Me, My Dad, and the St. Louis Blues

Every now and again, I like to watch hockey, and when I watch hockey, I like to watch the St. Louis Blues. I could try and talk about hockey as if I knew anything about the sport, but I don't, so I'll just say this:

When my father was a boy he lived in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. He's 53 now and been a fan of the Blues since their inception in 1967. He has fond memories of seeing Blues games at the St. Louis Arena when the team was first founded, and the franchise means more to him than just any other team because of the association that it has with such a formative and happy time in his life.

The St. Louis Blues are one of the most consistent NHL franchises in terms of making the playoffs, earning playoff berths for 25 consecutive years between 1980 and 2004. The Blues have made the playoffs almost every year in their existence, but despite all this regular season success, the team has never won a Stanley Cup.

People have weird reasons to root for particular teams, and for me, the reason I root for the St. Louis Blues is so that someday I can watch my Dad celebrate his favorite hockey team win their first championship. In a sense I live vicariously through him; his love for the Blues mimics mine with the Panthers, and just as much as I want to see Carolina win their first title, I want to see my Dad celebrate his St. Louis Blues winning theirs.

This week the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs begin, and the Blues will face off against the division rival Minnesota Wild in the first round. When the puck drops on Thursday night, I will be watching and rooting for Blues, and rooting for my Dad.

This Just In: "Dave Gettleman is Amazing"

This time I'm not the only one saying it. Rotoworld released an article this week ranking Panthers General Manager Dave Gettleman as the ninth-best GM in the National Football League. Gettleman jumps up from a #14 ranking last offseason after the Panthers made the playoffs for a second consecutive season in his tenure. The entire article can be seen here, but these are the top ten according to Rotoworld:

10. Mickey Loomis, New Orleans Saints

9. Dave Gettleman, Carolina Panthers

8. Jerry Reese, New Jersey Giants

7. Steve Keim, Arizona Cardinals

6. Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals

5. John Elway, Denver Broncos

4. Ted Thompson, Green Bay Packers

3. John Schneider, Seattle Seahawks

2. Ozzie Newsome, Baltimore Ravens

1. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots

Six of the top ten listed have won Super Bowls as General Manager - it's just a matter of time until Dave bumps that number to seven.

"Oh, you're gonna make me blush..."

The Yankees "Forgot" About Alex Rodriguez

There's a stipulation in Alex Rodriguez's contract with the New York Yankees that the slugger is to be paid bonuses for achieving specific "milestone" statistics, namely home runs. Apparently the Yankees believe that if they make no mention of Rodriguez's chase of Willie Mays' historic 660 mark, then they can avoid paying the troubled behemoth athlete.

Rodriguez has hit 655 career home runs, however in a release that the Yankees PR office distributes to the press box before every game, the team made no mention of A-Rod nearing the historic home run tally, while citing other upcoming "milestones" like Didi Gregorius' 200th career game... Hmm...

The Yankees are not nearly as clever as they think that they are and when Rodriguez inevitably hits that 660th home run, they are going to have to own up to their contract and pay the man. As someone who was in attendance for Alex Rodriguez' 600th career home run, it would be disgraceful for the team to make no mention of an even greater milestone. For God's sake, he hit 600 in the bottom of the first and they had the T-Shirts printed before the Yankees went to play defense!

The Yankees can afford to pay Alex Rodriguez, they will pay Alex Rodriguez, and they're not going to avoid anything by not mentioning it.

The Panthers Sign Charles "Peanut" Tillman

The Carolina Panthers have signed free agent defensive back Charles "Peanut" Tillman to a one year contract. Tillman had spent the first twelve years of his career playing for the Chicago Bears where he earned two trips to the Pro Bowl and a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his charitable efforts off the field.

When he is healthy, Tillman can be one of the most explosive turnover generators in the National Football League. With 42 forced fumbles and 36 interceptions to his credit in his career, Tillman also recorded over 75 tackles each season in which he played nine or more games for Chicago.

Tillman injured his right triceps in 2013 and the injury kept him sidelined for the remainder of the season. In 2014 "Peanut" re-injured his triceps, ultimately resulting in his departure from the Windy City. Tillman now comes to Charlotte hoping to revitalize his career under the guidance of head coach Ron Rivera, who served as the Bears' defensive coordinator in their appearance in Super Bowl XLI.

