 4x4 car and failing to reuse plastic bags, according to a report to be published tomorrow by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family’s carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: “The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. An extra child is the equivalent of a lot of flights across the planet.

“The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child.”

In his latest comments the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. “The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account,” he added.

Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

So. There you have it. I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations? Coz I committed my crime in the way-back (well, two out of three, anyway). Back then we were worrying about an impending Ice Age, not so much about global warming climate change. So I think I should get a dispensation. But then there are those plastic bags…

Watching the WX Channel with one eye while I take care of my Daily Reads with the other…it’s been raining—hard—all morning. I was awakened this morning by the sound of rain on my roof, which, as I’ve mentioned many times in the past, I dearly love. I drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour once I awoke since the rain was steady and not of the pounding variety. Bad move, that. I should have gotten up immediately…because then I could have prevented the soggy mess that is my bathroom. Yep…that pesky roof vent in the bathroom was wide-open. Again. No real damage, mind you. Just terribly, terribly soaked. Everything.

So anyway…that line of intense rain (the bright red bits) to the east of us is apparently causing quite a bit of havoc. No tornadoes (Thank God!), but 55 mph wind gusts. And VERY heavy rain. We’re under a flash-flood watch, and I’ll bet P-Town is awash. As usual. It’s a great day for ducks.

Speaking of Ducks…

The Ducks last faced the Red Wings in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. At the time, Detroit was the defending Stanley Cup champs and there was talk of dynasty in Hockeytown. But that talk was indefinitely put on hold after the Ducks, under then-coach Mike Babcock, swept the Red Wings. Babcock, of course, is now behind the Detroit bench and has helped the Wings beyond the second round for the first time since the team's last Cup win in 2002.

To get here, the Wings had to dispose of a San Jose team many picked to win the Cup. They did it without defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who broke his wrist early in Game 5 on Saturday, and did it with relative ease. It's a testament to the sand this Red Wings team possesses.

This series will feature three of the finest defensemen of their generation in Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger of Anaheim and Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom. Then, there's Chris Chelios, who was one of the finest defensemen of the last generation, but refuses to acknowledge time and continues to be effective at age 45.

Both teams possess great goaltending in Hasek and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and both are deep up front. In other words, this one should be a dandy.

Last night’s game was a dandy…the Wings were “large and in charge” from the moment the puck dropped at the beginning of the first period right up until the horn sounded at the end of the third. And Ladies and Gentlemen…what you see in the third scene in the video below is one of the finest defensive plays I’ve ever seen in hockey…bar none. Simply brilliant.

I’ll defer to Mitch Albom’s description of what happened in the vid above:

Here's what happened: The Sharks' Mike Grier chased a loose puck down the ice, with Lidstrom following in hot pursuit. The crowd rose. Goalie Dominik Hasek came out and swept the puck behind him, but Grier got to it and swooped around from behind the net, which was now as empty as a beggar's pocket.

And then Lidstrom. I don't know how he does it. Somehow he stretched that reedy body and surged his stick across the mouth of the goal a shaved instant before Grier released the puck. It hit Nick's stick and frittered away, and the Sharks' optimism frittered away with it.

"So you play goalie, too?" Lidstrom was asked in the locker room afterward.

"I try to help out a little," he said.

“I try to help out a little.” The defensive play of the century and it’s “helping out a little?” But that’s hockey players for you: supremely modest. Oh, and by the way…the rest of Albom’s column is very good today.

So now it’s the Ducks. Most all of the hockey writers are probably going to call this series for Anaheim…but haven’t we heard that one before, and recently, at that? San Jose was too big, too fast, too young for Detroit, right? And now the Sharks are lining up tee times while the Wings prepare for the Conference Final. To steal a football quote from Berman: “They could…go…all…the…WAY!!”

Let us pray.

