Generik's Tap: Sports

The Champions!!!!!

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:53:48 GMT

Thanks for a great year Red Wings!!!

This is one of my dogs, Draper, named after a Red Wings player. I had to share this after I took it this morning and thought lasers were shooting out of his eyes.

Let the Octopi Fly

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:08:12 GMT

Tonight is Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals in which the Red Wings have an almost insurmountable 3 games to 1 lead in the series. Only once in the history of the NHL has a team come back from a 3-1 deficit and I am going to say that this isn't going to be a repeat of that kind of history. In fact, I think tonight anyone who tunes into the game on NBC will get a chance to see the Red Wings hoist the cup for the 4th time since 1997. There is another matter of history that is worth mentioning here. In the previous 3 Stanley Cup Finals appearances, the Red Wings have won every time they had a chance to close out the series. Tonight they are playing at home, the Stanley Cup will be in the building and I don't see any result other then the team skating off the ice with the cup in hand. The only question, what to drink during the game? Is it finally time to crack that bottle of 3 Floyd's Behemoth? By name alone, it seems appropriate. Of course I could stick with my homebrewed Amarillo Red which was brewed specifically to gear up for these playoffs and has thus far served my superstitions well. The tough decisions we must make, eh?

I am going to get this NHL bombshell out now as well, but it appears that the Hockey Gods have smiled upon us all and are going to give us the gift of an outdoor game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Featuring the Detroit Red Wings vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, two of the most bitter rivals in the NHL, playing in the friendly confines in January. I'll be there if I have to shoot my way in. Anyway, here is an article my dad forwarded to me:

Report: Chicago Blackhawks to play Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field

By Chris Kuc | Tribune reporter

4:59 PM CDT, May 29, 2008

The Blackhawks are expected to make Wrigley Field their own "Friendly Confines" in January when they host the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL's second outdoor Winter Classic, according to a report by Comcast SportsNet.
The official announcement will come from the NHL and isn't expected until next week, but Comcast SportsNet reported the game pitting the rival Original Six franchises at Wrigley is a go.
A spokesman for the Hawks said nothing is official and the organization is awaiting word from the NHL. Team President John McDonough has been openly campaigning for the game, which was held at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium on New Year's Day before a league-record crowd of 71,217.
Yankee Stadium, which is closing this year in favor of a new stadium, had been the favorite to host the game as its last official event, but NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said recently the venue had a "variety of issues" and that made a game in Chicago more likely.

McDonough, who was the Cubs' president before joining the Hawks, said he didn't care which Chicago venue held the event as long as it was played in the city.
"First and foremost, if the NHL deemed that the Blackhawks were to get it, we would just like to have it in Chicago," McDonough said recently. "I'm sure there are few locations that are viable.
"I have great respect for the commissioner and all the people who are working on this. We've demonstrated our interest and I think anything they are going to come back with is going to be more than fair."
ckuc@tribune.com

Hockey AND Football news in May?

Tue, 20 May 2008 20:40:12 GMT

My Red Wings finally shut down the Stars last night to end the series and win the Western Conference for the 4th time in 11 years. The previous three trips to the finals have resulted in a 12-1 record and 3 Stanley Cups. With luck, they will be hoisting the cup shortly.

But more interesting for you local readers. Indy is hosting the 2012 SUPERBOWL! I am sure this means we can look forward to a lot of changes all over town as the city gears up to present it's best to the national spotlight. I know many people were not interested in publically funding the new Lucas Oil Stadium. I have been kind of 50-50 on the idea myself. But if by 2012 this city is really transforming, I will have to say it may just have been all worth it.

The streak is over

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:54:07 GMT

The Red Wings streak of 9 consecutive playoff victories was ended last night in Dallas. Stars 3 - Wings 1. Usually I try to avoid pissing and moaning about one game, especially when my team is 1 victory away from the Stanley Cup Finals. But it is really tough to win a game when your opponent has a sixth man on the ice.. one that happens to be wearing the striped jersey. Last night the Red Wings scored first and the goal was waved off by the official. The reasoning given was that Tomas Holmstrom was interfering with the goalie and was in the crease. For the uninitiated, the crease is the small painted area directly in front of the goal. Well video replay showed explicitly that there was no interference at all and the announcers were even befuddled about how that call could be made. Unfortunately the NHL does not allow booth replays on that call, so what should have been a 1-0 lead reverts back to 0-0.

