Happy (Early) Fathers Day!

This my Fathers Day gift… from me, to me:

I just now finished placing my order with Amazon for this lil puppy and a few other items, besides. It’s a Canon XTi digital SLR (body only)…in silver. I prefer black and would have ordered one in black, but the silver body was $80.00 cheaper. That fact alone appeals to my inner tightwad frugal being. So, silver it is. I decided on this particular Canon camera and lens combo after much gnashing and thrashing through various digital camera sites and such, in addition to having followed Becky’s experience with her Canon XT, which she really likes. I’ve lived with my Powershot G5 for four years and really, really like it. But I’ve been lusting for a digital SLR for a couple of years and I guess it's time to take the plunge. So, plunge taken... time or not.

 

As for the lens… I bought a Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (the “IS” meaning image stabilization). Nearly all of the digicam sites took issue with the standard kit lens which was bashed for build quality, among other things. This particular lens got good reviews and isn’t “break the bank” expensive. It remains to be seen just how much I like it, but I’m pretty sure I will. Like it, that is.

Wow. Excitement ‘R’ Us!!

A Different Sort of Hockey Post

Didja know The Onion has a sports section? No? Well, neither did I…but they do. And here’s a sample of their writing:

LOS ANGELES—Sources within the Red Wings organization confirm that goalie Chris Osgood, who is currently engaged in accompanying the Stanley Cup on a victory tour of talk shows and publicity events, has repeatedly and insistently claimed to have gotten as far as third base with hockey's championship trophy during the past week.

On Tuesday night Osgood, teammate Nicklas Lidstrom, and the Stanley Cup made an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno during which Osgood was seen repeatedly touching and attempting to hold the Cup. Witnesses say that after the segment had taped, Lidstrom left for the airport, while Osgood and the Cup left together for the Four Seasons Hotel.

Housekeeping staff said Wednesday morning that the Cup's room had not been slept in.

You can read the rest here… “Chris Osgood Gets to Third Base with Stanley Cup.”

Heh. Just another “Kiss and Tell” piece...

Update: Forgot to give credit where credit is due for this post, and it's your Usual Hockey Suspects... the folks at Kukla's Korner. Where you'll also find stuff like this:

OK... that's a bit much, doncha think? I mean, I love my Wings...but wearing red tennies with a "2008 Stanley Cup Champions" logo?

I don't think so...

Glass Art and Strangeness in Different Flavors

So… as luck would have it, I stumbled into a fascinating show on PBS last evening directly following The News Hour (which is a daily habit of mine). The show was ostensibly about glass and glass art, but focused primarily on Hans Godo Frabel, one of the world’s best glass artists, ever. And Mr. Frabel has a web site, which is just totally mesmerizing. Here’s the introduction from the splash page of said web site:

The Frabel Glass Art Studio was founded in 1968 by Hans Godo Frabel and is widely considered to be the first glass art studio completely focused on creating glass art sculptures out of boron crystal. Some of the world’s most outstanding glass artists are collectively creating the most incredible works of glass art in the Frabel Studio in Atlanta. The glass crystal sculptures of this internationally famous studio with its contemporary glass artists are in the hands of many museums, private collectors and corporations worldwide.

And that’s understatement of the highest order. It’s extremely difficult to capture glass art…with all its nuances and ability to capture and play with light… in static photography. Which is why the web site is mostly video. But, Boy Howdy!… is it ever good! The only reservation I’d have about urging you to go is if you’re on dial-up. I’ll take that back, actually. While the video might be problematic, the catalog of “for sale” pieces is not. But otherwise? What’s keeping you? Go!

In the meantime…God Love YouTube… here’s a two-minute segment on Frabel’s display at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which was featured prominently in the show I watched last evening.

And finally… There was a brief segment in the PBS show concerning the source of the glass used exclusively by the Frabel Studio, which is produced just outside of Prague in the Czech Republic. I’d long known the Czech Republic was renowned for its glass art and I made it a point to visit several museums and galleries featuring glass art during The Great European Divorce Tour of 1999 (an earthier taste of said tour here). As a matter of fact, I bought all the members of my EDS team small objécts (blown glass globes, in the map sense, in various colors) and several larger pieces for myself during said tour. All those pieces are gone now…surrendered due to space limitations in El Casa Móvil De Pennington.

More’s the pity.

―:☺:―

A strange coincidence… Both of you Gentle Readers know my real name is Norman, not Buck. Someone stopped in to EIP yesterday after googling me by my real name vs. my nickname. As is my wont, I checked out the google query and was surprised to find this as the first entry:

Master Sgt. Norman Pennington, Retired U.S.A.F., 73, of 2011 Azalea Drive, died Thursday morning at his home.

Norman was born in White Top, Va., to the late Ed Pennington and Stella Riffey Pennington. He served his country in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years which included service during the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War.

Wow. The two of us are both Normans, both retired USAF, both MSgts, both with the same time-in-service. So very strange, eh? Looks like I’ve got ten years left if the coincidences continue apace.

―:☺:―

Gentle Reader Amy got tagged with an interesting meme Monday, a meme that got me to thinking. One of the questions in the meme was “places I’ve lived.” About which… My father and I worked for hours…literally… in the waaay back when I had to complete my first DD Form 398 (Personnel Security Questionnaire). One of the questions requires the person filling out the form to list all residences, complete with address, in chronological order. I ultimately submitted the form with several “address unknowns,” simply because my father couldn’t remember the address of various and sundry places we had lived. I didn’t worry a whole helluva lot about those “address unknowns” since my father, being career USAF, provided the ultimate “get out of jail free” card when it came to background investigations. None the less, I used every bit of allocated space for addresses on that Form 398 and one full page of typewritten addendums for same… and that was when I was a young pup of 18 or so. The list has grown considerably since.

So…just for grins and giggles, here’s a list of places I’ve lived in, from the beginning up until the present. I cite the metro area, with the actual suburb and/or other place I lived (like an air base or air station) in parentheses.

