Game 5 Classic

Now, I know the word “classic” gets thrown around a lot in sports, and it seems every playoff game that goes to overtime gets this label. But Game 5 of Pens-Caps totally deserves it.

I don’t watch a lot of games that don’t involve the Stars, but this series was getting so overhyped I decided I needed to see what the Eastern Conference fuss was all about.

I saw an E:60 interview with Alex Ovechkin the other day, and I admit I didn’t know much about this flashy, brash Hart trophy winner. He might be a little overzealous and arrogant, which is why superstar Sidney Crosby doesn’t like him.

But you can’t argue with the Russian’s results: He has scored seven of Washington’s 15 goals in this series. (By the way, he guarantees a Game 7.)

Contrast Ovechkin with down-to-earth traditionalist Crosby, who has publicly said he is not a fan of Ovechkin’s wild goal celebrations, and you have yourself a brewing rivalry for the ages.

The Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry is exactly what hockey needs. (Think Bird:Johnson as Crosby:Ovechkin).

If every game were played with as much intensity, passion and speed as Washington-Pittsburgh Game 5, hockey would have way more fans. But most of the time, players can’t keep up that level of play up an entire period, let alone a whole game.

Every single shift was 110 percent full effort, full aggression, full throttle. Every guy racing for the puck, checking with all their body weight, making scoring chances left and right. The crowd was incredible — rattling the glass, standing and cheering… If I were even a casual fan of either of these teams, I would have been absolutely losing my mind.

Having Daryl Reaugh on the commentary was the cherry on top, though it seemed like he toned down his massive vocabulary a bit for national TV. He’s still fun to listen to though. (I admit to fast-forwarding between most of the whistles, so maybe he didn’t.)

I still have this game on my DVR, and I’m tempted to go watch it again, even though I know the Penguins will win 4-3 in overtime.

Wonder if the Pens can win four in a row? You can bet I’ll be watching Game 6.

Musings in the wee hours

It’s approaching 5 a.m. and I’m in that dreaded “physically tired, mentally wired” state.

But I usually get off work around midnight to 12:30. So if midnight is like my vampire version of 5 p.m. (when “normal” people get off work), right now it’s like 10 p.m. for me. Looking at it in that light always makes me feel better.

I just finished some of my CSS course homework and now I need to unwind. There’s no weekly due date for the homework, except of course for last week. Long story short, I crammed three weeks worth of homework into three days and now I’m caught up until Monday. Which is nice.

I have a list to the side of me of blog topics I’ve been meaning to bring up. I just can’t seem to find the motivation.

I’m a perfectionist, so I can’t just bang out some halfway thought-out blog about how bad the Rangers are, or how surprisingly competitive the Mavericks-Spurs series has been. I guess that’s a good thing.

But…

I guess I can make an exception this one time. After all, this post is titled “Musings.” And I haven’t posted anything in nearly a week.

*Vicente Padilla: We know he has the stuff. Is he really just that inconsistent? He is killing my fantasy team’s ERA and WHIP. Maybe I should drop him and pick up…

*Brandon McCarthy: If this guy has ONE MORE good start, I’ll officially renounce his status of “fool’s gold.” Why? Because of what happened last start to…

*Kevin Millwood: Ah, so much promise. Hopefully it was just one bad outing. Kind of like…

*The kid who debuted in Kason Gabbard’s jersey: I was halfway asleep, but I heard rumblings of this from Josh and Tom. I was interested in his situation and even drowsily considered blogging about him, but sleep won out. Speaking of winning, if it were opposite day, I could be referring to…

*The bullpen: One word – BLECH.

This is how all loyal Rangers fans have been rewarded this season: 6-10. Really? From 3-0 to 6-10. They won just enough to evoke dreams of red and blue November parades and shiny rings.

I guess the “best farm system in the nation” will get plenty of practice this year.

Remember, my fantasy team last year was named “Rangers in 2010″ for a reason. You gotta believe. Just not right now. (And I do hope they prove me wrong.)

Mavs-Spurs: As far as that series is concerned, I don’t have a whole lot to say. I’m not a huge NBA fan, but I do like Dallas when it is good, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see the Mavs lead the series, 2-1. It’s good they got that road playoff monkey off their back. They had lost, what, nine straight road playoff games, dating to 2006? (The best chance they ever had to win the title, in my opinion.)

Not sure what the deal was in the blowout game the other night. Why did Popovich sit his stars?  I didn’t see most of the game, and when I found out that not only was it on, but the Mavs were up by 32, I decided it was good luck that I wasn’t watching.

So, all that being said, it is clear that my knowledge of the series is seriously lacking. You can bet I’ll be paying better attention from here on.

Final thought: It’s kind of a fact that Dallas’ four major teams can’t all be good at the same time. I promise I will back this up in a future post.

The most wonderful time of the year

Don’t get me wrong. I have forgotten more about pro hockey and baseball than I know about college basketball.

But I do have a growing affection for the most hectic sports month of the year: March. You can’t beat the Cinderella dreams, Selection Sunday, mammoth upsets, overtime classics and of course, the brackets.

Besides, what other time can you turn on the TV at practically any given hour and see a decent hoops game?

Anyway, what a day for Big 12 basketball. Baylor beating Kansas, OSU coming out on top in a crazy Bedlam finish… long day.

