Performances

Just in case you missed the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past Saturday, C-SPAN has video of the speeches delivered by the headliner, Wanda Sykes, and The One hisownself. I thought Sykes was over the frickin’ top with her routine and I’m not the only one. Even some liberal Dems said as much, to their everlasting credit. While Sykes didn’t begin to approach the hatchet-job delivered by Stephen Colbert at the Correspondents’ Dinner a few years ago… she came close. I watched her whole speech and I was not amused. In fact I'm sufficiently incensed that I won’t even link her “performance.” It’s out there and it ain’t too hard to find if you feel you just have to watch. My opinion? Don’t bother.

I will, however, link the President’s speech. Regular readers know I don’t care for The One’s politics or his policies. Obama delivers a good speech… if nothing else… and his performance on Saturday night was pretty danged good, what with its partisan shots and some mildly self-deprecating humor. The one-liner I liked best concerned his accomplishments during his first 100 days, which included “being named the top auto executive of the year by Car and Driver.” Ouch.

The linked video of the speech is about 16 and a half minutes long and is worth your time... whether you like The One or not.

(Update 1245 hrs with full disclosure: I edited a few awkward constructions out of the previous paragraph after a re-read. Stream o' consciousness writing doesn't always work.)

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Detroit's Darren Helm goes for the loose puck against Chris Pronger during their 4-1 win over Anaheim in game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs between the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
(KIRTHMON F. DOZIER/DFP)

Hockey stuff, beginning with yesterday’s Wings-Ducks game… here’s Mark Whicker, writing in the Orange County Register:

DETROIT -- No, the Ducks really were paying attention. They proved it after Game 5. If not during.

Todd Marchant: "At times it looked like we didn't want the puck."

Teemu Selanne: "We had no business being in that game. We weren't mentally prepared."

James Wisniewski: "We can't play like it's Game 38 of the regular season."

Instead, it might well have been Game Next-To-Last of the whole season, this 4-1 loss to the Red Wings that shoved the Ducks into a 2-3 hole in the NHL Western Conference semifinals, with Game 6 in Anaheim on Tuesday.

Just as a historical note, Detroit hasn't lost a Game 7 in Joe Louis Arena since the San Jose series in 1994. Not that the Red Wings have really needed many Game 7s, with their assembly line of puck-carrying talent. Mikael Samuelsson, for example, had 19 regular-season goals. On Sunday he was on Mike Babcock's fourth line.

But the Ducks have gotten past Detroit's skill masters before, by doing everything they said they didn't do Sunday. The shots-on-goal column can deceive, but this one was eloquent and accurate: Detroit, 38-17, including 20 of the first 24 and 15 of the final 20.

The Wings have won the past two games by a combined 10-4, or since Marian Hossa's apparent tying goal Tuesday was blown dead because the referee lost the puck.

The shots-on-goal avalanche in this series now favors Detroit, 223-138.

And it goes on like that elsewhere. Mr. Whicker ain’t the only one who thinks the Ducks might be out come this Tuesday. He has company in ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun who calls the Ducks “worn down” and the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Tim Wharnsby, who says, in part:

The Ducks certainly appear to be a worn-down bunch. Forward Ryan Getzlaf, who was battling the flu earlier last week, and his linemate Cory Perry get the bulk of the ice time up front, while the Wings roll four lines.

Only the Wings' lack of finish (they hit two goals posts and a crossbar) prevented the score from being more lopsided. The Ducks were sluggish early on and even after coach Randy Carlyle shuffled his lines, they could not build on a Ryan Whitney power-play goal late in the second period to make the score 2-1.

So… is it over? Not yet. It’s a hockey truism that the last win is the toughest one. We’ll see on Tuesday night.

In other hockey news… the Bruins won convincingly on home ice last night over the Hurricanes by a score of 4-0 to remain alive in their series. What was that Churchill said about the prospect of imminent death focusing the mind like nothing else? Let’s hope the Ducks ain’t reading the same play-book as the B’s. We know they ain’t drinking the same water. I think.

And the Pens took the lead in their series over Washington this past Saturday, in a match-up that just might be the most interesting contest in these playoffs. Hell, even the Wall Street Journal took notice of this one (in what is essentially a love letter to Ovechkin)… which just might be the first article about hockey ever printed in that august rag. It’s the first one I remember, anyway. Worth a read, that one. My favorite bit:

In Washington, where the Capitals have long been the poor stepchild to football's Redskins, Mike Kardash, an attorney in Gainesville, Va., dumped his Redskins tickets two seasons ago and began attending more Capitals games. "It's just more fun to watch," he says, comparing Mr. Ovechkin to longtime Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington, for his bruising hits and speed. Mr. Ovechkin, he says, "he's why people go."

Heh. I LOVE stuff like that... the bit about dumping football, that is. But when it comes to Ovechkin... I'm a big AO fan, too. You can't watch that guy play without being impressed with both his skill and exuberance, particularly the latter.

Just so we cover ALL the bases (to mix our sports metaphors), I need to mention the Hawks won… in Vancouver… on Saturday, as well. They play at home tonight and might be the first of the remaining teams to advance to a conference final. They sure looked impressive in Vancouver.