• Atlanta, GA (birth to about age three)
• Sacramento, CA (various AF bases… from 1949 - 1952)
• London, England (age seven)
• Paris, France (age eight – 11)
• Ankara, Turkey (age 11 – 13)
• Washington D.C. (Forrest Heights and Marlowe Heights, Maryland. Age 13 – 14)
• San Jose, CA (age 14 -15)
• Culver City, CA (age 15)
• Torrance, CA (age 16 – 18)
• Biloxi, MS (Keesler AFB… age 18-19)
• Lompoc, CA (Vandenberg AFB… age 19 – 22)
• Biloxi, MS (Keesler AFB again. A recurring nightmare.)
• Wakkanai, Japan (Wakkanai AS. age 22 – 24)
• Boron, CA (Boron AFS, near Edwards AFB. One year…we’ll dispense with the ages at this point)
• Wakkanai, Japan (again…for way too short a period, i.e., six months. Or so.)
• Sinop, Turkey (one miserable year… or so I thought at the time. It was quite good, in retrospect.)
• Klamath Falls, Oregon (Keno AFS. three years)
• Tokyo, Japan (Yokota AB… two-plus years)
• Fortuna, ND (Fortuna AFS. one year, three days, eight hours and ten minutes)
• North Bend/Coos Bay, OR (North Bend AFS. Two years)
• London, England (RAF Uxbridge. Three years… my favorite place in all the world)
• Oklahoma City, OK (Tinker AFB. Two years. I lived in Moore and Choctaw.)
• Detroit, MI (Birmingham and Ferndale. Ten-plus years)
• Rochester, NY (Perinton/Fairport. Three-plus (four?) years.)
• One wonderful year (ten months) on the road in my RV… coast to coast and border to border.
• Berkeley, CA (one year)
• San Ramon, CA (one year)
• Portales, NM (five years. And counting.)

And there you have it… my life history condensed into 28 bullet points. What made filling out that first DD Form 398 difficult was the fact that there were multiple addresses at each of the earliest locations. The same would hold true for the later locations, as well. I’d hate to have to fill one of those damned things out today. So… I won’t.

―:☺:―

Today’s Pics: The scanner has sat idle for way too long, and I really need to get my motivation back and scour the archives for suitable blog fodder. So… here’s a start: Two pics from the one and only time I’ve ever performed in public, karaoke aside (and we won't go there, Gentle Reader). The occasion was the Fourth of July picnic at Fortuna AFS, ND in 1977. That’s my Bud Chip at the keyboards, the wife of a co-worker on guitar (whose name I don't remember)…and me trying my very best to croak out Warren Zevon’s “Carmelita.” My friends humored me with “not bad” sorts of comments, but Mom was right: I couldn’t carry a tune…even if I had a bucket. Which I didn’t.

Never again.

Aiiieee!

I'm just back from Cannon Airplane Patch and I was wonderin'... just how hot is it? The answer: It's frickin' HOT! Some might say it's too danged hot and at this point I'd be inclined to agree.

According to the WX Channel... and note the wind... which was blowing The Green Hornet all over the road out and back to the base:

Which would be a record, if one believes this:

I believe. But...it's nice and cool inside. So far, anyway.

Oil, A Missed Opportunity, and More Freakin' Wind

Larry Kudlow has an interesting article at Real Clear Politics titled “Voters Say Drill.” Excerpt:

Public worry number one is now oil, jobs, and the economy, with the inflationary woes of the U.S. dollar right underneath. The candidate who can connect with these issues will win in November. But so far neither Obama nor McCain are dealing with the new political reality.

In fact, it's all about oil right now. The price has doubled over the past year while the economy has slumped.

But here's an eye opener. Recent polling data from Gallup show the percentage of voters blaming oil companies for skyrocketing gasoline prices has dropped from 34 percent to 20 percent over the past year. At the same time, support for more drilling in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas has increased to 57 percent from 41 percent.

And the candidates remain blind to these shifts.

Obama continues to lambaste oil companies while congressional Democrats push for cap-and-trade. They're missing the point, big time. The public wants more energy and more fuel to cut high prices and spur economic growth. But the costly cap-and-trade plan would produce less fuel and less growth. It would only raise gas pump prices while mounting a Gosplan-type taxing, spending, and regulating program that would be the moral equivalent of Hillarycare on nationalized medicine.

Sen. McCain has an opening here. Yet he, like Obama, would have voted for cap-and-trade, which went down to defeat in last week's Senate vote. And while Mr. McCain favors some off-shore production and has been strong on nuclear development, he is against drilling in ANWR Alaska.

On the one hand this is reassuring, assuming the Gallup numbers Kudlow’s quoting are correct. Reassuring in the sense that the American public gets it, “it” being the relationships between supply and demand, the fact that oil prices are not controlled by Big Oil, and there are existing solutions that will mitigate—not solve— the impact of foreign oil. On the other hand, both candidates’ positions are out of touch with reality as we know it today. Obama is unlikely to change his position—there’s too much liberal dogma involved— but I strongly suspect McCain ain’t stupid and will change his policies on drilling in ANWR and cap-and-trade. And that would be a relatively easy thing to do. McCain could simply say “I opposed drilling in ANWR when oil was trading at $50.00 a barrel. That was then, and this is now…” The same goes for expanding off-shore drilling, the decision for which, I believe, McCain advocates leaving to the individual states.

Much has been said over the past week or so about congressional Republicans having a bona-fide opening where drilling for American-owned oil is concerned, an opening that could reverse the party’s downhill slide. This isn’t rocket science… siding with the voters is usually the correct thing to do, as is opposing liberal stupidity.

Related editorial in USA Today… “Our view on energy policy: Alaska drilling is no quick fix, but it needs to happen.”

Further still: The Heritage Foundation’s “What Is Driving the High Oil Prices?” Their conclusion:

High oil prices are here to stay due to heightened political risks, irresponsible behavior by oil-producing governments and growing global demand outside U.S. control. Oil is a finite resource which is produced by a partially cartelized imperfect market. Consumer countries should expand cooperation in order to level the playing field and reduce prices by increasing investment and production, promoting conservation, and diminishing geopolitical risks. Yet, in the long term, high demand, inadequate supply and severe geopolitical risks combine to make oil a problematic transportation fuel.