Today’s Pic: One lonely iris blooming in the flower bed outside the door of El Casa Móvil De Pennington. That flower bed used to be a riot of color in late summer…until the “gardeners” came through last Fall and ripped out ALL of the perennials that previously graced my premises. Those idiots didn’t have the slightest idea about what they were doing…taking “weeding” to an entirely new, uninformed, and undeserved level. So now I’ll get weeds, and only weeds, later this year. Twits.

Yesterday. P-Town.

Update: Replaced the hockey video (originally from TheNewsRoom) with a highlight video I found on YouTube. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I couldn't get the previous video to play consistently; the YouTube vid works fine. Lidstrom's play is now the third scene in this four-minute video...plus you get to see both Detroit goals, several saves by Hasek, and at least one brilliant save by Nabokov.

Wings Up 3-2

Well, the weather sure sucked today, but the hockey was excellent:

DETROIT -- Dominik Hasek slowly skated out of his goal, bent down and inspected the octopus late in Detroit's 4-1 win over San Jose on Saturday.

Red Wings fans have been tossing the eight-legged sea creatures on the ice for decades as a symbol of their team's quest for the Stanley Cup.

If Detroit keeps playing the way it did on Saturday, another title might not be out of the question.

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg each had a goal and two assists, leading the Red Wings within a victory of reaching the Western Conference finals.

Ahead 3-2, Detroit can end the conference semifinal Monday night in San Jose.

There’s a dark lining inside that silver cloud, however. The Wings lost another defenseman (a total of three on the injured list now) when Mathieu Schneider broke his wrist during the first period of game five. Schneider is out for the remainder of the season…and that hurts. Schneider is an integral part of the Red Wings’ power play and is also the guy that scored the overtime winner in game four to even this series. Big loss, and that’s an understatement.

Still and even, Schneider went out during the first period when Detroit was down 1-0. And it’s obvious his absence didn’t affect the Wings’ game…which included two power play goals. Big Mo is all Detroit right now, and it would be oh-so-sweet to see the Wings close out San Jose, in San Jose.

I’ll go light a candle now.

Oh…wait. One more thing. Mitch Albom:

When the going gets tough, the tough go stealing. Here came Pavel Datsyuk chasing a slow puck as it glided toward goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Usually, a play like this is a nothing, a throwaway, the goalie gets it first, swats it away, and things go the other direction, right?

But critical times, critical moves. The Red Wings and Sharks were locked in yet another wrestling match, body on body, stick on stick, barely a paper sheet’s distance between them. The score was tied. The series was tied. Something needed to snap.

And here it was: Nabokov had to come out beyond the crease, Datsyuk was charging, fans rose to their feet as if sensing a bullfight at the critical surge. The net was vulnerable. Now it was a race. Would Datsyuk get it? Would Nabokov get it? At the last instant — and this is what makes him a unique talent — Datsyuk gave up on the puck and zoomed left, playing the clearing pass instead. Nabokov was a blink slower. He swept the puck to his right before his eyes could tell his brain it was the wrong direction.

Smack! There was Datsyuk, like a net draping a fish. He intercepted the puck, knocked it down and chased it to the net. All Nabokov could do was watch helplessly, like a man who sees an important paper fly out the car window. Gone, baby, gone. Datsyuk flicked in the puck as if finishing a practice drill.

And that goal may have tipped the series.

As it’s said: Read the whole thing. There’s no better sportswriter than Mitch…and he’s been writing about the Wings for about 20 years. Albom knows the Wings like no other writer. And about that goal Datsyuk scored: I almost felt bad for Nabokov. Almost.

Now where’s that candle?

(Photo: Chris Chelios and Joe Thornton have a bit of a disagreement late in the third period. The game did get just a little chippy at the end. Photo credit: Detroit Free Press)

And why, you may ask, was the weather so bad? The wind, Gentle Reader, the wind. And when we have wind, we have lots of dust. And how bad is it? Well…here’s a screen shot taken while composing this post. It could have been worse: the forecast was for steady 30 – 40 mph winds with gusts to 55 mph. I don’t think we had any gusts close to what was forecasted…the trees are still standing.

