B365v2.74 Paul Harveyism - Page 2 of the glog

bottom of the 4th

 McCutchoen leads off with a single to left,  Ramirez follows with an infield single, runners in first and second.

Kant singles to right to load the bases #whereskronos. Sorry kids, inside joke.


I suppose this is where I should give a big fuck your to apple and Blogger for not leaving much of a scrolling option on editing posts.

Morse lines out to first, one out, bases still loaded.

Sean Rodriguez strikes out after a long at bat and now there are two outs.  After loading the bases with no outs, if the Pirates don't score here it will be a lost opportunity.

Chris Stewart draws a bases loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch and Pittsburgh is back in front 2-1.

Apparently I missed something it's 3-2 Los Angeles now.  But realistically I had to pee like 5 pounds of beer and coffee away.

My bladder problems aside, with one out in the bottom of the fifth and Marte up to bat for Pittsburgh it is LAD 3 PGH 2.

Marte was hit by a pitch, he takes first base.  McCutcthen doubles to left center, scoring Marte and
we are tied again at 3.


Cutch takes 3rd on a passed ball, still only one out.  Ramirez singles to right, it's now 4-3.

Kang strikes out for the second out of the inning, followed by a Morse ground out and it remains 4-3.

Top 6 and Ethier flies out to deep center.  Grandal pops out to just behind second base.  I am actually disappointed in the few females I see with 80s poofy hair here tonight.  Poofy hair is way sexy.

Another fly out to deep center and that brings to a close the top of the 6th, still 4-3.

Neil Walker to bat for Gerritt Cole, bringing his night to a close.  Walker singles to center with two outs.

Polanco flies out to end the inning, it's still 4-3.

Carl Crawford  is hitting for Kershaw, both starters are out of the game now.   It looks like Crawford got first base on a catchers interference call.  Certainly strange.  Crawford stole second base.

Jimmy Rollins doubles in Crawford and it's tied again at 4.  Kendrick grounds out to third and that is that half inning.

Marte lined out to short.  McCutchen strikes out and Ramirez also strikes out.   After 7 all tied at 4 here in Pittsburgh.

Pirates escape the top of the 8th with only a walk to Scott Van Slyke.  Still 4-4.


Pirates have loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th with no out, Stewart grounded out on a force
out at home, for the first out of inning, Walker does the same, grounds into a force out at home, now
there are two outs.  Polanco grounds out to first and for the second time this game the Pirates load the  bases with no outs and come away with nothing.

Melancon comes on for the Pirates in the top of the 9th in a non save situation.

St. Louis is leading Milwaukee right now 6-0, so Pittsburgh needs a win to stay 6 games back in the division.

3 up, 3 down, at this point Melancon is almost automatic when he comes into a game.

Marte leads off the 9th for Pittsburgh.  Tie game at 4.  Marte strikes out, up next is McCutchen, who lead the team in most batting statistics at this point.  Cutch walks, man on first with one out. Ramirez grounds into a double play, ending the inning.   We will play some bonus baseball tonight.

Another pitching change for Pittsburgh to start the 10 th  inning.  Rollins flies out to center.  Can I say how much I hate that baseball ushers let people walk down the aisle during play.  It is one of the things hockey does right, you leave your seat, you don't go back until there is a stoppage in play.

Kendrick doubled down the third base line, so runner on second one out.  Adrian Gonzalez strikes out, now two down in the Dodgers half of the tenth.  And not that it matters in a glog, but I am getting hungry.

Scott Van Slyke walked, runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.  Pitch in the dirt that Cervelli blocks but the runners advance anyway, 2 nd and 3rd with two outs.  Grandal strikes out to end the threat, we go to the bottom of the 10 th still tied.

Kang to lead off for the Pirates, he walks on four pitches.  That brings up Cervelli, he singles to left runners on first and second with no outs.  Sean Rodriguez due up, he is 0 for 3 tonight with a walk, he proceeds to lay down a bunt single.  Bases loaded again with no outs, Pedro Alvarez in to pinch hit here.

B365V2.72 - The glog is back, be afraid, be very afraid

Okay, I am officially live at PNCpark for the Pirates Dodgers game.  Stand by for more updates, or check back frequently, whichever
Pitching matchup is official, Gerrit  Cole for PGH and Clayton Kershaw for LAD
7:08 pm and we are underway

Dodgers lead off the game with a single

Followed by a great double play, walker to Lang to Morse and we have two outs, by all means check for highlights on Walkers play on that ball.

Cole records his first strikeout with a 97 mph fastball and after half an inning we have no score.

First pitch to Gregory Polanco is a solo home run and the Pirates lead 1-0.

Kershaw makes a bare handed stop on a chopper up the middle to get the first out.

Andrew McCutchen walks ad we have one on and one out.

Aramis Ramirez grounds into an inning ending double play.  After one it is PGH 1-0.

Gerrit Cole strikes out Andre Ethier and Grandal and Puig to line out and we are through 1.5 here with the score PGH 1 LAD 0.

Kang strikes out to lead off the bottom of the second inning, Morse then lined out to first base, followed by a weak ground out to third base and we are done with two innings.


Foul pop out starts off the top of the third inning.

Joc Pederson doubles to right, runner on second with one out.  Kershaw grounds out to second, Pederson to third.

Jimmy rolling walks, runners on first and third.  Rollins steals second.

Adrian Gonzalez grounds out to third but the throw to first pulls Morse off the bag and a run scores.

Followed by a line out to second, and we are tied at one in the third.

Hot dog cannon time.  Once again meatatarians win as they aren't shooting tofu dogs.


Chris Stewart with a lead off bunt single in the bottom of the third.

Cole tries to bunt the runner over and ends up popping out.

Polanco singles to right but makes too wide a turn at first and get thrown out going back to base.  Stewart to second.  Marte pops out and after three it is 1-1.


Top 4 here and it starts with an Ethier walk.  But Grandal grounds into a double play.  That's a Chik Fil A double for us bitches, free sammiches.

Pug strikes out, Coles fourth K of the game.  Through 3.5 it's tied at 1.

I guess this means I am back, Penguins - Flyers glog

 

Just settling in here for some Sunday afternoon hockey, Penguins-Flyers no less, an in state rivalry here in Pennsylvania, made only more so because of where the teams currentlt reside in the standings. With 4 games left in the regular season, Pittsburgh has a 3 point lead on the Flyers in the standings, with Pittsburgh occupying the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference and the Flyers in the 5th. The difference in that is the higher seed will have home ice advantage in at least the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in about a week, though most likely it will still be these same two teams in a best of 7 series in the first round of the playoffs. Not guaranteed, but unless something drastic happens it will be these two teams and all that is left to determine is where a game 7 would be played (if needed) in a first round playoff series.

And since hockey is on, and I am watching, I figured that I would go ahead and watch the game while sitting down at ye olde computer and bang out a blog, because it has been ages since I have done so. I spent some time the last few days going back and rereading some of my old blog entries, trying to get that writing muse back. After all, I do like blogging, but I just really haven't had the motivation to do so recently.

Part of that is just interest I guess, there has been no compelling hook to darw me back to the page, no one compelling thing I really felt I needed to say, the other is just trying to get a grasp on my own personal life, which has been a bit of a roller coaster recently. I don't want to get into too many details, because it would border on the lines in the sand thing I sometimes talk about, some things just aren't meant for public consumption after all, and since those things also involve more than me, there are privacy issues involved as well. If it were just me, I might go forth and blab on the page, but it isn't, so I will not. What I will say is that things appear much better now than they did a few weeks ago, and that is all kinds of good with me.

Hey, the game is about to start? Dare I say glog? I think I just may. A quick note for those unfamiliar, glog is a term I stole from Sportsline.com,. and it is just a game blog of a sporting event.

As I type that brief description, we are underway from here in Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh gets credit for the game's first shot, a back hand attempt by Kris Letang that is gloved by Sergei Bobrovsky.

And we have a goal, a mere 1 minute and 14 seconds into the game, Steve Sullivan getting a goal to stake the Penguins to an early 1-0 lead.

Philadelphia tried answering back just seconds later, but saw a slap shot hit the post, and the pinging sound that is a goaltender's best friend some days.

Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis got assists on the Sullivan goal,. Dupuis is having a career type year for the Penguins, he has tallied 24 goals and 31 assists so far and while they aren't superstar numbers, they are quite good for someone who was almost considered little more than a throw in in the Marian Hossa deal a few years back.

We have another goal, and it is again all kinds of PIttsburgh, this time James Neal is your goal scorer, his 39th goal of the year and Pittsburgh has a 2-0 lead early in the first period.

So far Pittsburgh has had by far the better of the scoring chances, as evidenced by the two goal lead and a 9-2 advantage in shots 5 minutes into the contest.

Assists on the Neal goal go to Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz, so that is one more point for Malkin, who is making a strong case for the Hart trophy as the league's MVP, with 103 points (48 goals, 55 assists) which leads the NHL.

I should mention that since the Penguins have moved into the Consol Energy Center two years ago (they used to play at the Civic Arena) Philadelphia has never lost in PIttsburgh.

Pittsburgh, already sporting a 2 goal lead, now will have a power play opportunity, as Daniel Briere was called for interference, the first penalty by either team in the contest.

Pittsburgh has been playing 5 forwards on their power play recently, opting for no defensemen and the results have not been good. Lots of short handed odd man breaks the other way, and Philadelphia had two during the power play, though neither opportunity resulted in a goal, so the score remains 2-0.

A little over 11 minutes in, Pittsburgh still has am advantage in shots, 11-5, power play opportunities 1-0 and on the scoreboard 2-0.

I should note, the last time these two teams met, PIttsburgh built up a lead, only to lose the game by allowing two third period goals, and then an overtime goal with less than 2 seconds remaining, so an early lead, while promising is by far from a done deal when it comes to Penguins-Flyers match ups. One thing that has been missing early on here is the usually chipiness that happens during these rivalry games.

Remember when I said that the Flyers came back from two goals down last time these teams played? The Flyers just scored, the puck literally trickling through Marc Andre Fleury's legs, and the score is now 2-1. Scott Hartnell gets credit for the Flyers goal, which oddly does help my fantasy hockey team, even if it doesn't help my biased rooting interests here.

