The Daily Bongo -- December 2005

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Saturday, December 31, 2005 -- Late Afternoon I am just back from the hockey game, and I am thrilled and excited. For the first time this season, I was able to watch a Pens win! Yep, you read that right! Also for the first time this season, the Pens have managed to put together two wins in a row, and they did it against a team that has been playing well, the New York Rangers. As happened the last time we played the Rangers, folks were booing every time Jaromir Jagr touched the puck. The guy sitting next to me at the game didn't know why that was the case, so i reminded him of the "I feel like I'm dying alive. ... I don't feel comfortable here right now" quote. If there's one thing that Pittsburgh fans have, it's a long memory for the bad moments. Personally, I have always liked Jagr. I digress. The first Pens score came at 1:35 in the first period, and was a score by Tomas Surovy with assists by Sidney Crosby and Ziggy Palffy. Jagr answered with his 25th goal of the season at 17:14 in the first period. Michel Ouellet helped the Pens pull ahead with a 2-1 lead with his 4th goal of the season. The Rangers came back in less than two minutes to tie this up with Jagr assisting on the goal. Third period and Surovy scored his second goal of the game to take the lead, but the Pens squandered that by taking some stupid penalities and the Rangers tied things up 3-3. The Pens were playing well, so I was resigning myself to yet another loss, but giving kudos to the Pens for being better since Michel Therrien took the reins as coach. At the most, I was hoping that the Pens would hold on to the tie into overtime so they would at least get a point. overtime started with an unsportsman like penalty on one of the Rangers. Marek Malik must have said something on the bench during the 1 minute intermission and was caught by the ref. The Pens were putting pressure on, and then the Rangers took yet another penalty. We had a two man advantage. Then the Pens scored BUT the whistle had just been blown so the goal didn't count. I was ready to call for the heads of the refs if we lost, but then Crosby came on to score his 19th goal of the season to give the Pens a overtime win. Score was 4-3! Shots on goal for the game: Pens 37 and Rangers 17. Unbelieveable and such a change from the Eddie O days. It was a great moment and the whole arena went crazy. Finally a win when I was in attendance. The Pens have been playing much better since Eddie O was removed, and I am only hoping for more of the same. Friday, December 30, 2005 -- Early Evening I haven't mentioned the Baby Pens game from the middle of the week. They won the game against the Hartford Wolf Pack by a score of 5-0. Maxime Talbot scored two goals in the game, and that might explain why he was brought up yesterday. The next game will be tomorrow evening against the Norfolk Admirals. The World Junior Hockey championships are going on right now, and both Canada and the United States are doing well. The first round of games will be over tomorrow, and then the playoffs will start on Monday. In fact, the Canadian team has already secured second place in Group A, and is hoping for the top spot if they beat the United States tomorrow. The Russians are also unbeated, and are being led by the Pens own Evgeni Malkin. So far, Malkin has scored a goal in every game. Check out the schedule for the rest of the tournament. If one of your upcoming New Year's resolutions is to do more reading, you might want to check on the email bookclub DearReader.com. Every Monday through Friday, you can receive a few pages from a book fitting the genre of your choice. Only about a chapter of the book is sent out via email, and if you are interested in reading more, you can get the book from the local library or purchase it. A link to your home library is set at registration time and is included in every email to facilitate the process. The genres available are mystery, sci-fi, horror, romance, plain old fiction, non-fiction, business, and prepublication books. The woman who runs the site includes a chatty comment about life in each email that at times is more entertaining than the book selection. Next week, the non-fiction option will be The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul by Phil Jackson. Thursday, December 29, 2005 -- Evening Pens versus the New Jersey Devils tonight. First period: The Pens got a 5-3 power play advantage that was offset with an interference call against Sidney Crosby. With a 4-3, Ric Jackman scored. So far, we aren't getting alot of penalities, and are keeping even with the Devils in that respect. With abit over a minute left in the game and a power play opportunity just finishing, the Pens have scored again! Two goals! It looked like Crosby got the puck on it, but right now, it seems that Dick Tarnstrom is getting the credit. Marc-Andre Fleury has made some really good saves. The period ends with the Pens leading by a score of 2-0. What a difference! Second period: 17,132 people are in attendance tonight. That's pretty good for a mid-week game without a promotion. Crosby was given credit for the second goal this evening. Another goal for the Pens! This one was by Tomas Surovy. He sent the puck right between the legs of Scott Clemmensen. This is really something! Now part of it could be due to the fact that the Devils played last night. The only thing I know is that I am going to hold my breath until the end of the game because I think that if the Pens break their losing streak, they might go on a winning streak. At least that is what I am hoping for. The announcer at the game is in the stands, and Hines Ward is there watching the game. Ward is wearing a Crosby shirt and said that he actually sent Crosby a letter to get the shirt signed. Ward is a fan of Crosby's and said that The Kid is good for the city. Just as they finished talking to Ward, and less than eight minutes into the period, Mark Recchi scored! The score is now 4-0. The Pens are on fire, and so is Fleury. He seems to be in the zone, and made another good save. To get back to Ward after all that excitement, it was very refreshing to see him in the stands with a Crosby shirt on. They just showed Ward on the jumbotron, and the whole arena went crazy. A very classy move on Ward's part to pay for a seat in the stands and to wear a Crosby shirt. Oh uh, the Devils have a 5-3 powerplay. First was a penalty on Crosby, then another on Tarnstrom. Darn! The Devils just scored. Now it's a 5-4 powerplay that has 44 seconds to kill. The score is now 4-1. Now they are back to full strength and only one goal given up. Darn, there goes Fleury's chance at a shutout. With 1:02 in the period, John LeClair took a stupid hooking penalty. That's one of those penalities that is caused because you have someone who is tired, and as LeClair is sitting in the box, you can see him breathing heavy. There was a real scrum in front of the net, and it looked like there might be another penalty, but fortunately not. The period ends. There will still be abit under a minute of penalty to kill in the third period, but the Devils will have a three goal deficit to make up. Third period: The Devils almost scored on a puck that ricocheted across the net. They came back a minute later and did score. It's 4-2. Then a penalty was going to be called on the Devils, Surovy was passing the puck to Crosby when the puck was intercepted by Paul Martin's (of the Devils) stick, and into the goal. The Pens now have a score of 5-2. At this point with over 13 minutes left in the game, the Devils have 36 shots on goal while the Pens have 23. Now the Devils have another power play. The Pens take another penalty to give the Devils a 5-3 advantage. Fleury is making some great saves, but there's only so much he can do when the Devils are given 5-3 opportunities. The defensive guys are protecting Fleury very much, and he is really getting attacked by the Devils players. Now it is just 5 on 4 and 40 seconds of that to kill. The Pens killed the penalty. There are 10 minutes left in the game. Can we hold on to the three goal lead?Woo-Hoo! Crosby scored another goal. Assists by Ziggy Palffy and Surovy. You know, I really hope that Team Canada does poorly in the Olympics this year. That's what they would get for leaving one of the best Canadian hockey players playing right now off the team. Whose twisted idea is it that the Olympics are for the old and geriatric players? Score is now 6-2. Palffy has three points from assists this evening. 4:44 left in the game. It looks like a win for the Pens unless something goes horribly wrong. Less than a minute and the Pens are going to win. An amazing game, and Fleury definitely deserves the first star of the game because he faced 46 shots on goal. They really needed the win. I think that this will help them in a change of attitude. It was a great game. Thursday, December 29, 2005 -- Afternoon Tonight's Pens game should be an interesting one. They will be playing the New Jersey Devils. In the past 14 games, the Devils have only won three. This might good news for the Pens, and I am going to be hoping for a win tonight. The Pens have recalled Rob Scuderi, Maxime Talbot and Colby Armstrong from the Baby Pens. Over in the Steelers camp, Hines Ward and Casey Hampton were voted the MVPs of the team by their teammates. Wednesday, December 28, 2005 -- Late afternoon Mario Lemieux might be skating next week, and might be back with the team in two weeks. It seems that so far he has been doing well with his off-ice conditioning, and thinks that he won't be such a geriatric when he returns to the ice. Personally, I think that he should have taken this issue as a sign that he should be retiring. Last night after the game, Michel Therrien said that he mentioned to the team after the second period that the Pens were acting as if they were the team who had played a game the previous night instead of that being the situation for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The second period was the one in which the Leafs scored twice. It was a more energetic game. The thing is that if the team was out of condition a week ago, not alot could have changed in that time. Unfortunately, it's going to take a bit longer. Last night's game was the sixth straight loss for the Pens. The question is how to snap them out of the losing streak and get them winning again. Tuesday, December 27, 2005 -- Late Evening I may be one of the only folks to say this, but I had a great time at the Penguins game tonight, even though the team ultimately lost in overtime with a final score of 3-2. First the positives. The game was exciting. There were some nice shots and some nice saves by Marc-Andre Fleury. Our seats are directly behind the net in the north end, which is the end that Fleury defends two periods out of three. So we did get to see some nice moves. Another positive was that the number of penalities was much less than usual. There were only four by the Pens in the entire game. Two were by defensive players, one was for too many men on the ice and another was by Shane Endicott. Yet another positive was that we are getting shots on goal. Tonight we had 35 shots and the Toronto Maple Leafs had 33. For the negatives, towards the end of the game, and especially during overtime, it seemed that the team was doing more to prevent a goal then to make one themselves. Also, there was a period in the third period where we had a two man advantage for almost three minutes based on back to back penalties. So there are still items to work on, but the energy and excitement were a huge improvement. There was a time when you actually thought that the players themselves even thought they might win. Attendance at the game was 17,132, and a good percentage of those there were Toronto fans. In all the games that I have gone to so far this season, this is the first time that I saw so many people supporting the opposing teams. There were Maple Leaf flags, shirts, signs. For a minute there, I thought that I had somehow been transported to Toronto for the game. Because of that, I upped my level of creating noise for the Pens, and practically lost my voice by the end of the game. There was no way that I was going to let the Leaf fans drown out the support that I had for my team. All in all, a good game, and a disappointing overtime loss. I didn't take my camera to the game, and I wish I had for two reasons. First was because Don Cherry