Ginger Defense League

GAME SEVENS FOR ALL OUR TEAMS!  We’re supposed to love it, right?  This is what sports are all about?

Classy ladies

YES. PUNCHING.  I will see you guys tonight.  For additional inspiration, enjoy this video – and Sid’s beard, which I really do love this year.

I’ll be over here practicing for later.

Worse than the total agony of being in love?

We’re almost there again.  The gut-wrenching, screaming-into-a-pillow, obsecenity-laden euphoria and destruction of the post-season.

In past years, the NHL has come up with some great commercials to capture this emotional meteor shower.

Granted these are for the Cup final, but I’ve been moved and inspired.  I’ve been fired up.

And I’ve wept like that time Professor McGonagall stepped between Harry and Voldemort in Deathly Hallows.

@Raedanda found these, the NHL’s first playoff commercials for teams that have clinched berths this year.  I have to say… BLEH.

I love a good montage, but these are doing nothing for me.  Not the Penguins, or the Toews/Kane bromance.

Not Foxy Friday Carey Price, not even Corey Perry’s overturned turtle goal-slide celebration.

I need blood and sweat, I need lowlights that I suffered through while my teams paid for their playoff berths in pounds of flesh.  I need feels.

Meh.  I am a hundred times more excited and terrified than these commercials let on.  Here’s hoping for better as this shortstop season draws to an end…

He’s too busy to fix his hair for interviews.

NOPE.  It’ll be a sad, scoreless day in the ‘Burgh before Nealer doesn’t care about his flow.

This .gif is even better for it’s choppiness – it’s like he performs a magic trick and doubles the amount of hair with the wave of his hand.

A wonderful person even filmed it off their TV so you wouldn’t miss out: link.

The Pens won their 7th game of the season, putting them atop the Eastern Conference with 14 points.  Look at these two – James is mesmerized by Kris, Kris is mesmerized by what I can only imagine is Sid off-camera, nose stuffed full of bloody cotton from a puck to the face, but still.  They’re so googly-eyed they can’t even high-five.

Nealmobile was 1st Star of the game.  Here he is being borrrrrrrrrring in a snuggly sweatshirt on NHL Tonight [link].

Read more about James’ recent success and how he honed that wicked shot from the Ellwood City Ledger.  Frankly there is a limit to the number of times I can hear “stick” or “slot” without giggling.

Pens vs. Caps – Round 2 tomorrow night in Pittsburgh, on NHL Network.

You know where I’ll be.

]]> http://whatsupyasieve.com/2013/02/06/some-nights/feed/ 2 http://whatsupyasieve.com/2012/06/25/big-weekend/ http://whatsupyasieve.com/2012/06/25/big-weekend/#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:01:16 +0000 http://wuys.wpengine.com/?p=11111 You know those movies where every single thing happens in one day and you’re thinking, “Right, who ever has a day like that?”

Then in the middle of this:

This happens:

The trade was tempered by news on Wednesday that Jordan turned down a 10-year, $60 million deal with the Penguins.  He had one year left on his contract, and without a long-term lockup it appeared he was packing his bags.

Still when Shero announced the trade at the draft, I had one of these moments:

The move makes sense – Jordan wants an expanded role and had a career season (25G, 25A) to set himself up.  But with Crosby (hopefully) back full time and the Malkin-Neal chemistry boiling over, Jordan’s ice time can only go down.  So Carolina becomes Team Staal.

Intern Jeff Skinner knows we’ll finally visit now, and he thinks we’re jerks.

(From from ohaicarolina.tumblr.com)

Losing Jordan seems like a crazy detriment to the Pens grit and heart, but Ray Shero has proven many times that he’s right and we should shut up and watch. In exchange for Jordan, the Pens got Brandon Sutter, a very well-suited third line center, defensive prospect Brian Dumoulin and the #8 overall pick (used on dman Derrick Pouliot).

(Buy this here.)

Guys get embarrassed when I cry in front of the whole class, so the Penguins sent photos from Jordan’s wedding to soften the impact of the trade.

To make me laugh, Sid continued with the ludicrous charade of trying to fit his paws into tiny pockets.   

Neal wanted me to feel better, so he existed (mullet and all).

 These two together.  James hates buttons and Crosby is scared of girls – I think this cheer-up campaign is working.

The moral of the story is: get invited to the next Penguins wedding.  Fleury, maybe?  Or Letang, now that he’s going to be a dad?  Maybe if we’re really lucky, the Penguins will sign someone new just in time for his wedding this summer…

It won’t even matter what we wear, because no way we’re the best looking people at the party.

There are lots of photos on Tumblr – looks like everyone had fun.  Congratulations to Jordan all around.  I won’t even be bitter, since the Canes come to DC more often then the Pens, and Raleigh is 30 miles closer to my house than Pittsburgh.  And, of course, there will always be this:

Derpy needs a drink after this game!

Knuble finesses this one in. Masterfully.

And what a weekend for TBG. Saturday he gets his beautiful face shoved in the stations ala Max P. but thank god he was OK. Then he has a beauty of a goal against Dallas to help the Kings win a knuckle biter against their division rivals that went down to the wire too! Dallas ties it with less than 40 seconds to go and the Kings come back with a grinder that Handzus smacks in seconds later. Two points and that puts LA in fourth. Being the eternal optimist, I’m hoping they can stay in play-off contention.

