Oh, Blackhawks, you've captured my heart again.
What. A. Game. Last night.
Full disclosure ...
I turned on the game at the start of the third quarter after I had a meeting and the girls were in bed.
I saw the Bruins take the lead, and yet I couldn't look away.
1:16 left in regulation. The Hawks score.
No sooner had the TV analyst mentioned the possibility of another overtime in what has been a series of overtimes and said the words, "It hasn't happened yet ..." the Hawks took the lead with 58 seconds left.
At 1:17, the game was considered over. The decibel of the Bruins fans was rising. A Game 7 was staring the Hawks in the face ...
Then the Blackhawks crushed their dreams and reclaimed the Stanley Cup for Chicagoland.
Unbelievable.
Showing posts with label NHL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NHL. Show all posts
6.25.2013
6.11.2010
One week
Some week.
It’s been the best of times …
I had a fantastic week mentally and professionally. I was in my sports heaven on Sunday night. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup … And I even got to see a good portion of the ticker tape parade in Chicago this morning, thanks to the magic of the Internet and NBC5’s streaming video feed …
Dare I say, watching that parade today was even more memorable than the White Sox celebration five years ago. Chills were running down my back at the sound of the cheers and the sight of the double decker buses rolling down Michigan Avenue with the players. Then, the shots of red and white confetti flying everywhere, the crowd chasing after the buses, and the pans showing the unbelievable enormity of the crowd had me tearing up. (This video shows a neat birds-eye-view of all of it.)
“You absolutely want to freeze this moment in time,” one of the newscasters said.
Admittedly, things did start to get a little out of hand near the end of the parade route. I can only imagine the letters the Blackhawks will be getting from parents of young fans about the display Patrick Kane put on as they drank beer from the Stanley Cup ... especially after their rowdy victory lap the other night.
Still, I can't get the Blackhawks adopted theme song out of my head and the grand images of the celebration will be ingrained in my head for days, weeks to come.
It’s been the worst of times …
Oil is still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of who-knows-what. To quote one newsman this week, it’s “relentlessly depressing.”
I almost threw up on my bagel the other morning when I saw the commercial with CEO Tony Hayward assuring me that BP has taken full responsibility to end the crisis ... More active, enlightening and amusing is the infamous BPGlobalPR Twitter account … which BP tried to stifle this week. (Thanks to my friend Mallory for sending this explanation of BPGlobalPR.)
Just get the dang pipe covered already.
And then there’s the sick feeling of watching the Big 12 crumble and die right before our eyes.
The story has dominated local news the last two weeks, and it never fails to come up in conversations with friends and colleagues, too. Big time college athletics in this region will never be the same.
I‘m not opposed to any changes … But I hate the idea that theses changes seem to be driven by greed, money, TV revenue and that stupid BCS.
It’s nerve-racking that a conference with such a strong history and storied rivalries can be destroyed within the blink of an eye. Worse yet, respectable programs like Kansas are hardly being considered. One of the popular lines this week among Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri fans is that one of them won’t have a chair when this game of musical chairs stops.
I’m rooting for them to end up anywhere but the Mountain West. A Big 10 landing would be stellar, but that doesn't seem likely.
Oh yeah, and we’re still navigating the anxiety of selling our house in K-Town.
Two more weeks, and Phase 1 of The Adventure is over.
It’s been the best of times …
I had a fantastic week mentally and professionally. I was in my sports heaven on Sunday night. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup … And I even got to see a good portion of the ticker tape parade in Chicago this morning, thanks to the magic of the Internet and NBC5’s streaming video feed …
Dare I say, watching that parade today was even more memorable than the White Sox celebration five years ago. Chills were running down my back at the sound of the cheers and the sight of the double decker buses rolling down Michigan Avenue with the players. Then, the shots of red and white confetti flying everywhere, the crowd chasing after the buses, and the pans showing the unbelievable enormity of the crowd had me tearing up. (This video shows a neat birds-eye-view of all of it.)
