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How Do You Blog When Your Team’s In The Toilet? Don’t Ask Me
by IwoCPO on 01/06/09 at 03:39 AM ET
Comments (25)
I’m not the strongest blogger when it comes to adversity. If the Wings lose tonite to Columbus? You may not see me again until the weekend. I used to try and justify behavior like that. But I’m way past that. Now?
It’s kind of how I roll motherfu**ers. To most adults, that’s not exactly a viable reason why a hockey blogger should just not write anything for a few days after his team loses a regular season game. But to us? It’s enough. Bottom line: I don’t have the physical energy to write after the Wings lose and I’d rather watch that whiny skank Sally Fields in 22 consecutive episodes of “Brothers and Sisters” than even think about tip-tapping a single frigging word about hockey.
And to your credit, you let me get away with it. Don’t tell me you don’t notice it. Wings winning, doing well? We’re probably averaging four or five posts per day around here. After a loss, even one? Silence on the line bitches. And you guys just kind of patiently wait for me to get over it. I appreciate that.
After the last two times the Wings have played the Dive? I didn’t write anything for at least 48 hours after each game. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There’s just too much pain there. It hurts me too deeply to see the Wings lose to an inferior, garbage team like that. Now, I know for a fact that hits from Denver multiplied after each of those games. I used to be the guy who felt guilty when I didn’t write after a tough loss, partly because I spend so much time ripping those “fans” that I’d feel I had some sort of blogger’s obligation to post, to prove that I’m man enough to take it after dishing it out.
Well, I’m not. And I no longer pretend to be. Plus, I don’t do this for Dive fans. I don’t respect anyone who likes that team and I certainly don’t write for them.
Anyway. Not a concern. The Wings have won three in a row, look very good, and tonite will probably put a halt to many of the warm feelings BJ fans have built up over the last few weeks. So, why...when all indications are that plump kindergarten teachers are rubbing heads, smiling while they put us down for nappies after reading “Where the Wild Things Are” and telling us about going to Toby Tyler’s circus when the weather warms up...do we even mention bad thoughts on a day like today?
Because the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost like 66 games in a row. Holy Christ. That team is feeling it and man, so are those fans. But here’s my point. While the Pens continue to pretty much blow anything that crosses their path, the PensBlog girls and my fellow Chief Tony F at The Confluence just keep going.
Had the Wings lost to Florida 6-1, then the Rangers 4-0 last night, after getting spanked twice by a rival over the course of the last five days? I’d be buried so deep in a disgusting, feces-filled pit of self loathing and “writer’s block” that Paul would have to shut this bastard down.
I read the stuff over at Pb and Confluence and that’s all I think about. What if it were us?
PensBlog...after losing to NYR last night
Imagine trying to have sex with your girlfriend after a day where she lost her job, got into a car accident with an athiest that resulted in a puppy dying, Sex and the City got cancelled, and Oprah told every woman watching her show not to touch a man’s testicles for a week.
That’s the kind of challenge that awaited Orpik or Letang when they were setting up shop behind MAF in the third period.
There’s nothing wrong with having faith in your favorite sports team to overcome a deficit in the last segment of a game. If you had that same feeling in this third period, you are delusional.
You didn’t even really have to watch the third period.
You could have just went to your uncle’s house, went into his laundry room, and killed yourself.
Some people may find 85 percent of the words used there to be offensive. I don’t. I think it’s frigging art. Even more so because you just know those guys are typing with knives in their temples.
Don’t get me wrong. My sympathy for the fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins does not bubble from a deep well. But I do respect anyone who can continue to churn out quality stuff when a team you expected to be so good is sucking so very badly.
What else is there to say.
I took a few minutes to peruse my fellow Penguins blogger colleagues, and we’re all basically spent. There’s nothing new that can be said, it’s all been spewed over and over and over.
How long this can go on without some kind of change, whether that’s within the roster or on the coaching staff ??
Trade rumors are just that, I’ll believe it when I see it.
That’s from The Confluence. A brief obit following another loss. Probably took Tony about thirty seconds to type and post it. And pretty much, by about 100 percent, way more than I would have written from the bottom of a bottle.
What’s on tap for us today, eh? Well, we’re going to do another 3-year anniversary flashback. Yep. And we’re going to look around the Columbus blogging scene and see what kind of mean things they have to say about The Greatest Hockey Team On Earth, The One That Is A Dynasty Despite Gary’s Best Efforts To Keep Us Down But You Can’t You Little Troll So Eat It.
So tune in for that. Because if the Wings had lost to Minnesota Saturday? None of it would even be considered. You’d still be lopping comments on to a Live Blog that’s four days old.