Oh and Pittsburg played. They won. But what was really important, Letang played. Three games: Ovi, TBG and Letang; a trifecta of hockey gods. Sleep well my friends. I will.

Is it Sunday yet?

I’m calling this Sunday’s showdown of Penguins vs Capitals NBC’s Fistfest-o-Rama 2011. Because with the punchfest the Penguins are on, I suspect it will continue well into Sunday. And I for one, can’t wait! I am even hoping that Mike Milbury will drop Piere Macguire during the first intermission so we won’t have to listen to him babble on incessantly! This video goes back to December 2006! I pulled it for Cassy because Brooksy kicks some BUTT! But it’s a massive brawl!

My only hope is that Ovi will at least wait until the third period to get ejected because the last time he went out in the first two minutes NBC’s rating dropped faster than Hugh Hefner’s erection without Cialis. I only wonder, does dry humping Kris Letang count as a penalty? Because let’s all be honest here, WE’D ALL BE GUILTY and that’s worth two in the box for the thrill alone (that bucket of ice is there for a REASON) and there’d be a line out the door!

I am coming for you Kris

Another question I have, will the Penguins take their limited edition Barbie Sid out of the box and finally play him against the team that put him on the injured reserve in the first place? oohhhhhh …. chills. Will Cookie do Sid’s dirty work? If I were Steckle, I’d paint eyes on the back of my head just in case. And the Caps better play DJ King to be safe.

call me a barbie one more time ... and i'll, i'll tickle you with my finger

Maybe I’m making more of this than need be. Maybe absolutely nothing will happen. But I’m hoping SOMETHING, ANYTHING does. Because this is one of my favoritest match ups of the year.

come a little closer so I can see you better

While Cookie took a dive after a tap from DiPietro, Johnston called DiPietro out and then the fireworks began!

 And this was a real grown up, punch throwing, John Wayne, big-boy, throw-down Pilgrim and poor Rick DiPietro got the worst of it! One punch from Brent Johnson and DiPietro dropped like Ovi on Kris Letang on a Sunday morning! The best part was seeing The Flower about to pee his drawers when Johnson skated off the ice! Because you know Flower would never dust-up his mug. He uses his mouth, not his fists.

kris letang's slap shot off hiller's mask

So here are my highlights and lowlights of the ASG weekend in no particular order:

1. Only in Canada would they NOT go to the All Star Game because the Grand-Slam of Curling is going into Over Time. Leaving me running around the house in a panic while a large rock slowly drifts down a long runway while a bunch of men rub brushes in front of it.

2. Jonathan Towes is a bit of a gash. Sorry Pants. This weekend only made me dislike him more. He’s a bit a cry-baby. And I think his team mates think so too. Which is why they did what they did.

3. On the other hand, Jeff Skinner made like the Grinch and STOLE THE ASG weekend! At 18 years old he showed poise, sportsmanship and a knock out smile. Watch out for this one!

4. The CBC mic’d up Eric Staal the whole game. All I can say is, next year, please put this game on HBO and mic up Fleury because you know Fleury was talking smack all first period. Micing up E. Staal is like micing up Ned Flanders or a bowl of vanilla ice cream, only vanilla ice cream doesn’t scream like a girl, totes seriously. My cats were really upset during the game.

oh gosh ...golly ... I gotta go get that .. acckk!

please don't insult me with that comparison

6.Danny Briere. Now I don’t like him – AT ALL. And initially I didn’t think he should be there. But after the CBC interviewed him and his three kids, I’ve done a 180. When they asked his son what was the best part of the weekend, his son said, “Spending time with my dad.” Danny seemed to really need to be there more for his kids’ sake then his ego and watching his son give the interview, Danny seemed on the verge of tears. Strange family dynamics going on there but he obviously really cares about his kids and it meant alot to him to have them there. Total Hallmark moment.

7. The CBC interviewing Fleury about his chat with Ovi after Ovi scored on him in the breakaway challenge. One thing you have to love CBC interviews is there are never any warm up questions. They cut to the chase. So when Scott Oakes opens the interview with Fleury saying, “So obviously this isn’t the first time Ovi has scored on you.”  Nice. Way to warm him up. Awkward. Then he continues asking about the intense rivalry between The Caps and The Penguins and what would they have to talk about. So Fleury just replies, ” I try to remain civil, you know, not throw my stick at him.” with a big smile. Way to make Scott Oakes go away.

what is happening to me? two penguins in a post?

9. Mike Green a.k.a. Where’s Waldo? When ever the CBC showed Ovi you got a shot of Kris Letang, which for me, was AWESOME. I already did a post on the best thing that came out of the ASG! I expected to see Mike Green but I got KL. But like, where did Mike Green go? Did he and Ovi have a fight? Was Greenie upset because he got ditched for Kris? Can I blame Ovi?

10. The BEST COMMENT FROM AN ANNOUNCER ON A GOAL EVER: When Briere made his second goal: “BRIERE JUST WENT UPSTAIRS WHERE NORMAN KEEPS HIS MOTHER!”