Translation: Don’t expect a return to $2.50/gallon gasoline prices, ever. Ain’t gonna happen. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope for prices to stabilize at current levels, or perhaps slightly lower.

(Image by Michael Ramirez, via Townhall.com)

―:☺:―

So… Red Wings captain Nick Lidstrom (left) and goalie Chris Osgood (right) were on Leno last night…

An audience member from New York asked Leno, “I know you have Justin Timberlake on the show tonight. In his movie (Love Guru) he plays a hockey player. Who trained him to play hockey?”

Leno said, “I understand that he did have a few guys teach him about hockey. It’s so funny that he asks this question, because we have those guys here tonight. From the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Osgood. Come on out here boys!”

After Lidstrom set the Cup down on the stage, two audience members – one in a No. 17 Gerard Gallant jersey -- stood up and applauded, drawing the attention of Leno, who asked them “are you guys from Detroit?”

The two Detroiters were then asked if they had ever seen the Stanley Cup in person. There response was, “not that close.”

Leno then invited the two up on stage with the Red Wings.

Leno said he knew that the Wings had won the Cup before, but asked if winning it again was just as thrilling.

“It never gets old,” Osgood said. “It was a big thrill not only for Nick and I and our teammates, but for the city of Detroit. It really lifted the spirit of the area.”

Leno that gaffed when he mistakenly said, “I know Justin taught you some things about hockey. Did he teach you anything that he knows?”

Lidstrom than picked the Cup over his head, turned to band leader Kevin Eubanks and said, “hit it.”

While the band played Timberlake’s “Bringing Sexy Back”, the Red Wings’ duet changed the lyrics to “We’re bringing Stanley back!”

Would you believe I missed it? I wrote myself a Post-It and put it on my monitor. I even told SN2 about it around 1800 hrs last night when he called. As late as 2200 hrs. I said to myself “Don’t Forget!!” And then I fell asleep on the couch while reading, and missed it.

I’m such a putz sometimes. (ed: sometimes?)

―:☺:―

In the “Bitch, Bitch, Bitch” Department:

It’s the frickin’ wind that gets me, Gentle Reader. I can deal with the heat.

Insight

So… I stumbled on this neat YouTube feature (that’s a screenshot, above. click for larger) as I was uploading those B-2 crash animations yesterday. I’m late to the party (as usual) coz Google rolled out the “Insight” product on my birthday this year…and the bastids didn’t even say “Happy Birthday! Here’s your analytics!”

I don’t upload a whole lot of vids… as a matter of fact I’ve only put up nine in approximately 18 months since I established my YouTube account. (“Nine,” sez you? “I only see seven.” That’s because I posted the B-2 vids yesterday; Insight works a day in arrears.) I was sort of surprised the vids I’ve uploaded got as many views as they have. But that’s neither here nor there…

Look at the “Demographics” section in the screenshot. Is it just me, or do you find those demographics worrisome? By that I mean how does Google know the age and gender of YouTube viewers? I don’t believe I’ve ever given Google that information about myself, so how do they get it? I googled (heh) “Insight” and went six pages deep into the results, looking for some “under the hood” information about Insight and came up empty… all I found were press releases and one Google/YouTube video telling you what Insight does, but NOT how it works.

Enquiring (and paranoid) Minds Wanna Know…

(Added: Since Blogger is a Google product, it occurs to me that I have given Google a lot of personal info... including my age, gender, etc. But not everyone has a blog, and not everyone blogs on Blogger. Just sayin'.)

Warning!

My Buddy Ed in Florida sends along the following:

Liquor manufacturers have accepted the Government's suggestion that the following warning labels be placed immediately on all varieties of alcohol containers:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your bra and panties.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to telephone them at four in the morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe you are invisible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause a disturbance in the time-space continuum, leaving you unable to account for large chunks of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you have mystical Kung Fu powers, resulting in you getting your ass kicked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to roll over in the morning and see something really scary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is the leading cause of inexplicable rug burns on the forehead, knees and lower back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: The crumsumpten of alcohol may Mack you tink you kan tpye reel gode.

I have first-hand experience with every single one of these (with the exceptions of the “bra and panties” and pregnancy items), so I know they are fact…especially the third from the last. About which: Aiiieee! (And if you read this, Dan, keep your trap shut!)

I don’t think warning labels will do ANY good, though. Those dire gub’mint warnings on cigarette packs had ZERO effect on me. But… apples and oranges, perhaps.

More on drunkenness from an old post I put up back in March of '06:

Apropos of nothing, as is my wont, of late. Quite some time ago I read Dan Jenkins’ novel “Baja Oklahoma,” which was a good tale…funny, creative and full of little folk gems. One of those gems impressed me SO much I took the trouble to transcribe the list and pin it to the wall above my desk. This, of course, was in the way-way-back. But…it’s a very relevant piece of work. Here, for your illumination/edification, are Dan Jenkins’ “Ten Stages of Drunkenness:”

1. Witty and Charming
2. Rich and Powerful
3. Benevolent
4. Clairvoyant
5. Fuck Dinner
6. Patriotic
7. Crank up the Enola Gay
8. Witty and Charming, Part II
9. Invisible
10. Bulletproof

I don’t believe I’ve ever made it to “Bulletproof.” Evidence of that fact is: I’m still alive. I have, however, been “Witty and Charming, Part II” on a few occasions and “Invisible” once or twice. The most common state I arrived at was Number Four and perhaps Five…achieved nearly every Friday night whilst I was living in SFO. Ah, nostalgia!

Truer words were never written or spoken. I usually only get to Stage Three these days. But Stage Five is not unknown...

