Stuff I've been doing, reading

It's been a while. I haven't gone missing, it's just that every time I try to write something here, the words disappear from my head. I'll try to fix this now. Here are some recent points of possible interest:

- I went to the State of the Sharks last Tuesday. See my half-assed account here.

- Travels with Carlo (The Wonderful World of Loser Domi)
I don't know who Carlo Colaiacovo is, but he seems to get injured a lot, and I think his name is awesome. Anyway, Loser Domi writes funny stuff.

- It took me forever to sign up with sports message boards because I couldn't think of a handle to use. (Also, I'm not very witty and never know what to write, but I digress.) On Saturday, I was at the MYFO liveblog for Game 1 and I wanted to comment on something, so I had to come up with a name. The only thing that popped in my head was "insert bad Czech pun here" which got shortened to "Bad Czech Pun". Guess I have a handle now. It's better than the names I've come up with in the past, so I'm fine with it.

- Yesterday I went shopping at the Scrapbook Nook. That place is dangerous. I'm also super-new to scrapbooking, so I was overwhelmed. I was able to pay cash for all the stuff I got, but that's because I only bought travel-related stickers. I should find some kind of primer for scrapbooking to help me organize in my mind how it all works. I can't see myself making actual scrapbooks because I know I'd get tired of it too easily, but I could definitely make gift tags, invitations and other small things like that. I also want to host a party in mid-December with a tropical theme, so it would be awesome if I got the gist of it by the time I need to send out invitations.

Who am I rooting for in the next round?

At this point in the playoffs (the point where I have no real rooting interest left), I wonder who to root for. In recent years, it's been all about the team(s) whose fans I hate less. Taking this into account, I'm rooting for the Flyers in the east, which is a bit surprising to me. In the west, it's a wash as there are people on both sides of that fence that I just can't stand--though none of the Dallas fans are people I personally know. So let's forget that criteria and look at the players, shall we? To be honest, I don't hate Team Sweden West at all. I like the guys out there on the ice, especially now that they aren't playing Hasek. The Stars, though...let's see, I'll throw some names out and see what pops into my head:

Modano - Respect.
Turco - Meh.
Zubov - Hm. ...Actually, I have no problems with him.
Ott - Dislike. (Note that this is more of a default response for the type of player he is. Do the Sharks need a pest? I've been wondering this for some time. Not that I think picking up Avery would be a good idea. But I digress.)
Ribeiro - HATE.
Morrow - Undecided.

...Hm. Maybe I won't throw my support anywhere and just see how things go. (By the way, Wings in 5.)

I thought the game would never end.

Frankly, it almost didn't. I'm not going to nitpick as I'm sure others will. Why do that? What's the point? Everyone was dead tired, and you knew SOMETHING had to happen to end the game. I applaud the efforts of all the players, especially Nabokov and Turco. Damn. And congratulations to the Stars. This was a tough series; anyone who knew these teams knew that it would go this way, though most of us probably didn't see the 3-0 start coming.

I am worried about Milan Michalek. The hit was clean and all, but man did his head snap back, giving me visions of Raffi Torres' hit on him a couple of years ago. Whatever happened to him, I hope that it's nothing major and that he'll fully recover. So is Brenden Morrow going to ask about him or is he going to be an ass and not care? I'm asking seriously; I know nothing about his character. This will be a major factor regarding who I root for in the conference finals. (I'll probably be rooting for Dallas anyway. Pacific Division Represent!)

I am proud of my team. Despite finishing second in the conference, they had a tough draw and they did what they could with it. People will be calling for radical changes over the offseason...I don't know how much needs to be done, really. We'll have to wait and see.

Game 5: You bet your ass I'm going.

Let me begin with a super quick Game 4 recap:

Apparently the key to a Sharks victory was to let Dallas score first. Devin Setoguchi was aware of this and acted accordingly:



(I kid! I kid. We love you, Devin!) Marleau had another shorthanded goal soon after that, and the Sharks managed to win the game, 2-1.

And with that, Game 5 is here. You can mention the Stars' dominance in the Tank until you're blue in the face, but each game is its own entity. Someone I was listening to on the radio today (I want to say it was EJ Hradek) said he wasn't even sure of when the Stars last lost. ("Stars last lost"? Say that three times fast.) I can tell you. Remember that long-ass winning streak in March? It happened then. Granted, it was an OT win, but it was a win. Now if he meant regulation win, uh...I can't help you there. But it doesn't matter. I am proud of this team and what they have been able to accomplish so far. So let's keep it going! The Tank will rock as hard as it ever has, and I will holler and cheer until my voice gives out.

GO SHARKS!