-- Well, the Blues still can't score, but at leastLars Eller had himself a nice debut, eh? Eller became the twelfth player in St. Louis Blues' history to score in his debut game, as he put in a game-tying, power play goal in the third period. (Well, I say he put the goal in; technically, the puck just sort of bounced off him, but hey, that's the way hockey works.) So congratulations to Mr. Eller on his first NHL goal.
As for the rest of the team, I'm going to have to hold off on the kudos until they actually start scoring some frigging goals. Especially at home, where they've lost seven out of eight. At the beginning of the season, looking at the schedule, I thought the Blues might have a chance to get off to a fast start, given such a large percentage of their games were in the Lou to begin with. Turns out it may have been the worst thing that could have happened to them, because they apparently just can't score at home.
Tonight is an exciting night if you're a St. Louis Blues fan. The team's top prospect, Lars Eller, will make his NHL debut at the Scottrade Center against the Calgary Flames. Eller will also become only the sixth player in NHL history of Danish descent.
Personally, I'm hoping Eller can come in and offer some sort of offensive spark to a Blues squad that has looked surprisingly punchless lately, particularly on the power play.
I would sing the Danish National Anthem here, but I don't know it. So this will have to do.
What? It's a pirate. It's a story about pirates, and this is a picture of a pirate. Totally justified.
Stuck here in the doldrums of the early baseball offseason, with only a World Series in which I hate both teams to watch, it's nice to have any little bit of news or movement to talk about.
So I'm honestly kind of excited to see Akinori Iwamura get traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Pittsburgh Pirates, if only because it gives me a reason to go digging around the internet for baseball news.
Oh, and besides being excited, I'm also a little perplexed.
Now let me tell you why I'm not excited about it, and why you shouldn't be either.
Steven Jackson runs for a 17 yard gain against a werewolf.
Okay, wait. You know what? That's too quick. I should probably take a second to properly celebrate this victory. After all, whether it was pretty or not, a good game or not, or even watchable football or not, the Rams are not going to go 0-16 this year. That is pretty awesome.
Steven Jackson is the fucking man. That's really all there is to it. He's a goddamned beast. If he were a Marvel character, he would be Juggernaut. If he were a DC character, he'd probably be Doomsday. If he were a creature in Dungeons and Dragons, he would be the Tarrasque.
That's right, folks. You just read the single nerdiest reference ever made in a sports column. It followed two other painfully nerdy references, and immediately made them completely obsolete with its off-the-charts geek resonance. I'm proud of myself.
So three cheers for Steven Jackson and the Rams. They finally won a game.
There. Now that that's out of the way, on to the downer portion of today's column.
It wasn't pretty (only this team could turn an interception into a safety) but the Rams finally came through when it counted. Steven Jackson finally broke the touchdown jinx that hounded him all season when it counted most. Heck, even Chris Long finally managed to get a sack. Finally!
Who cares if only two percent of the country got the broadcast (really, it was lucky for them) or that the contest was being billed by Bill Simmons as "The Pooper Bowl" "The Craptastic Classic" or, my personal favorite, the "Orange You Glad You Don't Root For These Teams Bowl."
As the saying goes: a win is a win is a win. The helpless baby panda has made it up the stairs.
As the World Series heads back to Philadelphia tied at one game apiece, both the Yankees and the Phillies have reason to be optimistic. The Phillies have to feel great about where they stand, as they succeeded in wresting home field advantage away from the Yankees and now have three games in their own building. The Yankees probably don't feel quite as good, honestly, but they also have to be fairly optimistic, given they came back from a complete ass kicking in Game 1 to tie the series up and get a bit of positive mojo back on their side.
But there's one man who feels far, far better about the series than either of the teams involved. His name is Derek Braunecker, and he has officially hit the jackpot.
There's something to be said for being cool under pressure. Last night, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee not only pitched a complete game -- Philly shut down the Yankees 6-1 -- but Philadelphia won what their fans hope is a momentum-building match-up on the road. (Hold off on planning that championship parade, New York.)
Oh yeah, Lee also made this catch, in which he oozed confidence. The rest of America, especially Yankee-haters, now stands and applauds Lee's inability to be rattled by a New York team that's being hailed as one of the best Yankee squads in years.
Oh hey sup, ball. Just doing my job here.
Naturally, Lee wasn't nervous about the catch. After the game he told the New York Times:
"Not nervous at all," he said, before pausing and adding: "It's been a
long time since I've been nervous playing this game. It's what I've
been doing my whole life. I put all the work in. You do everything you
need to do to prepare, and I try not to leave anything to chance. So
what's the point in being nervous? I've already done the work. It's
game time. Time to go out there and have fun and execute and let your
skills take over."
The look on Lee's face (wait for it during the replay) is also priceless. He's already thinking about getting the next batter out, looking away from the catch, as he's making it. Bravo, sir, bravo.
What could possibly be intriguing about the St. Louis Rams vs. Detroit Lions match-up on Sunday -- the game that pits the two worst NFL teams in recent memory against each other?
http://www.detroitlions.com/
This pre-grame graphic on the Detroit Lions web site seems to promise helmet-smashing football in outer space.
The pitiful squads have more in common than just losses it seems. Here are ten commonalities the pathetic squads share.
10. They both play in a dome. Sure, it's a simple and
obvious choice, but one that plays to the strengths (or lack there of)
for both teams. There is no environment change to use as an excuse for
the Rams to blow it in the end.
9. Two Defensive-Minded Head Coaches in First Year. Both
teams sought to rebuild their respective franchises with
defensive-minded head coaches from good coaching pedigree. Steve
Spagnuolo was hired by the Rams after two years as Defensive
Coordinator to Giants and is a disciple of the Jim Johnson assistant
tree. Detroit's Jim Schwartz was named Lions head coach after five
years at Tennessee under Jim Fischer and he stems from the Bill
Belichick coaching tree. Both coaches are from the New England area as
well.
When he was Rams head coach, Scott Linehan got excited over very little.
8. Scott Linehan. The
guy St. Louis just got rid of and couldn't hack it as head coach for
the Rams is now the Offensive Coordinator for Detroit. Welcome back.
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