The Daily Bongo
February 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008 -- Evening
Tonight was not a good night for the Pens. They played the Boston Bruins. Marian Hossa suffered a grade 1 MCL sprain in the second period, and left the game. He's probably going to be out for a week. What is up with the injury jinx that has been following this team?! Ty Conklin let in three goals in 22 minutes, and was pulled in favor of Marc-Andre Fleury. The Pens really sucked this evening, and they lost with a final score of 5-1.Wednesday, February 27, 2008 -- Evening
I didn't get a chance to watch Big Brother tonight. Last night, I was concentrating on homework and watching the Pens game. The first thing I did was watch last night's show. We got to see all the fallout from James nominating Matt and Alex. James said that Matt and Alex bonded from the very beginning so his goal was to break up the friendship. We also got to see the argument between Allison and Shelia. Shelia fell for the crap that Matt and Amanda fed her. Shelia kept on insisting to Allison that Allison was mad at her. Then the veto competition started. Joshuah and Sharon got to compete in the veto, and Adam got to be the host. He seemed really excited about being the host. The POV was lame. The couples had to string together cables to complete an electrical circuit. Sharon and Joshuah were the first to complete the circuit so they won POV, and then because of it, the houseguests got news from the outside--like gossip and the election results. After the POV, we got to see Shelia have a breakdown and rant and rave against Allison. Everyone starts to realize that Shelia is crazy because she has been ranting and raving about what a bitch Allison is. Allison confronts Shelia about it. Ryan and Adam join in to find out why Shelia has been bad mouthing Allison. I think that Shelia was just having some sort of Psycho episode. Allison was running in the backyard, and then went into the diary room because of an allergic reaction. There was a nurse there who gave her an epipen. Then we saw Amanda faint from a hypoglycemic episode. The nurse was running back and forth between Allison who was swollen from a peanut allergy and Amanda who was having a seizure from her hypoglycemic reaction. The houseguests seemed really shocked about the illness of the two girls. Both girls made it back into the game and the house. The Tuesday show ended with Joshuah and Sharon not using the POV.Now on to Wednesday's show. As James says, Operation Condor is in effect with James getting Ryan and Adam to vote out Alex and Amanda. Matt said although Alex is his buddy, Matt wants to stay in the house. Matt and Adam talk about it coming down to them in the final two. Allison starts compaigning to get rid of Matt and Natalie. As she told the others, Matt and Natalie have been eating real food while Alex and Amanda were eating slop. Ryan said that he can trust Matt and Natalie more. However, Allison wasn't really able to convince anyone else, and Alex and Amanda were evicted from the Big Brother house. Then it was on to HOH with only the four eligible couples competing. In the HOH competition, the women competed first and then the men, and Sharon and Joshuah won both competitions, so they became the new HOH. Josh ran around like a mad man celelbrating. He's an annoying guy, and from the looks of the comments on Joker's Updates, alot of people are turned off by his attitude.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 -- Evening
Today was quite a day on the Pens front. Today was trade deadline, and boy, did the Pens make a trade. It was just minutes before the deadline of 3 p.m. when the Pens announced that they were trading Colby Armstrong (Sid's best buddy on the team) and Erik Christensen for Marian Hossa. The Pens also got traded last year's first round draft pick, Angelo Esposito and a first round pick in the coming draft. We also got Pascal Dupuis and Hal Gill. The Pens had to call up Connor James and Nathan Smith from the Baby Pens. The Pens were short handed in tonight's game against the New York Islanders until the two made the three hour trip to New York. This is quite a trade, and it has been huge news both here in Pittsburgh and in the hockey world. It's obvious that the Pens are going to try to win the Stanley Cup this year.The Pens played the New York Islanders this evening, and it was a game that no one was expecting the Pens to win. However, the players came out flying, and they pulled out a win. Everyone contributed, even Connor James who got a goal in the third period. The Pens really picked things up after their weekend of losses in overtime.
