A lot has been happening lately, and I just haven't been able to sit down and blog anything of note. This may still not count as "of note," but then, I'm not so much in this for you as for me. ;-)
The CupLet's start with The Cup. I'll not discuss it's dented-and-repaired adventures of late, except to say that the caretaker dude must have just about had a heart attack when he saw the ding. Chelios, take more care, eh!?
This was touted as experience versus youth, and it was. I think it was rightly compared to the 1983 series in which an insanely skilled young Edmonton team was crushed by the last great
streak-dynasty, the NY Islanders, taking their fourth Cup in as many years. Interestingly, the Islanders were back in '84 against the Oilers... and took 4 in the head with only 1 shot back as the Oilers, hungry and now-blooded, handed them their heads with a combined goal total of 21 to 12. If Pittsburgh comes back next year, I think the nerves will be gone and whoever they face is going to have a real tiger on their hands.
As for Detroit, well, same comments as before: they stifled offense and refused to be stifled on their end. Someone, unfairly (I think), criticized the series as a "fathers-and-sons" game - the Wings just seemed bigger, stronger, faster, meaner and, most importantly, more ever-present! I'd look at the screen and just see a cloud of red jerseys around one or two black ones - the puck would move, and the cloud would break and re-form. Every shot seemed to be picked up by a Wing (and did you
see the shot totals? 222-142 for the Wings, including 58-32 in the 3OT game!). It wasn't that Pitt "didn't show up" - it was that they were out-muscled, out-played and out-matched at every turn, plain and simple.
Let's see how it goes next season, though... ;-)
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BaseballYes, baseball season has started again. Once again, The Kat and I have two teams under our belts, but with our request to NOT play double-headers, that means that we have games on 37 of a possible 47 playing nights between May 21 and mid-August. Yay.
The older team, the Phantoms (ages 10-12) started out with 2 good victories, but have lost the last 3 or 4 games. They just don't seem to have the defensive kick yet - pretty good offense, but they can't hold the field when they're out on defense. Unless I've missed a game's count somewhere (and that
has happened...), in our games so far we have about 60 runs for and just over 60 runs against - most of the games we lost have been by one run, with the exception of one 20-10 blowout. Hopefully we'll be able to have a practice on Saturday to go over some of the problem areas we've seen so far.
The younger team, the Sharks (ages 7-9) are a headache in a bottle. Three members of the team have specific visible difficulties - most of the others are quiet in a game that really requires a player to be aggressively "present" as they play. The team hasn't won a game yet... so we look for "small victories".
Small victories include...
- a weaker player, playing a close-in position, picking up the ball and running to touch home with it - he didn't make the out, but that was the play and he did it!
- a throw making it all the way to first base from somewhere in the field, usually from a player whose arm I wouldn't ordinarily trust
- tag-outs (they require you to pay attention!)
- knock-downs (i.e. a ground ball is stopped (not necessarily caught) rather than being allowed to roll into the field)
- hits in fair territory (more of a victory than you might imagine!)
If we get some "real" victories during this season, they'll all be pretty precious. Right now, we're just concentrating on the little ones!
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Track & FieldDarth Daughter made it to the Regional Finals for T&F again this year - as you may recall, the sport of Softball Throw has replaced Shot Put until they get to high school. At her school meet a couple of weeks ago, DD threw the ball so far that other girls in her grade couldn't get it to
roll to where her throw hit the ground for the first time! At the District meet last week, she was measured at 29.21 metres, almost 3m farther than the next-longest throw. Unfortunately, the Regionals got rained out today, and we're hoping that they will go tomorrow or Thursday. Last year, she brought home bronze - we'll see if she can improve on that this year!
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Computer WoesTwo years ago, I received a new computer for work, an ASUS laptop that was intended to be taken just about everywhere and, indeed, has been. Within the first week, it started "grinding" occasionally - working slowly, with no apparent reason. Every once in a while, I would have to hold down the power button to turn it off, then restart whatever it had been doing. Over the last few months, this became more and more frequent, however, though when I was in Toronto for a week in mid-May, it let me get through what I needed to do.
On Thursday, it locked up completely. Programs won't run, nothing will happen, and even the relatively simple act of asking it to shut down resulted in a freeze. Luckily, all of my working files had been backed up on an online storage site, and when I switched to the "old" laptop, I was able to call one critical file up and restore it here (yay!!!!!). I think the church's tech guru is just going to wipe it and start over (I hope!), but that's the first real 'crash' I've had in a long time. Pity it was a shop-build from a shop that is now closed!
With no newcomers eligible this year, the Hockey Hall of Fame could induct some previously overlooked players tomorrow. There are a couple of former Maple Leafs that should be considered.