And so it goes…

A Great Beginning...

Here’s a brilliant site for those of us who are in love with the language: World Wide Words. Michael Quinion, the site’s author, has quite the resumé, and here’s just a small part of it:

These days, Michael concentrates on writing World Wide Words and providing citations and advice for the Oxford English Dictionary. He also wrote a third of the entries for the second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of New Words and for a while compiled a weekly New Words column in the Daily Telegraph. His dictionary of affixes, Ologies and Isms, was published by Oxford University Press in August 2002.

World Wide Words provides etymologies for words and expressions such as protologism, balls-up, and the phrase seemingly on everyone’s lips these days… carbon footprint. Great and good stuff, this!

(h/t to one of the denizens of Castle Argghhh!!! who pointed us to Beyond the Pale… an expression whose origin I thought was rooted exclusively in the tsars’ geographical imperatives to Russian Jews…but now stand corrected. There’s English-Irish there, too.)

Ed Douhatshek of the Toronto Globe and Mail has become a daily read. There are a lot of hockey columnists out there, but Ed is rapidly becoming my favorite. Mitch Albom, of course, is still Numero Uno in my book, but Mitch has branched out…he’s now a best-selling author and a generalist…no longer “just” a sportswriter. But, back to Ed. Here’s his take on last night’s Anaheim – Vancouver tilt:

ANAHEIM -- In time, they may reflect back on a National Hockey League season that far exceeded expectations -- to a divisional crown, a trip to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and the certainty they not only have a franchise goaltender, but he is signed for another three seasons.

Accordingly, there were a lot of positives to emerge from the Vancouver Canucks' 2006-07 season on the whole, but that offered little consolation in the immediate aftermath of last night's one-for-the-ages 2-1 double overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks in the fifth and deciding game of their best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series.

With the win, the Ducks move on to face one of their ex-coaches, either the Detroit Red Wings' Mike Babcock or the San Jose Sharks' Ron Wilson, in the next round. The Canucks, meanwhile, will watch it unfold from the comfort of their couches and condos, where they can ponder how the formula that worked so well in the regular season -- play goalie Roberto Luongo and play him again and then play him some more -- wasn't enough to win in the playoffs.

The term “one for the ages” is certainly apt. Even if you don’t live in BC, or even on the Left Coast. I found myself pulling for the Canucks even though I knew in my heart of hearts they were doomed. The Ducks were just too big, too fast, and too talented. Luongo, like Calgary’s Kiprusoff, kept the Canucks in the series a lot longer than they deserved. The guy is a great goaltender and hockey fans will be seeing a lot of him in April, May, and (eventually) June in the future. Bet on it.

So…IF the Wings prevail against the Sharks they’ll face Anaheim in the Western Conference final. And that, folks, will be a series…the Stanley Cup final will be just a formality after the Western final…the winner will already be crowned. Take that to the bank.

I forgot to link this oh-so-appropriate guidance for young men earlier this week: The Man Code (h/t: Morgan). Two pearls of wisdom therein:

12. Before dating a buddy's "ex", you are required to ask his permission and he in return is required to grant it.

16. A man must never own a cat or like his girlfriend's cat.

There’s no corollary to #12…but there should be. Something along the lines of “it’s justifiable homicide if you take a (former) friend’s life for messing with your woman wife. Or you may severely injure him, whichever is appropriate.” Just sayin’.

Oh…and about cats: S’true, that. I know from experience.

My ambivalence about “current events” and politics in general continues apace. That doesn’t mean I’ve withdrawn altogether, as I’ve mentioned before, it just means I’m only semi- or tangentially interested, at best. Still and even, I caught a (very small) bit of the first Republican candidates debate and came away less than impressed…mostly with the sound-bite format and lack of depth in both questions and responses. It wasn’t long before the Weather Channel seemed a lot more interesting and relevant than the “debate.” {click}

Peggy Noonan has a pretty good comment piece on the debate over at the WSJ…and here’s an exceprt:

This is a piece about Thursday night's Republican presidential debates, but first I would like to note that the media's fixation with which Republican is the most like Reagan, and who is the next Reagan, and who parts his hair like Reagan, is absurd, and subtly undermining of Republicans, which is why they do it.