Sunday, February 24, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the San Jose Sharks this afternoon. The first two periods, heck most of the game, was incredibly boring. In fact, the most interesting thing to happen was when the Zamboni broke down before the start of the game, spewing red motor oil all over the ice. It took around 15 minutes to clean it up, and the ice didn't seem like it was in good shape for the first period. There was only one Zamboni to clean the ice for the entire game. The Pens had a hard time even getting the puck out of their own end. The first score happened when Jonathan Cheechoo scored. Erik Christensen was finally back from his shoulder injury, and he scored the tying goal. The game went into overtime and then a shootout. Ty Conklin wasn't able to stop a single puck in the shootout, and the Sharks won. Marc-Andre Fleury was recalled from Wilkes Barre, and he was at the arena. He will probably be playing in the next game. Check out my pictures of the game.I watched the episode of Endurance Fiji with the final three. Red won the final Temple mission, but because the selection for Temple came down to the luck of the draw, they wound up going to Temple with Blue. Blue won at Temple and makes it to the final two. It sucks that the team who finished last in the final Temple competition (Blue) winds up in the final two, while the team that won the competition is sent home. I think that really sucks, but what can you do. Read the recap of the show.
Saturday, February 23, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the Ottawa Senators in a late afternoon game today at Mellon Arena. This is going to be a weekend of hockey because the Pens are playing the San Jose Sharks tomorrow afternoon. Today's game had the fans in a feverish state because the Pens are so close to the lead, and if we won today, the Pens could have taken first place in the Eastern Conference. However, Devils won today, and the Pens lost. They had the early lead, a 3-0 lead, but they pretty much blew the lead in the third period. The game was tied and went into overtime. With only three seconds on the clock, Daniel Alfredsson scored for the Senators. Ty Conklin made some really great saves, but he still let in four goals. Meanwhile, Marc-Andre Fleury has been on a conditioning assignment in Wilkes Barre, and has been doing a great job. Fleury should be back with the Pens this coming week, and it will be interesting to see how things pan out. I am really tired of the Fleury nay sayers in the audience who have been complaining as if Fleury had been playing poorly for months instead of injured. Check out my pictures of the game.Thursday, February 21, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the Montreal Canadiens. Dany Sabourin was in goal because the Pens will be playing the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon. That will be an important game because the Senators are still leading the Eastern Conference. The Pens took the early lead, but the Canadiens fought back. Jarkko Ruutu is on a hot streak getting his second goal of the second (and second goal in the past week!) The game was a scoring fest for both teams. The Canadiens tied things up in the third period, but the Pens were not to be undone, and they went on to win with a final score of Pens 5, Canadiens 4.Wednesday, February 20, 2008 -- Evening
The Big Brother eviction show was on tonight. The show started with everyone in the house turning on Amanda. Amanda has been spending her time gossiping about everyone and spreading rumors. This time, Chelsia called her on it. Everyone was yelling at Amanda, includin Josh. Poor Alex was just sitting there listening to it, and you really had to feel sorry for him. Josh told Amanda that everyone in the house hated Amanda, and then he totally went on a freakout screaming and throwing things. Alex tried to explain that Amanda talking about one partner reflects on the other partner. As Alex said, what Amanda says reflects on Alex. Then Josh went too far and said that Amanda should get a noose like her dad. Jen really turned on Ryan and was campaigning against him. Jen was telling everyone that Ryan was racist. Shelia lets Ryan know that Jen has been talking smack about him to sway people against him. Shelia finally tells Ryan that Jen has been telling people that he's racist. Jen tries to act all innocent and denies calling Ryan a racist. What was funny was that the Big Brother producers showed Jen calling Ryan racist. Allison said that Jen is a born liar, and that she doesn't know what she has. Ryan was really hurt by the comment and says that it is sad that Jen wants to win the game so bad. By a vote of three to one, Jen and Parker were evicted from the house. Jen started getting teary eyed, but she got what she deserved for calling her boyfriend a racist to get him evicted. Parker was quiet as Julie talked to Jen, but he was shaking his head and rolling his eyes the entire time. Poor Parker was out because his partner was so hated and obnoxious. With the HOH competition, the houseguests gave up hot water for 72 hours, the women had to wear bathing suits for 24 hours, drinking cups were removed from the house for a week, they got a margarita party, the woman had to cook dinner, they gave up the washing machine for two weeks. Chelsia and James were with the majority on most questions, and they became the new HOH couple.Tuesday, February 19, 2008 -- Evening
