Everything Else

Piggies v. Doggies And Other Notes

By Sam Fels 1385 0

 

 

 

 

The Battle of Northern Illinois….or something, renews tonight with the Wolves’s third visit to the BMO Harris Metro Rock Something Else Center. The Piggies are coming off a comeback-win over Abbotsford on Saturday at home, where Nick Leddy and Brandon Pirri (twice) molested twine to see the Hogs overcome a 2-1 deficit.  The Hogs have still lost five of seven coming into this, and face a week of divisional battles, with Milwaukee at home and Grand Rapids away to come after this.

The game is on if you have Comcast on The U Too. It’s standard def, and really crappy standard def, and you’ll probably get a little nauseous if you try and watch the whole thing. But then again, there’s nothing else to do really as we all save up for New Year’s or the Apocalypse or for weaponry for when the collectors arrive at the door.

-The World Junior Championships have started, but not really. All we’ve had so far is both the 49the Parallel Powers beating up on half the Axis to the tune of 17-3. I watched some of the US game today. Seth Jones likes to try tricky stuff, and Galchenyuk (the American who plays on the Canadiens with the Russian name) has a pretty sick release. That’s all I can tell you. The thing kicks off for real tomorrow, sorta, when the US plays Russia. We’ll probably have a thread for it or something.

-I was interested in seeing the Puck Daddy post today about the lack of season ticket holders league wide that are not cancelling the tickets. Buffalo and Pittsburgh have like a combined 60 cancellations or something ridiculous like that.

I don’t think anyone should feel required to cancel their tickets. I’m not, especially as I’m expecting a full refund in a couple weeks anyway. And while at the moment, if the season started tomorrow I wouldn’t be comfortable going into the building, I’m still holding on to the tickets. I think it’s because I don’t want to give the owners the satisfaction. I know that sounds weird, but follow me.

If I scrap my tickets, there’s little doubt they’d be scooped up by someone else in a matter of minutes. So after holding onto my money and keeping the interest on it in whatever account they put the season ticket money into to save, they’ll get to do it again. Fuck that noise. I’m going to keep my tickets with at least the right to sell games I don’t want — which might be all of them — and maybe toward the end of the year I’ll actually be turning a profit on it. I’m going to give myself the chance to at least get something out of it other than some empty feeling of righteousness.

I wonder if it isn’t a self-fulfilling prophecy that there aren’t more cancellations. We all think our tickets will be snapped up anyway, so we don’t cancel. The owners see that there aren’t a lot of cancellations, and hence pull shit like this. We see them pull shit like this, assume they think that they have a cushion of we cancel our season tickets, and we don’t cancel our season tickets. Maybe if I thought thousands of others were doing so I would too.

But I don’t think we’re wrong for not doing so. It’s a decision best left to when we really know what we’re dealing with I guess.

Everything Else

Remembering A Franchise Reborn

By Sam Fels 1550 0

It was five years ago tonight, thought it seems so much longer, and in fact in about an hour and a half it’ll be to the minute when the Blackhawks franchise and fandom was truly reborn. At least it was to me.

If you were there, you remember. It was December 23rd, 2007. It was a bitterly cold Sunday, and the Bears had won a pretty terrible football game earlier in the day, just as they have today. One of those Chicago winter nights where the wind felt like it was tearing off your skin.

Everything Else

Your Weekend And Christmas Viewing Guide And Holiday Thread

By Sam Fels 1347 0

We’re gonna take the holiday off too, so let’s discuss all the things you can watch during that stretch and then I’ll leave you to discuss whatever you want. Someone should include a live play-by-play of their uncle passing out amongst the cats or something.

Friday

Bulls v. Knicks – Basketball in the Garden is pretty cool, I enjoyed the one time I went.  At least in the old Garden. I don’t know what it’s like with the remodeled one. I’m told the Knicks are good this year, even though I feel like Jason Kidd is halfway to the state of choosing poorly which chalice Jesus drank from. You can’t ride the Raymond Felton train forever. Unless he’s playing against Dee Brown. Am I right Illini fans?! UP TOP!