was there on the ice, right in front of my section. I was booing him for his comments about Crosby, but I'm sure that was drowned out by the cheers from all those Toronto fans. As I said earlier, it was something to see so many Toronto fans, and so many of them had CBC signs so they could make it on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. The theme of most were along the lines of "Crosby Belongs in Canada" and "Crosby Bleeds Canadian". I think that there are a number of people who are irritated by Cherry's remarks and that Crosby didn't get named to Team Canada. The other missed photographic moment was a man who had a serious mullet. He was King Mullet. The back was long, and it was lacquered so that it looked like a hurricane would not blow a hair out of place. It was a mullet helmet. Not only did this gentleman have a mullet, but his son, probably 10 or so, also had a serious mullet. It was a real Polaroid moment, and I am kicking myself for not taking the camera with me this evening. Tuesday, December 27, 2005 -- Afternoon The Penguins are playing the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening. It's one of the games for my season ticket plan, so I will be at the game. This game is going to the Hockey Night in Canada game. That means that Don Cherry will be here in Pittsburgh for the game. For some reason, Don Cherry really has it in for Sidney Crosby. Cherry claims that Crosby wanted to get Eddie O fired and that he didn't deserve to be named an alternate captain because of his age. What a goober! Even if Crosby thought that Eddie O was a crap coach, he never went around saying "we need a new coach". I know that I was saying that because, let's be honest, Eddie O should have never been a coach. Cherry has had a history of blasting Crosby, calling him a cherry picker two years ago for a trick goal that Crosby made, a diver earlier this season, and this past weekend just seemed to get on Crosby for a slew of issues. If Cherry would a woman, I'd say he had bitter old maid syndrome. Is there such a thing as "never able to do it when young, and past it now" for men? I'm going to take along some good luck charms this evening in the hopes that we get a win. Michel Therrien didn't have much opportunity to work on problems with the defense since the last game because of the Christmas break and because Ryan Whitney wound up getting stuck in Boston and Brooks Orpik has some sort of injury from his last game. The last thing of interest that I read about the Penguins in the past two days was the commentary on the bonus situation with Marc-Andre Fleury. There's alot more to it than Fleury just playing x number of games in the majors. Fleury will get more than $3 million if he mets four of the following: top 10 finish among NHL goalies in goals against and/or save average, 20 victories, save percentage of .890 or higher, playing time of 1,800 minutes or more, goals against average of 3.25 or lower, and four shutouts. Granted, Fleury will get some dollars for whatever of the above he does meet. Fleury is young, and as he has said, really isn't interested in the money, and didn't think much about the financials when the contract was made up. The question is if something can be arranged to save the Pens some money. The Baby Pens won last night against the Hershey Bears. The final score was 8-1, and seven of the goals were made in the first period. The Baby Pens are still doing well. The season tally is 25-3-2-1. Monday, December 26, 2005 -- Evening One of the items that didn't get a big mention on the national broadcast of the Steelers game was the fan who got on the field. The guy got all the way onto the field without anyone appearing to challenge him. Verron Haynes ran away from the guy, and appears to the butt of some of his fellow players' jokes. Cleveland Browns player, Kenard Lang shoved the fan out of the way. While the stupid fan was jumping up and down, and losing his pants, James Harrison took matters into his own hands. As he said later, it looked like no one else was doing anything about the guy, and the guy did have his back to Harrison. So Harrison grabbed the guy from behind, body slammed him to the ground, and held him there until the security guys came over. All the players told Harrison that if the NFL fines him for grabbing the fan, they will contribute to the fine. Michel Therrien gave a nice interview in the Post Gazette. The guy is very passionate about winning, and not just in hockey. As he has said, it's going to be a long, hard road, and it's not like the team is going to suddenly start winning. As Therrien has said, he can work on attitude changes right away, but it is going to take time to instill the system into the guys. Obviously there are deeper problems with the defensive line, and he hasn't said yet how he will address that problem. Chinese restaurants are very popular at Christmas time. On Christmas Eve, my boyfriend and I went to a local Thai place, Bangkok Balcony, because the food there is excellent, and as can be expected, it was one of the few places open. It seems that alot of Asians also don't celebrate Christmas, and probably see a good opportunity to take advantage of providing an eating place for folks who want to eat out on a Christian holiday. One of the biggest groups of diners are Jewish. One thing that I hadn't thought about is that Jewish people tend to go to Chinese restaurants because it is always possible to find kosher food by sticking to the vegetarian options. This January 1, a leap second is going to be added to the atomic clock. The reason is that the Earth has been slowing down, and in order for the atomic clocks to be accurate and in accordance with astronomical time, a second has to be added periodically. The atomic clock clicks off a second based on an atom of cesium 133 going through 9,192,631,770 cycles. The thing is that the Earth is slowing down. An astronomical second defined as 1/86,400th of a "mean solar day," the average time between two consecutive noons. This time is getting longer astronomically, so in order to keep the atomic clock in line, leap seconds are periodically added. Sometimes I wonder about what drives as humans to keep track of time so closely. Does it really matter if it is 9:45 or 9:46? When it's daylight, so daylight things. When it is nighttime, turn on the lights. We get so caught up in being exact that we forget how to live and enjoy life. Sunday, December 25, 2005 -- Evening An interesting story from Israel. Subliminal ads have been legalized for use on television shows. Two stations, the Music Channel and Israel Plus (a Russian language channel) are cleared for the usage, and they have to announce both before and after the program that subliminal advertising has been used. So how does the subliminal advertising work? The program just uses the product somehow in the show, and doesn't have to disclose which product was placed for subliminal purposes. It's akin to the jury on American Idol drinking from obvious Coke glasses, or Doug Heffernan eating Cheetos on King of Queens. I think that subliminal advertising is the wave of the future. Since people can now record shows on their DVRs and fast forward past commercials, the way for advertisers to get around it is to place products in the show. Now, I'm not sure how this would work for syndication because the product might not be available years later. Would I eat Cheetos because Doug Heffernan eats them? Not likely, but I did notice that he ate the crunchy Cheetos which are my personal favorite. Yesterday I got the latest Enya CD called Amarantine. This is the first CD that Enya has released in five years. It's a typical Enya CD, and I enjoyed listening to it. There is something soothing about Enya's music, and this CD didn't disappoint. Some of the reviews on Amazon comment that this CD isn't very different from her other CDs, but that misses the point. Usually when a person likes an artist, they want to get more of the same. When you hear Enya's name, you know what to expect, and I don't see the problem with that. If you don't like the music then don't listen to it. Sunday, December 25, 2005 -- Early afternoon Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all. Since today is a slow news and sports day, I thought that I would use the downtime to put some of the short stories that I had to write for my class this past term online. Please feel free to send me any suggestions for improvement. Saturday, December 24, 2005 -- Late afternoon The Steelers are playing the Cleveland Browns this afternoon in Cleveland. The game is being played on Saturday because tomorrow is Christmas. First half: Cleveland had the ball first, but they really didn't do anything with it. So far, we have had some good passes from Ben Roethlisberger to the receivers, and we now have the ball down in the red zone. Jerome Bettis got the ball for three carries, and scored a touchdown. For the third game in a row, the team has scored on its opening drive. The kick was good, so the score is now 7-0. This is Bettis' sixth touchdown run of the season, and 88th for his career. On the kickoff, the Browns fumbled the ball, and the Steelers almost recovered the ball, but it squirted out of Ricardo Colclough's hands and was recovered by the Browns. Hines Ward has two really good receptions, and the ball is in the red zone again. Roethlisberger throws the ball beautifully to Ward in the endzone and it's another touchdown. The score is now 14-0. Joey Porter just got his ninth sack of the season. The Browns had to kick off, and Antwaan Randle El was returning the punt, and lost the ball when he was tackled. The Browns recovered it. Fortunately, it was back at their own 20 yard line. My boyfriend put the whammy on Randle El because it looked like he was going to run it in for a touchdown, and my boyfriend has Randle El benched on his fantasy team. The Browns couldn't keep the ball, and had to punt again. For the last play of the first period was a 47 yard throw that Roethlisberger made to Cedrick Wilson. Start of the second quarter has the Steelers down on the 13 yard line. Bettis is back in the game, and powering the ball down to the first down yard line. Bettis is someone who can just drag defenders with him. We were't able to make a first down, and it looks like we might go for a field goal of 26 yards. It's good. The Steelers are up 17-0. The Browns had the ball and did nothing, and the Steelers got it back. For the first time in the game, Roethlisberger was sacked, and just now Willie Parker was held without any yardage. We weren't able to do anything with this drive and have to punt. Porter just got his second sack of the game. The Steelers' Bryant McFadden blocked the punt and got the ball at the 50 yard line. It won't be an official blocked punt because it bounced past the line of scrimmage. Another nice 21 yard throw to Ward. We are down at the 30 yard line. Parker had a few nice runs, but we weren't able to get the first down, and are going to attempt a 31 yard field goal. It's good. With 2:17, we are ahead 20-0. The Browns can't do anything offensively, and the Steelers get the ball back and just run down the clock. It's now half-time. Second half: The start of the second half is not very exciting. A few yards here and there and then punting to the other side. Just as I say that something exciting happened. Roethlisberger handed the ball off to Fast Willie Parker at the 20 yard line, and Parker ran the ball 80 yards down the field for a touchdown. With this run he gets his 1000 yard in a season mark. Congratulations Willie! The Steelers are now ahead by 27-0. The Browns got the ball, and managed to get it down the field. Porter got his third sack of the day, and the Browns decided to go on a 4th and 13. The ball was overthrown, and the Steelers get the ball on the 29 yard line. The Browns should have gone for a field goal so at least they would have some score as opposed to a big old goose egg. Bill Cowher challenged a call of an incomplete pass to Wilson, but the refs threw it out. The Browns got the ball, and Verron Haynes ran the ball 11 yards into the endzone for a touchdown. Extra point is good and the score is now 34-0. There is still a minute left in the quarter and another quarter to play, but the game already has a feel of being over for all intents and purposes. By the fourth quarter, Cowher pulled some of the starters, and Charlie Batch is in as quarterback. At this point, it is just running down the