Later on in the second period a hard shot by Pavel Datsyuk was dropped by the Stars goalie and Datsyuk was shoved and went sliding into the goalie. Puck goes into the net and once again the referee waves the goal off. Again by the magic of video replay, we at home get to see that the puck was loose and slid under the goalie into the net. I am reasonable though, and will let this slide as probably 70% of the time the ref would have blown the play dead when he lost sight of the puck.

In the end though, that's at least 1 goal that was robbed from the scoreboard, and potentially 2. The Wings with any type of lead at all become lethal to the opposition. They are one of the very best defensive teams in the NHL right now and can hold on to a lead better then probably any other team. The never got to play with a lead last night thanks solely to the help the referees gave the Stars. Pretty frustrating to me, because all in all, the Wings really played well last night. Definitely well enough to win.

There is a silver lining to this rant. Game 5 moves back to Detroit. Every extra game played is more money the team makes from ticket sales, concession sales, advertising, etc. The more money the team makes, the more money Mike Illitch, the owner of the Red Wings and Tigers, has to spend to ensure the team can keep the roster stocked with elite players. And I always like the idea of closing out a series in front of the home fans. Especially when the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl will be awarded to the Western Conference Champions.

Hang on to the octopus honey.. there's always next game.

Dead Wings 2 - Predators 3

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:58:01 GMT

I have to admit first and foremost that I took a pass on watching this game to instead play Call of Duty 4 online with some friends. That would probably be the first time I have ever willing skipped watching a Wings playoff game when I was free to sit and view it. Why would I do this? Mainly because of how sloppy they played in the final 5 minutes of game 3. Mainly because I am tired of watching them dominate the majority of a game but give up multiple goals in very short spurts. So what happened last night.. I don't know for sure but I read there was a 2 goal outburst by the Predators in a 39 seconds span. That means in the past 3 games of the series, each game has featured a 1 minute span where the Predators have scored twice. In the first 2 games, the predators had a series of quick back to back goals in a roughly 2 minute span. I find that pretty frakkin (To borrow from Battlestar Galactica lingo) annoying to see happening game after game come playoff time.

On a positive, I read Dominik Hasek was chased from net and apparently Chris Osgood stopped every shot he faced. Maybe he will get a deserved start in game 5 tomorrow night back in Detroit.

On a real positive, I drank a Three Floyd's Alpha King last night. Never a bad decision.

Red Wings 3 - Predators 5

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:11:23 GMT

This game turned sour in a hurry. After dominating for much of the game, the Red Wings utterly collapsed at the end of the 3rd period. Well, some credit needs to go to the Predators as well, they upped the level of their play in the closing minutes with the Wings nursing a 1 goal lead. With just under 4 minutes to play, the Wings were playing defensive hockey and somehow one of the Nashville defensemen got a mundane shot to go past Hasek. Game tied. Annoying enough to me but to truly salt the wound was the winning goal scored 9 seconds later. This is the second game in a row that the Wings have allowed the Predators to score 2 goals just seconds apart. Add in an empty net goal in the final minute and you get the 5 - 3 score. Bitterly disappointing game to see the better team put it in cruise control at the end and then take a nap behind the wheel.

Red Wings 4 - Predators 2

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:37:22 GMT

Up 2 games in the best of 7 series go the Wings as the travel to Nashville for game 3 Monday night. I went over to my friend Mike's house to watch the game and drink some beers and we had a great time. Wings looked great with the exception of a 20 second period when they let in 2 goals. The first was a fluke goal, Dominik Hasek went behind the net to stop the puck and it instead bounced off the wall and zoomed right back in front of the net were one of the Predators was coming in. Wide open net from about 7 feet means goal every time in the NHL. Then somehow the Wings seemed to shut down on the ensuing face off and the Predators raced right down the ice and put a puck past the Dominator to tie the game at 2.