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Comments
The Greatest Hockey Team On Earth, The One That Is A Dynasty Despite Gary’s Best Efforts To Keep Us Down But You Can’t You Little Troll So Eat It.
hahaha You Can Try To Take Our Team, But You Can’t Take Our Freedom Gary Ass Bitch Slap
Posted by yzer19man from Chicago on 01/06/09 at 07:11 AM ET
I’m more surprised that people are shocked by the Pens ‘fall’ this year than by the fall itself. They were never that great of a team, merely one with a couple great players that was able to float to the top of a pretty junky Conference.
They never get to the Finals without Hossa, and Hossa was a late pickup that they aren’t even going to remotely duplicate year over year… it’s just too expensive in terms of picks.
So, now they are essentially forever stuck with their stupid contracts to Malkin, Crosby and Fleury which make it fundamentally impossible for them to retain any real depth. They couldn’t keep Hossa, they can’t keep Staal… but oh yeah, they got Brooks freaking Orpik locked up for 3.75 per through 2014.
OF COURSE the team is going into the dumper.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 01/06/09 at 07:29 AM ET
I’ve been told my best posts (such as they are) come after the Hawks lose. I guess some of us are more articulate from an angry place.
Wow- you must have some really long strings of awesome posts.
Posted by monkey from Gary's World, setting fire to McCrimmon on 01/06/09 at 07:37 AM ET
Now I’ve never kept my feelings about Pittsburgh to myself, nor my feelings about their fans...(their miracle playoff run had them acting like they were the Mecca of hockey just a few short years after nearly losing their team due to lack of interest)...but there’s something wrong with the world when Pittsburgh is sitting just outside a playoff spot while the Phoenix Coyotes are currently holding one of the WC’s 8.
I’m hoping that the hockey gods set everything right before the season is over. I’m sure Gary could invoke some new rule that allows past year’s conference champs an auto bid into the playoffs if it means getting his baby boy into the post season again. It might be somewhat amusing to watch the Winged Wheel breeze past the Puppy Dogs from the Desert in the first round, but c’mon...we’d all rather see St. Louis or even Nashville turn it around and become Wing fodder in that first round.
right now Phoenix in, Pittsburgh out....really?
Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 01/06/09 at 08:26 AM ET
Chief,
You are so honest about your feelings. I respect you for that. Were all about emotion here. And thanks for your hatred for all things Dive and their fans (all 15), even though the rivalry is over. They deserve 10 years of mediocrity since they had a winner basically delivered to their doorstep. They need to have some hard times like all long time Red Wing fans remember.
Posted by Jeff from Loveland, CO on 01/06/09 at 08:31 AM ET
I’d be buried so deep in a disgusting, feces-filled pit of self loathing and “writer’s block” that Paul would have to shut this bastard down.
It puts the lotion on its skin…
Posted by rwingscup19 from Dallas on 01/06/09 at 09:23 AM ET
do we even mention bad thoughts on a day like today?
Not sure about the other of you 19, but the bad thoughts are always there. it’s part of the gray hair on my chin at 34 freaking years old. And well and truly, would the 97 Cup be as sweet as it still is without living through the games that are the stem of said bad thoughts?
How long this can go on without some kind of change, whether that’s within the roster or on the coaching staff ??
Heard that sort of stuff ‘round here this year.... once or like 500 times? We’ve all or almost all of us have been on that soapbox this season. Not sticking up for the girls at PB by ANY means, just kinda sayin’.
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 01/06/09 at 10:15 AM ET
I have a history of throwing and breaking things during painful Wing losses. I had a two-week old coffee table from Ikea that suffered a season-ending injury after my remote control (sorry Comcast) was pounded through the top layer when the Wings blew that 3rd period lead to Pittsburgh this year. And that’s regular season. My gf will not watch playoff hockey with me. I have lost 3 coffee tables to Wings rage, 1 remote control, and have learned to patch drywall.
Posted by PDXWing on 01/06/09 at 01:39 PM ET
I have a history of throwing and breaking things during painful Wing losses.
I’m with you on the rage thing, PDX...or at least I was until about mid-November this season. Then it hit me. Why am I getting so bent out of shape about this team in this particular season? After all, this is not the Wings team of the future (at least the next five years or so of its future).
Hossa? He’s gone next year. Mule? If the cap doesn’t go up quite a bit, he’s probably gone too. Cheli? Gone. Conck? Almost surely gone.