clock, and the final score is made with a 31 yard pass to Quincy Morgan. The extra point was good, and the score is 41-0. There are 6:12 left in the game. Cleveland keeps the ball for the rest of the game, but doesn't really do much with it. The game ends with a final score of 41-0. Saturday, December 24, 2005 -- Early Afternoon After the Penguins game last night, Michel Therrien was not very happy with the way the defense was playing in last night's game. As Therrien said, "I'm really disappointed about our defensive group, Those guys have to play a lot better. As long as they're not going to be better, we're not going to win many games. It's not only one thing, But they have to play better. There isn't any hockey team that has a chance to win if their defensemen are not on top of their game. And right now, that defensive group is not on top of their game. That's one of the biggest reasons why we lose games. Is it a lack of concentration? Is it a lack of will? Is it a lack of skill? I don't know. It's tough to answer. But the defensive group has to be more sharp." Obviously the defensive group is not among the warriors. Meanwhile Sidney Crosby gave a stellar performance yesterday. He said that it wasn't an attempt to send a message to Ken Hitchcock who was part of the decision making group for Team Canada's Olympic hockey team. I think that the message will be sent when Team canada doesn't win the gold medal. Meanwhile, Crosby chartered a plane so he could fly home for Christmas with his family. Sergei Gonchar has been named to play on the Russian Olympic hockey team. It's funny that the only active Penguin player playing at the Olympics is probably one of the worst and a real non-performer this season. I guess that the Russians don't have anyone better to pick for his position. Friday, December 23, 2005 -- Evening I missed the first two periods and the beginning of the third period of the Pens - Flyers game tonight because I went out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants Mediterranean Grill and then went for a drink at the local Barnes and Noble. My boyfriend and I like to go and get some coffee drinks, a cookie and read through the magazines. Needless to say, we missed a good portion of the game. When we got home, the score was 4-3 in the favor of the Pens. However, from looking at the game summary, it looks like the Pens were done by a score of 3-0 into the second period. Sidney Crosby scored two of the four goals, and also had an assist. Erik Christensen and Tomas Surovy scored the other goals. Right now with abit over six minutes left in the game, the Pens really do seem to be playing some exciting hockey, and are putting some nice shots on goal with the power play they are currently on. The thing that has been killing the Pens though are the number of penalities they are taking. Damn, the Flyers just tied up the game with 4:33 left in the game. Peter Forsberg was the scorer for the Flyers. Forsberg has two goals and an assist in the game so far. Damn, Damn! In abit over one minute, the Flyers have scored again, and the score is now 5-4 in favor of the Flyers. We only have 3:15 left to tie it up. 1:44 left in the game, and it is not looking good for a tie. Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled from goal with one minute left in the game. Therrien took a time out with 20 seconds left in the game to go over some strategy and to give Crosby a rest. Crosby has been on the ice for awhile now. Fleury is still on the bench. Crosby won the face-off, and they put a big rush on the net and almost scored. 13 seconds left now! We have some exciting hockey. The Flyers won the game. Fleury was shaking his head on the bench, and smacked his stick against the side of the bench. Things that still need to be worked on are the shots on goal which were still on the meager side with only six shots on goal in the first period, and the number of penalities that the team has taken. One thing to note is that the geriatrics played a big hand in pulling some of the earlier penalities. The analysis by the announcers is that it was a much better effort on the part of the Pens than we have been seeing. However, it should be noted that the Flyers are a decent team this year, fifth over all in the Eastern Conference and second in the Atlantic Division (we are last in both Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division). The next game up for the Pens is also a home game, and I will be at that game. We'll be playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. The post game show just showed a segment on the Pens taking the bus together to practice. It seems that it has been a bonding experience for the team, and Andre Roy was joking about how the guys sing For He's a Jolly Good Fellow on the bus. Friday, December 23, 2005 -- Afternoon Today is the first day of winter recess at the University of Pittsburgh. Yep, that means that I don't have to go back to work until January 3. I am planning on spending the break giving in to the inner fatter and eating my way through the days. It should also give me a chance to catch up on reading and blogging. The Pens will be meeting the Flyers tonight. It seems that the players are optimistic about what they are learning from Michel Therrien's system. One of the key components that Therrien is trying to instill in the players is a sense of positioning. There is a place that each player should be in at every time, and if the players stick to that system, there is hope that they might turn things around and win a game. It will be interesting to see how they do tonight after a week of practices and conditioning with Therrien. Mario Lemieux was observing the practice yesterday, but at this point, he is just doing off ice conditioning. Scientists have observed an explosion on the Moon that occurred on November 7 of this year. The explosion was caused by a 12 centimeter-wide meteorite traveling at 27 km/s that crashed into the Moon. It seems that the meteorite might have been part of the Taurid meteor shower that occurs in late October/early November. The explosion from the impact was equal to 70 kg of TNT. Thursday, December 22, 2005 -- Afternoon The Penguins have named Isle of Capri Casino as their partner in the arena building escapade. Yesterday, the Isle of Capri representatives talked about a plan to redevelop in the Hill District where the Mellon Arena currently resides and to build the 18,000 seat arena for the Pens. Lots of folks are getting excited about the plan, but I am reserving my opinion. It all hinges on the Isle of Capri group getting a slots license in Pennsylvania, and rumors are swirling that even though the official decision hasn't been made, the cronies of the current state Governor will be awarded the licenses. Of course, these are just rumors and will either be validated or invalidated by the actual awarding of licenses. Two reports are challenging the assumption that there may have once been water on Mars. According to the two reports, the layered sandstone like terrain might be the result of volcanic activity or collisions from space. Obviously, much more data and research will be needed before a definitive answer can be given. If you are interested in what might happen if an object collided with a planet in our Solar System, check out the Solar Systems Collisions page. If you go to the page, try out Target--Earth, Projectile Composition--Iron, Projectile Diameter 50 km, Projectile Velocity 80.0 km/sec. Wednesday, December 21, 2005 -- Evening Can we say "Geriatrics R Us?" That's going to be the mantra of Team Canada where geriatrics who aren't performing as well as younger players were given a place on the team. "No room, no room," as the Mad Hatter said, for Sidney Crosby. He's too young for the team--that's the consensus. So he has 33 points, and Todd Bertuzzi, who probably shouldn't even be playing hockey after his ugly hit on Steve Moore, is on the team. So Bertuzzi has 29 points. Bertuzzi was too good to pass up, and he should be rewarded for his behavior with a spot on the Team. Of the 23 players, 21 have been on Team Canada in 2002 AND 2004. That does say something about the team. Eric Staal with 47 points, 24 of which are goals, could only be considered for the reserve squad which means he doesn't even get entry to the Olympic Village. Yep, Team Canada wants to make sure that the old weezers of hockey are recognized for their past efforts as opposed to recognizing the younger players who are actually playing good now. If I were in Canada right now, I would be roaring with outrage. I guess Team Canuck doesn't want to actually win a medal this year. They just want to make sure that the geriatrics feel good about themselves and rattle their aged bones around the Olympic rink one more time before retirement. Wednesday, December 21, 2005 -- Afternoon Last year nine Steelers made it to the Pro Bowl. This year, the Steelers haven't been playing as well, and only four players were named to the Pro Bowl. They are Alan Faneca, Jeff Hartings, Joey Porter, and Troy Polamalu. Notable abscences are Hines Ward, who has gone to the Pro Bowl for four years in a row previous to this year, and Ben Roethlisberger who has had a pretty good year statistically. The teams who have the heaviest representation are those that are doing well, such as the Colts, Bears, Chargers and Falcons. Wednesday, December 21, 2005 -- Morning The Penguins have found a partner who is willing to finance an arena for the Pens if he gets a slots licence. The Pens themselves will not benefit from the slots, but their partner will. The partner has not been named, but it is some entity that is a gambling operator. I say that because I don't know if it is an individual or a group. Needless to say, this is good news for the city. Basically for awhile now, we have known that it is going to come down to the distribution of the slots licenses. Let's just hope that it goes in the Pens favor. Everyone has been talking about the changes that have been happening with the Pens since Michel Therrien has been named coach. It has been one of those eye opening experiences for some, not for me. I could see that Eddie O's notions of treating your players as friends was going down a slippery slope to crap, but I suppose that some thought that if you have a coach who treats you like an intelligent equal that you will perform for said coach. Heck no! Let's put it this way, if your boss didn't care what time you showed up for work, or if you did the assigned work for the day, would you do it? Some people might, but as time went by, even they would become slackers. So now we have a coach who is trying to instill teamwork and a system. The players now meet at Mellon Arena, change their clothes, ride out on a bus to Neville Island, they do the prescribed workout, ride back to the Arena together and do their off-ice workout. As Therrien has said, it's not that he is being mean. He is being the parent who offers the support and discipline that the family needs. One of the quotes of Therrien's that I like is: "I don't demand a guy scores two goals or three goals. What I'm demanding is that if you have a dollar in your pocket, I'm expecting that you give me one dollar. If all you have is 50 cents, bring me your 50 cents, and you'll be fine." Eddie O is a nice guy. He's not a bad guy. Who in their right mind would have hired Eddie O as a head coach with no coaching experience? So now the Pens have a system, and a person who will enforce that system. We will see how the players respond. The only comment to be made is that after Therrien took the time out in the game on Saturday and yelled at the players, they scored three goals. Of course, they ultimately lost, but sometimes a firm hand is needed and works. The Pennsylvanian courts ruled yesterday that intelligent design will not be taught in the biology classes. The federal judge ruled in favor of the parents who brought the suit and who wanted Darwanian evolution taught in biology. Of course, this ruling probably won't stop the ID folks who want the credit for human life to go to a God. Personally I have a problem with the ID folks. So they don't think that human life can evolve from microbial beginnings, BUT they believe in the existence of this being that can create human life from nothing. When you ask them who was the creator then of this being who creates life, well, then you just have to have faith. Pshaw! Let's just leave out a step and put our faith in the fact that life can