k3uw-LA-Kings-goalies

Another Reason To Hate The Leafs

2006-07-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

As if you needed another reason.

My loathing of the Toronto Maple Leafs knows no bounds. It is in my marrow. One of my first childhood memories is watching the Leafs and Red Wings play on an old black-and-white television while I ate Alphaghettis and wieners and, inexplicably, cheering on the Wings.

It just came naturally. Toronto was thine enemy on all fronts, the city of bankers and wankers. Growing up in Calgary in the mid-1970s, the Flames were still in Atlanta and our city had it's professional hockey team snuffed out when the WHA’s Cowboys left town in the middle of the night to milk some other sucker with more money than brains.

I was a Bruins fan then, attracted to the boyish enthusiasm and deadly offensive power of Bobby Orr, the toughness of Terry O'Reilly and Derek Sanderson, and the goading shenanigans of Gerry Cheevers. But my real passion was reveling in the futility of the Leafs. I was filled with glee for days after Denis Potvin and the New York Islanders came back from three games down to win four straight and send Darryl Sittler and Borje Salming to the golf courses after the 1977 Stanley Cup quarter-finals. I was in a foul mood for days the next year when a young Lanny McDonald scored for the Leafs in overtime of Game 7 to defeat the same Islanders to advance. It took me many seasons to warm up to McDonald after he became a Calgary Flame, even though he came via the now-defunct Colorado Rockies and in spite of the fact he left the Leafs after a nasty row with tempestuous vulgarian Harold Ballard.

Ah, Ballard. The laughing stock; the convicted felon; the personification of Toronto's entitlement complex; heck, the personification of pure evil; the man who fired coach Roger Nielson in 1978 only to be forced to rehire him because nobody else wanted the job. Even when the Leafs were looking good on the ice, I could always count on Ballard to bring misery to the team and its hopeless fans.

When I moved to Toronto in 1997, my bile for the Leafs was as raw and choleric as ever. I saw them play the L.A. Kings at the Maple Leaf Gardens that fall. The only thing I could think when I walked into the so-called shrine was: 'What a dump!' Ballard, cheap bastard that he was, let the arena crumble and had tiny seats wedged and jimmied into every last crack of the Garden to squeeze every last dime out of fans.

(I’d love to go off the deep end of Leaf fans themselves, the most pathetic bitches in professional sport fandom, but that’s a whole other post.)

The extortion continues in 2006 at the Air Canada Centre. Incompetent management (what can you possibly say about a GM that pays a third-line enforcer Tie Domi $1.25-million in the salary-cap era, while Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk waltzed off to the Panthers) begets incompetent coaching (now that the Olympics are over, will everybody finally agree with me that Pat Quinn is a garbage coach) beget a team of misanthropic players consisting of damaged, overpaid veterans well past their prime (hello Ed Belfour and Eric Lindros) and a defence that should be coined the Maginot Line. Any bona fide young talent that ships into Leafland to drift around in this soup of malaise is soon looking for an escape hatch, like Bryan McCabe is now.

And yet the fans pay more. Which brings me to my point.

The cheapest ticket for a home game through Ticketmaster is $42 and top out at $385. But you'd be hard pressed to find a pair for sale. You can probably find some a little cheaper through scalpers, but they’ll likely be garbage seats. Seeing as I have a million better things to do with my time than beg some unkempt yob for a 5-buck discount in a cold parking lot, I can’t say for sure.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the best team in the NHL, with a boatload of sniper talent ranging from grizzled vets like Mark Recchi to youngster Eric Staal, who's just on fire this season. If they can harden up as a team for the playoffs, they could very well be skating around the ice with the Stanley Cup come June.

But do you think they can sell out the RBC Centre in Raleigh? Even with tickets starting at $11 U.S.? Not a chance.

My sidekick Miguel Sanchez de Miner wondered that it would probably be cheaper to see the 'Canes play in North Carolina than it would be to see the Leafs at the ACC.

Coincidentally, the Leafs play the 'Canes this Tuesday at the ACC. A gold-section seat will cost you $200.25 ($185 for the face value and another $15.25 for all the fees that TicketBastard tacks on.

The remainder of the season for the 'Canes is seems like a cakewalk consisting of mostly also-rans (hello Toronto) with little hope of making the playoffs. But they are playing the Washington Capitals five times in the next three weeks, including March 25 in Raleigh. The two teams have a healthy divisional rivalry, and the Caps' explosive rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin is a dream to watch.

