My column that appeared in my hometown newspaper, today.
http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20140116/COLUMNISTS/301169995/0/FRONTPAGE#gsc.tab=0
Tag: hockey
Oh, you don’t watch hockey??
What an entertaining night of television last night. No, I was not watching Love & Hip Hop Atlanta. No, I was not watching Stephen Let’s Under the Dome. No, I was not watching You Got Served. I, of course, was tuned in to game six of the Stanley Cup Final. If you are a true sports fanatic, then this is a series you should have been watching since game one. I mean how often do you think you will see a playoff hockey game go into three overtimes, like game one did? Three of the first four games in the series went into overtime. That series was truly one for the record books.
Last night, the Chicago Blackhawks entered game six with a 3-2 lead over the Boston Bruins in the series. The Bruins were looking to win the game, tie the series and send the series back to Chicago for a decisive game seven. With about one minute and 30 seconds left, the Bruins dream looked like it would soon become reality. Notice the word looked. The Blackhawks, a team that had faced numerous deficits throughout the playoffs, found the strength to dig deep once more. With one minute and 17 seconds left in regulation, the Blackhawks Bryan Bickell snuck the puck in past the Bruins goalie, Tuukka Rask, to tie the game. With 67 seconds left, overtime is inevitable, right?
Wrong!! 17 seconds later, the Blackhawks, Dave Bolland, hits the back of the net to put the Blackhawks up 3-2, silencing the fans gathered at the TD Garden. With no miracle under the skates, the Bruins were unable to score and the Blackhawks captured their second Stanley Cup in the last four years.
I know a lot of you do not like hockey, mainly because you do not understand the rules. I am no expert when it comes to the rules but I find the game to be very enjoyable to watch especially during the playoffs. My hand-eye coordination is not the greatest, hence the reason I did not play softball pass eighth grade, so I am always amazed how hockey players keep up with that little puck. Couple that with the fact that they are doing this while on ice skates and trying to avoid, to some extent, getting into a fight with a player from the opposing team, you have one heck of a sport on your hands.
If you have never been to a hockey game, give it a try. The game is very exciting and there is constant movement. You may not understand what is going on. You may be clueless about a power play. You may not comprehend why they can fight and not get ejected. If you can understand that one team has to get the little black puck past the other team’s goalie to score, then you are well on your way to grasping the sport of hockey. So, give it a try! I promise it is worth it, especially when the playoffs come back around. Just ask my cousin TJ.
Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks!!!
Until next time….TOODELLS!
The Weekender
Another beautiful weekend. Here’s a rekap…
Welp, my 9ers got butchered, sliced, diced, mollywopped, shallacked, killt, all dat by the midgets. Way too much talent on both sides of the ball to get beat like that.
What concussion? That is exactly what RGIII had to be thinking as he led the tataskinz to their first home win of the season.
Russell Wilson was who we have all seem him be, a playmaker. He threw a touchdown pass to Sidney Rice with 1:18 remaining in the game to lead the Seahawks to a 24-23 victory over The Brady Bunch.
Crazy weekend in Major League Baseball. It needs its own rekap…The Washington Nationals suffered a colossial collapse blwing a 7-5 lead in the ninth inning with two outs remaining, allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to advance to the NLCS. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games to advance to the NLCS. The New York Yankees advance to the ALCS. And while we are talking about the Yankees, Google Raul Ibanez. What a story! The Detroit Tigers are facing the Yankees in the series. By the way, the Tigers are p 2-0 in the series and the Cards are up 1-0.
The Falcons remain the only undefeated team. The Texans got buried by the Packers.
The LSU Tigers brought the South Carolina Gamecocks back to reality. Sorry chickens.
The Brooklyn Nets made the preseason debut. They beat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-105.
Clint Bowyer won the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski maintained his number one spot, barely.
Notre Dame finally beat Standford. The win moved them to number 5 in the AP poll.
No new news in hockey. Defrost already!!
The first BCS standings were released. No real surprise that the SEC holds the top two spots with Alabama and Florida.
Novak Djokovic is back to his winning ways. He took home the title at the China Open.
College basketball teams all across the country celebrated the first day of practice by holding various events. I attended Primetime with the PACK, of course :-}.
The Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA’s defending champs, shockingly loss the first game of the finals to the Indiana fever. Erlana Larkins scored 16 points in the 76-70 victory.
A week after I dropped Jets RB Shonn Greene from my fantasy roster, he goes out and rushes for 161 yards and scores three TDs against the Colts. Really dude?
Working on some gooooood stories. I am excited! Can not wait for ya’ll to read them and offer up your opinions. Until next time…TOODELLS.
The Weekender
Twitterverse was buzzing about my 49ers last night. Note to all of you who were not fans before hand….we DO NOT do bandwagoners!!
My Panthers handed the Saints there second loss. It is amazing what removing bounties will do to a team.
The NHL is officially in a lockout. The game is ‘on ice’ for the forseeable future.