arise from just the right conditions and chemicals and eventually evolve into intelligent life. Let's put creation myths where they belong, in a classroom that teaches the myths and legends of all religions and peoples, past and present, on the planet. Tuesday, December 20, 2005 -- Morning Wayne Gretzky's mom died last night at the age of 64 after fighting lung cancer since the fall of 2004. Gretzky just this past weekend had taken time off from his duties as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes for an indefinite period to be with his family. Unfortunately, he did not get to spend as much time with his mother as he probably wished. Phyllis Gretzky was 64 years old. Team USA has announced its 23 man roster for the coming Winter Olympics in Turin. Two who weren't on the list were John LeClair and Jeremy Roenick. The lockout has really been detrimential to the older players. In the case of Roenick and LeClair, they have not been playing at the same level they were prior to the lockout. I wish that I could have been at yesterday's Penguins practice. It seems that the 75 minute practice was intense. Some of the players likened it to a college practice because they will have the entire week to practice and not play until Friday which is commonly the case in college. There were one on one practices--forwards against defensemen. If the forwards were able to score three points, the defensemen had to do pushups. If the forwards scored less than three points, they had to do the pushups. The final score was three sets of pushups for the crappy defense and one set for the forwards. Clips were shown on some of the television shows, and it was something to see--players doing pushups while Michel Therrien walked amongst them, gloves on, holding his hockey stick. That stick seems to be glued to his hand during practice time. Although the players haven't wanted to say anything bad about Eddie O, all admitted that they were out of shape, and that they thought the practice was a good workout and not punishing. It was obvious that the players were out of shape because in the film footage on the sports shows, you could see the players standing on the side of the rink at times, bent over and breathing heavily. The goal from now until Friday will be to work on the system. I am looking forward to the games that I will be going to next week. My question is whether Mario Lemieux can withstand such a practice, especially with his heart issue. The consensus now is that the return of the problem was due to the fact that Lemieux played too soon after the diagnosis and treatment of his issue. The goal now is to just have Lemieux do some off ice conditioning. Once he is given the go ahead by his doctor, then he will resume ice work. It seems in the past that the problem has been that Lemieux has been making the decisions on whether he is capable of playing as opposed to the medical professional who knows better. This brings up the question of whether Lemieux should retire. We have all seen Lemieux's level of play since the beginning of the season. He is one of the geriatrics to whom I have been referring who don't have the vim and vigor to skate at high speed around the ice, who have been leaving the puck in the middle of the ice, and who have gotten high minus ratings on the ice. Lemieux is a -16 which means really bad things happen when he is on the ice. He should retire for the benefit of the team. He is not playing at his former level. He has health problems. Jiri Fischer had an irregular heartbeat discovered in practice a few years ago, and recently had the incident that scared all the fans watching the game, when he collapsed and almost died on the bench. Lemieux needs to retire. He has had a great career. What Lemieux needs to realize now is that it's time to say good-bye. It's hard, but it's something that should be done. Scientists think that they have found the location where Beagle 2 crashed late in 2003. The scientists have looked at the crater where Beagle 2 was supposed to land, and have found disturbances in the area that are indicitive of an impact. No sign of debris at this point. The Steelers are eigth in the NFL in bonuses. The Steelers have so far this season paid out $41 million dollars in signing bonuses. The Steelers had to resign alot of players this past season and accounts for a good portion of the payments. One bonus that is not likely to be paid is to Tommy Maddox. If he is still on the roster in March, he will receive a $100,000 roster bonus. So it is probably very likely that he won't be around by that time. Monday, December 19, 2005 -- Evening Joey Mullen was named the head coach of the Baby Pens today. I gave some misinformation earlier about the situation this weekend. Rick Kehoe was the person assisting Joey Mullen this weekend. The Baby Pens did not do too poorly this past weekend. They had two wins and a loss. Last night, they beat the Hershey Bears with a score of 3-0. The NCAA has released a new report with graduation rates for college athletes. They managed to boost the graduation rates for athletes by accounting for graduation that takes up to six years and transfer from one college to another. The University of Pittsburgh has a graduation rate of 48% for football players, 29% for basketball, and 77% for baseball. Still very shabby statistics and it shows that basically colleges just use the players and spits them out. Penn State does appear to stand by its athletes with an 84% graduation rate for football players, 64% for basketball and 72% for baseball. West Virginia University has 64% for football, 67% for basketball, and 57% for baseball. Obviously Pitt has alot to learn from those two colleges. Monday, December 19, 2005 -- Late Afternoon It seems that Mario Lemieux will be out for an indefinite time period that will be at the minimum two weeks. The concern is that Lemieux came back from his atrial fibrilation abit too early last time and that caused a reoccurence of the problem. The goal this time is to be more careful and not to have Lemieux stress himself over coming back to play. Also, I'm not sure what sort of physical condition he will be in. Lemieux might be in Eddie O shape and not Michel Therrien shape, and I don't know if the grueling Therrien shape will be good for his heart. Monday, December 19, 2005 -- Afternoon The Penguins should have a rough week ahead with full practices that will detail Michel Therrien's philosophy on the game and teach the team the system that he believes will help them to win. Also, the team has to get into better shape. Therrien was saying after one of the games that the team gets the hooking and holding penalties that are killing us because they can't skate. The reason the team is having skating issues is because the team is basically out of shape. So there should be alot of aerobic and strength conditioning going on this week. The next game for the Pens is this coming Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers. It seems that Michel Therrien is using Michel Ouellet for more than scoring. Ouellet is being used in penalty kills also which is not what Ouellet thought was his strength. So far, in the two games that Ouellet has played, he has done a good job with two goals and making his presence felt on the ice. Also the line of Ouellet and Erik Christensen will be one that we will be seeing alot of because the players have a chemistry together. I have been listening to the The Very Best of the Feynman Lectures today. It is a quiet time at work, and alot of people aren't around, so there is no one to disturb by listening to physics lectures. The cds cover The Theory of Gravitation, Curved Space, Electromagnetism, Probablity, The Relation of Wave and Particle Viewpoints and The Schrodinger equation. The lectures are interesting, and would be even more fun if you could see the slides that he shows. Feynman was an interesting character and was acknowledged as one of the best physics lecturers around. His New York accent is very noticeable, and the lectures are entertaining in that he find a common way to explain things and he uses humor. If you are interested in physics, you should check out the cd set. One of my favorite authors is Charles Dickens. When I was a young child, I would reread David Copperfield every summer. Another of my favorites is Christmas Carol, and Penguin Books UK is releasing a free podcast of the book as read by Geoffrey Palmer on its web site. The podcast is broken up into five pieces, and today was the release of the third piece. The podcast will only be available until the New Year, so go to Penguin Books UK and subscribe to the RSS feed to get the mp3s. Sunday, December 18, 2005 -- Afternoon Steelers game today. We will be playing the Minnesota Vikings. Since the Steelers had alot of problems with the noise level (real or manufactured) playing against Indianapolis Colts, they played some practices with manufactured noise to prepare for another game in a domed stadium. First half: The Steelers got the ball first, and are moving the ball down the field. We are yards from a touchdown now based on a throw by Ben Roethlisberger to Heath Miller with a good block by Hines Ward. Now we are down to fourth down and couldn't convert a touchdown. We went for the field and Jeff Reed kicked it in for three points. The ball was going back and forth and the Steelers had it again, and Antwaan Randle El signalled for a fair catch, but then didn't catch the ball. There was a fumble and it looked like the Vikings got the ball. There was a review, and the ball was given to the Vikings because Randle El didn't catch the ball. It seems that Randle El's goal was to signal for a catch and then to get the heck out of there when it looked like he wasn't going to get it. While trying to get out, he was tackled and the ball bounced off him and the vikings recovered. The bad thing is that the Vikings are on the three yard line. The Vikings throw the ball. It looks like an incomplete pass, but they are challenging because it looks like the guy came down with two feet and then lost the ball. The Vikings lose the challenge and a timeout. They are unable to get a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal. Score is now tied at 3-3. The Steelers have the ball again. The second quarter starts, and it looked like a fumble, but the Steelers were offside. The vikings had the ball, but fumbled a catch, and Joey Porter recovered the ball. Neither team seems to be taking advantage of any opportunities. Randle El just returned a punt for 72 yards. We are down now around the 14 yard line. They gave Jerome Bettis the ball three times, and he got the first down. The Steelers are at the four yard line. The Steelers are third and goal at the three yard. Roethlisberger was under pressure, and he ran and got the ball in for a touchdown. Randle El put in a hit for him. The extra point was good. Score is 10-3. The ball got thrown down by the vikings for a possible touchdown and it was intercepted in the endzone by Deshea Townsend. The Steelers take the knee for the final 18 seconds and we go to halftime. Second half: The Vikings had the ball, but couldn't make a touchdown, so they tried for a field goal. The Steelers blocked the ball, so there was no score and it was now our ball. Our offensive line is holding up very well, and Roethlisberger was sacked for the third time today. The ball was thrown to Cedric Wilson and the officials said it did not make a first down. Bill Cowher challenged the placement of the ball, and the official review put it down further on the field and we got the first down. Then a hand off to Willie Parker that got them 49 yards. The Vikings got a penalty for holding on Ward, and that got us to a first down on the 14 yard line. Roethlisberger got sacked for the fourth time with a loss of five yards. We couldn't get a touchdown, and had to settle for a Reed field goal. Score is 13-3. At the kickoff, the Vikings fumble, and the Steelers recover at the 30 yard line. Again we aren't able to get a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal which is good. Score is 16-3. The vikings had the ball, then we did, then we had to kick off to them. They had the ball in their end zone, and we tackled the runner and got a safety. So the score is now 18-3. And we get the ball again. Randle El ran the ball for a first down. He has been doing well this game even though he did have the screw up with the punt and fumble in the first half. Larry Foote got a sack on the