Credit GM Dave Gettleman with another amazing low-risk signing with potential for an outstanding return on his investment. Speaking strictly as a Carolina Panthers fan, he's going to be amazing, and I can't wait for that first chance to see "Peanut" punch the ball out while wearing black and blue.

R.I.P. March Madness

Well I clearly have no idea what I am talking about. If you wagered any money at all based upon the predictions that I gave when the NCAA March Madness tournament began a few weeks ago, well then you're an idiot, because I am not a professional sports journalist and I don't think I watched a single game of college basketball last season until the tournament began (with the exception of one or two Syracuse games).

For those who forgot or are too lazy to scroll back through the archives, here was my Final Four prediction from March 16, 2015:

 

Final Four

Midwest Champion 1 Kentucky def. West Champion 1 Wisconsin

East Champion 5 University of Northern Iowa def. South Champion 2 Gonzaga

 

National Championship Game

1 Kentucky def. 5 University of Northern Iowa

 

None of this was right. I had the correct match-up in one game, but I did not pick a single winner here. Wisconsin shocked the nation and handed Kentucky their first loss of the year, which knocked off my champion. Gonzaga was defeated by the eventual tournament winner, Duke University, who I did not predict would make it to the Final Four. University of Northern Iowa was a foolish choice, but I like their uniforms and I figured that there was going to be some strange Cinderella story, however, that team was Michigan State, and UNI was bounced from the tournament in the Round of 32, so my bracket was essentially decimated after only two days of play.

All in all, I had no idea what I was doing with my bracket, and it shows...

Planned Obsolesence is a Dirty Trick

As I write this sentence, I can hear my computer struggling to churn out the words that I prompt to it. My HP Pavilion dv6 laptop is old, and it’s very clearly on its last legs. Certain programs are now unusable for reasons that go beyond my comprehension, and streaming video causes the system to freeze, giving me no recourse other than to force shut down this beast.

Aside from the inconvenience of having my computer throw in the towel mere weeks before I am able to cross the finish line of my undergraduate collegiate career, there are other things that I miss out on, like sports, for instance. Sports are an integral component to generating content here at Blake’s Bellyaching, and now unless I go watch ESPN at a bar with the sound off, I’m out of the loop.

I don’t know quite what I’m reaching for here, but I miss being able to watch sports on my computer. These days I’m spending entirely too much money at restaurants when I could be watching baseball on my couch, and it’s all because HP designed this computer with the planned obsolescence so that an incoming college freshman would be buying a new system in three and a half years. I have a Slingbox connected at home that has gone unused for three weeks now and that is unacceptable! I WANT TO WATCH BASEBALL!

The New York Enigmas

It’s simply astonishing – the Yankees lose every time I watch them play.

For anyone who has read a few of the posts I’ve made in this blog it should have at least been hinted at by this point that I am a pretty big fan of the New York Yankees.

Last Monday, I went to ESOX, a bar in downtown Burlington, where I watched the Yankees lose on opening day to the Toronto Blue Jays by a count of 6-1. The following night, I missed my chance to see any of the action, and the Yankees notched their first win of the season in a 4-3 victory over the Jays at Yankee Stadium. When I saw the highlights, I felt elated that they had won, but also felt cheated because I had just watched the Yankees shit the bed the day before.

This past weekend when the Boston Red Sox came to New York for their first series of the season, I was able to see two of the three games played. The Red Sox first won a 19-inning marathon on Friday and then slaughtered the Yankees 8-4 on Saturday. Later that night when I was asked about the team I simply replied, “it’s okay, it’s early in the year,” behind a wry and bitter smile, but on Sunday night, when I had work to catch up on, the Yankees won 14-4!

This is the narrative that has plagued my Yankee baseball viewing for all of a week now, and it’s getting real tired real quick. Whenever I see a game, the Yankees lose, and if I forget to even check, they likely win on some freak play. I’m convinced that somewhere in the world there is a sadist with the power to manipulate baseball scores, and they clearly have beef with me. I love watching baseball again and I wouldn’t trade this game for anything, but Jesus – can I watch the Yankees win a fucking game? Please?