“You absolutely want to freeze this moment in time,” one of the newscasters said.
Admittedly, things did start to get a little out of hand near the end of the parade route. I can only imagine the letters the Blackhawks will be getting from parents of young fans about the display Patrick Kane put on as they drank beer from the Stanley Cup ... especially after their rowdy victory lap the other night.
Still, I can't get the Blackhawks adopted theme song out of my head and the grand images of the celebration will be ingrained in my head for days, weeks to come.
* * *
It’s been the worst of times …
Oil is still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of who-knows-what. To quote one newsman this week, it’s “relentlessly depressing.”
I almost threw up on my bagel the other morning when I saw the commercial with CEO Tony Hayward assuring me that BP has taken full responsibility to end the crisis ... More active, enlightening and amusing is the infamous BPGlobalPR Twitter account … which BP tried to stifle this week. (Thanks to my friend Mallory for sending this explanation of BPGlobalPR.)
Just get the dang pipe covered already.
And then there’s the sick feeling of watching the Big 12 crumble and die right before our eyes.
The story has dominated local news the last two weeks, and it never fails to come up in conversations with friends and colleagues, too. Big time college athletics in this region will never be the same.
I‘m not opposed to any changes … But I hate the idea that theses changes seem to be driven by greed, money, TV revenue and that stupid BCS.
It’s nerve-racking that a conference with such a strong history and storied rivalries can be destroyed within the blink of an eye. Worse yet, respectable programs like Kansas are hardly being considered. One of the popular lines this week among Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri fans is that one of them won’t have a chair when this game of musical chairs stops.
I’m rooting for them to end up anywhere but the Mountain West. A Big 10 landing would be stellar, but that doesn't seem likely.
Oh yeah, and we’re still navigating the anxiety of selling our house in K-Town.
Two more weeks, and Phase 1 of The Adventure is over.
6.10.2010
Finale Wednesday
So the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night. And broke a 49-year championship drought.
What a ride it was.
Although, after such a memorable series, the finish was a little anti-climactic -- even with the game ending in overtime. Patrick Kane scored the winning goal so quickly and from such an angle that it took some time for the referees to determine whether he actually scored.
The celebration was somewhat delayed, and we never got to hear that loud horn in all its bliss signifying that Yes, indeed the winning goal has been scored and the Chicago Blackhawks have finally won the Stanley Cup!
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who began thinking about the Cubs’ 100-year-plus championship drought within moments of the Blackhawks’ win … In fact, I know I wasn’t. Within minutes of the Blackhawks' win, a Facebook friend posted in his status update, simply: 1908. (For the uneducated, that’s the year the Cubs won their last championship).
Let's see: Blackhawks, 2010. White Sox, 2005. Bulls, 1998. Bears, 1985 ... Cubs, 1908.
As another friend posted, “Cubs, you’re on the clock.”
After the postgame celebration had died, I was on the clock to watch the “Glee” finale.
Judging from the status updates flying during the live finale the night before, I was dooped into thinking it was going to be the best “Glee” episode ever …
Not so much. If I had to give it a letter grade, I’d say it was a B-.
I liked it better than most of the episodes during the spring half of the season. But still not as good as almost any of the episodes during the fall half of the season.
The only bit that drew any strong emotion from me was the climax of the New Directions regional finale performance when the glee clubbers brought out “Don’t Stop Believin.’” Ok, I really liked the splendid “To Sir With Love,” too … I was glad to see Quinn have her baby, if only to put that tired storyline out of its misery.
I think the spring episodes have made me so sour on the once golden “Glee” that I might never recover. (For the umpteenth time, get rid of the theme episodes.)
(Side note: EW has doled out TV Season Finale Awards ... Ooh, the “Grey's Anatomy” and “Lost” finales were good.)
I had more fun after I finished watching the finale episode …
With watching most of the episodes online this spring, I’ve fallen in love with the short and sweet theme for the closing credits … Curious, I jumped on YouTube to see if the closing theme was more widely available. Sure enough, it was.