Vikings quarterback, and with abit over five minutes left in the game, the Steelers have the ball again. The game is winding down, and it looks like the Steelers are going to win. The Steeler take the knee to win the game. Final score is 18-3. Sunday, December 18, 2005 -- Late Morning I have been wondering who lost the A that was given to Sidney Crosby. After all, it stands to reason that if Crosby was named an alternate captain that someone was demoted from that position since there are only three alternate captains on a hockey team. Well, I found out today who it was. It was John LeClair. He is not taking it personally, and he shouldn't. It makes sense because LeClair has been injured of late with hip and groin problems. Also, the point was not to take it from LeClair, but to give it to Crosby so one of the younger players would have representation as an alternate. Also as Michel Therrien said at the time, it is to help Crosby take some responsibiilty because eventually the team will be his. Saturday, December 17, 2005 -- Evening I went to the most boring sporting event late this afternoon. It was one of the non-conference basketball games for the Pitt Panthers. They were playing Vermont. The game was incredibly boring, but that may be because I really don't like basketball very much. I might watch a game or two, but that's really pushing it. The Panthers won by a score of 63-52. The only good thing to say is that the game only lasted in total (with breaks, time outs, etc) an hour and a half. I was dozing off in the second half. I had gotten the tickets for free from work, but I can't believe that others paid the $40 face value on the tickets. Yeah, it gets you access to the Club House, which is a place to buy alcohol and extremely overpriced food. Because I was at the game, I missed most of the first two periods of the Pens game. I don't think I missed much because when I turned on the game with seven minutes left in the second period, the score was 3-1 in favor of the Buffalo Sabres, and then Buffalo scored another to make it 4-1. It was at that point that I noticed that Jocelyn Thibault is in goal. Sidney Crosby scored the first goal for the Pens. The third period started with Michel Ouellet making a goal in 24 seconds. There was another almost goal by him a few minutes later. That's obviously why Michel Therrien brought Ouellet up from the minors. The Pens do seem to have some tiredness issues, and that's not something that Therrien can change in 48 hours. You can't give your players stamina just by willing it. It's going to take some hard work on the part of the strength and conditioning coach. Ouellet, Tomas Surovy, Eric Christensen and Ryan Whitney were putting intense pressure on the goal, and it wound up with a score by Surovy. Note that those four are guys who have come up from Baby Pens and have plenty of experience under Therrien. It was amazing to watch their effort--and the result of a goal. I think that in a few weeks we are going to see some great hockey coming out of the Pens. Right now, the score is 4-3 and the Pens seem to have some momentum in their favor. The younger Pens put on a valiant fight to get the tieing goal with no luck, but it was great hockey. I really have high hopes for the future. Shots on goal were up and that is a big improvement over the Eddie O era. Final score was 4-3. It seems that Mario Lemieux has had some additional problems with the irregular heartbeat in the third period of yesterday's game. He didn't travel to Buffalo, and there is concern about the condition. No other details at this point. Obviously, it is too early to make any decisions about future play. I think that it's going to be one of those wait and see things. Saturday, December 17, 2005 -- Morning I noticed last night that Ric Jackman was not playing last night, and it seems that he was a healthy scratch. It really isn't understandable since Jackman is the Pens highest scoring defenseman. It seems that Eddie O has some sort of falling out with Jackman, and that has carried over to the new coach. Michel Therrien has said that he has had to make room for other players who were coming in off of the injury list like Mario Lemieux, and this is the explanation for the Wilkes-Barre moves and Jackman as a scratch. Therrien said that Jackman could be playing today, and that Maxime Talbot might be coming back. There are a group of Jews for Christmas who are trying to call attention to the fact that preventing the majority of people from acknowledging their religion isn't right. Lately, it has become unacceptable for people to wish each other Merry Christmas, and this has been disturbing alot of people. Being an atheist with a Jewish boyfriend, I don't celebrate Christmas, but I don't understand why some people are supposedly offended by the singing of Christmas carols and people wishing each other Merry Christmas. I can understand that the country should not force religion on others, but it should also not force people to not deny their religion. By saying you can't wish others Merry Christmas, have a Christmas party, or sing Christmas carols, you are saying that the 85% of this country's population has to deny or hide their religious beliefs. The first amendment of the US Constitution states; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Note that there shall be no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Sing the Christmas carols, wish a Merry Christmas. After all, that does fall under your rights to free exercise of your religion and freedom of speech. Don't let the few who fear religion staunch the rights of those who wish to celebrate and embrace their religion. As Jackie Mason said at the Jews for Christmas rally in New York, it's okay to say Happy Hannuka, but obscene to say Merry Christmas. He wants all religions to be able to express their religion, and encourages us all to say Merry Christmas to others. I know that I am planning to do so. Friday, December 16, 2005 -- Late Evening I am back from the Pens game this evening. It wasn't a win, but it was one of the better games that I saw this season. In fact, a young boy was saying to his mother that it was the best game he had seen. Yes, it was a loss, but the team seemed to have more energy, especially in the first period. There were any goals until the second period when the Buffalo Sabres scored, and surprises of surprises, Michel Ouellet who just came up from the Baby Pens scored the first game for the Pens to tie the game at 1-1. The Sabres scored again, and that was followed by another goal by Ryan Malone with assists by Tomas Surovy and Ryan Whitney. The Bruins pulled ahead 3-2, and in the last three minutes of the game, the Pens tied it up with a reviewed goal by Ziggy Palffy with assists by Crosby and Mario Lemieux. The game went into overtime. And after another bad penalty by Josef Melichar, the team lost--4-3. There were positives in the game. Crosby saw actiion on the penalty kill, and the lines were consistent. When Palffy was on the ice, you would also see Crosby and Lemieux. With the Eddie O regime, it would be helter skelter. There was more action in the game, and although they did lose, I thought that it was an enjoyable game and the fans were really into it. Shane Endicott had three penalties in the game, and after the game, Michel Therrien said that the team was taking some bad penalities, at least he considered them bad, and he especially named Endicott as a person who was taking bad penalities. Therrien also mentioned that the team didn't seem to be in very good condition and that needs to be remedied. It seems that in general, the players haven't been working out alot or eating well, and it seems that the whip is finally being cracked. As Therrien says, there are problems with the team, and they could not be addressed completely in less than 24 hours. It's going to take awhile, but even Crosby admitted that things were being worked on that should help the team in the end. The Pens will be playing against Buffalo again tomorrow at 5:00 pm. Back in Wilkes-Barre, the Baby Pens lost tonight. Of course, that doesn't mean that it is a trend, but Joey Mullen and Randy Hillier aren't very good coaches. The Baby Pens were playing the Syracuse Crunch. The Baby Pens are now 21-2-2-1. Just as Therrien can't get the Pens to win immediately, the Baby Pens might take a while to get the full losing effect of Hillier and Mullen. Now they could make their losing ways known right away, so I'll be keeping my eyes on their progress. The Baby Pens' next game will be tomorrow against the Norfolk Admirals. Friday, December 16, 2005 -- Late Afternoon Surprising news this afternoon. It seems that Michel Therrien has made Sidney Crosby an alternative captain this afternoon. That's actually a big deal because usually the A is reserved from players that are in the league longer then Crosby has been. Crosby said that he is honored, and Therrien said that his goal is to impress a good winning attitude into Crosby because one day "this will be Sidney's team". Things are sounding encouraging. Friday, December 16, 2005 -- Afternoon The talk all around town today is still about the new Penguins coach. It seem that Michel Therrien was signed to a new three year contract with the team as head coach. The consensus is that he is a tough, demanding coach who isn't afraid to get in the face of some of his players. It's not that he needed to get the job as the Pens coach either because with Michel Therrien's previous NHL experience and the fact that he has been doing so well with the Baby Pens he was sure to be picked up by some team next season. It is going to be curious now to see how both the Pens and the Baby Pens do with the coaching change. Right now, the Baby Pens have the best start in AHL history. Will they keep such a record with Joey Mullen and Randy Hillier as coaches? It seems that Craig Patrick is going to give Therrien full rein to do as he wants which will be good. However, some people blame Craig Patrick because he is the one who hired Eddie O as a head coach with no coaching experience, and he is the one who put together this team that isn't jiving. To fix the problem now, the only reasonable solution was to get rid of the coach. The team has to start winning. I will be at the Pens-Buffalo Sabres game this evening, and will give a game synopsis later this evening. Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Evening Today has been a big day for Pens news. In addition to the major coaching changes, there were also some changes in the roster. Michel Ouellet was brought up from the Baby Pens and Maxime Talbot and Lasse Pirjeta was sent down. For now the coaches of the Baby Pens will be a combination of Rick Kehoe and Joey Mullen. On the local sports show, Sportsbeat there were several segments on the coaching changes with the Pens. First up were some comments that Craig Patrick made. He called Michel Therrien a very good coach, and that he has done a great job with the young guys in Wilkes Barre. Then as Patrick said, "alot of the young guys are here now, so it makes sense to bring him (Therrien) here." Patrick said that Therrien is straight, forward, blunt and hard--a no nonsense guy. You do it Therrien's way or you don't play. As Patrick said, the Pens look pretty on paper, but what are they? I don't expect Therrien to make a difference immediately. Stan Savran had an interview with Therrien, and here are some of the things that Therrien said: He heard the news last night, and was excited but had mixed feelings. As he said, there was excitement this summer, and he just concentrated on the young kids in Wilkes-Barre and bought a house there. He is sad to leave the kids, but is excited to be back in the NHL. He said they need hard work starting today. The first thing he wants to get across is a foundation of a system. (Finally!). As he said you can't let the goals get made. In the first practice, they started work on the system, and will have more time next week to work on the detail. They have to concentrate on defense, and it seems in the first practice today, Therrien concentrated on defense. Therrien was told that the report was that the system was the same in both here in Wilkes Barren and he agreed, but said that the players have to have the will to perform the system. Therrien said that he doesn't like cheaters who aren't working, and he wants everyone on the same page. He also said that it will help to have the players from the Baby Pens because they know