I’m not huge on the All-Star Game so I’m semi-embarassed to say that I watched it…. in its entirety…. and liked it. Come on don’t act like you don’t watch the season finale of American Idol every season (Blake Lewis FTW!). You’re never as cool as you think you are. So I’m not going to lie and say I’m too street for the ASG, I live for stuff like that. I’m addicted to hype.


I had to DVR the Super Skills competition on Saturday because I was committed to a Seattle Thunderbirds game that night. Let’s pause and rewind for a moment though. This week I was out of employment after my job John Fergusoned me (okay laid off, but I still sympathize with the guy because we both lost our jobs in the same week). So I was in some serious need of entertainment (it sucks when all your friends have jobs and can’t play with you during the day), not to mention I had to celebrate my retirement and my sucking at life in general (HA!). After a tossed friday night full of Stella Artois, and us playing Monkey Wrench on the jukebox five times in a row at a super hip Seattle joint (best dollar I ever spent), and various shenanigans that followed, I was pretty set. I had tickets to the T-bombs game Saturday vs the Everett Silvertips, so my friend Kyle and I dragged our hungover bums to the Key Arena to catch the old match. I was not disapointed. First of all, half the arena was made up of Everett fans so it was pretty much a full house. But the thing that blew me away was that I haven’t seen that good of a dub game in a LONG time. They played a REALLY good game and ended up winning 4-3. HA HA walk of shame. Can’t go wrong with an Everett game. It boggles everyone’s minds that the Tips are completely winless against the T-birds this season. It’s certainly a mystery to me, a welcome one.


Okay let’s see…....... All Star Game, yes. Everyone and their mom is blogging about this event so I’ll try to keep it interesting. As silly as it is, the Super Skills was pretty entertaining, I’ll admit it. I like the changes they made to it. They need to add some more important skills tests though. Like maybe a center ice checking competition. Or like fastest time you can bolt out of the penalty box. Or like a 5-hole contest, best 5-hole. A Zamboni rally. Best dive. Best showboat celly (yes you Alex Ovechkin). All very important skills. Since my friend Chad and I are talking about it as I write this, I should get it out of the way because we both agreed on one thing: the freestyle shootout competition at the end was a smidge disapointing. I mean, I don’t think those guys understood the concept fully. I wanted to see some more creativity. It’s FREESTYLE! Come on, light your stick on fire and duct tape some roman candles to your skates. I wanted to see some like head spins and stalls, maybe a C-walk (C-skate?), break out the boombox and the cardboard. Which brings up another idea. Next year we need a dance off…. a skate off. Like a freestyle battle. Fuel the rivalry a little more. Just throwing it out there. Honorable mention goes to Tim Thomas though, for breaking it down with the rad in-crease spin (and for having two first names). The boy is SICK.


Today I realized that the game was also being covered on CBC, about halfway through the first period. I thought “Why the balls am I watching it on VERSUS the whole time?” I cheated on CBC. I ended up watching Versus the whole time because they sold me on the Mic’d up thing, and lord knows I love Mic’d up. I got to hear Rick Di Pietro say “I f*cked my hip up again”, nice job on the censoring there Versus, what happened to the 10 second delay rule? Well whatever, THOSE are the moments us Mic’d up fans live for. And I think I developed a crush on Manny Lagace, that dude was cracking me up, witty guy that Manny Legace. I still DVRed the CBC coverage, I’m a huge dork. See Versus is different than CBC because its typical American TV-fashion in that they make a point to focus on all the fluff and hooplah, the whole shebang (which people like), and say things like “Jarome Iginla, one of 14 players of ‘color’ currently playing in the league”. How can you not love that stuff? And thanks to Versus, I now know who the Jonas Brothers are; it’s been bothering me ever since I met them at American Apparel in Seattle one time and had to ask a 9-year old’s dad who they were. Embarassing I know, but it was really interfering with my overpriced blank clothing buying experience.


The game was actually really entertaining. It was pretty close, I was hoping for a tie but no dice. Rick Nash with a hatty boom batty. Some dirty saves by Nabby. Alex Ovechkin being ill as usual. Joe Thornton, well he doesn’t even have to do anything, he can just stand there and be the coolest person you know. Good company. I found myself leaning towards the Western Conference, I am a West Coaster at heart, gotta tilt my cap to the homies on the West. It was a fun weekend, for the players and the fans (even us losers watching it from the couch). Watch the highlights, because I sure ain’t giving you the play-by-play! HA!


I just watched the new episode of Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood where he plays hockey with the Ducks. Hilarious! Wille O’Ree was a “guest star”. Check out the re-runs on the E! channel if you missed it. It’s worth a look.


I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and partied like an All-Star. Let the second half of the season begin. Here comes the part that REALLY matters, so lets have fun and play some f_ckin hockey!


Rock out.


PS- I got through this entire blog without mentioning Rory Fitzpatrick once, that’s got to count for something. It’s cool Rory, they put me on “waivers”, too. Partners in unemployment, what do you say?


I just watched the ASG All Access show on “NHL TV”... come on, Heidi Androl for NHL.com? What a joke. Where did they find this hack? I could name someone who would be a million times better at that… pshh.