That B-2 Crash and Other Things

From the Air Force Association’s Daily Report:

More on the B-2 Crash: While the lessons learned from the crash of a B-2 bomber in February aren't applicable to the Air Force's other stealth platforms, the F-22 and F-35 fighters, there are "other systems being deployed" that will benefit from the insights, Maj. Gen. Floyd Carpenter, vice commander of 8th Air Force, who led the B-2 accident investigation board, told reporters June 5. However, Carpenter declined to elaborate on what the other platforms might be, although a best guess would be next-generation long-range strike prototypes. Whatever the case, the AIB found that distorted data introduced into the B-2's flight control computers during takeoff from Anderson AFB, Guam on Feb. 23 caused "an uncommanded, 30 degrees nose-high pitch-up" resulting in a stall and subsequent crash. Both pilots ejected. Moisture in port transducer units--which are essentially air data sensors also called pitots--during air data calibration led to faulty readings for which the flight control computers then tried to correct, leading to the pitch and stall. Carpenter said the aircraft lost, named Spirit of Kansas, was one of the best-performing and least problem-prone of the B-2 fleet, now down to just 20 aircraft. It had accumulated about 5,200 hours of flying time. Carpenter said the AIB doesn't assign culpability and any disciplinary measures will be up to unit commanders to determine. (Click here for Air Combat Command's Web page on the accident investigation, which includes the AIB documentation and videos of the actual mishap.)

I took the liberty of uploading the AIB’s animations of the crash to YouTube. And here they are:

There are also security camera videos and an amateur video of the crash at the “Click here” link above, but they’re not all that good. I suppose it takes skill to remain calm when viewing a catastrophe, and the person that shot the amateur vid didn’t have the “right stuff.” The security camera videos are a lot better. A fully-fueled B-2 creates a helluva fire when it goes down…

In case you hadn’t heard, both pilots ejected safely and had only minor injuries.

―:☺:―

Via Doc, a most useful and entertaining site: WikiQuote’s “List of Misquotations.” Sample:

“Play it again, Sam”

· Actual quote: "Play it Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'." - Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca)

· Actual quote: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. ... If she can stand it, I can! Play it!" - Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca)

· Note: Woody Allen paid homage to Casablanca under the title Play It Again, Sam, which is likely the source of much such misquotation.

· The line first occurred in the Marx Brothers' film A Night in Casablanca (1946), another possible source of the misquotation.

There’s lotsa stuff there that I’ve misused for years and years now. Which, I suppose, all goes to prove “common knowledge” isn’t common. And it’s wrong sometimes, too.

―:☺:―

Some hockey notes… First, from Tony Gallagher of Canwest News Service… a critical view of the officiating in the Stanley Cup Final. Excerpt:

VANCOUVER -- Now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Detroit Red Wings and any emotion from any one particular game has faded, we would be remiss if we didn't seriously ask some questions about what actually took place in that final series with respect to the officiating.

Having been around the NHL pretty much since the dawn of man, I have watched a lot of games and have seen a lot of good and bad calls by good and bad referees, and I rarely address this topic.

By and large the NHL officials are outstanding individuals whom any corporation would be thrilled to have represent them in almost any situation.

[…]

And when the most important games were played, the most experienced, senior officials were front and centre.

And even though the referees of the day would frequently call virtually nothing once the third period began and the game moved into overtime, there was never any sense of anything fishy.

The breaks involved in officials' judgments always seen to balance out over a series of games. There was no such feeling at this year's final.

While nobody really wanted to say so, how could you have possibly watched the calls in that series and not had the feeling that somehow, consciously or more likely unconsciously, there was a slant toward favouring the Pittsburgh Penguins?

Read the rest here. SN1 and I definitely thought the officials were biased, and not only in the Finals. The NHL needs to seriously re-evaluate the “goalie interference” rule. Bad calls by the officials waved off at least two Detroit goals due to goalie interference, one of which occurred during Game Five of the final…and Fleury was clearly NOT interfered with. There might not have been three overtimes had that goal been allowed, as it should have been.

That said… there’s another POV here. Sorta. The implications of the photographic evidence provided at the link aren’t suitable for a PG-13 blog, but it IS work-safe. And funny.

Second… about that Red Wings victory parade in Detroit. From The Freep:

On a day that began on one knee and ended with arms -- and a Cup -- raised, Detroit boasted over and over: Regardless what anyone else says, this is Hockeytown.

That was rarely more evident than Friday, when an entire region turned out to honor the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings with a parade and rally on a stunning 92-degree day.

The team estimated 1.4 million fans came downtown for the event, while the Detroit Police Department simply sized up the crowd at more than a million. Fans started gathering on Woodward Avenue early in the morning, with lines extending north of the I-75 bridge. The parade ended with thousands spilling into Hart Plaza for a 1:15 p.m. rally that lasted a half-hour.

The human mass stood seven or eight deep in most spots, with not a chunk of sidewalk to be seen along the route. Fans young and old flooded the avenue's sidewalks with red and white.

They came from across Michigan, Ontario and the surrounding states, skipping work, missing school and just spending a day thanking their heroes for the enjoyment of the past season, and the two-month playoff run, in particular.

Over a million people turned out on a sweltering day to celebrate their team! Hockey may be a minor sport in the great grand scheme of things, but I don’t recall reading about a million people turning out for the winners of any frickin’ Sooper-Dooper Bowl… I could be wrong, of course.

Last… Wings goalie Dominik Hasek, two-time winner of the Hart Trophy (League MVP), winner of the Conn Smythe (SCF MVP), and God-Only-Knows how many Vezina trophies (six, actually…Best Goalie) announced his retirement today. Hasek shared goal-tending responsibilities equally with Chris Osgood during the regular season and played four games against Nashville before Osgood replaced him for the remainder of the playoffs. Hasek’s name appears on the Stanley Cup twice…once for 2002 and again this year, both times as a Red Wing.

A Few of My Sunday Reads...

Interesting, and offered without (much) comment… “Yes, Dear. Tonight Again.” Excerpt:

LET’S say you and your spouse haven’t had sex in so long that you can’t remember the last time you did. Not the day. Not the month. Maybe not even the season. Would you look for gratification elsewhere? Would you file for divorce? Or would you turn to your mate and say, “Honey, you know, I’ve been thinking. Why don’t we do it for the next 365 days in a row?”