The Jets ran into A LOT of turbulence in Pittsburgh. Back to life, back to reality.
Rookie QB Russell Wilson picked up his first win on Sunday against the cowboys. *insert huge grin*
The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland A’s thus ensuring their first winning season since 1997. The average price for a gallon of gas was $1.22 that year.
Boston Red Sox manager, Bobby Valentine, stuck his foot in his mouth. Again.
Brad Keslowski won the Geico 400 in Chicago. His win puts him in first place in The Chase standings.
Standford proved they do not need ‘Luck’ when they play USC. The Cardinals beat the Trojans for the fourth straight time.
Dwight Howard expressed himself during the ESPN Sunday Conversation and said he does not want anyone to hate him. Hmmm, is that why he took out that ad??
Sam Bradford had a solid performance on Sunday. So did RGIII, who was on the losing end.
My beloved Wolfpack landed one of the top point guards in the nation, Anthony Barber. Welcome to the Pack young fella!
With his win on Saturday night, Ryan Blaney became the youngest person to ever win a NASCAR Truck Series Race. He is 18 years and 8 months old :-}.
Former boxing champs Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez admitted to drug and alcohol abuse in the latter stages of their careers. Thankfully, both have been sober for years.
Eli Manning passed for 510 yards against the Bucs. Even though it is the Bucs, it is still impressive.
The Chicago White Sox won and the Detroit Tigers lost. Chicago is now two games ahead of Detroit in the AL Central division.
Sergio Martinez defeated Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. by unanimous decision Saturday night. If only Chavez Jr.’s rally would have begun in the 11th round, we probably would have had a different outcome.
Giants coach Tom Coughlin was not too pleased with what he deemed “a cheap shot” by Greg Schiano’s Tampa Bay Bucs near the end of regulation. I did not think it was possible for Tom Coughlin to get any redder but booooooooooy was I wrong.
Until next time….TOODELLS.
Oh so random…
They say there is a first time for everything. Welp, I am experiencing another first….blogger’s block. Ugh. I have a few topics that I want to write about but for some reason I just can not seem to get them going. Instead of trying to force it, I have decided to take another route with this post. So here it is…a plethora of thoughts from Kassie….
1. Ken Griffey, Jr. had the prettiest swing. EVER.
2. As big a sports fan as I am, I have never seen Hoosiers, Bull Durham or Caddyshack. I have seen Blue Chips though.
3. I went to my first North Carolina State football game at the age of 2. I have a reoccurring flashback of me sitting with the family in the upper deck.
4. I was at The Cheesecake Factory in DC about 10 years ago with some friends when all of a sudden a very tall man arose from a table near us. It was Dikembe Mutombo. Before I could even catch myself I yelled out, MUTOMBOOOOOOO! If looks could kill. For that reason alone, he deserves more than two sentences.
5. Earvin “Magic” Johnson does not get the respect he deserves. Dude was a ballerrrrrrr, you hear me?!
6. When I was in middle school, my granddaddy would make me cheese toast for breakfast. I would eat it while watching Scooby Doo then I would turn and watch SportsCenter.
7. Ya’ll know the ‘This is SportsCenter’ commercial with Jay Harris and Larry Fitzgerald, where Larry catches all the stuff that falls in the office? I was with Jay on the day they emailed the script for the commercial to him. I have always thought Larry was a kutie and I told Jay that. About a week later I got a text from a friend that was sent by Jay that said, “Kassaundra, Larry told me to tell you hey.” Yep! That deserved extra sentences.
8. My all time favorite football player is Jerry Rice. Greatest of all time.
9. Quite often during football season, I lose my voice. It is a good thing that I do not have to talk to blog.
10. If you have never been to a Virginia Tech football game, GO!! That ‘Enter Sandman’ intro almost made me tackle someone in the stands.
11. Leave Lance Armstrong alone! He has raised over 500 million for cancer research. That will have a greater impact than anything he has done on a bike.
12. <—–My favorite number so I have got to make this good….44 days until the marathon!!! Have you made your donation :-}??
13. Some of my favorite athlete names…..Milton Bradley, Picabo(pronounced Peekaboo) Street, Tim Biakabutuka, Doug Flutie, Anfernee Hardaway and Alan Kulwicki.
14. I want to go to Soldier Field to see a Chicago Bears home game so I can sing “Bear Down” as loud as I can after the Bears score a touchdown. I love to randomly sing that song, just ask my mama :-}.
15. I keep up with the NBA but I do not like it. Do. Not. Get. Me. Started.
16. Everyone should experience a hockey game. LIVE.
17. I have been trying to learn how to play poker. The only thing I still understand how to flush a toilet.
18. This year’s baseball playoffs are going to be something special. You heard it here first…..Go Rangers!!
19. I am still giggling at the fact that they kept playing “Lean Back” by Fat Joe at the Broncos game Sunday night. Whoever was in charge of the music needs to not be in charge of the music anymore.
20. Until next time….TOODELLS.
Kassie Nette's Korner 