A quick flurry of activity of the Penguins in the Flyers end results in a few scoring opportunities, but nothing more, and instead now it will be the Flyers who will get their first power play opportunity. A change has been issued on the last goal, it is now being credited to Claude Giroux, his 28th of the year, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr getting credit for assists. Meanwhile a penalty is called on Matt Niskanen, 2 minutes for holding.

A successful penalty kill by the Penguins and there are less than two minutes remaining in the first period, Pittsburgh still holding on to a one goal lead thus far.

And another brief flurry of activity closes out the period, followed by a little bit of pushing and shoving after the whistle and after one period of play in Pittsburgh it is the Penguins leading 2-1. Both teams are 0 for 1 on the powerplay and Pittsburgh has a 16-8 advantage in shots.

Since we are at the first intermission, I guess I will grab something to eat and try to make myself a little more comfortable here. If anyone was taking bets on what it is I would actually eat, anyone who put money on a bear claw can pick up their winnings, everyone else better luck next time.

Since we are on a break here, for those unfamiliar with how my glogging style works, I just pontificate on useless stuff, sometimes it will be commercials that pop up during the game, other times it will be stuff that just occurs to me that I haven't had time to write about yet. This will be one of the latter.

As most of you know, I work at Smithfield News, a newsstand in downtown Pittsburgh, though it is probably more of a convenience store than actual newsstand. Because of our location between two schools downtown (Point Park University, Art Institute of Pittsburgh) and our hours of operation (opens 24hrs, 365 days a year) we are basically a grocery store for the students that reside downown and we carry a variety of products for just such people, including microwaveable foodstuffs, including a product that is called Big Az Burger, whcih is just a play on words for big ass and the fact it is a larger microwaveable hamburger style sandwich tahn you would normally find. Anyway, as I was checking some of these in the other day from our most recent delivery, I look at the packaging and I saw something that, I don't know who gets paid for doing marketing for the people that make Big Az sandwiches, but that person needs to be fired immediately. It seems that the packaging on the sandwiches changed recently, and on the wrapper it says so, it says "New look, same Big Az taste" Now excuse me for a second, but who wants a burger with ass taste? Anyone? Is there a trend of eating ass sandwiches out there that I was never clued in on?

Okay, looks like the second period is just about to get underway, which is good because you can only write so much about ass eating anyway.

And there you have it, I mentioned that the Flyers came back from two goals down the last time these teams met and they have just done it again, 1:35 into the send period as Max Talbot gets his 19th goal of the year and we are all knotted at two. Zac Rinaldo gets credit for the singular assist on the goal.

The Flyers have started dictating play here early in the second period, most of the action is taking place in the Penguins end of the rink. This despite the fact that two Flyers defensemen have left with injuroes and they are only playing with four as opposed to the usual 6 most teams play.

The differnce in shots between the clubs is still 8 (19-11 Pittsburgh) but Philadelphia has had by far the better scioring chances here in the second period, including a couple of odd man rushes.

Pittsburgh has their first really good scoring chance of the second period, Kris Letang setting up Sidney Crosby who comes in alone on Sergei Bobrovsky, but Crosby's shot is denied and the score here remains tied at 2.

Still only two penalties called to this point, and the action has been relatively even for the last several minutes and the 2nd period reaches the 14 minute mark. Usually Pittsburgh-Philadelphia matchups have a tendency to have a little more pushing and shoving involved, but perhaps neither team wants to take a stupid penalty with losing home ice advantage in the playoffs possibly being the result.

Just as I say that, the Flyers get called for their second penalty, Marc Andre Bourdon goes to the box, 2 minutes for hooking, and again Pittsburgh is going to start with with 5 forwards and no defensemen on the power play, Anbd that plan lasted all of a few seconds before Pittsburgh took a penalty as well, Steve Sullivan gets called for tripping just 10 seconds into the power play, so the teams will skate for 1:50 in a 4 on 4 situation and the Flyers will have a 10 second power play after that.

Another Flyer penalty, too many men on the ice, and we have had three penalties in the last minute and a half or so. The result is the Flyers will lose their 10 second power play and Pittsburgh will have the man advantage for about 85 seconds. Eric Wellwood will serve the 2 minute minor penalty for the Flyers.

The Penguins second power lay unity is on the ice, and it seems to be doing better than their 5 forward group they had been running earlier, if for no other reason than they aren't giving up odd man rushes the other way.

All of the penalty, power play nonsense is behind us, the end result is nothing, no goals scored by either team, we remain tied at 2, but again as soon as I say something, just the opposite happens, the Flyers get called for another penalty, Eric Wellwood again serving 2 minutes, this time for hooking. And Pittsburgh again runs out the 5 forward unit to start the power play, nearly getting the go ahead goal, but Bobrovsky makes a sprawling save to keep the score tied at 2. And that will be the end of the second period as well. Pittsburgh will start the third period still on the power play for one minute and 42 seconds. After two periods, Pittsburgh has a 30-14 lead in shots, but that hasn't translated into a lead on the scoreboard.

I know I wanted to mention something during this second intermission but I will be damned if I can remember what it was now. So instead I will just bust out the glass cleaner and clean my monitor, as I am on my desktop computer for the first time in a long time. I guess it has something to do with an actual working keyboard, which helps if you are going to type a lot. I thought about getting my laptop's keyboard fixed, but the more I think about it, I think I will just splurge and by a new laptop. After all, the one I bought was a refurbished model and I can get a good model; for what I need brand new off of Amazon for about $400. I could probably find something cheaper if I looked hard, but with Amazon I can basically get it for free if I save up enough Amazon cash. I already have $75 in my account there, and I could probably add close to another $100 in gift cards from the Pepsi orders at work, so I am almost halfway to the laptop already. Plus I still have another $5 pending from Swagbucks, and if I really need to spend the last few bucks for the laptop, I can just go to Coinstar and buy an Amazon gift card with the change I have laying around. Plus there will be a certain amount of satisfaction if I can manage to get a free laptop, rather than pull coins out of my own pocket for it. Yes, I am still that cheap kids, some things just never change.

I am getting an idea for what to do during the intermission. You will see it at the top of the blog, a younger me hanging with one of my favorite Christmas presents from years gone by, a stuffed Q-bert doll.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch the game has gotten underway again and Pittsburgh is called for a penalty early in the third, say hello to the penalty box Kris Letang and we will skate 4 on 4 followed by an abbreviated Flyers power play. As for the scanned picture, I think I will use it to open the blog, but you will have to read this far just to know what it is about.

And the Flyers break the tie on the power play, Wayne Simmonds notches his 28th goal of the year and the Flyers have a 3-2 lead, after trailing 2-0 very early in this contest. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek get credit for the assists on the go ahead goal.

Pittsburgh follows with a flurry of activity in the Flyers zone, but can beat Bobrovsky to tie the game.

The problem is when you start pressing for a goal, you sometimes get beat the other way and that was the case as Jakub Voracek gets loose for a breakaway in on Fleury and he beats him to make it Flyers 4 Penguins 2. In his last three games in goal, including today, Fluery has given up at least 4 goals in every game. That is not the type of goaltending you want heading into the playoffs. Meanwhile the Flyers are looking to continue their winning ways in Pittsburgh's building, and that looks like it will be the case, with just over 12 minutes remaining.

With a two goal lead, the Flyers will get another power play, Matt Cooke gets called for slashing and Pittsburgh will play short handed for two minutes of the remaining 11 minutes of action.

Pittsburgh does kill off the penalty, but time is not on their side here, they still trail by two goals with now just 8:04 remining. Meanwhile I think I will go open my Multiply page and start getting this thing ready for publication. After all, I do have a picture to add to the page.

That is what I get for trying to get to my page, the Flyers score again, it's now 5-2 Flyers and really, this game is over. Let's not kid ourselves, it is all about just what the final score will be. Marc Andre Bourbon with the 5th Flyers goal. I should note that there were assists on the last two Flyers goals, on the Voracek goal, those would go to Eric Wellwood and Braydon Coburn and on the Bourbon tally the helper goes to Claude Giroux.

We can now safely assume that Pittsburgh will lose here, that is three losses in their last four games, the only win coming when backup goaltender Brent Johnson was in net against Buffalo so sports talk shows will be riddled with "What is wrong with Marc Andre Fleury" phone calls tomorrow.

And it looks like we have a Pittsburgh goal, it is being reviewed in Toronto (league office monitors all games in real time) because the puck actually hit the camera in the net and shot back out, and wasn't recognized on the ice as having went in the net. But it is a goal (thank you league office), Steve Sullivan getting his second goal of the game to make it a 5-3 contest. The problem being there is just a little over 4 minutes left in the game.

Pittsburgh has a sizeable advantage in shots, 41-24, but that matters little at this point. Before I forget, the assists on the Sullivan tally go to Paqscal Dupuis and Zybnek Michalek.

Pittsburgh trying furiously to get another goal and the chippiness is starting to show during every stoppgae of play, more pushing and shoving and almost fisticuffs but no penalties are handed out.

And we have another Flyers goal, and empty net tally because Fluery was pulled for an extra attacker to make it 6-3 Flyers, Jakub Voracek again scoring to add to the Flyers total and the Penguins misery.

The subsequent faceoff and finally the fisticuffs break out, people square off literally all over the ice. Even the coaches are up on their feet yapping at each other. If this turns out to be a first round playoff matchup, well, let's just say their will be plenty of bad blood between these two teams come next week.

Let's see if they sort out all of the penalty nonsense, all I know so far is the Flyers coach, Peter Laviolette has been thrown out. As far as penalties, that is still being sorted out. I probably could use this time to do some spell checking, but why start spell checking now? I have a reputation to maintain after all.

Finally we are back underway for the last minute of action and Pittsburgh quickly scores to make it a 6-4, Chris Kunitz getting the goal with 32 seconds remaining in the game. Assists to the goal go to Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

And its a final. Philadelphia 6 Pittsburgh 4. No announcement on the late penalties yet, I guess I will have to wait and see if they post them online in the near future, though given they really didn't affect the outcome of the game, so I doubt anyone will be in a huge rush to get that information out there.  The lasty goal by the Penguins was a power play goal however, because of all of the extra curricular activities that broke out at the end of the game.  Brayden Schenn did get a 2 minute unsportmanlike conduct called against him, by I know that Aaron Asham from PIttsburgh and at least one Flyer were escorted from the ice, so chances are there will be more penalties handed out for all of the statistics geeks out there.