That’s more or less what happened to Charla and Brad Muller. And in another example of an erotic adventure supplanting married ennui, a second couple, Annie and Douglas Brown, embarked on a similar, if abbreviated journey: 101 straight days of post-nuptial sex.

Both couples document their exploits in books published this month, the latest entries in what is almost a mini-genre of books offering advice about the “sex-starved marriage.” The couples, though, are hardly similar. The Mullers are Bible-studying steak-eating Republicans from Charlotte, N.C. The Browns are backpacking multigrain northerners who moved to Boulder, Colo. The Mullers’ book, “365 Nights,” is rather modest and circumspect in its details. The Browns’ book, “Just Do It,” almost makes the reader feel part of a threesome, sharing everything they used to stimulate sexual desire (it’s hard to visualize and even harder to explain).

I’m entirely serious when I say the article is interesting. What it’s not is titillating…it’s simply informative and illuminating in a clinical sort of way. Sex is probably everyone’s favorite subject, and there’s definite interest even if it’s not a fave, eh? After all, this story is today’s “most e-mailed” article from the NYT. It doesn’t crack the Top Ten in the “blogged” category though.

―:☺:―

Also from the NYT:

THE sandwich was perfectly executed: an overgenerous helping of fresh Dungeness crab meat, dressed in a gossamer coating of mayonnaise and piled between two warm slices of sourdough bread that had been scrubbed with garlic and griddled crisp. The drinks were excellent, too: a split of Laurent-Perrier Champagne for my girlfriend; a tall, ice-cold glass of hoppy Anchor Steam Beer for me. And the view at our walk-up, alfresco table was impossible to beat: palm trees swayed, sailboat masts bobbed and, in the distance, the Bay Bridge stretched out across foggy San Francisco Bay.

The service was unobtrusive, except for one thing: we were encouraged to put down our sandwiches and stand up when the national anthem came over the public address system. We were, after all, dining in the company of about 40,000 other people, at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

I spent a few weekends after opening day this year bopping around to 10 American cities, where I ate my way through 12 major league ballparks. My mission: to hoover down a shameful number of hot dogs and to sample the increasingly ambitious and occasionally delicious world of ballpark cuisine beyond peanuts and Cracker Jack.

Mmmmm! Sushi! But I digress... Great ball park food? Who’d a thunk it? I was hungry after finishing “Buy Me Some Sushi and Baby Back Ribs.” SFO and Seattle get kudos, NYC’s ball parks don’t fare so well.

―:☺:―

Lotsa folks are linking Fred Kagan’s “Voting for Commander in Chief” today… and I’ll pile on, too. The contrasts Mr. Kagan paints between Senators Obama and McCain are both stark and revealing. There are lotsa links and lotsa quoted sources that substantiate and re-enforce Mr. Kagan’s analysis. Excerpt:

For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

The two men brought different backgrounds to the test, of course. In January 2007, McCain had been a senator for 20 years and had served in the military for 23 years. Obama had been a senator for 2 years and before that was a state legislator, lawyer, and community organizer. But neither presidential candidates nor the commander in chief gets to choose the tests that history brings. Once in office, the one elected must perform.

Those are the final two grafs in Mr. Kagan’s excellent article. The meat is in how he came to these conclusions, though. Do go.

―:☺:―

And finally… I was watching the Journal Editorial Report on Fox News Channel yesterday and did something of a double take when they got to the “Winners and losers, picks and pans, ‘Hits and Misses,’ best and the worst of the week (their words)” part of the program. One of the Talking Heads said “Winner…the Detroit Red Wings, for winning the NHL’s Stanley Cup. Detroit, and Michigan in general, have been losing a lot lately. The Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup makes them Number One in something, at last…and it’s a great morale booster for Detroit and all of Michigan.” Complete with video of a couple of Wings’ goals and Nick Lidstrom raising the Cup. How very cool. And very unexpected. I love it when that happens.

(Note: FNC hasn’t posted a transcript of yesterday’s show, yet. I’m quoting from memory, but I’m reasonably close.)

So Politically INcorrect. But Funny.

Via Blog-Bud Morgan... "Sensitivity Training."



Heh. The next thing you know we could all be forced to wear these things. "We" meaning us of the male persuasion. Assuming they get the power level problem worked out, that is.

MFC

I just made that up. It stands for “Moonbat, First Class.” A couple of few days ago I asked the rhetorical question “What the HELL is wrong with these people?” vis-à-vis the Democrat Party and Obama securing the party’s nomination for president of these United States. And then, yesterday… in a very mystical way (well, not really. memeorandum ain’t all that mystical), along comes San Fran Chronicle columnist Mark Morford with the answer to end all answers. Obama’s a Lightworker. Really. Or at least Morford thinks so. I’ll quote:

I find I'm having this discussion, this weird little debate, more and more, with colleagues, with readers, with liberals and moderates and miserable, deeply depressed Republicans and spiritually amped persons of all shapes and stripes and I'm having it in particular with those who seem confused, angry, unsure, thoroughly nonplussed, as they all ask me the same thing: What the hell's the big deal about Obama?

I, of course, have an answer. Sort of.

Warning: If you are a rigid pragmatist/literalist, itchingly evangelical, a scowler, a doubter, a burned-out former '60s radical with no hope left, or are otherwise unable or unwilling to parse alternative New Age speak, click away right now, because you ain't gonna like this one little bit.

Ready? It goes likes this:

Barack Obama isn't really one of us. Not in the normal way, anyway.

This is what I find myself offering up more and more in response to the whiners and the frowners and to those with broken or sadly dysfunctional karmic antennae - or no antennae at all - to all those who just don't understand and maybe even actively recoil against all this chatter about Obama's aura and feel and MLK/JFK-like vibe.

To them I say, all right, you want to know what it is? The appeal, the pull, the ethereal and magical thing that seems to enthrall millions of people from all over the world, that keeps opening up and firing into new channels of the culture normally completely unaffected by politics?

