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pens/islanders reaction. aka. national thuggery league

Scott Plummer — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:54:35 +0000

i haven't blogged in quite awhile. but what i saw last night could not be contained to a facebook status update or any number of twitter posts

~~~

if you are a new york islanders fan right now, i feel sorry for you. i feel sorry that the team you support turned last night's game into at best thuggery, and at worst, an embarrassment.

am i saying this just because it was against the penguins? no. i am saying this because. i'm saying this because what i saw last night has no place in the nhl. or any other hockey league. i may come off as a biased penguins fan, but don't tell me that the penguins are just as much to blame. it can be nothing but perfectly obvious to the neutral fan that the islanders attacked the penguins physically and the pens had no choice but to respond to the physical violence.

the thing is, it could have all been avoided. if rick dipietro doesn't clothes line matt cooke last week with less than a minute to go in a game that they had already lost, then NONE of this would have happened tonight. and i wouldn't be calling the islanders once proud franchise, an embarrassment to the league.
let's take a look at some of the facts. matt martin attempted to sucker punch max talbot in retaliation for a hit earlier this year on blake comeau. if it weren't for the fact that talbot saw him at the last minute, it could have turned into a todd bertuzzi/steve moore kind of moment. max escaped, eric tangradi wasn't as fortunate.

tangradi, whom it is well documented that i really don't rate as an nhl'er, was headhunted by islander enforcer trevor gillies. tangradi immidiately went to the ice, obviously injured, but that wasn't enough for gillies who still attempted to start a fight with him. gillies was ejected, but still stood at the door to the ice near where the doctors were taking care of an ailing tangradi. he stood there and yelled and taunted the fallen penguin. oh, and by the way. tangradi now has concussion-like symptoms.

then there is michael haley. during one of the many third period meles he fought max talbot (i guess the attempted sucker punch to the back of max's head by his teammate wasn't enough) he was then left alone to go down and throw down with brent johnson. during that fight is the only time when i will criticize the penguins for their actions. eric godard jumped off of the bench to come to johnson's aid. i umderstand why he did it, but he knows that he's going to get suspended, and with so many player out of the penguins line up, the team really can't afford that.

the final penalty numbers, combined, for both teams, was somewhere in the mid 300's. that's the number that everyone will remember. which is sad. what they should remember is the fact that the islanders won 9-3. that number doesn't matter because the islanders rendered it useless with their actions during the rest of the game.

april 8th in new york should be interesting. and the league needs to make sure that they have their best officials working that game, not a rookie, and a veteran that needs to retire. they are just as culpable as the islanders for what happened in that game last night.

"my year of gaiman" part 6 - the sandman, volumes 6-10

Scott Plummer — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:35:05 +0000

in my last "my year of gaiman" post i promised another entry in roughly a month. that was over five months ago. sorry. the last five volumes were interrupted several times by a myriad of things that i won't go into right now.

as in the first five volumes the art is top notch. i've mentioned before that i've never been a fan of comics/graphic novels, but the beauty of the art and the shear quality of neil's story telling had me hooked.

the eigth volume, world's end, was one of the most challenging to read. it centered around an inn at the end of the world where many were gathered telling stories while waiting out a storm. it took me the longest to read because unlike the other collections, it just didn't hold my interest for long periods of time.

the ninth volume, the kindly one's, was the longest, but perhaps easiest read of the entire series. it dealt with dream's battle with, and ultimate demise at the hands of three witches. the whole collection is written as a greek tragedy and also deals with dream sending the corinthian to find the child daniel.

volume ten, the wake is hit or miss for me, the first half of the volume deals with the wake for dream. and ends with daniel becoming the newest incarnation of dream. the rest of the volume deals with seperate stories that, like world's end, were difficult for me to keep an interest in.

ultimately the sandman was an extremely rewarding read. like the novels that i've read of neil's, it took some time to get it's hooks into me but once it did, i found myself completely engrossed. i find it somewhat of an achievement that for a story, and collection that took seven years to complete, i finished it in a mere five months.

just for kicks, here are my top five favorite characters from the series.

5. merv pumpkinhead - the complaining, but loyal servant to dream
4. goldie - abel's pet baby gargoyle
3. dream - aka the sandman, morpheus, lord shaper
2. matthew - dream's raven. one of his most loyal servants
1. death - not personified as the grim reaper but as an attractive woman, dream's oldest sister.