I will not be waiting for that info however, I want to get this thing posted and call it a day.  Still lots to do and part of that is not waiting on useless trivia.  So toodles to you all, glad to be back. 

Okay, before I go, I reference the penalty nonsense at the end of the game, here is the final result on that.....

Flyers

Brayden Schenn 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Wayne Simmonds 5 min - fighting (major), Pavel Kubina 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Marc Andre Bourdon 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Daniel Briere 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Brayden Schenn 2 min - roughing, Zac Rinaldo 10 min - misconduct

Penguins

Deryk Engelland 5 min - fighting (major), Aaron Asham 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Craig Adams 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Joe Vitale 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Aaron Asham 10 min - misconduct.

I think that covers it.  Now I will go.

Multiply 365 Day 266 - The glog is back, Steelers - Colts

 

Don't mind me, I am just getting settled in here. Between checking football scores on my fantasy teams (all three are doing okay so far) and making vegetable soup in the kitchen I am a little bit back and forth at the moment. Plus for the first time in ages I am actually on the desktop as opposed to the laptop. Not that that is bad, though the desktop had been running slower of late, I ran a defrag the other morning before heading out to work and it seems to have sped things up a bit. It's not perfect but it is better. Plus I still have this copier/fax/scanner thing right next to my keyboard that is somewhat cramping my style, if not my overall ability to type.

Part of the reason I am on the desktop is that tonight will be the first glog of the NFL season. For those that are new around here, a glog is a game blog, the term stolen from the fine people at Sportsline.com. Usually that means I blog during a live sporting event, in this case it will be the Steelers-Colts game this evening. Unlike traditional glogs though, these tend to turn into stream of consciousness things, where I talk about the game, the commercials, anything else that crosses my mind.

Not that football was the only thing happening today, the Pirates had a home game. I only make mention of it because it was the game that I got my cousin Sarah tickets for. And thankfully she was able to go, she was sending Facebook updates from the game. I was afraid that, not knowing her schedule, a Sunday afternoon game might not work out but apparently it did. It was another of those goodies that I got from work, and while technically they were given to me, I knew she was hoping to get to a game this year, so I in turn gave her the tickets.

This is my last real day off for a while. Technically I am sure I have at least one day off on the schedule next week, but as I blogged about yesterday, I want to try and get some extra hours in by getting caught up on some additional projects at work. That way I have some additional cash for the hockey game on the 13^th. I think I am about to start a countdown clock until faceoff, but I will wait until I actually have the tickets in my hand. I have already jumped the gun a tad bit by asking Dee when I don't have the tickets just yet, but Fred has been very good about the things he promises the store, so I have the utmost confidence he will come through. He was good on his word last year regarding hockey tickets and he also brought two autographed photos of Max Talbot that he promised. What makes the pictures cool is they are pictures of Talbot scoring the game winning goal in the Stanley Cup final against Detroit. In that regard the photo itself would be cool, the fact Max signed them (more Superstar treatment) only makes them better. The only bad thing is that Talbot left the team this off season, signing an offer with the Philadelphia Flyers. I am sure that will put him on the dislike list for many Pens fans, but I just appreciate what he did here. Much like Jaromir Jagr, there are plenty here that don't like him, I am not one of them.

Well we are about one hour before kickoff now and I see that on my desk are three quarters . No I am not going to get all superstitious, rather I need those for laundry that I have to do later. So in that regard I will take a certain amount of pleasure in that find.

I was listening to the radio earlier but I had to turn it off when the Steelers pregame show started. Not that I have anything against the Steelers per se, I actually like them, but again it is just too much when your pregame show on the radio starts four hours before the game is played. The thing is, with an 8:30 pm kickoff, the game tonight will probably not end till around 11:30 or so, which means the radio post game show will end somewhere around 2am. Sorry but my life doesn't revolve that much around the Steelers.

I did sneak out earlier for a little walk, keeping that Sunday project alive. I wasn't out for too long, but I still managed to find 8 more Coke caps and a code off of a 20 pack as well. So that helps in my quest to get the Ipod at 1500 points. I am now around 1050. I didn't think I would get there before the end of the year, now I am not so sure I can't pull this thing off.

I just looked and I will be moving on in the Survivor pool I am entered into. San Diego did beat Kansas City so I make it to week #4. I used the Cardinals in Week #1 and the Steelers in Week #2 So I still have some of the bigger name teams left (Green Bay, New England, New Orleans for example) so I will have to look at the schedule and see if I can't come up with another winner for next week.

The soup is done. Nothing too fancy, just a batch of vegetable soup with some egg noodles thrown in for good measure. That should provide some game time tasty goodness. I certainly made enough of it. So I will have plenty for the next couple of days. And there is plenty of white pepper in it, so it has plenty of kick to it.

Just checking my fantasy football scores before I settle in to start glogging. In the league I am playing for money I probably have my first win, I have a 42 point lead and my opponent doesn't have anyone in the last two games (tonight, tomorrow night) whereas I still have the Steelers kicker, so I might get another point or two, but that game is pretty much over. I needed a win there too, an 0-3 start and I could pretty much consider my $50 entry fee a donation. In Jade's league I am in pretty good shape as well, I have a 71 point lead, with a handful of players still playing and tonight she has Rashard Mendenhall from the Steelers, I have Santanna Moss from the Redskins on Monday night. I will not call it a win just yet, but I like my chances. Lastly in my Madden league I have already won by 34+ points, I say plus because we use fractional points in that league, the actual score was 108.84-74.36. So I have a good shot in the last two leagues of starting the year 3-0. Why can't those be the leagues I am playing for money in?

The bad thing about eating soup this evening is now I am very warm. Not that it is too warm outside, I would argue it is quite comfortable, but the bad side effect of too much white pepper I suppose is that I am starting to sweat.

Waiting for the game to start here and just saw a commercial for the movie “Real Steel”. Why does this movie look like nothing but a cheap knock off of that old children's toy, “Rock Em Sock Em Robots”? Am I missing something here. Oh well, at least I am getting a few things done prior to game time, like eating and reading new messages and commenting where appropriate, I will save the inappropriate stuff for personal messages.

I had mentioned last week that I got a Cuban cigar from work and had planned on smoking it, but as is sometimes the case with me, I didn't. So instead I will be going all Cuban during the football game this evening instead. Which beats going all commando during the game, not that I am expecting company any time soon, but even at home by myself I at least wear boxers around the house.

Okay, just about underway here, we have sat through that horrid Faith Hill opening sequence so we are just about underway. Which means I better get my stats window open here for reference as well. Truth be told, I am sure this game looked much better when the schedule first came out than it does now. Pittsburgh is coming off of a Super Bowl appearance and Indianapolis has one of the best quarterbacks in the game in Peyton Manning. Except Pittsburgh looked downright awful in losing in week one to the Baltimore Ravens, turning the ball over 7 times, and Peyton Manning is still out after having a third surgery on his neck, the Colts in his absense have started the year 0-2 including a loss last week to the Cleveland Browns. Nobody will mistake the Browns as an offensive juggernaut. So tonight's game may be the season for the Colts, start the season 0-3 and they really have an uphill climb to catch the Houston Texans in their division, who are 2-1 including a week one win over the Colts.

I have my second bowl of soup, my cigar, a 2 liter bottle of RC Cola and I think I am ready to get this thing started.

Pittsburgh will get the ball to start the game and start from their own 20 yard line after a touchback on the opening kickoff.

First play of the game and Roethlisberger runs a play action pass and finds Mike Wallace for 18 yards and a first down. A promising start to their first possession. Two play later it is Roethlisberger to Wallace again on a screen pass and Wallace takes off for a 30 yard gain. Two more plays, an incomplete pass and a Mendenhall run force Pittsburgh into a 3^rd down and 8 and the pass down the middle goes into and out of the hands of Emanuel Sanders so Pittsburgh settles for a 48 yard field goal from Shaun Suisham and an early 3-0 lead.

By the way, the soup is very tasty. It really isn't much, I took some chicken broth, added some water and 7 chicken bullion cubes, one bag of egg noodles and one frozen bag of veggies (peas, green beans, carrots, corn) and added a little ground black pepper, ground salt and white pepper and taa daa, we have eats.

Indianapolis has the ball and they will start their first drive from their own 15 yard line and on first down it is Kerry Collins finding his tight end Dallas Clarke for 6 yards. Two plays later and it is Collins finding Reggie Wayne for a short gain that is good enough for the first down.

Commercial break and we are subjected to a stupid Coors Light commercial. If this is what Jim Mora is relegated to than I never want to see him on an NFL sideline again.

And we are back, the Colts are facing a third and eight and Collins pass is short and nowhere close to its intended target so the Colts will punt the ball back to Pittsburgh. Change of possession, that means another commercial break and for me it means time to hit the RC Cola. I don't know, I don't like RC as much as Pepsi, but I do like it better than Coke and since we sell it for 60 cents less a bottle at work, I will go RC if I have to.

Pittsburgh with the ball and on first down it is Mendenhall for a 2 yard run. Not much better on second down, he loses two on that carry and Pittsburgh is looking at 3^rd and 10. And like the route that Sanders ran earlier, Roethlisberger throws down the seam but this time it is to Antonio Brown who catches it and Pittsburgh has a first down. Two plays get three yards and Pittsburgh has another 3^rd and long, this time 7 yards. And what looks like a miscommunication, Roethlisberger throws behind Mike Wallace so Pittsburgh is forced to punt and it is still Pittsburgh 3-0.

While I could spend time commenting on commercials again during this break, instead I used the opportunity to drop a quick message on my cousin Sarah's Facebook page, just to apologize for giving her tickets to a Pirate loss. Not that that is uncommon when you have 19 straight losing seasons, but hope springs eternal that on those days where you or someone you know ventures to the ballpark that the heavens may open, the seas part and the Pirates actually win a game.

By the way, the Colts are looking at 3^rd and 8 here and Collins is able to step up into the pocket and find Pierre Garcon on a crossing route for a first down.

Three plays get 8 yards and last I checked you needed 10 for a first down so the Colts will be all kinds of punty here, so Pittsburgh will get the ball for a third time while still holding a 3-0 lead.

