Arrrrrre You REEEEAADDDYYYYYYY???!!!!

cartoon by Kurt Snibbe

‘Nuff said.

2009 Eastern Conference Champs!

’20090506-IMG_2634′ courtesy of ‘avanluven’

And well-deserved. Back in February, who would’ve thought this Penguin team would be repeat contenders for the Stanley Cup? I’ll admit I had my doubts, but I was pretty confident the Penguins would go far.

And far they did.

Not bad for a team whose mascot is a flightless bird.

Storm Warning

‘On The Ice’ courtesy of ‘brookeBAMF’

I really, really wanted to do up a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals between the sixth seed Carolina Hurricanes and those pesky upstart fourth-seeded Penguins. Especially since Game 1 opens tonight at the Igloo.

Alas, I don’t have the time.

I realize many people don’t know the extent of how stretched I am, so here it all is in a nutshell. I hope to expand on this in the coming days as I have time.

1.) Working on corralling 3 different projects for CGL’s BattleTech line, learning how to do the ‘development’ thing on the fly. It’s not easy. As such, Turning Points: Sian is on ‘hold,’ but the good news is it’s on the last turn anyway, so once the logjam is cleared it’ll be quick to cross the finish line.

2.) Working on an outline for one, and possibly two, books that look at the gaming industry – electronic and other. I was approached by an editor for this by the recommendation from a former co-worker; it’s still a nebulous project in the works but I should have something solid by the end of the week.

3.) Job hunting. Still. Few nibbles, but I’m still optimistic. I’m just now getting rejection notices from jobs I applied to back in March, which confirms that many HR departments are just overloaded at the moment.

4.) DC blogging. But I’ve got to tone down my pace here, as it’s non-paying work and taking up some valuable time at the moment. (See no’s. 1&2.)

5.) Visitations. And no, not from outer space. We’ve had many friends and some family visiting us for various reasons, which is awesome.

Oh, and Penguins hockey.

Anyway, just a large jumble of stuff going on. Best way at the moment to get ahold of me is either email or phone, for those of you special enough to have such access points. All others? Well, I’ll be back soon enough.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, here’s a quick summary of the Canes/Pens series: Canes are lesser opponent than Philly and Caps. Pens in six, including a 3-1 lead that they blow in Game 5 and let the Canes win before shutting them down in Game 6. And at least one overtime game. Hey, I’ve been (mostly) right so far…

Cry Me (Three) Rivers, Teddy…

Caps owner – and, coincidentally, the single person in the Caps organization I do not like – Ted Leonsis bitched today in his blog about the back-to-back games between Game 4 (tonight in Pittsburgh) and Game 5 (tomorrow in DC).

“It is a shame that both teams will have to play back to back games … because the Pittsburgh building — against NHL rules — booked a series of concerts and forced the league to alter the playoff schedule,” Leonsis wrote recently on his blog, Ted’s Take. “This is bad for the league, both fan bases and for the players.

“The playoffs are very intense and physical and players need time to recoup. No one is advantaged by playing back to back games so no one can complain but it is unfortunate that the Yanni concert takes precedence over high quality NHL playoff hockey.” (from ESPN)

You know what, Teddy? Cry me a frikkin’ river or three. You screwed us Virginia-based Penguins fans out of buying playoff tickets in your beloved Verizon Center by telling your sales people to not sell tickets to Pittsburgh area codes, nor to those DC-area hockey fans who have a history of buying (predominately) Pens / Caps tickets in DC (like me). You don’t want my dollar? Fine. But quit your sniveling and “smack” talk – leave that to Ovechkin, who has earned the right to do it. You come off as a whiny little kid and are on the road to Dan Synder-ism.

We all know you’re just aching to see the Caps beat the Pens in playoff action. We all know you’re totally biased against all things Pittsburgh hockey related. So just shut it already. Let your team talk for you, and take a page from Mario’s ownership handbook:

Be a silent partner.

Eastern Conference Semifinals: Capitals vs. Penguins

‘Ovechkin and Malkin, Friends at Last, Friends at Last’ courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

[Note: Normally I don't cross-post from my stuff at WeLoveDC. But I'm in a bind today, writing-wise, and while I'd like to have a more Penguins-centric and snarky article dissing the Caps, I'm going to instead opt to just reprint my article from WLDC instead. It's close to what I wanted to say anyway, so...

I will say here, though, that I'm glad that all these games are national coverage. Despite my disdain for NBC and Versus coverage and commentary, I loathe Comcast's Caps broadcast team even more, because Joe Laughlin makes me want to scream. Joe, btw - it's MALL-kin, *not* MAAL-kin. Freakin' do your research.

If, however, Comcast flexes its blackout rules and forces me to watch the games with the bumble-twins, don't expect me to be in a good mood the morning after a game. Just sayin'. -BHR]

I’m in hockey nirvana.

When the NHL playoffs were finally set, one of the first things many fans here and in Pennsylvania did was figure out when and if the Capitals would actually face the Pittsburgh Penguins during hockey’s “second season.” It was a bit convoluted to work around, since both teams were highly seeded, and it looked – for about a week – that this year wouldn’t see the match-up we all secretly wanted, and dreaded. But then the Caps figured out they were actually in the playoffs and executed a very stressful and tense comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to stuff the Rangers.

And when Carolina shocked New Jersey with two quick goals in the last two minutes of their own Game 7, it was as if the hockey planets aligned. The match-up the NHL slobbered for had arrived.

Penguins. Capitals. Stanley Cup Semifinals.

And it promises to be one extremely wild, crazy, emotional ride for both cities. Find out why after the jump.