[…]

They should stop it already, and Republicans should stop playing along. They should try instead a pleasant, "You know I don't think I'm Reagan, but I do think John Edwards may be Jimmy Carter, and I'm fairly certain Hillary is Walter Mondale."

[…]

If we view the proceedings in vulgar and reductive Who Won, Who Lost terms, and let's, Mitt Romney won, Rudy Giuliani lost, and John McCain is still in. The moderator, Chris Matthews, seemed to think he was on "Hardball" and had to keep the pups, punks and rubes--that would be the candidates--in line. He cut them off--"Congressman, that's time!"--and occasionally hectored. One of the stars was the buzzing clock. It interrupted all thought.

And that’s just for starters. Good stuff, that. I like Peggy Noonan. As for the candidates themselves? Feh. Or…in other words…it’s waaay too early to tell.

Today began in a classical music sorta way…a not-too-infrequent break from my usual rock-pop mindset. I took my morning coffee on the verandah today (well, the first two cups, anyway), enjoying the early morning’s gentle breezes before they turn into the forecasted gales. While enjoying the relative quiet of the morning…everyone’s gone to work, the kids are off to school…it hit me that the moment was supremely right for Beethoven’s “Pastorale.” So… a quick hop, skip, and a jump into El Casa Móvil De Pennington, along with a brief shuffling about in the CD repository, and the sweet strains of the “Pastorale” were drifting out over beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park. Followed up with Copland’s “Rodeo” and “Appalachian Spring,” and then by Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Wow. A great beginning to what I hope will be a great day.

So far, so good.

Mostly Good News...Especially On the Hockey Front!

Justice prevails…according to Eric Duhatschek at The Toronto Globe and Mail:

SAN JOSE — Sometimes, justice can prevail, even in the fickle and occasionally unfair world of professional sport.

The Detroit Red Wings were 34 seconds away from falling into a 3-1 series hole to the San Jose Sharks Wednesday night. Despite dominating the play virtually all night, the Red Wings couldn't find an answer to Sharks' goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 35 of the first 36 shots he faced in regulation and had his team seconds away from victory.

But a breakdown in defensive coverage in the final minute, with Red Wings' goaltender Dominik Hasek on the bench for an extra attacker, led to Robert Lang's tying goal on their 37th shot. Lang's shot squeezed under Nabokov's arm after defenceman Craig Rivet permitted him to close to within 20 feet of the net.

In overtime, Mathieu Schneider then capped the rally, scoring his first of the series on a power play to give the Red Wings a 3-2 come-from-behind victory. That win squared the series at two games apiece, with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Detroit.

It’s a standard hockey tactic…you’re down by a goal (or two) in the last minute of the game, your goalie skates to the bench and you add an extra attacker. Your six skaters then assault the opponent’s net in frantic desperation, shooting the puck at every opportunity. More often than not, this tactic usually results in your opponent either beating back your attack, or worse, scoring into your open net and winning the game. But last night? Justice!! Robert Lang, as noted above, ties the game in the final seconds and Mathieu Schneider gets the winner at 16:04 in the overtime period.

So. It’s another best two-out-of-three series. Let’s hope this one turns out the same as the last…

(photo credit: AP)

Daniel Henninger has a great rant in the WSJ today about my absolute favorite bugaboo: Political Correctness:

Don Imus, Bernard McGuirk, Trent Lott, Larry Summers, the Duke lacrosse team, Jimmy the Greek, the kid who yelled "water buffalo" at Penn, Howard Cosell, Jon Stewart, Chief Illiniwek, Jackie Mason and "South Park" all have in common only one thing: They have not been Politically Correct.

