'Canes at Caps tonight, don't know if I'll watch

The 'Canes haven't given me much to write about. In fact, I've noticed that most of my fellow 'Caniac bloggers have given up the ghost. My blogroll is a virtual graveyard of abandoned blogs. It's made me somewhat sad and unmotivated, and the team's performance isn't helping, either.

Our guys seemed so promising on paper this summer, which is why I find their slide so shocking. Whatever magic Chairman Mo brought last season seems to have evaporated. These guys have no jump. Even scratching the Captain for a game didn't make much of an impact. I have no idea what it will take to turn things around.

A few days ago, after the announcement of Brindy's scratch, I violated my cardinal rule and FaceBitched about the cheering and name-calling by certain fans. (After I regained my senses I took the rant down.) No one seemed to understand why I was upset except for a couple of good blogger friends, thank you very much. No, I did not take the decision personally and my feelings were not hurt by it. Rather, I took umbrage at the lack of class (wheelchair jokes, really?) by some so-called "fans" who decided it was just dandy to dance on the career grave of a two-time Selke winner and Stanley Cup champion.

I, of all people, understand that business is business, and that when you fail to get a return on investment you have to make changes. It is time for Brindy to retire, despite his best efforts to come back from a devastating injury. But I'll be damned if I'll sit idly by and let the haters boo him off the ice. People need to have some respect.

Yes, it's been a weird year, and it got weirder when the Flyers hired Peter Laviolette and Kevin McCarthy last week. I don't see a fit there at all, but I'm glad to see our former coach has a new job. In other news, our top draft pick Phillipe Paradis apparently didn't work out, so he's been traded for a guy who's best known for leaking naked pictures of himself onto the Internet(?). Jiri Tlusty will be playing for us tonight (he was called up with Pat Dwyer) because Erik Cole and Chad LaRose are out for several weeks apiece. Whatever.

A quick scan of the players' stats tells me the return of Aaron Ward brought little more than warm fuzzies. I shall point out that he's a -15 to those who want to harp on Brindy's -19. LaRose is a -14 and Samsonov (another of my personal favorites) is a -11. Every single blueliner is in the red except for Brett Carson, who's only played two games. Looks like there's plenty of blame to go around. And don't even get me started on our goalie situation. I think we're just plain cursed in that area, at least for this season.

So tonight the 'Canes face the Caps for the second time in their six-game series. I'll probably watch, and if I don't, I'll be following the game online. I will follow my boys for the rest of the season, but I don't know what I'll write about. I'm still learning the game, so I'm a crappy analyst. There are plenty of other sources for good game recaps, anyway. Perhaps I'll just keep doing my little "rah-rah" thing in my corner and if people read, that's fine.

NHR: Tiny Dancer, in my heh heh hand...

I think I've alluded to the fact that this year has been a swirling vortex of suck for me. Well, it seems that things are finally turning around!

FIRST, I finally unloaded the house after five-plus months on the market. In this economy, I think that's pretty amazing. However, it was nail-bitingly stressful. I missed the start of hockey season as I was consumed with home repair and improvement fun (!). But I have a whole new set of handy, transferrable skills. Anyone need a door re-screened?

Second, I am sleeping much better now.

Third, I have started winning random stuff. My new pal, BachelorGirl, recently had her first Blogday. To celebrate, she gave away swag, drawn randomly from comments in which her readers shared their "how I started reading BG" stories. And I won! Have no idea what's in her care package, but as long as it's not rocks or Chihuahua poop, it'll be cool.

And then last night, at a Ladies' Night wine tasting, I won the door prize, which was a t-shirt and THIS lovely Christmas ornament:



You are not hallucinating. It's a reindeer in a John Travolta-style white suit, shaking his groove thing and hoisting a beverage. Upon seeing this little guy, both friends who attended this event with me said the same thing:

Friend #1: "Check out his package!"
Friend #2: "He's got quite a basket!"

Now, I don't know much about those things, as I don't normally check out the genitalia on caribou. But it does seem rather pronounced. I thought it would make a nice Dirty Santa gift, but since I don't work in an office these days, I probably won't have an occasion to play.

ANYBODY WANT THIS???

If so, leave a comment. If I get more than one response by this time tomorrow, I'll toss them into a hat and pick a winner. Cheers!

Gonna remember "Motown, Schmo-town" next time we play the Red Wings

I'm not quite this bad about hockey, but I'm getting there!

New non-hockey site link

Welcome BachelorGirl.net!

I just had to add her to my list of favorite non-hockey sites. BachelorGirl is from my hometown, and she's a hoot. And she's got her own theme song!

I want my own theme song. Who wants to write one about a transplanted Southern media junkie who likes hockey?

Anonymous comment policy

If you don't have the balls to leave your name, I'm not publishing your comment.

Rude/offensive comments will not be posted.

My house. My rules.

I got nothin'

I think it's time for me to go back to fangirl posts where I talk about how cute the players are. 'Cause there's nothing cute about the way the 'Canes are playing.

6-1 loss to the Flyers. There aren't enough Goobers to help me today.

La, la, la, I can't hear you!!!

For those of you who may or may not be concerned by the lack of posts, I'll be with you shortly, I promise. For now, you'll just have to settle for Tweets.