his expectations. He said he is close to his players, but there is a fine line you shouldn't cross. He said that he would do anything for his players, but they in return have to give a hell of an effort. He said the players should be warriors on the ice and that means to work hard and to do whatever it takes to win a hockey game, such as blocking shots. Therrien said that it's tough to win hockey games and it is easier to lose. As he said you don't have to pay a price to lose hockey games, but there is a price to be paid to win the games. And he wants to establish that the players will have to pay a price to win hockey games. Savran asked about the geriatrics. Therrien replied that any hockey player has pride and wants to be recognized for working hard. Therrien said that he will be strict and help the players to be recognized for working hard. He also said that he won't hide anyone, it's not his style. He said that when they need the pat on the back, he will give that to them, and when they need to have their fingers snapped, he will do that too. Therrien said that he wants the team to think of itself as a family, and when the father is tough on his kid it doesn't mean that he doesn't like them. He said it is the same in hockey, and he has to change the attitude of the team. He is expecting good things. Therrien said that he just arrived an hour before practice, and hasn't talked yet to Mario Lemieux, but he will talk to Mario. As he said he has so much respect for Mario, and the players do, not only on the team but in the NHL. Therrien expects Mario to be a true leader, and he is going to play Mario with Sidney Crosby because he thinks the two will do some damage. Therrien said that there is no time frame in getting the players acclimated to his system and his discipline. He said that he won't be able to change things around in 24 hours regarding how they play, but that they should quickly change the attitude and mentality and think of themselves as winners. As Therrien said, this is a good hockey team, and it is not achieving and that's why he is there. He said that he loves Eddie O and that Eddie O is a good friend of his, but the mentality of the hockey team has to change right now. They also talked to some of the players about the firing and hiring. They showed Therrien in the practice. As Mark Recchi said, "the right attitude wasn't there, the right work ethic wasn't there. We would do it for a game and then take a couple off. And it's not acceptable. We didn't play hard enough and that's why we are here." Brooks Orpik agreed that things had to change. Matt Murley said that Therrien isn't afraid to tell the players and the papers that someone is not playing well. He said that Therrien got into their heads and made them believe that they had to win every little battle--you can't lose anything. Crosby said that sometimes when someone hollars you have to make certain that you got that message. Marc-Andre Fleury said that they know what to expect and they know how they are, and it makes the transition easier. The commentator talked about the change in practice today that got some Pens thinking that things could change quickly. Crosby said that they were working on defense and that was stressed alot. Orpik said that it comes down to how they play on the ice. Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Late morning There is going to be a Save the Pens rally at Mellon Arena tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 16, at 6 pm. The rally is to show support for keeping the team in the Pittsburgh area. The gathering will be held on Mario Lemieux Boulevard outside the box office gate and the Pens Station store. If you are going to attend the event, send email to savethepens@hotmail.com. Let's go out and show the political leaders and the Pens management that we want the team to stay in Pittsburgh. Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Morning This is a happy morning for me. Eddie Olczyk has officially been fired from the Pens along with all the assistant coaches and the strength coach. It was a real housecleaning. Michel Therrien is going to take over the reins, and will start with the practice today. Therrien has wanted to get back into coaching in the NHL, and in the past did coach the Montreal Canadiens. The new assistant coach will be Mike Yeo, Gilles Lefebvre will be the goaltending coach, and Stephane Dube will be the strength coach. There will be another assistant coach named at a later time. The next game for the Pens will be against the Buffalo Sabres. I'll be at the game, and hope that I start to see some exciting hockey as opposed to that pathetic show that the Pens have been giving. Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Early Morning Breaking news, and it's something for which I have been wishing! The Penguins are expected to fire Eddie Olczyk today and to replace him with the coach from the Baby Pens, Michel Therrien. Not only is Eddie O expected to go, but Randy Hillier and Joe Mullen are also expected to get the ax. It's understandable because none of the three really have coaching experience. They were basically players who just moved into coaching. The thing is that playing doesn't mean that you can coach. I'm going to keep my ears open for the story, and will let you all know when it is official! Wednesday, December 14, 2005 -- Evening Some good news for Pittsburgh sports fans: Jerome Bettis was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Bettis rushed for 101 yards and got two touchdowns which were reasons for him to get the award. It's ironic in a way because Bettis is seen as an elder statesman on the team, ready for retirement, and then he just goes and show you that he has it it him. Maybe not every day, but when push comes to shove, you know that you can count on Bettis. Bettis' teammate, Ben Roethlisberger, has been creating alot of controversy over his thumb. Roethlisberger has been commenting on how his thumb is broken and how he is having problems throwing the ball. At his press conference yesterday, Bill Cowher was getting pressed by one of the regular news guys at KDKA about the issue. It finally reached the point where Cowher gave the guy his scary stare and said to just drop it and that he had answered the question. It seems that in the NFL the teams don't like information about injuries to get out. There are two ways that you could look at this, either the injury is not that serious, or it is serious and Cowher just wants to keep it underwraps. This is the second time Roethlisberger has made a big deal about an injury that Cowher wanted kept quiet. The other time was after the playoffs last season when Roethlisberger kept on talking about having broken toes. Someone asked Eddie Olczyk the question that I have been wondering. He was asked if he would consider quitting his coaching job. Eddie O's reply? Not in a million years, Never. Never. No. Never. Never. ... I'm as committed as I was six weeks ago. From Day 1." It's nice that's the case although it is to the detriment of the team. The sports writers are expecting some sort of major shakeup before the Friday game. It's one of the games in my season ticket plan. I did send some email to my account representative to stress that I made a commitment to the team by buying season tickets, and I expect some sort of commitment from the team to make an attempt to win some games. I don't think that the Pens have made that commitment. Hubble Telescope has been used to find the mass of a near-by white dwarf. The white dwarf is a companion star to Sirius and is called Sirius B. It has been incredibly difficult to get size estimates because of the brightness of Sirius. However, they were able to use Hubble's imaging spectrograph to gather the data. Sirius B is around the size of Earth, 7,500 miles in diameter, but it's mass is around 98% that of the Sun. White dwarfs are very dense stars that are the product of a sun run that has run out of fuel to keep on burning via nuclear fusion. The star winds up collapsing in on its self. Tuesday, December 13, 2005 -- Evening Two of the worst teams in hockey are playing this evening--the Pens and the St. Louis Blues. It will be interesting to see what happens. I will only be watching the first hour, probably the first period and bit of the second, and then will switch to the final episode of Amazing Race 8. So far in the first five minutes of the game, we had a power play and then had to do a penalty kill. The game so far is very slow paced. It does look like two of the worst teams are playing each other. Neither seems to really press the other during power plays. The news in St. Louis is that Patrick Lalime, the goalie who took the Ottawa Senators to the playoffs prior to the lockout, has been sent down to the minors by St. Louis. Lalime is one of those players who really did not take the year lockout very well. The lockout really seems to have affected those players who weren't playing elsewhere. Obviously, you can't be game ready if you sit out a year. You have to feel for someone like Lalime who went from glory to the AHL. The Pens are playing like they want to lose, and again they have another penalty to kill. So far, in the first ten minutes of the game, we have had three penalties compared to one for the Blues. Also, the shots on goal tell a story. Pens have three shots on goal, the Blues have twelve. Another penalty for the Pens. As the announcers on OLN are saying that the Pens obviously lack discipline--coaching problem I say. The cameras showed a concerned Eddie O. Poor guy! So obviously in over his head! First period is over, and there is no score. Shots on goal? Eight for the Pens and 12 for the Blues. On to something that should be interesting: the final episode of Amazing Race 8. The title of this episode is 25 Days, 50 Cities, and More than 600 Consecutive Hours as a Family. The show is a two hour special and starts with a recap of all the previous episodes. The episode starts in Montana where the last Pit Stop was. The final three will not have an elimination before the final. The Weavers sit at a table by themselves. The Bransens leave first at 3:04 am. they have to travel to MOntreal, Canada, and enter the Underground City, search the tunnels fand find the passageway to the CDP Capital Building. They are given a flight, but can see if they can find another flight if they want to. The Linz family leaves at 3:08 am. The Weavers leave at 4:02 am. The Weaver mom comments that Rolly Weaver is the man of the family and has matured in the year and a half since his dad died. The Bransens made reservations that will get them into the Montreal ten minutes earlier than the original flight. All the teams are now flying to Canada with the first connection in Minneapolis. The Linz family thinks they are ahead of the Bransens. The Linz family has gotten onto a flight from Toronto to Montreal that gets them in an hour ahead of time. Rolly Weaver gets into a race and trips one of the Linz boys to get in front of them. As Megan Linz says, it is getting personal. It wasn't earlier, but it is now. The Weaver mom yells at the Linz boy to get his hands of her son to which he told his brothers that Rolly was lucky he didn't break his arm. From seeing the film, Rollie did grab the Linz boy bookbag which caused the Linz boy to fall. The Linz and Weavers are on a flight that will get them in MOntreal at 4:10 pm while the Bransens will get there at 5:00 pm. The Weavers get into a van that is taking them to the Underground City. The Linz family also gets into a van. The Bransens find out that they are behind schedule and will get into Montreal at 5:25. The van driver for the Weavers say that he will wait for them, but they have to come back. The Weavers have found the clue first. It is a detour. In Slide It, they have to drive 22 miles to the Mcgill Arena and do some curling. Each team member must have the stone go 120 feet and get into the house. It could take a long time to finish. Roll it takes them 23 miles away, and they have to roll some logs that will require strength and deterity but strong teams can finish quickly. The Linz family is at Victoria Square and looking for the CDP Capital. The Bransens are just landing now. The cabdriver for the Weavers may have gotten them slightly lost. The Linz family hasn't found the clue yet. The Linz family finally finds the clue which they walked by before. They decide to do the curling detour. The Bransens are on their way to Victoria Square. It