Great, my luck as I am working on this glog I get a Words with Friends request. Oh well, I will get to that when I can, right now this takes precedence. I just hope it doesn't go all OT on me, the game will be long enough as it is. Then again, overtime doesn't seem likely as Roethlisberger hooks up on a long pass with Wallace again, who got behind everyone for an 81 yard touchdown pass. Pittsburgh 10-0. We haven't even gotten out of the first quarter and already Mike Wallace has 129 yards receiving.

The ensuing kickoff gets returned and Indianapolis brings it out to their own 25 yard line. First down and Troy Polamalu jumped the snap count on Kerry Collins, almost getting a sack. Some of you may remember last year when he did the very same thing to Collins when Collins was in Tennessee. Well that drive sucked ass, three plays, maybe a yard and Indianapolis will punt again.

Pittsburgh on first down, this time a much shorter pass, only a yard or two to David Johnson. Second down and Mendenhall continues his uninspiring start, no gain on the carry, he has 6 rushes for 4 yards. But on third down and nine it is Roethlisberger finding his tight end for 12 yards and that play will end the first quarter. For those not paying attention, it is Pittsburgh 10 Indianapolis 0.

Second quarter underway, I got a couple of Words with Friends games out of the way, I am in 5 different games right now. It is starting to get a little confusing to be sure. So far I win about half of the time on that Facebook app. Which I guess is okay. Not great, not bad.

By the way, Pittsburgh had a 3^rd and 8 and again Pittsburgh converts, an 18 yards pass from Roethlisberger to Brown. Roethlisberger is already approaching 200 yards passing and we are barely into the second quarter.

Pittsburgh again facing a long 3^rd down, 3^rd and 11 to go, but Pittsburgh has been doing well in these situations up to this point. Not this time though, as Roethlisberger is hit from behind and fumbles the ball and the Colts recover right around midfield. For Roethlisberger, that is his third fumble this year, to go with 3 interceptions.

Second down and Collins has Garcon open down the field and Garcon drops it. Al Michaels says that Garcon is a good receiver after the drop. Maybe he is, except when he is not. But Collins finds Collie on third and eight to keep the Colts drive alive.

Another first down and the Colts might be looking to take advantage of the Pittsburgh turnover, they are inside the Pittsburgh 30 yard line here with a first down. And Joseph Addai makes it a third first down on this drive and the Colts are down to the 18 yard line. Another first down on a swing pass to Reggie Wayne and Indianapolis has a first down inside the 5 yard line. Nice drive by the Colts so far. And on first and goal they get called for holding and that will back up the Colts by 10 yards.

So first and goal from the 12 yard line and it starts with Addai carrying the ball for maybe a couple of yards. Second down Collins hooks up with Dallas Clark down to the three yard line, so in two plays the Colts almost made back what they lost on the penalty. And third down the pass is incomplete, so the Colts will settle for a short field goal, which will cut the lead to 10-3.

The Colts kickoff and again it goes for a touchback so Pittsburgh will start from their own 20. Two plays and Pittsburgh picks up 20 yards, 16 of it on a pass between Roethlisberger and Brown. Third down and long again for Pittsburgh, 13 to be exact and again Pittsburgh converts as Roethlisberger again finds Brown for a first down. Don't look now, but even Brown has 75 yards receiving.

Of course the success of the Steeler drive is short lived, as again Roethlisberger is hit from behind as he attempts to pass and again he fumbles, this time however the Colts are able to pick up the ball and run with it, Jamaal Anderson rumbles (and given his size, rumble is appropriate) 47 yards for the tying touchdown. Game on! 10-10.

If this keeps up, Roethlisberger is going to have a David Kreig like season when it comes to holding onto the football. Pittsburgh gets the ball back on the ensuing kickoff, again they will start from the 20 and one play later the Colts have the ball on a Ben Roethlisberger interception. The subsequent return and an additional 15 yard penalty and the Colts are all the way down inside the 15 yard line of Pittsburgh.

Two plays, one pass and one run, tally 5 yards and the Colts will have 3^rd and 5 from the the 7 yard line and the 3^rd down pass is well over the heads of everyone in the endzone, including the intended receiver. The Colts instead settle for a field goal, but the kick is enough to give the Colts a 13-10 lead. The Colts, not exactly known for putting points on the board, have scored 13 points in 4 minutes and 25 seconds.

Another kickoff and a quick kneel down on first down my Roethlisberger (at least he didn't fumble) and that is it for the first half with the Colts leading 13-10.

Halftime, time for me to commence with the cutting of the Cuban. Ahh yes, the taste of a good cigar. This may go on my list of 'Things that are better than sex”, right up there with a fresh towel from the dryer after showering. And the cracking of my neck when my body is releasing stress.

.Okay, second half is about to get underway. Since Pittsburgh had the ball first in the first half, it will be the Colts who will have the first possession in this half, starting from their own 28 yard line.

Three plays and the Colts have the first first down of the second half on a short pass from Collins to Collie. But two consecutive incomplete passes after that and the Colts are looking at a third down and ten. The pass from Collins to Collie will be close, it will probably be a measurement for a first down, and it is just enough to keep the Colts drive alive. First down. But the Colts do nothing on the next two play, creating another 3^rd down, this time 11 yards to go and the third down pass is incomplete, so Pittsburgh will get the ball back after a punt for their first possession of the second half.

Pittsburgh will start their drive pinned back a bit, from their own 14 yard line.

And we are back to how the game started, Roethlisberger finding Wallace for a first down. On the very next play we see something we didn't see in the first half, a 15 yard Mendenhall run. I think the Steelers rushing total just doubled on that carry. Two more Mendenhall runs leave Pittsburgh with a 3^rd down and inches and a quarterback sneak is good enough to keep the Pittsburgh drive going.

First down and it's Issac Redman getting his first carry, for no gain. One incomplete pass and we have a 3^rd and 10 for Pittsburgh, and Roethlisberger steps up into the pocket to avoid the rush and finds Heath Miller for a first down to keep this drive alive. 10 plays so far on this possession for Pittsburgh.

Two plays, a run for minus 1 and a pass for 5 yards and Pittsburgh has a third down and 6 and a short pass completion for only 2 yards will force a fourth down. Shaun Suisham comes on for the 36 yard field goal attempt to tie the game, but the kick hits the upright and is no good. Somewhere Jeff Reed is punching a paper towel dispenser in glee. Indianapolis still leads 13-10.

The Colts take over possession from their won 26 yard line. The drive is short lived however, a quick three and out for the Colts so Pittsburgh will get the ball back.

Something that I thought about during the last commercial break, back when they were running a promotion for the new comedy “Whitney”, starring Whitney Cummings. How stupid are comedians? Because when you think about how many shows where the lead character is named the same name as the comedian (Whitney, Seinfeld, Bob Newhart , Everybody Loves Raymond to name a few) one has to think that they are too stupid to remember a name other than their own.

By the way, Pittsburgh takes over this possession on their own 22 yard line and it takes them just a few plays before Pittsburgh is already down to their own 38. And the clock runs out on the third quarter with the Colts still leading 13-10. Have to say, if Pittsburgh goes on to lose this game, I don't think you can pin this on the defense, so far they have allowed 93 yards passing and 48 yards rushing. Those types of numbers should win you most games.

The fourth quarter is underway and it starts off in a rather bad fashion for Pittsburgh, a 10 yard holding penalty. A short pass to Heath Miller and Pittsburgh is left with a 3^rd down and 18 yards to go, yet Roethlisberger finds Sanders for a first down and the Steeler drive continues.

Three plays get nothing and Suisham is on to try another field goal, this from 44 yards out and it is good and the game is tied again, 13-13. Good god, I hope my thought about overtime earlier doesn't prove prophetic.

Pittsburgh kicks off and its a touchback so the Colts will take over possession on their own 20 yard line. Into the game at quarterback will be one Curtis painter for the Colts. Collins left with what is being called a concussion at this point, though injury reports during the game are sketchy at best. Let's not kid anyone, Collins was hardly effective, 29 pass attempts and only 93 yards. That, my friends, is just awful.

Two plays, both running plays get the Colts about 6 yards, leaving a third down and 4. And Curtis Painter's first pass attempt is an overthrow of a wide open Garcon that easily would have went for a big gain. Instead the Colts are forced to punt and the 44 yard punt is returned 37 yards by Antonio Brown, who continues to have a decent game for Pittsburgh, so the Steelers will take over with a first down at the Colts 33 yard line.

I start the Steelers possession by getting me a pack of peanut butter crackers. Sorry, but I was getting all snacky.

As for Pittsburgh, 2 plays net 2 yards, so it is 3^rd and 8 and haven't we seen this before. Check that, make that 3^rd and 13 after an illegal formation penalty on Pittsburgh. And Ben Roethlisberger makes his fourth mistake of the game, taking a sack that will leave Pittsburgh out of field goal range and force them to punt. The punt goes into the endzone, so the Colts get the ball back on their own 20 yard line and we will see Curtis Painter V2.0.

Good god, now I know why I don't do this more often, I have seven pages to proofread before I can post this damn thing. The spell checker in Open Office is good, but not as good as Microsoft Word. That's what you get for freeware I guess.

Two plays by the Colts, both running plays and the Colts have a first down. Maybe that is the answer, never let Painter throw the ball. Painter drops back to pass on second and 10 and ten and this time the blame is squarely on Dallas Clark, who drops the pass. Third down and Painter throws his third incompletion, leading to another Colts punt. Antonio Brown again with a good punt return, 25 yards, so Pittsburgh will take over with a first down on their own 35 yard line.

First down and Roethlisberger throws a quick pass to Sanders for 3 yards. Another ineffective Mendenhall run brings up 3^rd down and 8. The Colts defense stiffens and Pittsburgh will be forced to punt after a quick three and out.

So we are left with an philosophical dilemma, which will happen first, the Colts will manage an actual drive or the Steeler offense will find a way to give away even more points. Stay tuned.

I hope I never need to take a boner pill. The list of potential side effects is so great that I think I would rather be bonerless.

There you go, why Curtis Painter is not the Colts quarterback, he drops back to pass on 2^nd down and three and is hit and coughs it up and Troy Polamalu picks up the fumble and runs it in for a Pittsburgh touchdown. Pittsburgh 20 Indianapolis 13.

