It's Hump Day!

Interesting Skies in P-Town

First things first… Calgary won last evening, 3-2. The Flames are back in it, although it was a near-run thing. Calgary definitely plays better at home, to their fans’ great relief. The Saddledome was a literal sea of red (the Flames’ home colors) last evening…so much so that I told SN1 during the game that I thought Calgary must make as much off jersey sales as they do on ticket sales. It was an amazing sight. But…I digress.

Jarome Iginla (who finally scored after a five-game playoff drought) and Miikka Kiprusoff were the keys to the Flames’ success. Calgary’s game improved (although Detroit out shot Calgary… barely … by 30-28) while Detroit’s game fell off by just a little bit, including taking six penalties to Calgary’s four. The Detroit penalties hurt… what with two of Calgary’s three goals coming on the power play… while the Wings failed to convert on their power plays. The Wings’ game wasn’t off by that much, mind you, but the Flames definitely outplayed them and were the more intense team. But then again, the Flames had a lot more to lose. Going down 3-0 in a series is a deep, deep hole to claw your way out of…

So. We have a series, now, don’t we?

The Pens are in a 3-1 hole after losing last night to Ottawa , as is Dallas after their 2-1 loss to the Canucks. Both teams are goners from my perspective. The most surprising game of the evening was New York’s 7-0 drubbing of Atlanta, who are now down 3-0 in that series and in serious danger of being swept. I mentioned yesterday that I’d rather watch the NY – Atlanta game than the Sens – Pens…and sure enough… Atlanta, the number three seed in the East, has been totally humiliated by number six seed New York. The Rangers have simply owned them. That’s surprising in one respect, as the Rangers were pretty much on the bubble for the last month of the regular season. But not so surprising in another…the Thrashers were struggling towards the end of the regular season. It’s all about peaking at right time. The Wings know all too well about that.

Apropos of nothing…Ya know one of the things I like about hockey? Even after 20+ years of following the sport, I see something new every so often. And last night it was this:

A pane of glass behind Kiprusoff was dislodged with 10 seconds left in the second period, so the time was added to the third period.

I’ve never seen that before. It usually takes six or eight minutes to replace broken “glass.” Rather than make the players and fans sit through the maintenance only to play the remaining ten seconds in the period and then adjourn to the locker room, the refs made a pragmatic and wise decision. The last ten seconds of the second period were played at the beginning of the third. The teams gathered just outside the Calgary zone at the beginning of the third period, the puck was dropped, ten seconds of play ensued, the horn sounded announcing the end of the “second period,” then the teams switched goals and the puck was dropped at center ice to begin the “real” third period. Trés bizarre, but also very interesting. Not to mention amusing.

The well-dressed motorcyclist…This would be SN2 in his new leathers. All color coordinated and ready to go. Assuming of course, that the bike shop finishes the minor surgery on the RD that’s been in progress for well over a week now. Rumor has it the patient will be released today. And a good thing it is, too, as SN2 wants to take his Nebraska motorcycle license test today. Hard to do that without a bike, innit? Ah…but the good folks at the Bike Hospital have offered Sam a demo bike (demo bike? What a concept!!) to use for his test if the RD isn’t ready to go. And that’s a good thing.

It seems like every third moonbat in the USA, and several from overseas, were drawn to comment on this article in the WaPo:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), the most liberal of the Democratic presidential candidates in the primary field, declared in a letter sent to his Democratic House colleagues this morning that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Ah, looks for all the world like a ploy to increase contributions to Kucinich’s quixotic presidential campaign, and the moonbats are rising to the bait (to mix a metaphor). The article, while quite brief, includes the text of Kucinich’s “Dear Colleague” letter. It’s the comments to the post/article that are both amazing and amusing. Assuming you have a droll sense of humor.

Today’s Pic(s): Interesting skies. We were semi-surrounded by heavy weather yesterday but most of the severe storms were to the north (Clovis) and east of us, around Lubbock. Still and even I thought it was touch and go for the longest time yesterday, what with the high wind, ominous looking skies, and lines of t-storms on the WX Channel’s radar tracks. But nary a drop of rain fell in my lil corner of the world. Clovis got wet, as did Cannon Airplane Patch, but not P-Town.

April 17, 2007. Right here in P-Town.