seems that the Weaver cabdriver was driving them to the wrong location. The Linz family gets direction right away. The cabdriver for the Weavers is trying to tell them how to curl. The Weavers get there first and the cabdriver comes in to watch them. The Linz family goes to the wrong rink too. It appears that there are two with the same name. So now they are behind. The Weavers are still working on the curling. Only Becky Weaver has her stone in the "house". The Linz family has another person explain how to get to the other McGill arean. The Bransens find the clue and they are deciding to do the log detour. With the Weavers, one of the stones hit the other to knock it in. All four Weavers get their stones in the house and move on. They are looking for the American Pavillion which was built for the 1967 World Expo. The Weavers cabbie, Ted, is already calling for directions. The Linz family has arrived at McGill. The Bransens have arrived at the Arboretum. They just have to roll four logs. The Weavers find out that Ted is a Christian. He does have a cross on his rearview mirror. The Linz family has three stones in the house and need to get the last one. The Bransens get the first of their four logs. The Weavers have found the American Pavillion and now have to find the marked stairs that they need to climb to the fifth floor to find their next clue. The Weavers say they are very fortunate to find Ted because he is determined to get them to their destination. The Weavers are at the building and can't find the stairs at the base of the structure. Finally they find it and rush back down the stairs. They now have to go six miles and find La Porte J which is door J at 2350 Dickson St. is the location they need. The Weavers are always boosting their drivers ego. The Linz family seem to have irritated their driver who shakes his head when one of the Linz boys says Andelay to the driver to drive faster. It's Spanish though and not French. The Bransens are having serious problems with their logs. The Bransens get the second log. The Weavers are saying that God sent them Ted. The Linz family has found the American Pavillion. The Bransens have finished their clue, and are now headed to the American Pavillion. The Weavers are looking for 2350 Dickson St. They have a road block. The person has to learn and successfully complete a move on a trapeze. Rolly is going to do the move. The Weavers are praying for Rolly. Megan quickly finds the stairs and they have the next clue. The Bransens are at the American Pavillion. Rolly asks if the other guy is a professional. Rolly quickly does the move on the first try. The Weavers are in first place. They have to travel two miles to Parq Olympik. They have to drive in a golf cart, and find the one door that will let them in. Then they to go to the center of the football field inside to get the next clue. The Weavers are in first place. Alex Linz is going to do the trapeze stunt. He doesn't make it the first time. The Bransens have found the stairs and the clue. The Bransens are now on their way. The Weavers have the Parq Olympik first and are driving around in their golf cart. The mother says that they should have taken a left because everyone makes a right because it is most common. How stupid. Alex is trying the trapeze again, and gets dropped. The Bransens have found La Porte J. The Bransens are happy to have caught up. Alex doesn't think he can do this road block. The Bransens are happy to have caught up. Alex Linz is finally caught and ready to go on. The Linz family says that they haven't seen the Weavers in a long time. The Weavers are still driving around and stop to look at a map of the building. The Linz family have gotten to the stadium now. Beth Bransen used to do gymnastics and makes it on the first try. The Bransens are not far behind the Linz family. The Weavers are trying to break into the stadium by ramming the doors with their cart. The Bransens are at the stadium now and both they and the Linz family are looking for the opening to the stadium. Thw Weavers have finally found their way in, and they are running to the box at the 50 yard line. They now have to search the stadium to find three different charter flight tickets with different times. They have caught up with the Weavers. Once you pick a charter, you have to keep it. The Weavers don't think that it is fair that the others have caught up with them. I think that's rude on their part. The Weavers went out to pay their taxi drivers and the others realize that they should do the same. The Weavers keep on saying that the other teams are sore losers and that they know that the Weavers got to the stadium first. The Bransens and the Linz families are going to work together so the Weavers don't win. The Bransen dad is arguing with his daughters because he doesn't want to do what they want and everything is taking longer than he thought. One of the daughters say that the dad is a stubborn person. The Weaver mom says that they shouldn't go to the upper levels, meanwhile they found one for 5:50 am. The LInz family is just taking it and done. Rolly keeps on telling them that the Weavers should look upstairs. The Weavers are just sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. The Bransens found one for 5:45 am and they took it. The Weavers don't want to look, and their mom has gone to sleep. The others have their tickets and are going to sleep. The Weavers just want to give up and don't have the energy to compete. Rolly keeps on trying to get them to stop wuzzing out, but the Weavers are apathetic. Rolly keeps on begging them to find the charter flight. The Weavers are finally looking for the clue. Rolly finds it. The flight is for 5:55 am which means they are in last place. The Weavers don't know if the other teams are leaving before them or not, but they are heading to the airport. The Linz and Bransen families now head to Hubert Airport. The Weavers find out they are on the last charter. The destination of the flights is unknown. All are now waiting at the airport. The Bransens go off first. The Bransens are focused on winning the million dollars. The Linz family head out second, and then the Weavers are on their way. The mother said that they can come back from it and win. She thinks they are the team to beat. The next destination is Toronto, Canada. They rush to their SUV and now have to travel to the CN Tower. They have to go to the uppermost observation deck, use binaculars to scan the city to find their next clue. The Linz family is in Toronto. The Weavers are right behind them and it is a rush to the cars. The weavers rush to leave but don't know where they are going, but the LInz family appears to know. The Weavers stop at a store to ask for directions and the Weaver mother asks for the map because it is torn, and says they have no money, can they have it because they will get back what they give. The guy looks at her, but gives her the map. The Bransens are looking for the flag that will point out their next destination. The Linz family has gotten there second. The Weavers are just arriving. The Bransens and LInz families have spotted it and are headed down. They need to get out of there before the Weavers find it. They are all headed down and all the Weaver mother can do is whine and complain about how frustrating and unfair it is. One of the Weaver girls finally finds the yellow flag, but the Bransens and Linz families are on their way. They are heading to the pier. The Linz family arrives first and then the Bransens. It is a detour. In Ship, they have to sail across the Toronto Habour and go to the boat called Kajama. When they find it, one team member must climb 150 feet up the mast and can be physical and frightening. Shoe takes the team to the Bata Shoe Museum, and then must choose a pair of shoes and find one of 100 women who have a matching shoe. It can be time consuming. The Linz family and Weavers do ship and the Bransens do Shoe. The Linz family arrives at Queens Quay first. They first have to take a sailboat over to the Kajama, and they get a lesson is sailboating. The Weavers have started out in their sailboat. The Linz family still looks like they are in first place with the Weavers right behind them. The Bransens have found the shoe museum and are trying to find the model who matches the shoe. One of the girls realizes that they should have done the task. The Linz family arrives and now has to climb. The Linz boy gets there and down quickly. They now have to travel 81 miles to Queenston and take a ride up the gorge to the Niagara Falls and grab their next clue from the buoy. The Bransens are having difficulty finding the matching foot. Finally the Bransens find the shoe that fits and they are headed on their way. It looks like the Linz family is in first and the Bransens are second. The Weavers are at the boat, and Rolly is climbing to get the flag. He is having second thoughts, but he does it. They get their clue and are now on their way. The Linz family realizes that they made a huge circle around the United States. The Weaver mother gets mixed up and doesn't realize where they are going, but the kids keep her straight. The Linz and Bransen families asked the same person for directions and the guy gives the Bransens some attitude, but they are on their way. The Linz family gets off first and then the Bransens. The Weavers have yet to arrive. The Linz family gets soaked by the waves in the rapids, then so do the Bransens and the girls all scream. The Linz family gets the clue, and have to go to Lewiston, NY for their final destination. It's not done yet as they say. The Bransens are getting their clue and are headed to Lewiston as quickly as they can. The Linz family and Bransens are on each others tails. Road block! There are 71 jigsaw pieces that must be completed for a map of North America. Once it is completed, the teams can now race to the finish line. They are all close. It is a race between the Linz and Bransen families. The Weavers are nowhere to be found just yet. it is nerve wracking as one of the Linz boys admits. Nick Linz is doing it for the Linz family and the dad is doing it for the Bransens. The Weavers are still on the river and haven't reached the buoy yet. They now have their clue and are headed to the final destination. I hope that they don't catch up with the Linz or Bransens. It is going to be close between the two families. I am getting nervous just watching. Both families are excited. There are only small ones left for the Linz family. it is a battle to the end. The Linz family finishes first and then the Bransens are racing them. The Linz family has won, and the Bransens have finished second. The Weavers were trailing by a mile. Megan Linz is crying. The Linz family has a group hug and all the other families who have been in the race and their families are there to applaud them. The Bransen and Linz families hug and congratulate each other. They say that it is for everyone back at home and for Mom and Dad. Megan says that she doesn't want to run again for the rest of her life. Megan said that she ran with the guys and she kept up with them. The Linz family says that the Bransens were tough competitors. As the Linz boy says, it was three boys against three girls. The Bransen dad starts crying when trying to answer a question and then the girls start crying. The girls all say they wouldn't have made it without him. Even the other families are crying. The Bransen dad said that as a parent he was proud of the Linz family. The Weavers come up now in third place. I don't think they actually did the puzzle. The Weavers are crying too over their trial. The Weavers say that working together is what is important. Everyone now comes and congratulates the winners. Back at the Pens game, they wound up losing horribly to the Blues with a final score of 3-0. The Blues had 41 shots on goals compared to the Pens 21. So the worst team in hockey beats us. What does that say about the Pens and their coaching or lack thereof. More on this pitiful performance tomorrow. Everytime I think it can't get any worse, the Pens prove me wrong! Tuesday, December 13, 2005 -- Late Afternoon It seems that the local government is trying to come up with solutions to the Pens arena problem without using local tax dollars. I have to admit as a tax paying citizen in the city and county, I'm not that keen on spending even more tax dollars on yet another sports facility. As it is, the voters voted against using tax dollars for Heinz Field and