I did not go to this evening's the Pens and the Florida Panthers. I had gotten rid of the tickets to the game a couple of months ago when I thought I was going to have class on Tuesday evenings. It was also a Jordan Staal bobblehead night. I was watching the game on TV, but it wasn't very exciting. The Panthers took the early lead. However, as the Pens have done in the past, they came on in the third period to tie things up. Ryan Malone scored the go-ahead goal in the final 22 seconds of the period. Malone got the puck into the net, but the play was reviewed because Malone was shoved into the goaltender. That was the second goal for Malone in the last four minutes of the game.I watched Big Brother, and we found out what happened with Neil. He had to leave because of an urgent personal matter. So Joshuah was given the choice to take either Sharon or Jacob. As Josh said, not a hard decision. Everyone in the house hates Jacob, so he chose Sharon. There's alot of drama going on in the house. James started some controversy because he thought that there were more couples in the house than just Jen and Ryan. Parker went and created a whole brouhaha in the backyard over the event. Meanwhile, all James was saying to Alex was that he believes there are more couples in the house. It seems that the reason Alex got upset about Amanda and Parker hanging out was because Alex likes Amanda and was jealous. It seems that the POV competition is between four couples. Natalie and Matt were chosen by random draw, and Josh was chosen as the master of ceremonies. The HOH competition was a spinning wheel competition. The girls were strapped onto a spinning heart. They had to hold onto a panic button, and the first couple to reach 300 revolutions won. if the girl let go of the button, the count stopped, and the couple was out. Allison was the first to let go. Amanda let go of her button on purpose so there wouldn't be a bigger target on her back. Matt was able to spin Natalie 300 times. The twist of the POV is that if the couple can't agree, then the POV can't be used. Matt and Natalie chose not to use the POV, and now Jen and Ryan are campaigning against each other. I loved how Jen said that she was okay with getting rid of Ryan. With a girlfriend like that, I would rather be alone! Tomorrow we find out who stays and who becomes the HOH.
Sunday, February 17, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the Boston Bruins this evening. The Pens had to get a win because the last two games were losses. At this time of the season, the team can't afford to put together too many losses. Not goals in the first period. But in the second period, Jarkko Ruutu scored his first goal in 60 games on a breakaway as he came out of the penalty box. The Pens scored another two minutes later when Petr Sykora scored. The Bruins ended that period with a goal, but in the third, Evgeni Malkin scored to give the Pens a two point lead. The Pens won the game with a final score of 4-1 (with an empty netter by Colby Armstrong.The new episode of Big Brother was on this evening. We got to see all the drama of Jen announcing to everyone that she was dating Ryan. That girl is really annoying. She was telling everyone in the house that she was going to win and that's why her picture was first on memory wall. Her voice grates on my nerves the most. There was nothing on the show that occured since last Wednesday, so there was no news on the disappearance of Neil and the reentry of Sharon. Also, there was nothing about the sexcapes of the houseguests. I wonder if any of those topics will make the show.
Saturday, February 16, 2008 -- Evening
I haven't had much chance over the past two days to watch the Big Brother live feeds. Boy, have a missed alot! It seems that the producers got what they wanted. There is alot of drama, backstabbing, and sex. Yes, you read that right. Some of the kinky acts have been caught by the live feeds. Matt and Natalie were under the covers, and Ryan and Jen were in one of the bathrooms. In both cases, you could hear the action without really seeing anything. With Jen and Ryan, the producers had the decency to give the pair privacy by playing flames on the video portion. Some news: Matt and Natalie have the POV. It seems that Jen has been saying too much, and now folks are tired of her and want her to be gone. It will be intersting to see how this all goes, and I'm sure that the couples theme is going to cause confusion with the vote in the end. That's what houseguests are trying to figure out now.Kris Beech broke his right wrist in Thursday's game and is going to be out for the rest of the season. I think it's really ironic that we bring the loser Beech back, and after only a couple of games, he breaks his wrist. Life is ironic that way.
Thursday, February 14, 2008 -- Late Evening
The Pens played the Carolina Hurricanes this evening. They ran into trouble tonight too. The problem is that the team just isn't shooting at the net. The Hurricanes had more than twice as many shots on goal as the Pens. I think that the other teams have realized that Evgeni Malkin's line is the only one that scores. So they have been watching him more. Also, Michel Therrien has been playing Malkin alot and the guy just looks exhausted on the ice. Final score: Pens 2 - Hurricanes 4.Something has been happening on Big Brother, but I'm not sure what. Neil has been vanished from the show. The houseguests haven't really been talking about it, and I can't find out any information online. So Sharon has been brought back into the game and teamed up with Joshuah. When I find out more, I'll post it.