Everything Else

Evening Discussion Thread: Your Favorite Christmas Present

By Sam Fels 1257 0

Let’s change it up here a bit, and make this a thread about your favorite Christmas gift you ever got.

I’m trying to think of what mine was. A red #27 Hawks jersey in 1991 was pretty damn good, I have to say. My brother bought me Sailing The Seas Of Cheese when it came out and he was home from college. That was pretty awesome too. At an even younger age I got the Aerosmith boxset. Before you make a face it was all of their work before 1980, which is the good stuff. Maybe the best one was money to help with my trip to Portugal for Euro 2004.

Anyway, what’s yours?

Everything Else

Swine Flu

By Sam Fels 1549 0

It was not a good weekend for the Rock River Bacon Bits. Two losses, one in overtime,  meaning it’s been four in a row now. Oh, and their coach is calling out some of the players in the press (or to Chris Block, but he’s more press than anything in the city these days).

It started well on Friday north of the border, the Illinois-Wisconsin border that is. 40 seconds into their tilt with the Admirals, Nick Leddy scored. But as it always is with the Hogs, the penalties they take cost them, and the ones they don’t cash in on cost them. A dumb roughing infraction from Wade Brookbank, and then a Brandon Saad high-sticking double minor saw the Admirals into the lead before the 1st was over. Both PP goals came from Gabriel Bourque and were off of scrambles in front of the net, in case you thought the Hogs were any better at clearing the crease than the Hawks. Oh and the Milwaukee power play was one of the worst in the league before this night.

Everything Else

In Case Of Emergency

By Sam Fels 1412 0

It won’t come as much of a surprise you all, but everything that’s gone on the past few days have killed a lot of motivation to write anything. That won’t last forever, but after days of true horror, true stupidity, and true loss — both in real world and in our little distraction world that’s supposed to bring us at least temporary joy and feeling but instead only brings frustration and weariness — it’s kind of hard to figure out what to say.

But at least in this very tiny corner of the world, we have to start planning. And seeing as how this blog only exists for you, we’d like you to help out.

Everything Else

Once Again, Fall On Your Sword, Ajax

By Sam Fels 1806 0

It’s the same call I made in October. I return to you, players, to do so once again.

I ask this of you not because I’m not sympathetic to your cause. From the word go I have found what the owners are doing to you disgusting, obstinate, and absurd. The thought of Gary Bettman smiling, having a cigar and a brandy while slapping the back of Jeremy Jacobs and Murray Edwards over a job well done makes me want to vomit up lunch from two days ago, then eat it up just so I can vomit it up again. I know it makes you feel that way.

But sometimes doing the honorable thing is one that is odorous to every sense. And this is starting to feel like one of those times.

Everything Else

What Are You Listening To This Week?

By Sam Fels 1376 0

Don’t have much today, so I’ll try and quickly sum up whatever went on today with the CBA and then get on to opening a thread for you guys.

I don’t think it’s all that odd that the players and owners didn’t do any face-time today. This isn’t two sided on opposite sides of the table and the mediator sitting at the head. They go back and forth between rooms. The fact that it sounds so bleak definitely drops your heart, but this process hasn’t played out really. The mediators will either wave the white flag or come up with some ideas for both sides, and we’ll just have to see where that goes.

It feels like the owners are going to try and run out the clock (which only has a couple weeks left) with this offer and push the players to the wall. Hopefully some moderate voices on either side gets heard, because at this point I don’t know what either side thinks they’re going to “win” now. Contract length would seem to be a non-issue if the variance in salary is controlled. I think it’s just a false term, really.

Anyway, on to more fun stuff to discuss. This week I’ve been pumping Wild Flag’s self-titled debut. If you don’t know, Wild Flag is essentially the remains of Sleater Kinney without Corin Tucker. Which is good, because every time I see Carrie Brownstein on Portlandia or as a guest star on the Simpsons last week, I think it’s funny but I’d rather just be listening to Sleater Kinney or Wild Flag anyway.

But to the point, the Wild Flag album is the balls. The last two tracks, Racehorse and Black Tiles, actually have some pretty intense instrumental interludes, which you wouldn’t see coming out of this punky background.

What are you spinning this week?