Pittsburgh kicks off after the defensive touchdown and it is a touchback, so the Colts will start on their own 20. More Curtis Painter action is coming. Wait, he completed a pass. A short little 4 yarder, but a completion nonetheless. On third and three it is a three yard pass for a first down.

The very next time Painter hits Garcon on a decent throw downfield and dare I say the Colts may be looking at an actual drive. Another completed pass to Garcon and the Colts have moved down to the Pittsburgh 25. First down and Addai goes for 12 yards and another first down at the Steeler 13 yard line. Another completed pass by Painter to Garcon brings up 3^rd and 2 and Addai sneaks into the end zone for the Colts touchdown. With the extra point we are back to being tied, 20-20.

Pittsburgh gets the ball back, with a 2.09 remaining and starting on their own 20 yard line. First down and a quick pass to Wallace gets 5 yards and we have reached the two minute warning. More commercials, yay!!!

A pass to Hines Ward gets Pittsburgh a first down. After an incompletion on first down, Roethlisberger finds Mewelde Moore for the first time tonight and Moore scampers 22 yards for a first down. First and 10 and Roethlisberger drops back to pass again but instead scrambles forward and gets 11 yards and another first down. With 1:13 remaining Pittsburgh calls timeout with a first and ten from the Colts 30 yard line.

First down and Moore get the handoff and gets 5 yards on the carry. The Colts call timeout, in hopes of keeping some time on the clock should Pittsburgh score here, as they are well within field goal range. Another Moore carry gets 4 yards, leaving a third and 1. Rashard Mendenhall take note, this is how you run between the tackles. 3^rd and 1 and the carry goes to Issac Redman, who gets 3 yards and the first down, so Pittsburgh will run the clock down here and perhaps just try for the game winning field goal.

Timeout Pittsburgh and on comes Shaun Suisham to attempt a 37 yard field goal to win with 8 seconds left. The kick is up and good, Pittsburgh leads 23-20 with 4 seconds remaining.

The kick goes through the endzone so the Colts will start on their own 20 and have basically one shot to get down the field for the win, or at least a penalty for a possible tie. But Painter pass is neither deep nor accurate, short hopping its intended target and Pittsburgh wins, 23-20. Not exactly a pretty effort by Pittsburgh, but a win is a win. Okay, time for a spell check and proofread and then I am outtie, like a belly button.

Multiply 365 Day 163 - More white hot competitive glogging action

 

Yes, another glog, but we are up to game 6 of the Stanley Cup final now, so this may be the last hockey glog of the season . Really, hold your applause, we still have a couple hours to go yet, and should Boston win tonight there would also be the possibility of yet another one of these.

Actually I am surprised NBC opted to pass on another fine episode of “Stupid Human Tricks” or “Fat Camp” in order to broadcast the game. Then again, this is NBC we are talking about, they could break away from live action to go with a regularly scheduled episode of “Dateline”.

For those that have not been following the series to this point, Vancouver leads the best of seven series 3 games to 2, with each team winning every game on their own ice. Tonight's game will be in Boston, so if that trend holds we will be looking at a game 7 on Wednesday in Vancouver. No word from NBC yet on how this would affect their schedule for “Celebrity Apprentice” or whatever inane thing they are passing off as programming on Wednesdays these days.

While I usually don't follow basketball all that much, like other sports, if it is at the championship level I might poke my head in for a looksee, and last night I was glad I did, as the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA title. The title was the first ever in the history of the Mavericks franchise, and it what was a classy move, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had the league present the trophy to the original owner of the Dallas Mavericks, rather than to himself. Maybe I am just biased because Cuban is the typical “local boy does good” in that he made a great deal of money before the dot.com bubble burst, creating and then selling broadcast.com (I think Yahoo bought it, which means now it probably doesn't work), but he parlayed the money he made in that into ownership of the Dallas Mavericks, and 11 years later his franchise has its first ever championship. It is not lost on the locals that Cuban was one of the names that was rumored to be in the running to buy the Pirates at various points in the not too distant past, instead we have endured 18 years of losing and counting under the Bob Nutting regime.

Well that little diatribe, plus the fact I am eating and typing (who says I can't multitask?) has gotten us closer to faceoff.

And before you forget, my birthday is Saturday. Don't be waiting till the last minute. Get cracking on that task already, lol.

We are up to the national anthems and I think I like the singers from Canada better. Not just the audience participation, but the guy who sings in Boston just isn't that good. He is like a bad lounge act. Which may be okay if you are doing karaoke, but not anthem singing.

Game just underway, and just 20 seconds in Mason Raymond is lying on the ice, apparently injured on a collision with Boston's Johnny Boychuk. He is helped off the ice, but it looked like he couldn't put any weight on his left leg.

First penalties of the game, one per side and we will have 2 minutes of 4 on 4 hockey. Guilty parties are Zdeno Chara for interference and Henrik Sedin for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Okay penalties have expired and nothing comes of it as the teams resume skating 5 on 5. It actually has been very uneventful, almost 5 minutes in and each team has only registered one shot thus far.

Well, for those of you hoping my glogging career was over, bad news as Boston just scored to take a 1-0 lead here in the first period. Brad Marchand gets the goal that stakes Boston to the early lead.

And the flood gates may have just opened, 35 second after the Marchand goal it is Milan Lucic scoring and increasing the Boston lead to 2-0. It should be noted that while the games in Vancouver have been close games, the two games Boston won at home really weren't, winning by tallies of 8-1 and 4-0.

I would be remiss in not mentioning those that contributed to the games first two goals. Mark Recchi and Dennis Seindenberg get assists on the first one, and the second goal the assists go to Richard Peverley and Johnny Boychuk.

Down 2 goals, Alexander Edler takes a stupid boarding penalty to further complicate matters for Vancouver here. If you had only glimpsed the first 9 minutes of this game, you would be hard pressed to believe that Vancouver actually leads this series.

Speaking of that, it's now 3-0. Yeah, that penalty was really stupid. Andrew Ference with the power play goal. With a third goal allowed on 9 shots, we would like to thank Roberto Luongo for playing this evening, but his services are no longer required and he has been replaced by Cory Schneider.

Not that the goalie switch matters, say hello to goal #4 1 minute and 10 seconds later, Michael Ryder adds his name to the list of Boston players that have a goal in the first period. Again I have some assistage to catch up on with all of the quick goal scoring, credit Michael Ryder and Mark Recchi with assists on the Ference goal, on the 4^th goal the lone assist is to Tomas Kaberle.

Delayed penalty call on Vancouver and here we go again. Another Boston power play opportunity, while they are sporting a 4 goal lead. Ryan Kessler gets called for holding and right now the score is Vancouver shots on goal 4, Vancouver penalties 3.

A small victory for Vancouver, they kill off the penalty. Not that the game is over, there is still over 45 minutes left, but it just feels like it is over.

Vancouver has their best chance to score so far, by Ryan Kessler is denied on a wrap around attempt by Tim Thomas. But the shot is just the beginning of a flurry of activity by Vancouver in the Boston end, but Thomas is up to the task for all of it, and the game remains 4-0 Boston.

The momentum that Vancouver has is short lived however, as they get called for too many men on the ice and Boston will get their third power play here in the first period.

Vancouver kills off the the penalty and actually has a breakaway with the player coming out of the penalty box, but again Thomas makes the save. And with that we have reached the end of the first period with Boston holding a 4-0 lead after one period.

While you guys go get a frosty beverage or do whatever it is you do during intermission (shopping online for my birthday present would be an idea, hint, hint) I am going to catch up on some blog/comment reading.

Okay, second period is underway, hope you got your shopping done.

Vancouver will get their first power play early here in the second period and Patrice Bergeron gets called for goaltender interference.

A couple of decent opportunities for Vancouver here, including a shot that rang off of the goal post, but Boston successfully kills off Vancouver's first power play of the game.

Vancouver gets a two on one break in on Tim Thomas but again fail to convert. There have been few chances so far in the second period, but of the ones that have occurred Vancouver has had the better ones. The problem being, down 4 goals, they need to start converting on some of them. The clock is not their friend, with less that 35 minutes of game time remaining.

Commercial break, not sure what you did, I used the opportunity to go vote over at Toyota on Facebook. They are giving cars to non profit charities, one a day for 100 days, and I figured I might want to skew today's voting results a little bit.

If there is any bright spot for Vancouver to this point, it may be the play of their backup goaltender Cory Schneider. Since being inserted into the game in the first period, he has made 15 saves on 16 shots. Had he not entered the game with his team already down three goals, I would argue he would be in the running for one of the game's three stars at this point.

Vancouver gets another power play here, with 7:45 left n the second period. Boston has killed off 20 consecutive power plays though in the playoffs. And 2 minutes later you can make that 21. Rime is certainly becoming the enemy of Vancouver now, a team that hasn't scored once yet needs to somehow score 5 goals in a little over a period's worth of time.

I would like to be more descriptive of the game here, but I have actually been almost fading in and out during the game. I think I am pretty content in the knowledge that Boston will win, and if I were not working on this particular blog entry I would probably have turned the game off by now.

But honestly, if I weren't doing this it isn't like I would be doing anything any more productive, probably just end up playing Madden on Facebook.

Well it was just announced that “America's Got Talent” will be on on NBC Wednesday night, so if there is a game 7, it will probably get stuck on Versus again.

Vancouver gets another power play, their third of the second period, though this one will carry over to the third if Vancouver doesn't score right away. And they don't keeping their 0 fer streak intact when it comes to the power play as the second period comes to a close and Boston still leads 4-0.

Just went to the NHL page and they are saying game 7 will be on NBC (if necessary but right now I think we can assume it is necessary), so either the guys calling the game got it wrong in plugging upcoming NBC shows, or NHL.com has it wrong. NBC.com says they are airing “Stupid Human Tricks” and “America's Got Talent”.

Gee, I just realized I could have glogged the GOP debate in NH. Yes, there are even more boring things going on out there than this hockey game. Be happy you have this kids. It could be worse. Much, much worse.

Third period starts and early on the carryover penalty finally pays off for Vancouver, as they get on the board just 22 seconds in. Henrik Sedin gets the power play goal for Vancouver, with the assists going to Christian Erhoff and David Sedin.