PNC Park to only have tax dollars go towards both facilities. The city is having enough trouble as it is keeping afloat to just throw money around. However, I do like Dan Onorato's suggestion to use "private investment, state capital funding, naming rights sales and slot machine revenues". There is a controversy over the slot machine revenues because folks are saying that some people are greasing the hands of some politicians to get a guaranteed license. This was originally stated by the outgoing mayor, who has since retracted his statement. Again, this will be one of those wait and see items. We shall see who does get the slots license, and if the politicos come up with a plan that keeps the Pens in the city. As an additional Pens note, they will be playing tonight against the St. Louis Blues. We should be able to beat the Blues since they are considered the worst team in hockey this season. If we lose tonight, I think I will have to stage a protest at the game this coming Friday. Fire Eddie O or refund my season ticket money! Tuesday, December 13, 2005 -- Afternoon One of my favorite eating places for as long as I can remember has been McDonald's. Their fries are the best, and I love the Big Mac and even the regular hamburger with the single pickle strategically placed in the corner of the patty. Nowadays, my favorite lunch plan is to go to Mickey D's, and get a burger, small fries, yogurt parfait and apple dippers. I have deluded myself into thinking that this constitutes a healthy lunch. I may have even more reason to frequent McDonald's even more. It seems that McDonald's is thinking of replacing the toys in the Happy Meal with a portable media player that will have Disney movies, songs and other media type stuff. The idea is that you get your portable device and then when you go to McDonald's and make a purchase, you can download a clip. It might take five trips to McDonald's to get a complete movie. The downloads can be done via wireless which McDonald's has been putting in its restaurants since 2003. An interesting tidbit that I was not aware of prior to yesterday is that Rafe Judkins on Survivor: Guatemala/The Maya Empire was from Pittsburgh. It seems that Pittsburgh is a hotbed for Survivor competitors, and four previous final four players came from the general Pittsburgh area. Everyone is talking about how stupid Rafe's morality was because he released Danni from her promise to take him to the final two. What did he expect her to do when he did that? I would have done the same thing that she did. The point is to win the game, not finish second. Rafe didn't do too badly though. He wound up with $85,000 for the third place finish, and got enough publicity that he should hopefully be able to launch his screenwriting career. Monday, December 12, 2005 -- Evening A hockey night in Pittsburgh! The Pens are playing the Detroit Red Wings. First period: The Pens got the first penalty and did a nice job of penalty killing. I have to admit that in the first few minutes of the game, the Pens were looking quite energized. The penalties are the things that kill the Pens and this time, they got another penalty and the Red Wings were able to score at 10:44. They lead by a score of 1-0. Play is starting to follow the Pens usual non-performance with the Pens having two shots on goal with only five minutes left to play in the period while the Red Wings have 13. It is the story of the Pens poor coaching that is never addressed. In some Pens news, they have recalled Tomas Surovy from Wilkes Barre. You know what that means, they pull a producer from the Baby Pens who quickly becomes yet another non-producer under Eddie Olczyk's non-coaching. Little over 3 minutes left in the period, and Lyle Odelein again has a penalty in this period, his second so far. Surprisingly, the Pens put a couple of short hand shots on goal. Penalty is killed and one minute remaining in the period. Shots so far 19 shots for the Red Wings compared to 3 for the Pens. Again, the Pens have the same issue--no shots on goal. The announcers at OLN were making derogatory remarks about Sidney Crosby's comments about the lack of effort on the part of his fellow teammates. The announcers felt that he should have been quiet and make the remarks only in the locker room. I would imagine that the problem is that Crosby has done just that, and the remarks have fallen on deaf ears. His only recourse was to make the comments public after his extreme frustration. Second period: Fleury is doing a nice job of blocking goals, and even the OLN announcers have to admit that Marc-Andre Fleury is an excellent goalie. The Red Wings have two penalties in a row. The Pens have a 49 second window of 5 on 3 opportunity. Eddie O called a timeout, obviously not to talk scheme, but to just give the guys a rest. The Red Wings won the face off and threw the puck all the way down the ice. The Pens so far have wasted 30 seconds of the advantage. They did get a few shots on goal in the last few seconds. The Red Wings were putting a ton of pressure on Fleury with a one man disadvantage. Then one of the Pens, Odelein I believe, gets the puck and a breakaway, but he is stopped by goalie, Chris Osgood. The Pens had another 21 second two man advantage, which they did nothing with. Then still on the power play, the Red Wings score a short handed goal off of a bad turnover by Sergei Gonchar. The announcers say that something is horribly wrong with Sergei Gonchar because he is playing so poorly and not at all as he has in the past. Shots on goal nearing the end of the second period? 30 shots for the Red Wings and 8 shots for the Pens. Yep, 8 shots for two periods. Pitiful! The Pens end the period with Tomas Surovy taking a penalty for hooking. As the announcers said, that is an unacceptable penalty because you have to learn that this sort of thing isn't being tolerated by the refs anymore. The penalty will carry over into the third period by 28 seconds. Period ends with a score of 2-0 and 31 shots to 8. The Red Wings have also won 64% of the faceoffs. Eddie O is now talking during the intermission about the team seesm as if it playing in quicksand and that thanks to the skill of a good goalie, they are still within reach of a possible win. Third period: Brooks Orpik took an obvious hooking call which he tried to make the refs believe was a dive on the part of Mikael Samuelsson. Well, the Red Wings had a power play and capitalized on it. The score is now 3-0. Just watching the Pens, you can see a total lack of system. When you see five Pens buzzing around a puck that gets shot across to the other side of the net where there are no other Pens, but only Red Wings, you realize that someone needs to give the team direction so each player isn't out there just doing things without consideration for what the other members of the team are doing. With more than half of the third period gone, the Pens have a total of 11 shots on goal for the entire game. Looking at the faceoff comparison the Pens really don't have a productive center. It seems that our win percentage is around the 30% mark. That's not really very acceptable. 46 seconds left in the 3-0 game. With 28.9 seconds left to go, Mark Recchi scored a rebound goal. At least it isn't a shut out. Score is 3-1 with the Red Wings winning. The shots on goal were 39 for the Red Wings and 17 for the Pens. It is absolutely pitiful when the goalie for your opposition, Chris Osgood, says that this was the least shots on goal that he has seen all year. Osgood did say that Fleury did a great job. What can you do though when you have almost 40 shots against you, and all your teammates can do is stand by and watch. The Pens should be ashamed of themselves based on their performance in recent games, and if Eddie Olczyk really cared about the team, he would quit because he is doing the team nothing but harm. Sunday, December 11, 2005 -- Evening Tonight is the conclusion of Survivor: Guatemala/The Maya Empire. The two hour final episode titled Thunder Storms and Sacrifice started wtih a recap of the entire season to this point. Stephanie commented at that time that people may have just wanted to get rid of her. It's amazing that she did manage to make it to the final four. Day 37. Everyone is waking up and realizing that they are in the final four. Lydia said she always felt that she was the odd man out and that it might be her destiny. Danni said that she felt Kansas State Blackhawk fan who like the team made it to final four but didn't bring back the championship. Rafe said that he is proud of all the decisions that he made in the game and he likes the people that he's with. Lydia got a tree mail message and said it was a good one. Lydia thinks that the message is one that tells them all that they will get to celebrate, but none of the other three see a celebration in store for them. As they are all sitting around the fire, a Mayan family comes to the camp. None of them spoke any English, and they went to the temple, and poured salt and honey all around. The oldest man did a chant in all directions. Stephanie kept on hoping they would get the honey to eat or to eat a live chicken that is brought into the camp. They pulled off the chicken's head and threw the head into the fire. Steph didn't seem to think that it was dead, but Rafe explained that with the head ripped off and in the fire it was dead. Lydia said that being of Hispanic heritage, she felt a kinship with the people. Steph asks Lydia to ask them if they can eat the chicken, but it was just a sacrifice to the Gods. They did get drink and tamales though. It is now time for a competition. Immunity is up for grabs. They have a monstrous maze. They have to race into the maze and find their colored puzzle pieces. There are six stations, but eight pieces. They have to take each piece back to the their station and then return to the maze over a rope bridge. Once they have all eight pieces, they have to solve the picture puzzle. Everybody found their first pair. Everyone has three pieces and need to find four more stations in the maze. Some of the stations are fakes. Danni, Rafe and Steph have four pieces now. Rafe now has five, and Steph is behind him with her fifth piece. Lydia and Danni came in with their fifth pieces. Rafe and Steph are ahead with their sixth piece. Danni gets her sixth piece and Lydia is lost. Rafe is back with his final pieces and Steph is behind him. They are now trying to form one of three images, monkey, jaquar, and crop. Danni is back with her final piece and now has to solve the puzzle correctly. All three are working on it. Patience is key as Jeff Probst says. Rafe has it and wins immunity. Lydia shows up at that point with her last piece. Rafe is save that night. So it will be one of the three women who is voted off. Back at the camp. Rafe thinks it's weird to know that he will make it to the final three, and that he does have a chance to win. Steph thinks that Rafe will be the person that she can win against because they both screwed over the same person. Steph talks to Rafe and thinks that they should take Lydia because there is a better shot to win against Lydia. But Rafe promised Danni. Danni said that everyone goes back on their word. Rafe tells Danni that she's a big part of the reason that he is there. Steph wanted to eat the sacrifical chicken. Steph said that she wished she had thought of it earlier to get the chicken. Lydia then asks if Steph and Rafe will keep her there. Lydia thinks that Steph wants to take her to the final three because Lydia can't win the immunity. Lydia digs in first, but Rafe seems abit leery. He thinks that because it is a sacrifical ritual that it would be pointless to eat the chicken. After all, the point was not to eat the chicken. Rafe backs down but the other three eat it. Then a huge thunderstorm moved it. It was the biggest since they were there, and it was just after they ate the chicken. Rafe said that he thought he did hear them mention the thunder gods in the ritual. It is now time for tribal council. The four go to the council and then the jury is brought in. Rafe tells them all about the ceremony. Rafe thought it was a very moving experience and felt that he was a part of the culture. Jeff asks them about the storm. Lydia admits that it might have been because they ate the chicken. Lydia said that she knew they were punished for eating the chicken. Jeff said that he wasn't judging them, but wondered about them not respecting the ritual. The jury members are shaking the