Next season’s Wings are the team we’re going to have to live with for quite a while. If they suck, well, then the coffee table, the remote and the TV itself are all back in jeopardy. As for this year, I’m just enjoying the good times and ignoring the bad because, after all, those bad times aren’t the result of the real Red Wings. That team won’t make it’s appearance for another nine months.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 01/06/09 at 02:50 PM ET
Whoa I think I just found a hockey snob… or better yet a hockey knob.
Get off your high horse brah.
Posted by Whoa on 01/06/09 at 03:51 PM ET
Get off your high horse brah.
“Brah”? Seriously?
And I’m a Wing fan..."Brah." I fu**ing live on a high horse.
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 01/06/09 at 04:40 PM ET
Hot to detect a Douche.
1. Uses the term “Brah” sincerely and not when cynically poking fun at someone who uses the term “Brah”.
Posted by RWBill from jabbing a six inch sewing needle into my eye. on 01/06/09 at 05:44 PM ET
OBTW, The Bro Code forbids a Bro from calling another Bro, “Brah”
signed, Barney Stinson.
Posted by RWBill from jabbing a six inch sewing needle into my eye. on 01/06/09 at 05:52 PM ET
One way or another, Bill, we can’t let “Brah” slip away. This will have to be brought up again and again.
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 01/06/09 at 06:05 PM ET
“Brah”?
I just had a bad Hawaiian flashback.
Posted by Rumbear from the den.... on 01/06/09 at 06:26 PM ET
Every year, the months of December, January, and February I dread because the Wings have historically sucked up the joint during one of those months. It costs us points sometimes and even our Central Division ranking. Like last year in February when four of our six defensemen went down with injuries and the Wings lost six of the next seven games. Or in December 2001 with that Constellation of a lineup, the Wings couldn’t string together a decent point streak but sure as hell caused a lot of grief losing seven of nine games (I think) for that month.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 01/06/09 at 06:34 PM ET
“Brah?”
WTF???
I windsurf once in a while and even I don’t call another surfer, “Brah.”
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 01/06/09 at 06:36 PM ET
“Brah”
In all cases, something to be removed.
Posted by Nate A from Dark side of the moon on 01/06/09 at 06:46 PM ET
Like last year in February when four of our six defensemen went down with injuries and the Wings lost six of the next seven games.
Yeah, that was a fun month around the olde Hasek.... alcohol consumption soared & sacrificing small animals became a favorite past time. Spent an entire month curled up in the fetal position in the right rear corner of the Hasek. Those were the days.....
Posted by Rumbear from the den.... on 01/06/09 at 06:49 PM ET
10. brah
Another word for bro.
Popularized by Duane “Dog” Chapman from Dog the Bounty Hunter and parodied by Eric Cartman in South Park
Posted by HockeyTownTodd from upset when blogs dont live up to my expectations on 01/06/09 at 06:51 PM ET
It might be somewhat amusing to watch the Winged Wheel breeze past the Puppy Dogs from the Desert in the first round, but c’mon...we’d all rather see St. Louis or even Nashville turn it around and become Wing fodder in that first round.
right now Phoenix in, Pittsburgh out....really?
AnimalDrew take it back. Take it back right now. Never, ever take a first round win for granted! This club has lost in the first round far too many times. 2006, Oilers; 2003, ducks; 2001, effin KINGS; 1994, sharks; and 1991, StL JV. That’s five times in less than 20 years. So over 25% of the time this team tanked in the first round.
So again, AnimalDrew, TAKE IT BACK!
Posted by CaptainDennisPolonich from Mojitoville on 01/06/09 at 07:33 PM ET
“Hot to detect a douche”???
How is it that a good team like the Wings has such classless fans (and bloggers)? Oh, cause Michigan is rapidly turning into a third-world country. I’d be pissed and nuts if I live there too.
Posted by Jeffrey Beaumont on 01/06/09 at 07:34 PM ET
I love people who pick at typos, and then use bad grammar themselves.
In the end all that matters is you understood what they were saying. So who freaking cares.
Posted by Wings for President on 01/06/09 at 10:15 PM ET
How is it that a good team like the Wings has such classless fans (and bloggers)? Oh, cause Michigan is rapidly turning into a third-world country. I’d be pissed and nuts if I live there too.
I wouldn’t be so excited to bash Michigan for its economic troubles… it has been a pretty good indicator for what the rest of the country can expect to experience six to twelve months down the line. The better we do, the better the country will do. But then again, that’s pretty much true of every state.
By the way, your comment is real classy in itself. Think before you speak, it’d do you well.
Posted by Nathan on 01/07/09 at 09:13 AM ET
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I’ve been told my best posts (such as they are) come after the Hawks lose. I guess some of us are more articulate from an angry place.
Posted by Forklift on 01/06/09 at 06:44 AM ET