So far here in the third the play has been dominated by Vancouver, though Boston may just be playing more to protect their lead than anything else. Vancouver came within millimeters of making this 4-2, as shot just rang off the far goal post, beating Thomas but catching the iron and staying out of the net.

The replay review on the shot did provide me time enough to crack open my late night snack, garlic butter wings. Yumm!!!!

Vancouver penalty, Raffi Torres called for a pretty obvious trip. Even if Vancouver kills the penalty off, that is two minutes they will not get back. Check that, another Vancouver penalty, Andrew Alberts called for high sticking and Boston will skate 5 on 3 here. The tripping call was bad fr Vancouver, but it looked inadvertent enough, the high stick was just inexcusable if they hope to get back in this game.

And there you have it, Boston scores with the two man advantage, it is now 5-1. David Krejci with the power play tally, Mark Recchi and Tomas Kaberle with the assists. Recchi has now assisted on three of the 5 Boston goals tonight.

Vancouver kills off the second of the two penalties, but the damage has been done, the lead is back to 4 and precious time was run off the clock. With just 10:20 remaining and knowing Vancouver hasn't scored more than 3 goals in a game in this series, it would seem almost entirely impossible that they would come up with 4 goals in 10 minutes.

About the only thing to watch for now is any chippiness that may or may not take place. Teams do tend to get chippy when they are getting blown out like this, but by the same token I am sure no one wants to risk a suspension for the 7^th and deciding game come Wednesday night.

Vancouver will go back on the power play as Mark Recchi gets called for a trip.

The TV timeout allowed me some more garlicy buttery chicken wing goodness. Of the half dozen wings I ordered with dinner it is Matt 3 Wings 0.

And the power play went for naught, we are back to 5 on 5 action and the clock just continues to dwindle away. At this point I am just hoping there aren't any more penalties or stappages of play, let's just wrap this thing up already.

A late goal by Maxim Lapierre cuts the lead to 5-2, but with just 2:26 remaining the goal is just window dressing on the final score, nothing more. Assists to Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen.

Boston gets a 2 on none break on Cory Schneider, yet Schneider comes up big on the save and lots of pushing and shoving after the play by both teams. Some misconduct penalties are handed out, and with 2 minutes remaining Vancouver has opted to pull their goaltender for the extra attacker. A late penalty by Dennis Seidenberg and Vancouver will have a two man advantage, one for pulling the goaltender and one for the penalty. Not that it much mattered, the clock runs out and Boston wins 5-2, so the series is tied at 3 with game 7 Wednesday night. And now they are saying the game is on NBC. Oh what will the “America's Got talent” fans do, besides wait till Thursday night? I don't know and couldn't care. As long as I get hockey I am happy. Well, its spell check time and then time to finish the rout I have going on with these chicken wings.

Multiply 365 Day 154 - Stanley Cup Glog 2, Electric Boogaloo it is

 

I am going with the Open Office option for tonight's blog. Not that it will make a wit of difference to those of you in the reading community. And yes, at some point this will turn into a glog. You might get one tomorrow as well, since I will be home for the French Open final, it really is just a matter of me getting out of bed in time for it. That is not a guarantee, because I could easily fall asleep right now, and we are about an hour before faceoff of game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Let's just say it was as I predicted, a pretty busy day. I woke up around 7am or so, and after a quick check of my email and what not, I went and got dressed and hopped on the bike to head into work. I wasn't perfect with the bike this week, I rode in on 4 of 6 days but even that saves me another $18, and it is another $18 that the Port Authority doesn't get. Hey, any way I can contribute to their destruction at this point is perfectly fine with me.

So I get into work around 8am, Sammy is there since we are getting a cooler in, but they aren't going to deliver until after 9am from what we have been told. And since the grocery order hadn't shown up yet, we decided to head off to breakfast. Technically it was at least partially on the boss, Ed handed me $20 yesterday for breakfast if Sammy and I were going to Deluca's, but since we had made no such plans, instead when I got to work I just split the money with him. But then as we were waiting around we decided to go to breakfast anyway, and walked over to Cherry's Diner near Market Square for a quick bite to eat. It was pretty good, not Deluca's good, but good nonetheless. We finished up and walked back to work around 9am, and shortly thereafter the grocery order arrived. Grocery is probably a bit of a misnomer here, the only thing we ordered was cigarettes for three different stores and a box of cough drops. Yet the bill was  still over $15,000. So I sorted the cigarettes into boxes for their respective destinations to accomplish the first of many tasks.

Sorry, just thought of something and had to fire off a work related email, but I am back now, so I will continue with my story.

After getting the cigarettes sorted it wasn't long before Mark from Full Circle vending showed up with our new/used cooler. What was the old saying NBC used to say about running reruns, if you haven't seen it, it is new to you? Well, technically the cooler was new to us, even though it was a used Coke cooler that Mark had bought for our store. It may not be a permanent fixture, he is still trying to get brand new coolers from one of his suppliers, Xing Tea, but until then this should work as a holding spot for his growing product line in our store. Right now he supplies us with Xing Tea, New Leaf Tea, Bob Marley beverages, Xience Energy drinks, and Prometheus Water (which I love by the way). But it was just about to the point where if he wished to expand his already decent sized product line, he was going to have to supply storage space for it. We have room for some odds and ends, but when you are pushing that many different items, well then you have to provide a place to put them.

So we get the cooler out of the back of his truck, made a little more problematic because the other store took our dolly yesterday and were polite enough to not bring it back. While I have keys to that store and could have went down and got it, it would have been more of a time waster than anything else, so we just took it off of the truck and used a small cart type dolly that I had to wheel it inside. Then after some rearranging of a couple of freezers (thankfully they had wheels) and moving the now empty potato chip racks that were left from one of my projects yesterday, the new/used cooler was in place.

Next up I had to make some price adjustments in the computer system, and that actually was what my just finished email was about, because the changes didn't seem to apply through the register system, so I had to drop a line to Shawn over at Ultimate Retailer, in hopes he could take as look at it. It may simply be that not enough time transpired for the changes to take effect, though changes are usually pretty quick since we upgraded the system. I am sure I will learn more about it come Monday morning.

Then I spent time fixing a rack that was out of compliance in the store. Part of the whole vendors paying for space deal is that the vendors have some say over how their product is layed out. Well Ed didn't tell me that this particular rack was in fact leased space, I imagine he actually forgot it was because much of the stuff on it was in fact first put there either by Ed or at his request. Usually that isn't all that big a problem, but as it turns out one of their reps showed up in the store, saw how the rack was layed out and took a photo that they sent to their people and are now threatening to not pay if the rack doesn't have the proper products on it. Some of the products we actually had in house, probably about ¾ ths of what we actually needed I had, the rest I had to order. To make matters worse, some of the items didn't even have tags with either bar codes or item numbers for me to use to order, so I had to look up before I could order them.

If that weren't enough, I still had my regular order to do for Monday, and I ended up getting a call from our Pepsi rep, who was returning a call I made yesterday regarding some things that were missing from our 350+ case Pepsi order on Thursday, Yes, despite getting over 350 cases we were actually missing a few items, not that we were billed for them, but they were items that we are completely out of, so if possible I was hoping to get them in some time Monday, just so we don't go an entire week without them.

All in all it was about 7 hours of work on a day where technically I am not even on the schedule. Not that I can complain too much, I should end up with a decent paycheck for all of the overtime I have been pulling the last couple of weeks. And money is always good.

Look at that, the story of my day ends just in time for the hockey game, I guess I better get in glogging mode. Go get me some stats windows and what not.

Okay I have a couple of minutes here, they are still doing pregame stuff. Anyway I was just given some bad news, the first commercial in the break was an NBC promo saying hockey will be on NBC and Versus for the next ten years here in the states. I am sorry, ever since they left a tied Stanley Cup playoff game a few years ago for pre race coverage of the Kentucky Derby, I really would prefer that hockey wasn't on NBC at all if possible. It may make it harder for someone like me, sans cable, to view but treating hockey as the castor oil of television programming isn't exactly good for the sport long term either.

Again I am waiting for the singing of the National anthems, since the game is in Vancouver we will get to see the cool Canadian version. Maybe later if I can find a good version of the anthems on Youtube I will post it so you can experience how really neat it is.

Cool, I found it during the break, I think I will post the game 1 anthems now. Be right back.

Got it.

Just in time too.

As Bob Johnson would say, it's a great day for hockey.

Now the obvious question is, will we have to wait for 2 and half hours before we have a goal scored tonight?

Not a lot of good scoring chances early on, but lots of hitting, and I am quite okay with that. The game is a little over 5 minutes old and the shots are pretty even, Boston 4, Vancouver 3.

I might have to do some research here during our first commercial break during the game. Okay, just did a little math, and Vancouver hasn't allowed a goal in about 100 minutes of actual hockey play now, since the 24 second mark of the third period of their series clinching double overtime win against San Jose. That, my friends, qualifies as having a hot goaltender.

Just as I finish typing that, Roberto Luongo makes a save on a streaking Michael Ryder with his face. The shot literally knocked his mask completely off.

First power play coming up, Zdeno Chara is the guilty party so Vancouver will have the first chance this evening with the man advantage. Actually this may be a good time for Vancouver, Boston has extended their shot advantage to 9-4 here after 12 minutes of play.

Finally, someone scores with the man advantage in this series and Vancouver gets the first goal of the game, Alexandre Burrows with the power play marker. Yes, the same Burrows that effectively helped end two power plays for Vancouver in game 1 by taking dumb penalties, manages to play the role of hero here.

Assists on the goal go to Christopher Higgins and Sammy Salo, for those of you keeping score at home.

15 minutes in and while Boston still seems to have the advantage in good scoring chances, Vancouver seems to be throwing the bigger hits and of course the have the one goal lead on the scoreboard, which is the ultimate measuring stick.

Okay, that's the end of the first period, and after four periods of play in this series Boston is still looking for their first goal as Vancouver leads 1-0.

I am going to take the time during intermission to forage for food. Sorry, but all I have had this evening is a bologna sandwich and some potato chips. Not exactly the dinner of champions as it were.

So, how even was the first period? Both teams finished the first period with 11 shots and Vancouver lead in hits 22-20. 42 hits and 22 shots in a period of hockey? If you can't be entertained by that then you just don't like hockey.