Thursday, February 14, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens really didn't show up for last night's game against the Boston Bruins. The Bruins scored two goals in the first period, and the Pens weren't able to get anything going. Ty Conklin was doing a great job, but that only goes so far when your offense is on a power play and doesn't get a shot on goal. Evgeni Malkin got the only goal for the Pens in the third period. The final score was Pens 1 and Bruins 2. Check out my pictures of the game.Meanwhile, I finally got to see last night's Big Brother show. There is so much drama this season with the couples in a situation where they could make out. Jacob and Sharon were the ones who got evicted because Jacob was spreading stories about Parker being a snake. He wouldn't take blame for it, and Sharon tried to turn the finger towards Ryan. At that point, Jen told Parker that she was dating Ryan. That's how the word spread through the house because then Ryan had to tell Allison. Adam is the most obnoxious person. When it came down to the HOH competition (because the first competition was for Power Couple--Jen and Parker got to compete). The hosts for the game? Eric and Jessica from last season were the hosts, and YES, they are still a couple. The competition had a Newlywed Game theme. Alex and Amanda won the competition. This wasn't on the show, but on the live feeds, it seems that Jen & Parker and Allison & Ryan are on the block, and Jen is campaigning to get rid of Ryan so she can keep her hands clean.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 -- Afternoon
I haven't been able to confirm it, but I think that Jacob and Sharon were evicted from the Big Brother house. It also seems that the houseguests are talking about splitting up partners and reassigning them. There is alot of gossiping going on. It seems very high school at this point, but I have to admit that there's a dramatic increase in the drama and backstabbing over past seasons. I think the producers might have had a good idea by forcing people to partner up. Matt says that he can't stand his partner, Natalie, and that Natalie is talking about throwing competitions so they lose.Pictures and game recap from tonight's Pens vs. Boston Bruins game will be posted Thursday evening. Check the game recaps page for information on this season's home and away games.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 -- Evening
Big Brother: 'til Death do You Part started this evening. The show has a totally new theme for the winter version. The houseguests are being teamed up in pairs--romantic pairings. The producers are hoping to hook up some of the players. The players will have to play in teams. They will be HOH together as a team and get evicted as a team. Sharon and Jacob used to be in a relationship, and they were both in the house (without the other knowing it) and were paired up. We also found out that Jen and Ryan, her boyfriend, are in cahoots with each other and have gone into the game knowing that they will have to compete as a team. The teams were:Alex & Amanda
James & Chelsia
Matt & Natalie
Parker & Jen
Joshuah & Neil
Jacob & Sharon
Ryan & Allison
Adam & Shelia
There was controversy right away because the couple, Jen and Ryan, were paired with others. Sharon and Jacob were hooked up and fighting over past wrongs, and Shelia was matched with Adam. Shelia was really ticked about that because Adam is the ugliest guy, and he called her "ma" which really got under Shelia's skin because at almost 46, she is more than 16 years older than the others. The insults started flying. When it came time for the HOH competition, the pairs had to wrap themselves around each other and be suspended above a mattress. Shelia couldn't take it and was the first to let go of Adam. I can't blame her because Adam is on the ugly side. The first HOH couple: Parker and Jen. Jen grabbed the $10,000 pillow during the competition, so they won $10,000 for winning the competition. Adam seems really psycho, so I would send him home, and Jen agrees that Shelia and Adam have negative energy. However, Parker wants to get rid of Ryan and Allison. Parker and Jen have to nominate a couple in a few hours after winning.
Sunday, February 10, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon. This was the third game in four days, and the third straight win. I don't know how the players managed to keep up the energy because I was tired after attending the three games. Everyone anticipated a great game, not only because of the intense rivalry between the two teams, but also because of the fight for the lead in the Atlantic division. The game was a good one with the Flyers taking the early lead, but the Pens battled back to take the lead. Evgeni Malkin was on fire again and had a hand in all four of the Pens' point this afternoon. Jarrko Ruutu treated us all to another great fight when he went toe to toe with Steve Downie. The fight went on for around a minute. Downie broke up the fight when he just gave up and skated away. That's the first time that I saw a fighter just give up. The final score was Pens 4, Flyers 3. Check out my pictures of the game.Marc-Andre Fleury was sent down to Wilkes Barre on a conditioning assignment. That means that he should be back on the ice for the Pens sometime soon.