Some were brought down by it, and some have made a living from it. Today, there are people who even say that the satire on shows such as "South Park" or the "Daily Show" have made political correctness a harmless amusement. We have become so cool that we can simultaneously abide PC's merciless strictures against saying the wrong things about the right people even as we laugh at our subjugation to PC.

Despite the ironic mockery, political correctness still packs a punch. Say the wrong thing today and you can be gone tomorrow, your status as a top broadcaster, university president or politician obliterated. It happens in the small space of a sentence--defrocked, banished, gonzo. Outside a courtroom, I'm not aware of many other forces in American life that can do that.

“…still packs a punch” has got to be the understatement of the day. I’m of the opinion that Political Correctness is perhaps the biggest of the “little threats” we face as a culture. Political Correctness is insidious because it instructs us in “pure thought” and exacts harsh penalties should we not comply with the prescribed positions of “right-thinking” people. The phenomenon, while bad enough for us plodders at the bottom layers of the food chain, gets unbearably worse the higher up the ladder one climbs, in any endeavor. The end result is our leaders in government and business, as well as our cultural movers and shakers, are effectively—oh-so-effectively!—muzzled. It’s a rare, rare thing to hear someone in a position of power actually “speak his mind” these days; Group Think rules the roost. The PC phenomenon has cost us a lot…and yet I cannot see what benefits actually accrue from being PC, other than approving nods from our friends on the Left and a general dumbing-down of the culture.

Can anyone show me something—anything—good about Political Correctness? I’m all ears…enlighten me!

Ahhh..so this is why I felt compelled to post pictures of my scratched fairing…

Professor Crozier defines embarrassment as when we accidentally "contradict the identity we want to project, leaving a quite disabling sense of being exposed".

And the car-crash moment when it happens is like a "little death" - everything seems to stop, time seems to stand still and we talk about being "frozen" or "dying of embarrassment" or being "mortified".

But what do we do when it happens, and how best to recover?

"The best way to deal with embarrassment is to talk about it," says workplace psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon. "If you skulk off, you're left with it. You mustn't let the embarrassment dominate."

Once you admit to what's happened and talk about it, everyone will feel much more relaxed and they'll be laughing with you rather than at you.

I just wanted all y’all to laugh with me, rather than at me. Even though you would have never known about my pratfall had I not posted. Unless you were one of those 15 people in that San Jon parking lot when I “contradict(ed) the identity we (I) want to project.” Fat chance, that. But go ahead…you can laugh. It’s OK.

Our weather certainly was miserable yesterday, but not catastrophic as Spring weather can be. No, it was just gray, dull, and rainy for nearly the entire day. A perfect sort of day to “take it easy,” which I did…in spades. And, digressing as is my habit, I apparently did myself some good, too, as my back pain has greatly diminished this morning. I’m “cautiously optimistic,” as they say. This thing is beginning to resemble a strained muscle much more than a herniated disk. Thank You, Lord!!

But back to the weather…clear blue skies, light winds, and a temp of 64…on its way to a forecasted 86 wonderful degrees. Perfect you-know-what weather. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll give my back one more day or if I’ll go out and swing a leg over the bike. Too soon to tell.

Today’s Pic: While yesterday’s weather sucked, the day before was absolutely brilliant even if I wasn’t feeling quite that way myself. Every so often I take an “inventory” shot of El Casa Móvil De Pennington in its natural surroundings, and today’s pic is one such shot. If you look closely you can see the neck of a Fat Tire bottle sticking up out of the cup holder on my chair. That was strictly “for medicinal purposes only,” Gentle Reader, and it helped. Oh, yes. It did.

May Day afternoon. On the outskirts of P-Town.

Got an Appropriate Rainy Day Quote?

Coz I need one...a rainy day quote, that is. In the meantime I'll just ramble, if it pleases you. And even if it doesn't...

Wow. This is news!