Okay, second period underway. And Boston gets their first power play on a questionable delay of game penalty. It looked to the naked eye like the puck caught the glass before going into the stands rather than just being shot there, but it doesn't change the call in the rink, and Kevin Bieksa will serve the two minutes.

Mark Recchi gets stoned in front of the net on what was easily Boston's best chance to score so far. Can they get anything past Luongo at this point?

Well, no luck for Boston on the power play, they have now failed on their last 21 attempts with the man advantage. For those that are unfamiliar with hockey, yes those numbers are bad.

A little less hitting and shooting in the second period that in the first, at least during the first 10 minutes . A couple of scoring chances for each team, but nothing like the 22 shots in that were generated in the first period..

Finally after 91 minutes of hockey in this series Boston gets their first goal, and the game is once again tied, 1-1. Milan Lucic gets credit for the Boston goal. A small bit of personal satisfaction in that I had Lucic on my fantasy hockey team this past season. Johnny Boychuk and David Krejci with the assists.

And it looks like Boston will get a chance to not only break their scoring drought, but their power play drought as well, as Aaron Rome gets the 2 minute holding call, giving Boston their second power play chance tonight.

It has been a drought breaking period for the Bruins indeed, as they capitalize on the man advantage and take their first lead of the series, 2-1 here in the second. Mark Recchi gets credit for the goal, Zdeno Chara the lone assist. Unless that changes, which it might.

A couple of big saves by Tim Thomas helps to preserve the one goal Boston lead.. What started out as a slow period has seen the action and intensity pick up considerably.

I was right, they did add an assist on the second Boston goal, welcome to the score sheet Patrice Bergeron. At least it wasn't Tom Bergeron, because then we would have had to see some stupid animal video as part of the highlight.

While we are in commercial break I realize that if my penis were as long as my blogs, I would probably get a lot more action. Yes, sometimes during these stoppages in play really stupid things enter my cranium.

Just checked my email and it looks like I have something to do during the second period. My $10 gift card for Amazon has arrived, compliments of the fine people at MySurvey.com.

Uh oh, another Canucks penalty here late in the second and Boston will get their third power play tonight. Say hello to the penalty box Aaron Rome. 2 minutes for interference. But before any more damage can be done, the horn sounds the end of the second period with Boston having a 2-1 lead. Boston will start the third period with roughly a minute of power play time.

Okay, added the gift card, now up to $66.78 in cash over there. And I still think I have a gift card pending from Swagbucks, so more money, no whammies and all that jazz. The only question is what to do with it. I could certainly use some more reading material at some point, but I would also like to burn some more music for work, and I could get a decent amount of music with $66. Heck I am even halfway to a Kindle if that is what I want.

While checking my email I also see that I have emails from both Amazon and Proflowers asking me to remember Father's Day. Apparently they didn't get the memo that my father and I don't speak. We have a pretty good relationship that way, I don't talk to him and he doesn't talk to me. So unless Proflowers has a “Drop Dead” bouquet, I can't see be spending any cash on him this June.

Okay, third period underway, again I didn't get any nourishment during intermission. I will have to settle for a diet of cigarettes and iced tea for another 20 minutes. I got wrapped up in answering comments on Facebook and getting my gift card and next thing I know the intermission is over.

And Dennis Seidenberg gets called for a penalty with just 9 seconds left in the Rome penalty, so we have 9 seconds of 4 on 4 hockey, then Vancouver gets their second power play of tonight's contest.

Vancouver can't even get a single shot off in their time with the man advantage as we have once again gotten back to 5 on 5 hockey.

Oh no, I think I am hearing thunder, or the neighbors are just being really loud. It is actually hard to tell in my apartment because the house is made of brick and being on the bottom floor it has to be a pretty loud storm for me to actually hear it. I just don't want the power going out while I am working on this, not for my laptop, I should be okay with the battery, but with the TV, because then I can't watch the game. That would suck for glogging purposes.

7 minutes into the third period and despite some good chances and both teams having some power play time, there has been no change in the score to this point, Boston still leads 2-1.

Some extended pressure by Vancouver with about 11 minutes left in the third but Tim Thomas is up to the task and the Canucks come away empty handed.

And I think I figured out what that noise was. Fireworks Night at PNC Park.

Sorry, the Canucks just scored to tie the game at 2 with 10:34 remaining. Daniel Sedin gets the game tying goal.

As for Fireworks Night, while I can't see them from my apartment, I can definitely hear them and that was the rumbling noise I was hearing. The giveaway was the finale.

For the record, assists on the Sedin goal go to Alexandre Burrows and Alexander Edler.

Less than 6 minutes remaining and lots of end to end action, odd man breaks going both ways and yet nobody can seem to notch the go ahead goal. I stand by what I said in Game 1, if this goes past midnight, it still counts as my daily entry because the game started well before midnight. No, I am not using the video I posted as my entry for today. That would just be cheap on my part.

Less than 4 minutes to go, are we going to see more late game heroics from the Canucks? The stage is definitely similar in that regard to game 1.

A couple of shots for each team in the last two minutes but nobody scores and we will have our first overtime game of this series, and at 10:41 pm, that may mean I am going to be posting after midnight tonight.

Well, I guess this means I have another intermission to actually get that bologna sandwich. Yeah sandwiches!!!! Okay, it's not a Cuban sandwich, but it will have to do for the time being.

Okay, I got distracted again and my sandwich is still in the fridge. Damn shiny internet objects anyway. Sadly I can't even blame it on internet porn.

Well that was fast. Alexandre Burrows again, just seconds into overtime, breaks into the Boston zone, gets Tim Thomas completely out of position and then pulls of the wraparound goal after skating in behind the net. Vancouver wins, 3-2 and most assuredly Burrows will be the game's #1 star (2 G, A) including the game winner 11 seconds into the first overtime period. You know what that means don't you? I will have this posted by midnight and I will get a sandwich. Maybe not in that order.

Multiply 365 Day 151 - Not a Stanley Cup glog, oh wait, yes it is

Well I am breaking one of my rules here, or at least modifying it a bit. I originally stated that the Multiply 365 feature would not contain regularly scheduled programming around these parts, such as Stolen Content. But then I thought about it a bit and I realized, save for my commentary during commercial breaks, glogs are about 99 44/100ths percent original content anyway (I do steal some statistical stuff from ESPN or Sportsline during the game) and we have reached the Stanley Cup Final, so if I am going to break the rules and add a glog, there are few bigger sporting events to do it for. So tonight we get a glog of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks.

Really, you need not applaud, I know how very grateful you all are that I am providing such a service. A little bit of background on how we got here.

First off is Vancouver, a team that has never won the Stanley Cup in its history. The Canucks finished the regular season in as the #1 seed in the Western Conference and won the President's trophy (awarded to the team with the best regular season record in the NHL) with 117 points. In the first round of the playoffs Vancouver built a three games to none series lead over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, only to see that lead evaporate before finally winning a game 7 in overtime, 2-1 to move onto the second round, where they faced the Nashville Predators, a team they dispatched 4 games to two and then the San Jose Sharks, who they defeated in even swifter fashion, 4 games to one.

　

Boston entered the post season as the #3 seed seed coming out of the Eastern Conference, by virtue of their winning the Northeast Division (their record was actually fourth best in the East). This will be Boston's first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final since 1990 and they haven't won the Cup since 1972, having failed in their last five attempts to hoist Lord Stanley's trophy. Boston drew the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs in a matchup of Original Six teams, and had to rally back from being down two games to none, before doing what their Western counterpart did in the first round, win a Game 7 in overtime (4-3) to win the series four games to three and advance to the next round, where they played the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that bounced them from the playoffs last year after Boston had built a three games to none lead. This time there would be far less drama and the Bruins swept the Flyers in four straight games to reach the conference final, where they played a seven game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and winning a thrilling game 7, 1-0 to earn the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

My god, I just looked back and I have typos galore. Proof reading this is going to be a bitch. And I haven't even gotten to the fun part of trying to properly spell a bunch of foreign names yet. If this gets too complicated, everyone might end up being referred top as John Doe. Just for simplicities sake.

The teams did play once this year, a game that Boston won 3-1, though obviously the stakes were not nearly as great then as they are now.

Okay the TV is fired up, I think I have the requisite windows open on the computer, to borrow from the Greek philosopher Michael Buffer, "Let's get ready to glog!!!!!!". Okay, I probably should have yelled that, but knowing my luck I would have done the rest of this entry in capital letters as well, and we all know how off putting that can be.

The Stanley Cup Final is brought to you by Geico. Because nothing says mainstream appeal here in the states like having just one main sponsor. And people wonder why the Atlanta Thrashers are moving the franchise to Winnipeg.

For the record, while glogging tonight I will be dining on chicken marco polo. I am not sure what it is, it was one of those freebies in the freezer at work. I am just hoping I don't have to sit here blindfolded and going "Marco?" and hope that my fork can find the bowl when it says "Polo".

We are in pregame coverage and it is time for the first commercial break. Which starts off nicely enough, a promo for the French Open coverage this weekend. I watched a bit of the coverage this weekend, but usually I don't get too geared up until the semis or finals of tennis majors. And don't get me started on the East Bumfuck Open, I couldn't care who wins that tournament. That is a flaw with tennis and golf, too many useless tournaments that no one cares about delete the interest in the events that are truly significant. Now maybe if those events were qualifiers for the right to play at a major they would be more interesting, but the current format just does nothing for me.

Second commercial break during pregame. Spots for Cisco, Discover, Wendy's, and Lexus. I can't say enough how pleased I am. Four legitimate big name spot sells, no retarded Geico Caveman commercial, and no spot for a beer company that makes all beer drinkers look like fucking morons. The only thing that makes it even better is the marco polo is done and sitting beside me as I type.

Commercial break #3, Green Lantern movie tie in, Verizon Mobile, Edward Jones, Geico (with the fucking caveman), and Pizza Hut. Three commercial breaks and already NBC has probably made more money here than they had with an entire season of "Law & Order: Los Angeles".

Time for the national anthems (United States and Canada) and what remains one of the most impressive spectacles in sports for me is listening to Canadian fans sing their country's anthem prior to a contest. They have a tendency of drowning out the actual anthem singer. Tonight is no different. Just simply amazing stuff. The singer actually stops in the middle and lets the audience sing the middle part.

