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This was supposed to be the night I’d been waiting for since April 8th, after watching last years Avalanche club go out with a whimper 6 months ago. There was a feeling that things were going to be different. Despite the horrorof things, it felt like this year was going to be the start of a climb back to being a club that the division wasn’t going to simply look at as 2 more points. New captain, with the wily veteran Hejduk (and believe me when I say that felt weird to write) stepping back to take an A for his sweater. Things were looking up from a mile high.

And then the lockout. It’s like the ownership group doesn’t want people to invest emotionally or financially in their franchises, because every time people start coming back, they have a snit and start keeping their shiny ball away from us. The owners and their representatives start making noises about how they feel so terrible that this has to happen, but the game’ll be better in the end. The world will be better, hockey will be back, and magic unicorns will fart rainbows across the sky. 

It doesn’t have to happen. Look around. Baseball didn’t have a work stoppage. They got a deal done, and not even a whisper of it in the press. Just a note that there was a new deal for 5 years. NFL had a stoppage, but they got their act together and got a deal done in time for a full season. The NBA had a harder time of it, but they got their deal and a half-season.

It’s becoming a ritual for the NHL. Bargaining agreement ends, and the schedule gets interrupted. This doesn’t have to keep happening, but realistically, there’s no substitute for the NHL. I like hockey in general, but there’s a certain cachet about the NHL that makes it just a little bit better. Maybe it’s the cup. For now, I’ll content myself with writing and sipping the diet soda that is the Denver Cutthroats and the KHL. And when the NHL comes back, I’ll be watching. But there’s going to have to be something really good from the NHL for them to earn my forgiveness. And more importantly to the NHL, my money.

Son of a bitch. Didn’t we just do this thing? I mean seriously, we lost a whole year to this crap last time, so I really have to wonder if the owners as a group know what they’re doing. Last time we (the fans) got sold this line of Cost Certainty, and how those two magic words would make ticket prices lower, improve the on-ice product, and bring us the long-term peace we’d all hoped for.

I remember last time. At my workplace, following the lockout news as I could, all the way up until the fateful day when Bettman announced the cancellation of the entire season.

It really bothered me. But when the game came back, so did I. Life was good, even if my team kinda stunk it up. Now it just seems like we’re back on the same track again. New faces on the players’ side, but the verse from the owners sounds pretty much like the first. We’re broke, we can’t keep operating like this…it would be believable if they didn’t keep operating like this all the while crying poverty. (Oh, and bragging about record revenues.) I mean, I’ve been broke a few times in my life, and one of the first things I did when I was broke was, wait for it, I stopped spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave. I mean, at some point you gotta own that contract you signed. Owners have general managers, I completely understand that. But if your GM is doing things you don’t want him to do…you fire him, just like you would any other employee who’s not performing to the standard you set.

I guess the point in this rambling tirade of invective and bad word choice is…to the owners. This is on you.

Okay, so Hockey season really gets going tomorrow. Yes, we’re talking about the Avalanche. Retiring a number is always a bittersweet time, but…this guy deserves it. Here’s a video. 

Is hideously easier then writing about it. It’s really odd to think about how this really kind of works, but I know I’m still waiting on the New Jets logo.
I think right now part of it is that there’s really not that much going on. Which is why there’s a second part to this…football. Sure, I can talk about football!
…or not. My inner sports fan is quietly crying.

“…we traded what to get Varlamov?”

Seriously, Greg. Your trades have been sketchy, and there’s an occasional wash-type deal, but what in the hell are you thinking giving up a first-round and a second round pick? In one of what is projected to be a fairly deep draft next season?

I’m a little weirded out by this, to be honest. It honestly smacks of desperation and a mentality that doesn’t seem to allow for much wiggle room. Here’s what I’m wondering – are all these decisions made in a vacuum or something? It just feels flaky.

The rest of the free agency doesn’t seem to have gone that bad, which makes this one for me stand out all the more.

So…draft day, and we’re quite cheerfully looking forward, because what we see in the rear view is pretty much a train wreck. It made me sad quite often, especially since the start seemed to be so nice.

We still have no goalie.

So yeah. Massively sad in the world right now. It’s really odd to see one of the great ones walk away…
Random thoughts –
The word “Class” keeps coming up when they reference Sakic. It’s easy to take guys like Sakic for granted because they’re not demanding a spotlight.
Proof that there is no god: Sean Avery is still playing hockey, while Joe Sakic is not.
Proof the there is a god: Joe Sakic has his name on the Stanley Cup twice. Sean Avery: 0.

So now I’m waking up, and realizing that today could be twitchy.

 – Football. Broncos game. 16 weeks and nothing’s settled. Playing today against the Chargers for all the marbles. 6:15 Mountain tonight.
 – Hockey. There appears to be some aftereffects from the game last night; to wit my throat is sore. I can talk, but I’m not singing along with Dr Horrible until tomorrow.

 – Other. There’s an other somewhere in here. I think I need to take a fish census in this place. I’ve totally lost track of how many dalmation fish I’ve got, since the little boogers keep breeding and having more fish.

Okay, so…we have a conundrum of sorts. A very even game, won by the Avalanche. Now, tradition dictates that three stars of the game are chosen. Normally, these three stars are from the home team.

So…against a rival team, at home, we win, and at this point, there are so many excellent efforts and moments that the first star is a debatable subject, but the best player of the night has to be from the Avalanche. Only a complete tool would decide someone from the losing team, and the Wings on top of it, would merit an honor of First Star.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the perfect tool. Shockingly, his website doesn’t mention his lifelong dreams of writing for the Detroit Free Press or being the Red Wings waterboy.