well, that does it for the sandman, but not for gaiman. i've recently started smoke and mirrors, one of his collections of shorter works.

peace
~scott

usa v. slovenia - my thoughts (or, maurice edu was robbed)

Scott Plummer — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:30:09 +0000

on the eve of the final group game against algeria, i thought it was time to give my thoughts on the usa/slovenia match.

the yanks fell prey to a problem that has plagued them for some time. the early goal. the team looked lackluster in the first half and the eager slovenians took advantage of it by potting two first half goals. the jose francisco-torres experiment seemed to not work as i, and i suppose bob bradley expected it to. a 2-0 deficit at the half was worrisome to say the least.

the changes made by bradley at the half were exactly what the team needed. dempsey moved to a more forward role where frankly he should have started.

the second half is a different story. when down by two at the half anyone who knows anything about the sport will tell you that an early goal in the second half greatly improves your chances of making a comback. not only did the usa get an early goal, it got a brilliant early goal from landon donovan. along with maicon from brazil, landon has the top goal of the tournament. the usa fed off of that goal and controlled most of the play for the second half yet it took untill less than 10 minutes left for them to find the equalizer through the coaches kid, micahel bradley. bradley's sliding finish to tie the game would have been just fine with me. a win would have been nice, but a tie was sufficient.

now let's talk about that win.

it should have been a win. moments after bradley tied it the usa won a free kick on the right hand side. donovan did what donovan does and served in a beautiful ball that maurice edu snuck in and tapped home for the win. oh, but wait. there was an offside call. or was it a foul by dempsey? or was it a foul by bocanegra? i don't have a problem with the fact the goal was disallowed. it happens. i get that. what i don't get is the referee and fifa refusing to discuss it or say what the call was. the only fouls i saw were the bear hugs from two slovenia players on bocanegra and dempsey.

moving on. the usa face algeria tomorrow in their final group game and it's quite simple. win and you move on to the round of 16. here's what i'd like to see. i want to see edu start alongside bradley in the midfield. i want to see dempsey starting up front with altidore. clint is better and more effective when he plays in a more forward position. replacing clint on the right wing has to be stuart holden. he has proved himself as more than a worthy replacement for dempsey on the wing.

final prediction. usa 2 algeria 0. goals from altidore and dempsey.

mark my word. micael bradley will be playing his club football in the english premier league sooner rather than later.

peace

~scott

#musicmonday June 14th, 2010

Scott Plummer — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:05:20 +0000

Rush - BU2B

I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It's not ours to understand

The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil will take the rest

All is for the best
Believe in what we're told
Blind man in the market
Buying what we're sold
Believe in what we're told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death

In a world of cut and thrust
I was always taught to trust
In a world where all must fail
Heaven's justice will prevail

The joy and pain that we receive
Each comes with its own cost
The price of what we're winning
Is the same as what we've lost

Until our final breath
The joy and pain that we receive
Must be what we deserve
I was brought up to believe

usa v. england - my thoughts

Scott Plummer — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:20:18 +0000

i was going to break down the group as a whole prior to the first match but i decided what i wanted to do was break down each of the usa's games after they've played and talk about what i think they need to do in the next game in order to come away with a win.

the usa have had a problem starting out games recently, conceding a lot of goals in the first twenty minutes of matches, and this game was no different. at around the four minute mark emil heskey slid a slick pass into the box for the three lions that steven gerrard ran onto and slotted a shot passed american keeper tim howard. the defense collapsed for that goal but it wasn't a defender, rather a midfielder, ricardo clark, that was pedestrian as gerrard ran onto heskey's pass. it was shocking defending at it's worst. after the goal, i said to the people that i was watching the match with that if that happened again, tim howard was going to start breaking necks. he didn't need to break necks, but he did take a boot to the chest from heskey which had me worried until he was back up and between the pipes.

i was a little surprised that england went with rob green in between the sticks. i thought for sure that they would go with the veteran david "calamity" james. imagine my surprise when green came up with a james-esque howler as he bundled a tame clint dempsey shot over the line to tie the contest at one late in the first half.