Add in the high school basketball state tournaments, a.k.a. gold trophy weekend, and you have a looong week. Really, it’s a long month until all the local teams have been bounced.

I really think that, barring major injuries, OSU could be a Sweet 16 team this year. I wouldn’t have dared think that two months ago, but the surprising Cowboys seem to have really jelled. Marshall Moses gets the title of “luckiest man alive” (he supplants the man who survived jumping into Niagara Falls on Wednesday).

I know he was frustrated over his fifth foul, but there’s no excuse for the naughty language that got him T’d up. OU made 1 of 2 of its free throws on the technical and 1 of 2 on the foul, tying the game at 64-64. Considering the final margin was 71-70, he is very lucky his lack of discipline didn’t cost his team the win. John Wooden would not approve.

OU has further proven that it really is a one-man team. Shut down Blake Griffin, shut down the Sooners. Poor guard play plus 19 turnovers equaled the Bedlam that got away.

Analyzing the game is hard because it was a combination of OU throwing it away with a pesky OSU team using heart to overcome a superior foe. I think OU has been exposed, but I also think the Cowboys got lucky in that they caught the Sooners at just the right time.

All in all, it was definitely a classic Bedlam, no matter which side you are on.

Speaking of classics, how about Syracuse-UConn? Six overtimes?! 102 points scored AFTER regulation?! Those poor guys looked exhausted.

UConn took the loss, but the Huskies might have also gotten the better end of the deal. The Orange has to play West Virginia today with dead legs. UConn gets to rest until the tournament starts.

I hope Tulsa plays well against Alabama-Birmingham today. TU will be shorthanded, as Bishop Wheatley was suspended one game for a flagrant foul committed Thursday against Rice. But the Blazers went to overtime yesterday, which might have worn them down a bit.

The Golden Hurricane is rolling right now, but unless TU beats Memphis (or Houston) for the Conference USA title, it’s NIT City. As of 1 a.m. Friday, TU’s RPI had fallen to 63 on collegeRPI.com. Not good enough. A weak schedule really hurts them.

Well, I’m not sure what to make of OSU-Missouri (RPIs of 18 and 15, respectively). When they met earlier in the season, OSU nearly rallied back from a 19-point deficit, and would have too if not for a suspect foul call during a frenzy under the net in the waning seconds.

I know Missouri prides itself on being the “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball,” but I think OSU is athletic enough to keep up. And the Cowboys have confidence after the big win Thursday. I just hope they aren’t already emotionally spent.

OSU is a tournament lock. I think it would be OK to lose tomorrow just to catch up on rest and heal up any nagging late-season injuries.

No matter what, it’ll be an action-packed weekend.

Or should I say month?

A smashing good time

Jonathan and I went to our first Tulsa Oilers game in a couple of years last night. It was also our first time to be in their new home, the BOK Center. (Not the “Bawk Center”, as Larry the Cable Guy reportedly pronounced it when he performed there a few weeks ago.)

The Oilers lost to hated rival Oklahoma City, 3-2, but it was still an entertaining game. The action was pretty front-heavy, as Tulsa scored first. The first 20 minutes also included three fights. I told Jonathan before the game I would be disappointed to see less than three and was pleased I was right.

The first fight was won by a Blazer, hands-down (the penalties for the first two fights were issued at the same time, and the action was on the other side of the ice, so I’m not sure who fought when). The fight was a little dirty though, as the Oiler fell early in the fight but was kind of helped up so they could keep fighting. It was weird. The Oilers won the second fight handily, as the guy wailed on his sparring partner. Captain Jeff Christian, who is not much of a fighter, fought the third fight, but it seemed to take a lot of convincing by the Blazer. Christian looked really reluctant to drop the gloves.

Among other highlights was the Blazer goalie, Doug Groenestege , whacking his stick against the glass after he was scored on in the first. I think he thought he had been interfered with. Also enjoyable was the Oiler who delivered two crushing checks in the same shift, sans helmet.

I was surprised how competitive a game it was, considering the Blazers are a playoff team and the Oilers are the third-worst team in the league. But all bets are off in rivalry games.

The Oilers were hampered by overall sloppy play, including turnovers in their own zone, and they seemed to hang their goalie out to dry on several occasions. They also took quite a few dumb penalties.

I was impressed with the BOK Center. It’s definitely a huge step up from the Convention Center, which didn’t have a JumboTron and smelled like feet every time the air kicked on. The building as a whole was aesthetically pleasing, and the bathrooms were immaculate. Also, we were able to park for free just by walking an extra block. I feel like if more of the guests had known their way around downtown, fewer would have coughed up $5 to park.

The only things I didn’t like about the arena were how the ticket office wasn’t clearly marked and the seats, which were a really cheap-looking shade of cerulean blue. They stood out like a sore thumb when empty as opposed to the charcoal gray seats many higher-tier arenas have. Also, the safety netting was really thick and visible. They need to call American Airlines Center and get what they use.

All in all, it was good, affordable fun for a Tuesday night. Even if you don’t like hockey or know nothing about it, I definitely recommend going just once. The Oilers have one more home game this season. It’s next Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. against Mississippi.

I wanted to upload video I took of a breakaway by the Oilers, but WordPress doesn’t support avi files. There might be a way to convert it, but I’m too tired to find out.

First-period action.

Faceoff.