Saturday, February 9, 2008 -- Evening
This is going to be a busy weekend with two Pens home games. Today, they played the LA Kings. It's been awhile since the Kings were here, but the Pens have a good track record against teams from the Western Conference. Today was no different, and the Pens took an early lead with a goal in the first. They followed that up with three more in the second. Evgeni Malkin scored two of the four, and almost had a hat trick with an empty netter at the end of the third period. Malkin has been doing a superb job over the past few weeks since Sidney Crosby has been out. In fact, the whole team has been pulling together very well. Even Jordan Staal has been doing a great job, and scored a goal today. The final score for the game was Pens 4 and Kings 2. Check out my pictures of the game.Friday, February 8, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the New York Islanders last night at Mellon Arena. This was one of those games where you wanted the Pens to win in regulation so they wouldn't give away any points to someone in the same division. Things weren't promising when the Islanders scored first, but the Pens came on to score two to take the lead. After being publicly reprimanded by Michel Therrien for not performing up to snuff, Ryan Whitney scored the first goal, and then went on to score another. I can't say that I blame Therrien for his reprimand. Our defense has been sloppy for most of the season, and Therrien's biggest beef with Whitney was Whitney's lack of aggression around our net. I think that we tend to blame the goalie far too often for problems that are caused by a too weak defense. Well, everyone was cheering Whitney last night. Yeah, it's nice that he scored, but we still need a more aggressive defense. The Islanders tied things up in the third period, and I was starting to get worried that we were going to give up yet another point to others in our division, when Kris Letang scored the go-ahead goal with a smidge over three minutes left in the game. The Pens held off a viscious attack by the Islanders and won with a final score of 4-3. Check out my pictures of the game.Thursday, February 7, 2008 -- Morning
Pictures and game recap from tonight's Pens vs. New York Islanders game will be posted Friday evening. Check the game recaps page for information on this season's home and away games.Wednesday, February 6, 2008 -- Afternoon
The folks at CBS have released the names of the contestants on the upcoming season of Big Brother 9 that starts next Tuesday. I think that's because the contestants are now safely locked away in the BB house, so there will be nothing to contaminate their opinions. There are 16 contestants, and all but one is 29 or younger. The oldest is 45 year old Sheila. The thing that I think is interesting is that some of the girls look much older in their pictures than the age they claim. For example, both Sharon (23) and Chelsia (21) look much older than their stated years. I also think they look alike too, but it's proabably the ugly nose. I am imagining that this season's Big Brother will be on the shallow side, but it should be just the break I need from classwork!Monday, February 4, 2008 -- Evening
The Pens played the New Jersey Devils this evening. The gap between the top three teams in the Atlantic Division is two points, and two of the three are the Pens and the Devils. It was really important for the Pens to take the lead and win the game to get the two point advantage in their division. They had a great second period, taking a two point lead. Petr Sykora scored his 600th goal in the game. Things fell apart in the third period, and the Devils tied things up to take the game into overtime. 37 seconds into OT, the Devils scored to get the two points. Final score of the game was Pens 3 - Devils 4.Sunday, February 3, 2008 -- Late Evening
I was watching the Super Bowl this evening, and I was cheering on the New York Giants. I really can't stand the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick is a cheater and always has been. I don't think he should be rewarded because the Patriots have won due to Belichick's cheating strategies. There is some talk that the Patriots were using their filming tactics in the 2002 Super Bowl. What I think is amazing is that some people want to believe that the whole SpyGate and filming/cheating fiasco was just a one off or soemthing short term. Bull donkies! The guy has been cheating for the long term. How else did Eric Mangini (a former assistant coach under Belichick) know that Belichick was filming the New York Jets. Well, that's because Mangini knew that Belichick cheated while Mangini was on the team, and he continued to cheat. It was an extremely close game the whole time, but in the last minute and a half, the Giants scored a touchdown. With one second left in the game, Poor Loser and Cheater Belichick left the field, granted after going over to congratulate Tom Coughlin. The Giants had to make a last play to finish off the game, and they did it without Belichick on the field. It was the best ending, and believe it or not, the win came about because of a Plexico Burress catch for a touchdown. Now why couldn't Burress be clutch when he played with the Steelers. The Cheaters got what they deserved, a season so close to a perfect one that they could almost taste it, to having their arrogant butts knocked down a peg. Yippee Giants! The final score was Giants 17 - Patriots 14.The Super Bowl ads were really lame this year. I think the only ones that were memorable were the CareerBuilders.com ads. I especially loved the one where the woman's heart jumped out of her body, went into the boss' office, and held up a paper saying "I quit." The message of the ad was to follow your heart. I think that the reason the ads has such a resonance with me is that I hate my job. Well, I hate the place where I work. I'm tired of the atmosphere, and the fact that the management is so incompetent and unable to do anything other than use buzz words. It's one of those places that winds up in a Dilbert comic.