8:22 pm the puck is dropped and the Stanley Cup final is underway.

Of course that means my phone starts ringing. Well screw that noise, we are doing some serious work here. Tim Thomas makes the first big save for Boston in the contest, something he has done all season for Boston, setting a record for save percentage by a goaltender for a year.

Canucks generating a ton of early pressure in this contest, the game is barely two minutes old and they have already rung up 4 shots, to just one for Boston.

I should never multitask. Was trying to send Madden gifts out on Facebook and now it is Boston generating the offense, while I am dawdling elsewhere but here. Memo to self, save multitasking for intermission.

Vancouver commits the game's first penalty, a high stick on Daniel Sedin against Zedeno Chara and Boston will put out their powerplay unit. Again I think John Doe sounds better after typing that.

The penalty on Sedin was a double minor, for those not fluent in hockey speak, that means it is two 2 minute penalties served consecutively. If a goal is scored in the first two minutes, that penalty gets wiped out and the second two minute penalty begins

The Bruins are generating some shots from having the man advantage, but many of the shots are way outside, and nothing is getting generated in close. Luongo has been good at not leaving any big rebounds from getting out away from him, and limiting the Bruins second chance opportunities.

Finally a shot inside on a nice pass to Nathan Horton in the crease, kept out of the net in part because a Vancouver defenseman fell on top of the puck to stop play.

The Bruins have run off the game's last nine shots while on this power play, and just as the Canucks finish killing off the penalty, they get a three on two break back into the Boston zone, forcing Tim Thomas to make another big save.

Vancouver will now get a power play chance, as Chris Kelly gets called for a high stick. This is only of the two minute variety, no double minor on the call. Unlike Boston, who seemed to be more content from outside, Vancouver is coming to the net more before shooting. But the power play is short lived, as Vancouver gets called for their second penalty, Alex Burrows, 2 minutes, holding. So for about 40 seconds we have 4 on 4 hockey, followed by an abbreviated Boston power play.

It should be noted that if I were to say "Marco" right now, the "Polo" would be coming from my stomach.

6:50 left in the first and from what I can ascertain so far, Vancouver seems to be the stronger team when the teams are even, but the Bruins have had 5+ minutes of power play time so far.

Of course as soon as I say that Boston takes another penalty, let's see if Vancouver can takle advantage here, unlike last time when they took a penalty while playing 5 on 4. The call was holding the stick on Brad Marchant. I know if they were in my house some nights, I too would be guilty of that penalty.

Boston killed off the penalty, both teams have failed in their power play opprtunities so far, but I am seeing Tim Thomas give up more rebounds in goal than his Vancouver counterpart.

Okay, got my first stupid beer commercial. Actually 17 minutes in, that isn't half bad. And our fourth major fast food commercial, we have now had Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Subway and McDonald's all chime in. This may be the most revenue NBC has generated on a show since Seinfeld.

The last couple of minutes have been less than exciting, lots of dumping and cycling by the Bruins, but not a lot of shots being generated. On the plus they are keeping the puck in the Vancouver end, but not getting a lot of chances. As the horn sounds there are a few slight fisticuffs breaking out, no actual fight, more serious clutching and grabbing than anything else, but we have reached the end of the first period and the score is tied, 0-0. Boston has a 17-12 lead in shots, but many of those came on the power play.

1st intermission, I will work on some more Madden gifts, and maybe some other things while I have the time.

I decided to use some of the free time in the 1st intermission to make another batch of iced tea. It is one of my favorite summertime beverages, and let's face it, if it is 90 degrees outside, it is summertime, calendar be damned. Besides, there is only so much out of date coffee drink one can consume, regardless of how tasty it may be.

By the way, I am going to go ahead and create a second waiver to this blog/glog entry. If the game should go into overtime or multiple overtimes and run past midnight, it is still counting as my Wednesday entry because I did start it at 7:30pm on Wednesday and it isn't like I got up and walked away from the computer, I am really at the mercy of people who don't give a rat's ass about whether or not I get this done by midnight, silly them thinking the hockey game was more important. They obviously haven't read the page, if they did their opinion might be swayed somewhat.

I can't remember the last time I was this impressed with NBC in the commercial department. Save for the early French Open promo, there hasn't been a single commercial pimping the NBC fall lineup, which is good for a number of reasons, one being that it means that they are actually able to sell the breaks to real advertisters, a plus to hockey on TV in the future and two because I have seen some of those promos already and it looks like another 4th place season for NBC is in the offing, because there hasn't been a single one that compelled me to watch this fall, but plenty that said I would rather sit through a Lawrence Welk marathon on PBS.

Second period underway and the result of the late first period fisticuffs is a minor penalty to Patrice Bergeron and a double minor to Alex Burrows. Not only that, but less than a minute into the second Vancouver takes another penalty, Kevin Bieksa gets called for high sticking and Boston is skating with a 5 on 3 advantage here early on.

Nothing for Boston with the 5 on 3 here, but they still have a half minute for the 5 on 4 advantage. But that is unproductive as well and both teams are again skating at full strength.

More fisticuffs, this time after a cross check by David Krejci and Vancouver will get a power play off of the cross check penalty. Nolthing is doled out for the post penalty pushing and shoving that took place.

Another unproductive power play, and after 6 minutes have run off the clock here in the second period I am starting to wonder if anyone will score. Somebody better, I have to work in the morning and it will be a mucho busy day. We have at least 275 cases of beverage coming in and a grocery order. Yes, the holiday fucked up my delivery schedule that bad. If I am up half the night with this, I might just be further ahead to go to work after the game than to go to bed.

At least the tea turned out pretty good. I got something accomplished besides lots of inane yammering.

A delayed penalty call and Ryan Kessler comes racing down the ice but can't get a good shot off on Tim Thomas. Still Vancouver will get a man advantage here, not that power plays have meant a whole lot to this point, but it is an advantage nonetheless. The call was kneeing on Dennis Seidenberg. To make matters worse for Boston, Richard Peverly takes a penalty as well, hooking and Vancouver gets their first 5 on 3 opportunity. Though it ends up being short lived as again Alex Burrows also takes a penalty, inexcuseable in that you kill part of a 5 on 3 for your team, instead it will be 4 on 3 fror a while, the 4 on 4 and finally Boston will have about a 10 second power play at the very end of this nonsense.

Commercial for Green Latern (technically there were also two tie in commercials as well so far) and it is coming out June 17th, or the day before my birthday. A fine gift idea would be to Fandago me some tickets. Just sayin'.

All of the penalty nonsense has ended and of course, no scoring. I will be here most of the night. I can just feel it.

At least the game has opened up a bit, after a long spell of only two shots, both by Vancouver on the power play, we have seen some end to end action here, lots of three on two breaks, with the goaltenders and defenseman doing some extraordinary work to keep it scoreless.

Another penalty here late in the second period, Patrice Bergeron is called for a trip and with just 2:10 left in the second period, vancouver will have the man advantage for two minutes.

Well, if you were expecting a goal there then you are sadly disappointed as Boston killed off the penalty and after two periods we are still scoreless. While you all go fetch a frosty beverage and await the third period, I am going to open this email I got from Representative Weiner, just to see if his Weiner is in it. For those who instead are more stastically inclined, both teams had 8 shots in the second epriod, so Boston still leads overall in shots, 25-20.

Third period underway, the only bad news to report is that NBC finally ran a promo for one of their fall comedies, with comedy being anything that includes piped in laughter in lieu of actual guffawing, because that was just awful. One would think that if you were promoting a show you would pick one of the better moments to tease people into viewing, if that is as good as it gets that show is done in 4 weeks, tops.

Okay, let's get back to the more important thing here, that being hockey and the fact Tim Thomas just robbed Rafi Torres to keep the game scoreless. I am really not liking my chance of getting this done before midnight right now,. I am not sure either goaltender can be beaten. At least not tonight. Maybe in the wee hours of tomorrow morning perhaps.

Well it wasn't a commercial, more of an in game promo for the upcoming live episodes of "The Voice", and hey, two of the contestants kissed yesterday during their duet, because nothing says singing quite like, well, not singing.  Can I get a "bread and circuses" from the congregation.  Hallelujah!!!!!

Another spectacular save by Tim Thomas on a breakaway into the Boston zone. Unbelievable stop actually. If I had to pick the three stars of this game, two of them are going to the goaltenders. 54 shots so far and 54 saves.

Okay, we are back to the shitty ads again. A spot for GoDaddy.com, which might as well be advertising porn pages for the way they market themselves. Not saying that everyone using the service is posting porn, but that seems to be how they are selling themselves.

Almost 9 minutes into the third period, and while there have been good scoring chances for both teams, we still have yet to see the game's first goal, though the number of penalties has declined, nothing has been called yet here in the third period.

The pace has gotten more frantic, I think both teams realize at this point that one goal will probably win it. I would joke I turned on a hockey game aqnd a soccer match broke out, but really it has been some outstanding goaltending that has kept it scoreless thus far. Heck another shot just hit the post. I realize my words can't possibly do justice to the effort and action that is taking place right now, but I also can't tell you to watch because this will be posted after the fact. Though the game may end up on hulu.com at some point, I know previous Stanley Cup games have ended up there, so you may get to go back and see what all the glog is about. Worst case scenario there is always the NHL channel on Youtube, though it is just highlights, it might be worth a gander, if only to see how exciting a scoreless but well played hockey game can be.

3 and a half minutes left before a possible overtime period. It is looking more and more like that will be the case.

Of course I am also running the risk of running out of cigarettes before this glog ends. The things I do for this page.

Oh my gawd. A Vancouver goal with just 19 seconds left and the Canucks have a 1-0 lead. Rafi Torres gets the goal on a pretty feed from Jannick Hansen. Ryan Kessler gets the secondary assist.

Boston pulls their goaltender for an extra attacker for the last 19 seconds, but it doesn't matter, the damage has been done and Vancouver wins game 1 of the best of seven series, 1-0. And with that I am going to call it a night. I have lots of errors to fix here, enough so that it would make taking crayon off a wall seem simple by comparison.  For the record though I was correct on the three stars, #1 went to Robert Luongo (36 shots. 36 saves), #2 Tim Thomas (34 shots, 33 saves) and #3 Rafi Torres (GW goal).  Okay, I got work to do.