It didn't take long for the Wings to regain the lead with a goal by Kris Draper, who our dog is named after by the way, and one more goal a little later sealed the deal. I have read a few predictions that this series would go 5 games with the Wings winning, but right now I really don't know that this isn't going to be a series sweep. As fun as a sweep is, it usually spells doom for the Wings in the playoffs as they wait for a while to get the next round started and all that momentum just slowly dies away.

After the game was over, Mike and I went out to Broad Ripple and I think we hit every bar. I way over did it and was hurting this morning, and in actuality am still feeling real sluggish. Started out at the Brugge Brasserie and tried the Tripel de Ripple, which is an awesome brew, but it seemed to have a bit of a boozy flavor that I don't recall in the past. Regardless, great stuff. After that moved on to the Black and was rewarded with an outstanding beer. I mentioned early last week that I tried the Black at Badaboomz and thought it tasted a bit sour and watery. Not so at the Brugge. This beer actually tasted like it was oak aged last night. Wonderful stuff. After that we hit a ton of other places with the highlight being Chumley's in my mind. Had some good beers there such as Crooked Tree IPA from Michigan and I think a Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. Of course most everyone I saw was getting pours from the Macro taps.. such a shame.

NHL Playoffs are starting

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:13:29 GMT

Will you be watching? You may have noticed the tweak to the site banner. I am a big time Detroit Red Wings fan, going so far to name both of my dogs after Red Wings players. Well another regular season has passed and another President's trophy has been awarded to the Red Wings for having the best record in the regular season. Unfortunately in the recent past, that hasn't translated to great success in the playoffs. The Wings did get to the conference finals last year, and I think were a better team then the Anaheim Ducks, but some bounces went the other way. Them is the breaks.

I will assuredly be keeping you posted on how the Wings do in the coming days, and hopefully weeks. In the meantime, I leave you with some pics of my office at work.

And yes, that is a pair of Bawlz on top of my desk....

Superbowl

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:40:59 GMT

As a Colts fan, nothing amuses me more then the results of last nights game. I mean to be on the verge of the ultimate season.. perfection. A loftier perfection then even the 1972 Dolphins by virtue of the expanded regular season.. and have it all ripped away with 35 seconds to go. HAHA I think I almost heard the collective cries of New England from here. That whole fanbase that had started celebrating sometime last week for the most part. Already assumed the 19-0 moniker would be theirs and theirs alone. Wow.. I have to say.. I am much happier to see the Colts take a few losses in the regular season, even get bounced early in the playoffs then go 18-0 and not finish with the title.

I wonder if New England is now starting to have nightmares about facing a Manning in the Playoffs? 2 straight years their hopes were dashed by one of the Manning brothers. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

NFL Playoffs

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:38:48 GMT

Well this weekend couldn't have been worse for me in terms of how the NFL playoff games went down. For one thing, I despise the Patriots and would love to see them fall on their face, but apparently nobody can give them a full 60 minute game this year. Then to add insult to injury, the Packers, my second favorite team behind the Colts, lose in overtime last night to the Giants. At this rate I don't even know if I will bother watching the Superbowl. It's bad enough in Major League Baseball that we get the NY Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox rivalry crammed down our throat.. but now the Superbowl will be a new twist of Boston vs. New York... sigh.

There is only one potential ray of hope here for this. I read this opinion earlier today that while the Patriots are trying to go 19-0 to cap the first and only undefeated season in the NFL since expanding to 16 games in the regular season, the Giants can now play to restore bragging rights to NY for the Yankees collapse to the Red Sox in 2004 after being up 3-0 in that playoff series. The karmic irony is not lost on me here. This is a Giants team that many had written off at various points of the season. But they are red hot right now, and what I have seen them do so far in the playoffs has been impressive. I still don't know if I will make it a point to watch the whole game, but I will at least be keeping in touch with the score off and on. Nothing would be sweeter in my mind then to see the Patriots go 18-1.. one can dream, eh?