A gold-section equivalent ticket to that game clocks in at $95 US. When you add in the TicketBastard vig and the currency conversion, the total is $134.52 Canadian.

So let's say you live in Toronto, and you and your buddy have a free weekend to see the best team in the league play in their home arena on a Saturday night. Let's say it's the 'Canes and the Caps at the RBC Centre.

Two good tickets will run you a total of $269.04. Then there's the 14-hour, 1,300 kilometre drive. Let's say that's $120 in gas for the return trip, a pretty high estimate if our two buddies are driving a fuel-efficient car. Two guys on a hockey road trip need beer, nachos, and burgers. That's another $75, if they do most of their eating and drinking outside the arena. Add $2 for Rolaids.

The total cost for our hockey road trip to Raleigh is $466.04.

If our hypothetical buddies stayed in Toronto to see the Leafs, it would cost them $400.50 for tickets, $9 in TTC fares if they were going on the cheap, and $75 for beer and food that will give them indigestion and unholy gas. Plus $2 for Rolaids.

The total cost of our night out to see the disgraceful Leafs get their asses handed to them again is $486.50. Add $15-$20 onto that in parking and gas if they drove.

Our buddies will probably end up staying the night, so hotel costs and subsequent expenses will put their total costs over our Leafs night out, but you get my point.

It just ain’t worth it.

FLYERS NEWS

2006-07-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Recently ex-Flyer goalie Ron Hextall left his post as Flyers director of player personnel to take a job as assistant Gm for the LA Kings. Today the Flyers hired another ex-Flyer to replace him, Dave Brown, who spent parts of 11 seasons with the Flyers as their enforcer racking up far more penalty minutes over his career(1,789) than points(97). Maybe now with the Brown aboard, the Flyers can begin to find answers to their playoff woes instead of asking more questions.

To The LA Kings

2006-07-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

While I get ready to embark on my hockey weekend with not one, but TWO hockey games this weekend, I'd like to make a short statement to the players of the LA Kings...

STOP LOSING!

You guys have been on an 8-game losing streak and as much as you'd like to get to those precious two weeks off for the Olympic break - it pains me to watch you guys give up bullshit goals, not connect on passes, and take unnecessary penalties. So here are a few things you need to work on:

1) Penalties - I'm as much of a fan of taking down the other guy but you guys are getting caught for stupid stuff! I'll admit if Mr. Magoo is the ref then he has a personal vendetta but really be sneakier.

2) The Need to Score - let me say this once...PASS IT TO THE NET! On a power play you guys pass it to one another as if the penalty is something for YOU to kill and not the other way around. In order to score, you need to shoot the puck at the actual net, it ain't gonna do it on its own.

3) SHOOT THE PUCK! Ok, so I lied, I am saying it again.

4) Getting the Lines Back Together - I'm sure that getting the guys back from injury has hurt the dynamic a bit but thats what practice is for. Get it together! I'm having more fun watching the 5 yrs olds crash into one another in between the periods.

That is all.

Her husband slept around

2006-07-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth knew this, but she was able to take care of herself and she had strong reasons to hope for his conversion and reform. So she stayed, maintaining a life of prayer, of service to the needy, and of loving care for their two children.

Sometime after her son was grown, he grew suddenly and violently resentful of his father’s attentiveness to his children from other relationships. A war erupted between them, but Elizabeth put herself in harm’s way and was able to reconcile them.

Shortly thereafter, her husband died, after repenting of his sinful ways. Her children now grown, Elizabeth retired to a life of fulltime prayer and service.

But there would not yet be peace for this peacemaker. Some years later, there came word that her granddaughter was being mistreated and neglected by her husband. Elizabeth’s son, the young lady’s father, again boiled over with rage and came against his son-in-law with great violence.

Now elderly and sick, Elizabeth again put herself in harm’s way and facilitated a peaceful resolution to the situation. In doing so, however, she broke her health entirely and died 669 years ago on this very day.

St. Elizabeth of Portugal, wife and mother of kings, was canonized in 1625.

(from an earlier post)

Her husband slept around

2006-07-10T18:24:00.001-07:00

Her husband slept around

2006-07-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

2006-04-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

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