the second half saw several chances for each side but the keepers were making big saves and keeping their teams in the contest. from my point of view the goal of both teams in the second half was to preserve the point that they would get from the draw. a draw which to england may have felt like a loss, while the usa probably viewed it as somewhat of a win as they kept pace with one of the best teams in international football.

the three lions controlled most of the game but the usa's defense kept one of the most dangerous strikers in the world, wayne (shrek) rooney, in check all match long. the usual suspects stepped up and had solid games for the yanks. dempsey, donovan, and howard were all playing as we've come to expect. for what it's worth, my man of the match was tim howard. he stood tall after england scored theiry early goal, and he kept his team in the game with some world class saves.

up next for the usa is slovenia, a team that the usa should beat, but i am a little concerned. after slovenia moved to the top of the group with their win over algeria, they are going to be looking for a big scalp and a win that would all but gurantee their passage into the knockout stages. i look for slovenia to come out and attack and try to get an early goal. if the usa can withstand some early pressure without conceding i think they will pick up a win. slovenia is a small eurpean country and i think that the americans have too much talent not to win this match.

i'd like to see a few changes to the lineup however. i'm not a fan of robbie findley and i don't like seeing dempsey out on the wing. i'd like to see dempsey up front with jozy altidore and have stuart holden inserted on the wing to replace depmsey. i'd also like to see ricardo clark taken out for a more attack minded player like jose francisco torres. someone that can run the game from the center of midfield is going to be key and i think torres, or benny feilhaber can fill that roll quite well.

my prediction. usa 2 slovenia 0. a clean sheet and another man of the match performance from tim howard. goals from jozy altidore and landon donovan.

peace

~scott

why i nag

Scott Plummer — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:45:31 +0000

some of you may have noticed that when we are out together, if i've driven to wherever we are, i drink very little alcohol, if any at all. some of you also give me a hard time occassionally about my lack of drinking. it's ok, i really don't mind, i know there is no malice intended. i also tend to turn into a bit of a nagging, overprotective parent. there are several reasons for this.

since i graduated from college i have had no less than three friends killed by drunk drivers. i attended the trial for the scumbag that killed my friend renee on the fourth of july several years ago and was disgusted at his attempts at making excuses and sickened when he only showed emotion after he was sentenced. he finally cried as he was handcuffed and was lead from the courtroom.

i have people in my past that were convicted of dui. i've seen them pay fines, i've heard stories of what they have had to do, and how they lost their driving privileges.

i have family, that used to babysit my brother and i, have had their quality of life greatly decreased because of their drinking. when i was little i used to think that they were asleep. when i grew up i realized that they weren't asleep, they were passed out drunk. it's disturbing to think what could have happened to my brother and i had someone tried to break in while they were "asleep".

i've driven drunk before, on more than one occassion. i don't mean i had a drink and then went home. i mean i was drinking all day while golfing and then drove home. or i went out after work with some coworkers, got drunk, and then drove home. i count myself lucky that i didn't injure, or kill myself. or the unimaginable, injuring, or killing someone else that didn't make the stupid choice to drink and drive.

i nag because i don't want to see any of you go to prison, hurt, or worse yet, dead. alcohol isn't worth it. so please don't take offense when i nag. i just worry. those of you that know me well enough that, other than crying, worrying is something i do very well.

peace

~scott

23 men headed to south africa

Scott Plummer — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:56:07 +0000

i was going to blog about the stanley cup finals. you know a proper breakdown of how i see the series going, but you know what? i don't really care who wins. i have no rooting interest in the series. i'll watch it because i love the sport. so here is my short breakdown. i don't think the flyers stand a chance. they haven't faced the firepower throughout the playoffs that chicago will throw at them. i'm saying chicago in 6. although i wouldn't be all that shocked if the flyers pulled an upset.

now for the meat of this post

it's the world cup bitches!!

united states national team coach bob bradley announced his final 23 man roster for the upcoming world cup in south africa. here's the roster.

i think bradley picked a solid roster. the only player i don't competely agree with is damarcus beasley. he's been a man without a position on the national team playing at times on the left wing and even an ill-fated experiment as a left back. his club form has dipped as well not seeing as much playing time for glasgow rangers as he has in the past.