And then, of course, I got myself sucked into a load of related videos … and I was up until past 1 a.m.
Check out my favorites …
Possible “Glee” movies … These are hilarious …
Possible opening theme sequences -- because “Glee” doesn’t have one …
What a ride it was.
Although, after such a memorable series, the finish was a little anti-climactic -- even with the game ending in overtime. Patrick Kane scored the winning goal so quickly and from such an angle that it took some time for the referees to determine whether he actually scored.
The celebration was somewhat delayed, and we never got to hear that loud horn in all its bliss signifying that Yes, indeed the winning goal has been scored and the Chicago Blackhawks have finally won the Stanley Cup!
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who began thinking about the Cubs’ 100-year-plus championship drought within moments of the Blackhawks’ win … In fact, I know I wasn’t. Within minutes of the Blackhawks' win, a Facebook friend posted in his status update, simply: 1908. (For the uneducated, that’s the year the Cubs won their last championship).
Let's see: Blackhawks, 2010. White Sox, 2005. Bulls, 1998. Bears, 1985 ... Cubs, 1908.
As another friend posted, “Cubs, you’re on the clock.”
* * *
After the postgame celebration had died, I was on the clock to watch the “Glee” finale.
Judging from the status updates flying during the live finale the night before, I was dooped into thinking it was going to be the best “Glee” episode ever …
Not so much. If I had to give it a letter grade, I’d say it was a B-.
I liked it better than most of the episodes during the spring half of the season. But still not as good as almost any of the episodes during the fall half of the season.
The only bit that drew any strong emotion from me was the climax of the New Directions regional finale performance when the glee clubbers brought out “Don’t Stop Believin.’” Ok, I really liked the splendid “To Sir With Love,” too … I was glad to see Quinn have her baby, if only to put that tired storyline out of its misery.
I think the spring episodes have made me so sour on the once golden “Glee” that I might never recover. (For the umpteenth time, get rid of the theme episodes.)
(Side note: EW has doled out TV Season Finale Awards ... Ooh, the “Grey's Anatomy” and “Lost” finales were good.)
I had more fun after I finished watching the finale episode …
With watching most of the episodes online this spring, I’ve fallen in love with the short and sweet theme for the closing credits … Curious, I jumped on YouTube to see if the closing theme was more widely available. Sure enough, it was.
And then, of course, I got myself sucked into a load of related videos … and I was up until past 1 a.m.
Check out my favorites …
Possible “Glee” movies … These are hilarious …
Possible opening theme sequences -- because “Glee” doesn’t have one …
6.07.2010
Sunday night sports
I was in sports heaven yesterday.
The Cubs were playing on WGN in the afternoon (They lost. That part wasn’t so heavenly). At night, the Brewers were playing the Cardinals on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, the Blackhawks were facing off against the Flyers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC, and the Celtics and Lakers were battling in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on ABC. The stars were out.
Calling it something special was an understatement.
During the initial two hours of the night, I watched almost all of the Blackhawks game. I only caught pieces of the Celtics game -- mostly during the commercial breaks of the Hawks game. I watched nearly none of the Brewers-Cardinals game. I did see an Albert Pujols strikeout. I didn’t see Manny Para strike out four batters in one inning. I did see Parra walk the bases loaded before getting pulled in the sixth.
Even then, for the ones I wasn't watching on TV, I was following updates on them via Twitter.
Still, for all the love I give baseball -- and college basketball certainly is exciting, too -- I’m convinced no other sport can match the non-stop, heart-pounding intensity that an NHL playoff game, especially a Stanley Cup game, is capable of producing from the opening puck drop to the final second.
The Blackhawks came out with loads of energy, and it was gobs of fun to watch them bury three goals on the Flyers in that first period alone. I couldn’t get enough those first two periods.