No, it's not merely his youthful vigor, or handsomeness, or even inspiring rhetoric. It is not fresh ideas or cool charisma or the fact that a black president will be historic and revolutionary in about a thousand different ways. It is something more. Even Bill Clinton, with all his effortless, winking charm, didn't have what Obama has, which is a sort of powerful luminosity, a unique high-vibration integrity.

Dismiss it all you like, but I've heard from far too many enormously smart, wise, spiritually attuned people who've been intuitively blown away by Obama's presence - not speeches, not policies, but sheer presence - to say it's just a clever marketing ploy, a slick gambit carefully orchestrated by hotshot campaign organizers who, once Obama gets into office, will suddenly turn from perky optimists to vile soul-sucking lobbyist whores, with Obama as their suddenly evil, cackling overlord.

Oh Shit, Oh Dear. I’d long suspected my karmic antennae were on the fritz, but I don’t have a clue as to how to get them back in fine working order, like they used to be…say back in 1976, or so. You know: when I voted for Jimmuh, who I really believed was sort of the Godfather of Change!… to mix my metaphors. Nope, it’s apparent my karmic antennae are hopelessly out of whack and will forever remain so. OTOH, perhaps I’m a “rigid pragmatist/literalist.” I’m certainly not “itchingly evangelical,” nor am I a “burned-out former ‘60s radical,” the last being close, but no ceegar. It’s hard to be a radical while you’re in uniform. My superiors wouldn’t have taken kindly to that. I was just a garden variety moonbat. Kinda like Morford, except Dear Mark is at least a Moonbat, First Class if not a frickin’ Generalissimo d'Moonbat. More:

Here's where it gets gooey. Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.The unusual thing is, true Lightworkers almost never appear on such a brutal, spiritually demeaning stage as national politics. This is why Obama is so rare. And this why he is so often compared to Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., to those leaders in our culture whose stirring vibrations still resonate throughout our short history.

Are you rolling your eyes and scoffing? Fine by me. But you gotta wonder, why has, say, the JFK legacy lasted so long, is so vital to our national identity? Yes, the assassination canonized his legend. The Kennedy family is our version of royalty. But there's something more. Those attuned to energies beyond the literal meanings of things, these people say JFK wasn't assassinated for any typical reason you can name. It's because he was just this kind of high-vibration being, a peacemaker, at odds with the war machine, the CIA, the dark side. And it killed him.

Ah. So that’s it! Obama is gonna help us evolve! How’d I miss that, anyway? It can’t only be my malfunctioning karmic antennae, coz this appears to be REALLY BIG! But wait. If Obama is speaking to the souls of all his supporters, how in the Hell could I miss that? There must be larger issues at play here. Maybe I’ve been assimilated by The Dark Side and didn’t even know it. That must be it. I was a life-long cog in the War Machine and I still respect it. I think the CIA is pretty cool, not evil. So... I must be impervious to messages sent directly to my soul. Either that or I don’t have one (a soul) and I don’t think that’s likely.

But, Hey. It’s a minor Good Thing Morford has done here. I asked a question and Morford’s fully-functional, highly-tuned karmic antennae picked it up (all the way out in San Francisco, too! He’s got GREAT karmic antennae!) and he gave me a lengthy answer.

Who knew, eh? Well…millions, I guess. Obama’s still the nominee. And moonbats run amok throughout the land. God Save Us.

Oh. By the way. You, too, can be a Lightworker. It's easy. Just go here and sign up.

More at The Corner, Outside the Beltway, and elsewhere.

From the Parade…

…which was live-blogged, after a fashion (read as: from in front of his teevee), by Shawn Windsor, a Freep writer. Speaking of which: all photos below (and their captions) from the Detroit Free Press. But I couldn't agree more with this bit of commentary:

It's unbelievable. It's unreal. It's special. It's incredible. All these people. All this red. The players are all saying the same thing. Goosebumps.

"You never get used to this," Holmstrom is saying.

He just said it will be even more fun next year. I'm not sure, but that sounds like a guarantee. And who would be surprised if they did? Just about everyone is back. The key players show no sign of slipping. In fact, the best two offensive players, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsuyk, are entering their prime.

I guess what I'm saying is, this parade could go on for years.

And now... pics!

Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom hold the Stanley Cup high as he travels down Woodward during the team's victory parade.

Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula and his guest (ed: WOW!) waves to the crowd during the Stanley Cup championship parade.

Fans gathered at Hart Plaza to wait for their hockey heroes, the Red Wings, travel down the parade route on Woodward.

Red Wings fans lined Woodward early this morning for the Stanley Cup championship parade.

More photos at the link.

News You Might Could Use

Unprecedented: “Moseley and Wynne Forced Out.” This certainly got my attention yesterday…beginning with a short note from SN1 early yesterday morning, asking if I’d heard the news. Well, no. No, I hadn’t. On the one hand, perceptive people that are still in the loop might have seen this coming. From the linked article:

While the simultaneous removal of a service’s top civilian and uniformed leaders is unprecedented, there has been speculation for months among defense insiders that Moseley, Wynne or both could be in trouble.

The Air Force has been rocked by a series of missteps during the past year, and Moseley and Wynne’s relationships with Gates, England and members of congressional defense committees have steadily eroded.

[…]

“This [is] the final chapter in a long list of grievances between OSD and the Air Force.”

Those grievances include criticism of the Air Force’s nuclear weapons handling, two major acquisitions programs that have been stalled by protests, the service’s inability to rush more surveillance drones to the war zones, apparent conflicts of interest of current and retired senior officials related to a $50 million contract to produce a multimedia show for the Thunderbirds, and repeated clashes with Pentagon leaders over the number of F-22s the Air Force will buy and other budget issues.

And that’s just the Big Stuff. God only knows what other things have gone down in the Five-Sided Wind Tunnel. There is also speculation that the high-profile firings are only the beginning and more heads are gonna roll. We’ll see.

