Archive for Hockey

| May 14, 2013
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It Gets Better: An Open Letter To Maple Leafs Fans From a Longtime Boston Sports Sufferer

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Dear Maple Leafs fans,

I’m a Bruins fan and Bostonian. I’ve come here not to gloat but to offer words of comfort. I know, this probably sounds like B.S. but hear me out.

A lot of feelings and images surged through my brain when the horn sound and the red light flashed in OT last night.

Milan Lucic scoring the Bruins’ third goal with less than 90s second left in regulation and, defiant as ever, yelling obscenities as he embraced his line mates and tried to rally the troops.

The normally reserved Patrice Bergeron skating to center ice in jubilation after scoring the game-tying goal with less than a minute left, completing the Bruins’ furious rally.

Tuukka Rask, yet another big play, stonewalling Mattin Frattin’s breakaway with four minutes left, which would have iced the win for the Leafs.

And of course, Bergeron swooping in for the game winning goal in OT.

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Category: Boston, Hockey, Toronto | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| February 11, 2013
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Minor League Hockey! Actually Kind of Awesome

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The Colorado Eagles play hockey in a double-A minor league called the ECHL. I would tell you what those initials stand for, but I can’t because they don’t stand for anything. Except I will because they used to stand for something—the East Coast Hockey League. Now they just call it the ECHL (which I presume is pronounced “Etchel”) because they really have nothing to do with the East Coast. The Colorado Eagles play in the Mountain Division of the All-Over-the-Place Etchel Hockey League, along with the Alaska Aces, Idaho Steelheads, and Utah Grizzlies—all teams that are definitely more Etchel than East Coast.

sitelogoI attended a game Friday with friends Carrie and Curtis, as well as my eight-year-old son Joel. The Eagles lost 6-5 to the Fort Wayne Komets-With-a-K, who play in the North Division of the All-Over-the-Place Etchel Hockey League. The Komets-With-a-K are unique in professional sports in that their mascot doubles as a logo for laundry detergent.

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Category: Hockey, Paul Caputo | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| January 23, 2013
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Today’s Top Ten Bypassed Washington Post Sports Polls

The Washington Post covers a political town and naturally loves to conduct polls. In today’s edition, the Post published a poll on American’s views of Lance Armstrong following his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Shockingly, support for Lance has plummeted. (I hope you were sitting down for that revelation, even if you already knew that Lance Is a Bad Person.) Only 30% of Americans–all of whom are assholes–now think that Armstrong should get credit for his accomplishments and 51% say he should not.

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This is hard hitting sports polling at its best, folks. With Lance’s personality and interview skills, you would have thought America would have been eating out of the palm of his hand. (Oh wait, Lance DID think that.)

Amazingly, a BTBNL exclusive investigation reveals that the Post actually passed on publishing ten other much more interesting–but no less obvious–polls:

teo1. “Football Fans Say Chances for Pats Super Bowl Win Have Declined Markedly”

2. “Most Internet Girlfriends Feel Te’o Should Have At Least Watched Video Stream of Fake Funeral”

3. “Majority of Notre Dame Fans Believe National Title Game Loss the Greater Hoax”

ray-lewis-again4. “Ray Lewis Supporters Relieved Falcons’ Loss Lessens Chance of Second Murderous Super Bowl Rage”

5. “100% of Raiders Fans Believe Anything”

6. “Lakers Nudge Out Kardashians as LA’s Most Dysfunctional Family”

7. “Anonymous Survey Says Baseball Players Lean Toward Bull Testosterone to Replace HGH”

roger-goodell-8d27af0f4dd3e82b8. “After Peyton Reinstatement, Strong Majority of Saints’ Fans Would Still Tell Commissioner to Fuck Off”

9. “NHL Just Misses 100% Opening Night Sell Out Because One Hockey Fan Had Flu”

10. “90% of Non-Patriots Fans Would Have Blow Off Watching Post-Game Interview with Belichek Anyway”

Category: Baltimore Ravens, Baseball, Bloggers To Be Named Later, Boston, Fandom, Hockey, Jeff Waggett, Lakers, Los Angeles, Patriots, Washington DC | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| October 1, 2012
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Pink Hat Diaries: Dumb Team Names…Or, an Open Letter to the Phoenix Wolves: WTF, over?

Since I wear a pink hat, you may be surprised to learn that I’m not the kind of girl who sends back her food when it’s cold, or complains that her latte is too hot.  When I have something to whine about, I usually just keep it to myself. But, this time, I have a gripe that I just can’t let go. So, I’m venting… blog-style.

An open letter to the managers/owners of the new Phoenix Wolves Soccer Team: 

Dear Sir or Madam:

The reintroduced Mexican Wolf.
Note SNOW… something else that isn’t found in Phoenix.
Photo credit: Arizona Game and Fish Department

Wolves don’t live in Phoenix. Or anywhere close enough, that a wolf without ahelicopter (to fly IN —not be shot from…just to clarify) could get to the big city. There are also so few of them, that most Arizonans will never see one in their lifetime.

I know that coyotes and diamondbacks were taken, but there are plenty of other bad-@$$ desert animals you could have chosen to represent our great city, such as scorpions, tarantulas, or even jackrabbits.
Put the word, “fighting” in front of any animal… or vegetable, for that matter, and they automatically gain kick-butt-status. Just look at your neighbors to the East, the Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes (no, I didn’t make that one up).

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Category: Amy Burnett, Diamondbacks, Fandom, Football, Hockey, Jazz, Logos, Pink Hat Diaries, Soccer, Team names, Tigers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| June 1, 2012
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David Stern is smarter than you

Four months or so into the NBA playoffs, it appears that the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat are good, and the Washington Wizards are not. I have reached these conclusions after much debate, statistical research and hours of video analysis conducted primarily during early morning hours, hunched over a computer with a bag of Cheetos Crunchy Mozzarella at my side.*

Editor’s Note: Uhh, the Wizards aren’t even in the playoffs.

Exactly my point. Moving on. . .

Does this mean he also gets a free watch and restaurant gift certificate?

A wiser man might suggest that since basketball games involve essentially the same players playing the same amount of minutes each night, there’s really no need for best-of-seven playoff series. After all, the results should more or less be about the same when there are no true variables other than the unpredictability of accidental elbow concussions from Ron World Peace.

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Category: Basketball, Bloggers To Be Named Later, Hockey, Tom Lappas, Washington DC, Wizards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| May 8, 2012
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Meet The Racist Bruins Fans, Part 3

One of the questions I’ve attempted to answer here is whether or not the people who Tweeted racist statements regarding the Capitals’ Joel Ward were in fact true Bruins fans and proper Bostonians. So far, after looking at 10 of the authors of those racist Tweets, it appears that most of them are what a sane and rational person would consider a Bruins fan (Editor’s Note: Part 2 of this series has been updated with new information).

The second question – where are these people from? — has produced more distressing but not entirely unexpected results. The collection so far includes Massachusetts towns like Plymouth, Attleboro, Danvers, Bolton and other regions well outside of Boston. In fact, we have Tweeters from New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. So it seems that this is not just a Boston or even a Massachusetts problem but one that spans New England.

To be sure, not all of these Tweeters are from the area. As you’ll see below with Ryan Clifford, some folks had no affiliation whatsoever with the Bruins and just happened to be watching the game and suddenly felt compelled to blurt out racist comments regarding the outcome of a hockey game that really had no bearing on their lives. Which is just sad.

In any event, before we get to the next couple racist Tweets (due to time constraints, I was only able to get two for this installment), let’s turn our attention to one of the few Tweeters who issued an apology on their own.

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Category: Boston, Hockey, Rob Wright | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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