But by the third period of the hockey game and the fourth quarter of the basketball game, the basketball game took the edge with the Celtics and Lakers playing neck-in-neck. Ray Allen, it seemed, couldn't miss a shot.
Back to the basketball game with 1:12 left. Nothing going.
Back to the hockey game for the final 45 seconds. At 9:52 p.m., the final horn sounded and the Blackhawks had won.
Back to the basketball game with 27 seconds left and the Celtics starting to pull away. At 9:58 p.m., the final horn sounded and the Celtics prevailed in what was a heavyweight fight.
Back to the Brewers-Cardinals game, where the Cardinals had just tied the score 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth … And I stuck with them as they headed into extra innings for the second consecutive day (I watched Saturday, too, when the Cardinals won on a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th.)
At 10:46 p.m. the Brewers hung on and won the game in 10 innings.
Sheesh. What a night ... And I missed seeing Sandra kissing Scarlett at the MTV Movie Awards.
The Cubs were playing on WGN in the afternoon (They lost. That part wasn’t so heavenly). At night, the Brewers were playing the Cardinals on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, the Blackhawks were facing off against the Flyers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC, and the Celtics and Lakers were battling in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on ABC. The stars were out.
Calling it something special was an understatement.
During the initial two hours of the night, I watched almost all of the Blackhawks game. I only caught pieces of the Celtics game -- mostly during the commercial breaks of the Hawks game. I watched nearly none of the Brewers-Cardinals game. I did see an Albert Pujols strikeout. I didn’t see Manny Para strike out four batters in one inning. I did see Parra walk the bases loaded before getting pulled in the sixth.
Even then, for the ones I wasn't watching on TV, I was following updates on them via Twitter.
Still, for all the love I give baseball -- and college basketball certainly is exciting, too -- I’m convinced no other sport can match the non-stop, heart-pounding intensity that an NHL playoff game, especially a Stanley Cup game, is capable of producing from the opening puck drop to the final second.
The Blackhawks came out with loads of energy, and it was gobs of fun to watch them bury three goals on the Flyers in that first period alone. I couldn’t get enough those first two periods.
In the most important hockey game played around these parts in about four decades, the Blackhawks put together one of their most inspired offensive efforts in roughly the same time frame. (The Chicago Tribune)Later, I switched to the Celtics game -- just in time to see the Lakers seize their first lead early in the third quarter. Moments after that, I flipped back to the Blackhawks game -- just in time to see Dustin Byfuglien score the Hawks’ fifth goal and put them up 5-2 in the second period.
But by the third period of the hockey game and the fourth quarter of the basketball game, the basketball game took the edge with the Celtics and Lakers playing neck-in-neck. Ray Allen, it seemed, couldn't miss a shot.
It was a world title fight, as basketball audiences in 215 countries witnessed Allen’s televised masterwork. The game was broadcast in 41 languages, and you could all but imagine the superlatives tossed Allen’s way in every tongue from Togo to South Philly. (The Boston Globe)With the Celtics-Lakers in a timeout, I flipped back to the hockey game just after the Hawks had gone up 6-3. Moments later, Simon Gagne hooked one into the goal to bring Philadelphia back within two, 6-4. Then, the Hawks really put it away with an empty netter, to make it 7-4 with just more than two minutes to go.
Back to the basketball game with 1:12 left. Nothing going.
Back to the hockey game for the final 45 seconds. At 9:52 p.m., the final horn sounded and the Blackhawks had won.
Back to the basketball game with 27 seconds left and the Celtics starting to pull away. At 9:58 p.m., the final horn sounded and the Celtics prevailed in what was a heavyweight fight.
Back to the Brewers-Cardinals game, where the Cardinals had just tied the score 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth … And I stuck with them as they headed into extra innings for the second consecutive day (I watched Saturday, too, when the Cardinals won on a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th.)
At 10:46 p.m. the Brewers hung on and won the game in 10 innings.
Sheesh. What a night ... And I missed seeing Sandra kissing Scarlett at the MTV Movie Awards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)