Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

There’s your Cup, Slugs Sabres fans. Enjoy it, and thanks for not forcing the Raleigh PD to work overtime tonight. My husband would also like to thank your team for saving him money by forcing my exile from the RBC for the rest of the season as the Official Jinx of Your Carolina Hurricanes.
328 is a fun section, by the way. If you heard “KILL IT…KILL IT DEAD!” and “CHEATERS! NEVER! WIN!”, that was Section 328.

The evening was not bad, game result aside–and why the hell did we re-sign Snuggles Tanabe again? Does his wife still think he’s a future Norris Trophy winner? Tim Gleason has my approval, also. It’s because he’s like the anti-Snuggles. When he put my fellow Nodak Paul Gaustad (I think it was Goose–somebody please correct me if I’m wrong) on his ass with one hand? I was in awe.

Scott Walker shall henceforth be known as Remo Williams–why? Because he’s got that whole Fred Ward thing going on. Don’t argue with me, I know what I’m doing.

The banner-raising ceremony was pretty neat. Since I was exiled from the playoffs (*sigh*), I kinda had to live vicariously through people that were there and whatever stuff was up on Youtube and the Canes’ website. It all brought tears to my eyes and brought me to a state of “caring, but not caring” about the game. Did I want the Hurricanes to win? Yes. Did it hurt that they didn’t win? Yes. But you know what? We are still the 05-06 Cup Champs, and that will never ever be taken away from us by anyone.

Mahalo.

Dave beat me to the punch talking about the North Carolina Edjamacation Lottery’s new Hurricanes-themed scratch game–and I’m the one who actually has to sell the things!

But that’s what I get for having off the last two days (and tonight)–no workie, no see new scratch cards.

Tonight, the Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes raise their banners, before their game against the Buffalo Slugs–and yes, Holly Wilver will be massacring the anthem tonight (so have your earplugs ready, TV-watchers). I’ll be up in 328 if any Caniac wants to come up and say hey. I might be leaving the jersey at home, for mojo purposes–don’t want to potentially jinx anything, y’know–but I’ll have the red hat on so you can pick me out easily.

I’ll also have riot gear on, in case any of you wiseacres decide to hurl cups or bricks at me.

More after the game tonight (since I’m sure I’ll be up all night). Go Canes.

Canes 2nd-rounder Hagemo forced to retire

Damn. This is a blow to the Hurricanes’ depth, but it’s not unrecoverable (thankfully).

In other news, has anyone heard from (or heard anything about) Da Chief lately?  Last I’d heard the Best Damn Branch of the Service had shipped to Newport (Rhode Island)–now I check his blog today, and it’s 404-compliant.

Get your ass back online ASAP, sailor–and pay your hosting bill, too.

Player Alliance involves court system, claims Emperor Saskatine took leadership through deception.

Can’t say I’m really surprised. The way I see it, there are separate issues at work, and Chelios and his buddies (including Dwayne Roloson, who can’t even spell the word “communism” much less explain it) are trying to roll them all up into one neat little package.

Item number one: The Election of Ted Saskin.

This is an interesting one, and the main reason for the rebellion in the first place–Saskin’s election reeks of….oh, what’s the word I’m thinking of here?  Convenience, I guess. It was just a little too pat, a little too quick, a little too simple for the liking of Trent Klatt and a few like-minded players (and, to be honest, for my liking as well). I can understand that, but then I’ve hated that oily little wankstain Saskin ever since his dismissive and patronizing “fans don’t understand what this is all about” comment during the 2004 ASG. The hell I didn’t understand what it was all about, you assclown.

Anyway–the pertinent issue regarding this item is simple: Saskin’s election wasn’t done through proper channels. There was no formal nomination, there was no actual election–just a quick and dirty conference call. So yeah, I can understand people crying foul. I didn’t like Goodenow at all (especially because of his association with accused paedophile (and known dirtbag) David Frost), but getting rid of a scuzzwipe like him was something that had to be done the right way. Avoiding the slightest hint of impropriety in 2005 would have spared a lot of grief down the line.
But then we have Item number two, which was deftly rolled into the suit: The salary cap.

Ah yes, the salary cap. The owners’ attempt to save themselves from themselves–and a lot of good it did ‘em, too. Now, Chelios and a handful of other players managed to intimidate the union’s membership into rejecting a salary cap–and it worked for a while, too. But eventually, the rank-and-file guys–the Jesse Boulerices and Eric Boultons and Randy Robitailles that don’t make $texas/season–told the Bully Brigade where to go and what to do when they got there, and they accepted the salary cap. It’s all pretty well-documented; the guys that make up the bulk of the membership said “you know what?  This bulldada has gone on long enough” and they ended it after two days of meetings in Toronto during which Chelios and several of the big fish tried unsuccessfully to cajole, exhort, threaten, entice, and otherwise persuade the small fish to reject the salary cap and keep the flames of Ragnarok burning.

It’s not hard to figure out that the Bully Brigade has decided to enter into a convenient partnership with Trent Klatt and those players who are genuinely upset over the chicanery that was Saskin’s election–don’t be surprised if this suit winds up exploding into a flagrant attempt to get the CBA rejected, with the idea of Saskin’s removal becoming an afterthought.

Bad Craziness, soon come.