The News Corporation, owner of the Fox News Channel and The New York Post, has made an unsolicited $5 billion takeover bid for Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Dow Jones confirmed today that it had received the offer and said that the Bancroft family, which controls the company, was evaluating the bid. “There can be no assurance that this evaluation will lead to any transaction,” the company said in a written statement.

But some members of the Bancroft family were already mobilizing against the bid. Four hours after Dow Jones made its first statement, it issued a second communication saying that some family members and their trustees planned to vote “shares constituting slightly more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting power of Dow Jones” against the deal.

I don’t have a problem with either Rupert Murdoch or his media empire. But, given my druthers, I’d prefer Dow Jones remain independent. Just sayin’.

Here’s The Journal’s extensive report on the subject, including two very good “at a glance” graphic profiles of both News Corp and Dow-Jones.

“Religion of Peace,” once again. The following was said during a sermon…

Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One." Following are excerpts from the sermon that took place last month, courtesy of MEMRI.

Ahmad Bahr began: "'You will be victorious' on the face of this planet. You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] 'you will be victorious,' but only 'if you are believers.' Allah willing, 'you will be victorious,' while America and Israel will be annihilated. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel. They are cowards who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah. That is why America's nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere."

[…]

The Hamas spokesperson concluded with a prayer, saying: "Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet, defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them."

If they’re so damned “eager for death,” then I suggest we accommodate them. Or, in other words… “Crank up the Enola Gay!” And I haven’t even been drinking (yet).

Remember: These are the guys the Euro-Weenies want to reestablish aid to/for, in the form of direct monetary support.

“When it becomes possible to re-engage with a national unity government…we could then hopefully resume support to the Palestinian Authority, ministers and ministries and agencies from which we have had to distance ourselves in the last year,” she said.

Although officials from EU member states indicated that Ms Ferrero-Waldner’s comments were premature, her statement highlights a growing divergence between the EU and the US and Israel.

Premature back in February when the above article was published, that is. One wonders if public statements sermons delivered by Hamas politicians in powerful positions have any affect at all on Euro-policy. I suppose we shall see, eh?

Game Four of what is shaping up to be the Wings’ most epic battle in the 2007 play-offs begins at 2000 hrs MDT this evening. Day before yesterday I said that if Monday’s game was close it would still be a series. Close it was, with San Jose taking the win by virtue of a 2-1 final score. The game shouldn’t have been either close or lost…had the Wings continued as they began. Detroit came out flying in Monday’s game, completely dominating the Sharks.

The Sharks were a bit rusty to begin their first home game in 12 days, and Lidstrom capitalized with a power- play goal on a slap shot from the blue line midway through the first period. The Red Wings captain hadn't found the net since scoring in each of the first two games of Detroit's first-round series with Calgary.

San Jose, which jumped to early 2-0 leads in both of the series' first two games, was in full retreat well into the second period, when the fans booed their team's inept power play. After leading the league for much of the regular season, San Jose's power play went 1-of-5 to drop to 4-for-42 in the playoffs.

It looked like a solid performance by the Wings…and at the end of two periods I thought it was in the bag. But the third period was all Sharks…and they deserved the win. Still and even, it was close. We have a series, folks, and a damned good one, too. Let’s hope the Wings re-discover the intensity they showed during the first period on Monday night…they’ll need all that intensity and perhaps a bit more to prevail in this series. I think it’s there…

No motorsickle riding today, I’m afraid. Looks like it’s gonna rain all day. But that’s OK. We need it. I did take the bike out for a putt yesterday, and it was moderately good. I’m still holding my breath where my back pain is concerned, however. The pain has been fairly constant since this past Saturday and shows no signs of letting up. I found some Flexeril I had rat-holed from a previous bout of back pain and am taking that, in addition to the Aleve. It’s beginning to look more and more like the problem just might be another ruptured disk… While the quality of the pain isn’t severe in its intensity, the location of said pain is all too telling, i.e., in my lower back just above my hips…with the occasional twinge felt in my right thigh.