In the meantime, the Air Force Association put out a release yesterday that was mentioned in today’s Daily Report:

AFA Reaction to Wynne and Moseley Resignations: The Air Force Association noted "with the utmost regret" the resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley on June 5 (see above). In a statement, AFA said both men "made significant contributions" to the Air Force during their tenure. AFA Chairman of the Board Bob Largent said "their visionary leadership in articulating legitimate Air Force requirements is precisely what our Air Force needs during these challenging times."

Not surprising, that. SecDef Gates maintains the nuclear surety issues were the only reasons for the firings, but still and even, one wonders.

As for my opinion…I don’t have one. I’m too far removed, in both space and time, from the Air Force to offer any comment at all. And besides that, I was too far down the food chain when I was on active duty to offer a qualified opinion. I will say this, though: I’ve not been pleased or impressed with the Air Force’s leadership of late, which, IMHO, is much too politically correct and careerist. I realize careerism and politics have always existed in the military’s higher echelons. My father complained about it all the time, and so did I during my years on active duty. I think the problem is MUCH worse these days and USAF needs a little shaking up. What I don’t know is whether firing the Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force is the right and proper way to effect the required change. It sure as Hell got everyone’s attention, though.

―:☺:―

Boy… the weather sure has sucked this week. It seems like the Wind Gods are extremely displeased with those of us who live on The High Plains of New Mexico… case in point from Wednesday afternoon:

It’s been like this all freakin’ week. Steady winds in the 30-mph range, with gusts approaching 50 mph… and HOT. Or, as Jenny sez: “blow dryer weather.” The Wind Machine is supposed to be turned off today, if one believes the WX Channel. It’s relatively calm this morning, so I hope they’re right. We need a break!

―:☺:―

Primarily for SN1…because he and I are both big D-Mac fans…here’s Darren McCarty interviewing Chris Osgood in the locker room after Wednesday night’s Stanley Cup-clenching victory:

I don’t think the WDIV reporter has to worry about her job. McCarty did a bang-up job, true, but the lady is MUCH better looking. And teevee IS a visual medium, right?

―:☺:―

The parade begins in a little over half an hour… and in Today’s Understatement: I wish I was there! But this will have to do.

In the Meantime...

OK. I know you're sick to death of all this hockey stuff. It's almost over. Really. That said, I wanna give you something besides my Hockey Obsession, so here’s a link to “The 25 Funniest Analogies (Collected by High School English Teachers).” Examples:

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

[…]

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

Ooooh. The mind boggles, it does.

Via Blog-Bud Morgan, who got it from Bookworm.

Still Reading, Still Watching...

The UCR Team Pic. (Detroit News Photo)

I slept in this morning…primarily because I can…but also because I was up until at least 0300 hrs, trying to read everything written about last night’s game (<=== this column in the LA Times is particularly good) as the articles and columns were filed and published during the wee small hours. And I’m still reading. Here are a few things worth passing on…

A cool little playoffs montage that ran at the close of last night’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast, the Gold Standard of hockey coverage. There’s not footage of every team that competed in the playoffs (the Avs are conspicuously absent, for one), but you’ll see Rangers, Bruins, Habs, Flames, Flyers, Sharks, and Stars. And Red Wings and Penguins, too…lots of Wings and Pens. It’s pretty cool!

And then there’s this pic of Conn Smythe winner Zetterberg celebrating with his Honey… taken from the Swedish newspaper Afton Bladet:

And by the way… The Freep’s servers are getting hammered today. If you try and open the numerous photo galleries at their site all you get is “500 – Internal Server Error.” Jeez… I wonder why?

A BIG tip o' the hat to Kukla's Korner for the CBC vid and the Zetterberg pic. If you want ALL the SCF coverage and only want to go to one place, then KK is your ONLY choice!

The Detroit Red Wings

2008 Stanley Cup Champions!

Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 2.

The game was every bit as close as the score would indicate…right up until the last three seconds, when Pittsburgh damned near tied it again. But they didn’t. Details here.

Congratulations are in order for the Pittsburgh Penguins, too. They had a great season and were half of the most memorable Stanley Cup Final in years. This year's series was the second-best I've ever seen, exceeded only by the Wings' win in 1997. And that one was best simply because it ended that infamous 42-year drought. But... as far as the playing and the competition goes? NONE better than this year. My hat's off to the Pens for that.

At Least One Important Contest Is Still Goin' On...

Yesterday the AP (and others, but they were first) reported The Obamanon has enough pledged delegates to claim the Democrat nomination. Hillary hasn’t conceded, yet, but all the talking heads went on last night as if Obama is a done-deal. And he probably is. This, of course, leaves me feeling just a little bit perplexed about my fellow Americans of the Democrat persuasion. William J. Bennett, writing at NRO’s The Corner, captures my thoughts exactly:

And thus the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the Senate. The Democratic party is about to nominate an unvetted candidate in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, albeit without Jimmy Carter’s religious integrity as he spoke about it in 1976. Questions about all these attributes (from foreign policy expertise to executive experience to senatorial experience to judgment about foreign leaders to the instructors he has had in his cultural values) surround Barack Obama. And the Democratic party has chosen him.

So, what’s going on in the country, anyway? Is there something in the water? Should someone…anyone…contact the EPA about this? Is this an outgrowth, or the final stages, of BDS? What the HELL is wrong with these people? Let’s take just one point in Mr. Bennett’s thumbnail description of the why-nots… Obama’s resume is so thin I’d be arrested for indecent exposure were I were to wrap myself in it, solely, and go for a stroll around the Roosevelt County courthouse. The Democrats are gonna nominate a one-term US Senator? A man who’s primary claim to fame is being a “community organizer?” A guy who’s voting record in the Illinois legislature is laughable? This election, for all intents and purposes, is there for the Democrats’ taking. And they’re going to nominate Obama?

I suppose I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, cf. McGovern, Dukakis, and to a lesser extent, Kerry.