there were a few surprises among the forwards. brian ching was left off, and herculez gomez, and edson buddle found roster spots. ching has struggled with injuries which has seen his form dip. gomez lit the mexican league on fire with 10 goals in 14 matches. buddle likewise has been in rare form as he has 9 goals for the los angeles galaxy in just 10 matches. they made bradley's choice easy. heading into a world cup you have to take your in form players. and you don't get much more in form than buddle and gomez. although with jozy altidore and clint dempsey likely to get the starting nod, they may not see much playing time. the future however looks bright at least as far as stiker options go.

here's how i see bradley likely fielding his team:

                             Howard

Cherundolo-----Bocanegra-----Onyewu-----Bornstein

   Holden---------Clark---------Bradley---------Donovan

             Altidore---------Dempsey

you could switch donovan and dempsey but i think the team plays better with landon on the wing and clint up front.

i see the states getting out of the group stage, though i'm not sure how far they will go. i'll break down their group, which includes england, slovenia, and algeria, prior to their first match on the second match day of the cup

come on you yanks!

we don't need to jump off the steel building

Scott Plummer — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:56:56 +0000

jordan staal is out for an extended period of time. when this news broke, i tried to look at it objectively while my twitter feed went bat-shit-omg-the-season-is-over-crazy. the season is not over. yes, the good staal brother is very key to this team, in particular the penalty kill, but let's not go completely overboard here folks. there are plenty of other players on this team that will need to step up in that role, and all of them are capable of filling number 11's skates. dupuis, adams, talbot (chica chee). just to name of few.

let's take a look at history shall we?

first some recent history. last year during the finals, sid went down injured midway through game 7. the result? well, we all know what the result was. superstar and flower stole the game. secondly, remember that guy who owns the team, you know, the best player in the history of the league. now remember that douche nozel adam graves. yeah, the one who slashed lemieux's wrist and broke it? remember what happened that year? yeah, guys like kevin stevens, and double j played like beasts and the pens won the cup, and oh yeah, the future owner came back to play later in the playoffs.

so please, don't go downtown to leap off of one of the myriad of bridges or buildings. the team will adjust. the path to the cup still goes through the shiny dome on the hill.

*update 12:04* minutes after posting this it was reported that jordan merely had a procedure to repair a cut and will not be out for the entire playoffs. but this post still applies to all you yinzer omgtheseasonisover folks that flip out as soon as someone gets injured.

peace
~scott

let's do this!

Scott Plummer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:22:08 +0000

ok. here's the deal. you might think i'm completely bat-shit-crazy, but i'm having a tweetup at my place on saturday. i'm thinking 7ish. the idea wasn't mine, that spark of genius goes to @omgitsjen. she came up with the idea, i simply offered up my place to host it.

the deets:
-games- Beyond Balderdash, and whatever else you nerds want to play.

-drinks- I'll provide the jägermeister(most likely for just me and jen :)) and some wine. since i'm not made of money to provide drinks for all of you alcoholics i will ask you to bring a selection of your favorite adult beverages.

-food- i got this. i'll take care of the snacks, chips, salsa, all that fun shit. maybe we'll pool our money together and get some pizza. i'm open to suggestions

-friends- self-explanatory, but i'll elaborate. let's have a blast like we normally do when we get together except we won't annoy the shit out of people who aren't as awesome as we are.

my place is only so big but i want as many of you wackos to come as possible. :) let me know.

spread the word!

as @omgitsjen likes to say. DO IT!

my qualities. part 4

Scott Plummer — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:32:35 +0000

i know when it's time to move on. i know too may people who don't know when to let something go. i've also had too many people tell me that i need to move on when they couldn't possibly know when it is right for me to do so.

during my divorce i remember a specific period of time when i realized that there would be no reconcilliation. and after the divorce only i knew when i was ready to start seeing someone again. i couldn't, in good conscience, enter into a new relationship until i was absolutely sure that i would be able to give my full attention to that person. that even goes for someone that i'm not in a relationship with. if i have strong feelings for someone, i can't enter into a relationship with someone else until i have dealt with my feelings to my satisfaction. i stress my satisfaction, and nobody else's.

peace

~scott