Lord, I hope I’m wrong about this…

For Starters...

Hoo Boy…Is He EVER Gonna GET IT!!! Gerard writes an essay that’s just bound to draw withering fire from The PC Police…about The PC Police. Excerpt:

Short form of the correct political position: "Obama's race doesn't matter except when it does."

A strange position to take when you reflect that Obama's race and standing as an African American of no little poise and intellect is the single most powerful thing he has going for him. Indeed, to be clear, Obama's race is the only reason he's doing as well as he is at all. If we had a junior Senator from Illinois with a shade more than 2 years of experience in the Senate and with the name Ole Swenson running for President, he'd be running neck and neck with Dennis Kucinich and Kucinich would be kicking his ass.

Of course, you're not supposed to notice Obama's race except when noticing it causes you to adulate wildly and attempt dancing in the streets while writing big checks from your bottomless account at The National Bank of White Guilt. If this gets you off and tickles your fancies, get down. And while you're at it, write one for me. My account is overdrawn.

The subject of Gerard’s missive is the outrage! The Usual Suspects are affecting vis-à-vis Rush Limbaugh’s insensitive parody of Senator Obama. I use the term “insensitive” only because that’s how the Usual Suspects have categorized labeled Limbaugh in their current attack mode, when not shouting “Racist!” at the top of their metaphorical lungs. Mr. Van der Leun has the big brass ones required to even broach the subject of perceived racism, let alone discuss it at some length, and I recommend his essay to you. Highly recommend it, even.

Oh…and by the way…I stole the vid just below from Gerard. He uses it to introduce his screed on the housing bubble, also highly recommended. Ya get the feeling I like Gerard, do ya? You’re right…

On hockey today: My Sentiments, Exactly…

The Red Wings might just do something they haven't done in 10 years: Pull off a playoff upset.

Yes, upset. I know: The Wings are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They came into this series with home-ice advantage. And they are the Red Wings. How can the Red Wings be the underdog? Was it an upset when King Kong beat Godzilla?

But through two games, San Jose looks like the better team. It would be really hard to argue otherwise. We still need to see another game or two before we can reach a definitive conclusion, but at the least, the Sharks are the Wings' equal.

You might have a tough time seeing the Sharks as the bully, but think of it this way: the NHL has changed so much that San Jose's teal sweaters almost seem like classics.

The Wings fell behind 2-0, which seems to be company policy these days, and the way they played, it felt like 4-0. But they came back and gutted out a 3-2 win. It was far from a dominant performance, but the Wings probably won't dominate a single game in this series. They aren't that kind of team any more, and the Sharks are too good.

Read the whole thing, if you’re into hockey. If you’re not, well… you don’t know what you’re missing tough luck. I almost turned Saturday’s game off when the Sharks scored their second goal to go up 2-0. Detroit looked demoralized, The Joe was silent, and my heart was beginning to break. But, I stayed with it and I’m glad I did. SN2 rang me up about 20 seconds after Cleary (my new best-est hero) scored his second short-handed goal of the play-offs. After Sam and I compared notes and exchanged superlatives (re: Cleary) I told him about being depressed about the Wings and their chances… up until that point in time…and he replied something to the effect of “I figured as much, which is why I didn’t call until now.”

A lot will be revealed tonight in the Shark Tank. If the Wings are blown out it’s as good as over. If they lose and it’s close, it’s still a series. If they win convincingly in their first game of this playoff season in San Jose’s house…where the Sharks play exceedingly well…then it’s an upset in the making, as Mr. Rosenberg notes. I’d be tickled pink if the last possibility comes to pass.

Today’s Pic: A Blast From The Past…SN3’s first haircut, nine years ago this month. This is but one of the eleven pics I took, being the Proud Papa I was. Here he is perched upon Mom’s lap, on the wise recommendation of my barber, whose name I cannot remember. It has been nine years, after all.

April, 1998. Perinton, NY.