―:☺:―

From the Air Force Association’s Daily Report:

Desert Touchdown: Holloman AFB, N.M., received the first two of its 40 planned F-22s on June 2. "It's a big day. We're very proud to have the aircraft finally here," said Lt. Col. Mike Hernandez, commander of Holloman's 7th Fighter Squadron, who flew in one of the two Raptors. Col. Jeff Harrigian, commander of the base's 49th Fighter Wing, piloted the second F-22. "I'm really proud of what everyone did to make this happen," Harrigian said. Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, will hold an official arrival ceremony at the base on Friday (June 6). Holloman is the third of four bases on tap to host combat-ready Raptors under the Air Force's current 183-aircraft program of record. Already Langley AFB, Va., is home to two fully populated squadrons, and Elemendorf AFB, Alaska, is in the midst of standing up its two units. Hickam AFB, Hawaii, early next decade, will be the last base to receive its Raptors--in this case, just one squadron. The 7th FS is the first Holloman unit that will receive its complement of 20 F-22s. More aircraft are set to arrive at the beginning of 2009 en route to the squadron achieving operational status by November 2009. The yet-to-be-reactivated 8th FS will then receive its 20 F-22s, according to a 49th FW spokeswoman. The 7th FS and 8th FS (as well as a third unit, the 9th FS) formerly operated F-117 stealth strike aircraft from Holloman. The base retired the last of its F-117s in April to make way for the new F-22s. (Includes Holloman report by Amn. Sondra M. Wieseler)

So…Raptors in New Mexico! Cool, eh?

―:☺:―

An interesting…and short… essay by Rick Hills at PrawfsBlawg: “Why I am an anti-intellectual.” Excerpt:

But to continue: My confession of being an anti-intellectual requires a bit of explanation. Being anti-intellectual is not the same as being anti-intellect. My beef is with a particular social class -- the "intelligentsia" -- and not with the practice of using one's intellect to reflect on experience. In my experience, intellectuals (as a class) are ideologically intolerant, easily offended by ordinary humor, and pretentious in their prejudices, which they disguise as universal truths. (Whether any of these adjectives applies to Professor Heller's response to my little poke, I leave it for others to judge).

Moreover, I find a direct relationship between the academic obscurity of self-consciously "intellectual" writer's prose and the willingness of that writer to justify the unjustifiable.

It takes the convoluted abstractions of a Carl Schmitt or a Heidegger to offer apologetics for Hitler; a Sartre, to temporize about Stalin; a Foucault, to defend Khomeini. In this respect, I stand with George Orwell who spent the 1930s and 1940s denouncing the obscurity of intellectuals' prose as a cloak for tyranny (and, incidentally, who was also accused of being an anti-intellectual). Intellectuals spray polysyllables like squid ink, to evade the democratic decencies of conversation. I'd like not to be one of their number.

Yep. The whole thing is well-put and it’s a quick read. Do go.

―:☺:―

Just a lil hockey in anticipation of tonight’s game…

Where’s the pressure tonite? Depends on who you read… or where you live. First, Bob McKenzie, writing at TSN:

Everybody seems to think that all the momentum in the series has shifted towards the Pittsburgh Penguins. I don't necessarily see it that way.

Is Pittsburgh excited that they lived to fight another day in Game 5? Absolutely; but do the Detroit Red Wings have to do a lot of navel gazing and say 'Boy oh boy are we ever in trouble.' I don't think so.

[…]

I've got to believe that the Red Wings are looking back to their series with the Dallas Stars where they were up 3-0 before Dallas came back to win two straight. At that point everyone was talking about how the momentum had shifted heading to Game 6 in Dallas. Well the Red Wings came in and obliterated the Stars in their home arena.

I'm not saying that Detroit will obliterate Pittsburgh in Game 6, but this is a team with a lot of composure and I don't think they are very happy right now.

And if you happen to write for a Pittsburgh newspaper, you see it like this:

The Red Wings still lead it, three games to two.

But it was the Red Wings who lost The Marathon.

And recent history is replete with examples of teams that end up losing such games being unable to recover.

And those teams, unlike the Red Wings, didn't belong to AARP as well as the NHLPA.

[…]

That's the emotional and physical baggage the Red Wings have dragged with them into Game 6 tonight.

This wasn't just a loss after 49:57 of OT.

This was a shot right to the octopus.

The truth is out there…and will be revealed tonight, beginning just after 8:00 p.m. (EDT), on NBC.

What was the cost of Game Five and its two and a half overtime periods? From NHL.com:

The physical toll of Game 5 was truly staggering.

The teams played almost 110 minutes of hockey, combined to score seven goals, give and received 69 hits and block 43 shots before Pittsburgh emerged with a 4-3 victory at the 9:57 mark of the third overtime early Tuesday morning at Joe Louis Arena.

The game lasted a staggering four hours and 36 minutes.

And there’s more… including Malone’s five stitches and chipped teeth from taking a puck in the face, Pens D-man Orpik’s need for intravenous fluids to alleviate cramping, and so on. Ya gotta be tough to be a hockey player.

And… if you missed Game Five, you missed yet another game for the ages. From The Hockey News:

This is what we envisioned.

Game 5 had everything:

Electricity. The crowd was pumped well before the opening faceoff, spontaneously chanting as the pre-game music played. They were quieted in the first period, but reached a zenith in the third when the Wings went ahead, and maintained their vigor through much of the overtimes.

An abundance of scoring chances. The offenses were on display early and often.

A frenetic pace. Obstruction, for the most part, was on holiday.

Comebacks. The Wings' surge in the third period was high drama; the Penguins shocker to tie it, then the stunner to win it was out of Hollywood.

Unbelievable saves. By both netminders, but in particular Marc-Andre Fleury. He was plywood between the pipes. The toe save he made on Mikael Samuelsson will be immortalized in highlight reels. Chris Osgood deserves kudos for remaining sharp when needed, despite long spells of inactivity.

[…]

How entertaining was the contest? The worn-out beat reporters sitting on press row – men and women who after two months of travel typically pray for the final to end in a sweep, regardless of who wins – were standing in OT ...for good chunks of it anyway. It’s the first game I can recall attending in years where I felt nervous energy as a paid neutral observer.

And that ain’t the half of it…

Once again: Game Six tonight…on NBC.