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Archive of posts tagged sports

playoff pressure

it’s been a while since i’ve seen vancouver excited about anything…then again, it’s playoff hockey, the home team and it’s in canada. enough said, as a good chunk of cars wear canuck flags (see pic on the side), most more than one, or better yet…some even wear the large flags with their favorite team. now, don’t think they don’t have imagination…there’s at least 5 types of canuck flags that i’ve seen, including some with joe canuck, the ‘c’ logo, and others. the latest one i’ve seen…was one with the name/jersey number combination of alex burrows (arguably one of the best players on the team this year). don’t get me wrong, i think it’s great that the city finally cheers for something…given vancouver has been hit and hit again with the accusations that nobody cares about anything in this town…given the large mosaic that it is. you might have seen the small celebrations for football (soccer) from the european imigrants; however, those are few and very small. well, there is one exceptions, 2006…the italians on commercial drive, but that’s a whole different story…for perhaps another time.

anyhow, it seems that this hype and support from the city was not enough to push the team towards wanting a win in game 5. they have been arguably out-played by a younger and much faster chicago team. fair enough to say the blackhawks are younger and faster…but at least play as if you want to be there. while some have complained that vancouver’s style is boring and too defence minded…i don’t mind it…as long as it gets the win. make a game plan, stick with it…and win….really don’t care if it’s 1-0 or 5-0, as long as at the end of the night it’s a win. i’m hoping this won’t be another disappointment, like 2 years ago.

same can pretty much be said about the other team i follow, the capitals…they somehow managed to lose game 5 on their own turf. they at least played with heart, too bad half the time their head wasn’t in the game. so…i’m hoping monday will be a better day for these two teams…

it’s playoff time

in a couple of day (april 15th to be more exact) the nhl playoffs are set to begin. after an 82 game regular season, the match ups are set…and someone will get to play till june to hold up a cup. may not be as simple as i just put it, but overall it should bring with it lots of fun games, crazy hits and most likely some big brawls…after all it’s the nhl. with this i mind, here are the match-ups (with the conference standing in brackets) and then my predictions of who will win each one. i’ll try to keep track and see how i fare up till the end of the playoffs.
Eastern Conference
Boston Bruins (1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8) - my prediction: Boston Bruins
Washington Capitals (2) vs. New York Rangers (7) - my prediction: Washington Capitals
New Jersey Devils (3) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6) – my prediction: New Jersey
Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (5) - my prediction: Pittsburgh Penguins

Western Conference
San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (8) - my prediction: San Jose Sharks
Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (7) – my prediction: Columbus Blue Jackets
Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. St.Louis Blues (6) - my prediction: Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks (4) vs. Calgary Flames (5) - my prediction: Chicago Blackhawks

mostly i’m thinking the higher seeded teams will take care of the match-ups, given they do have home court advantage. although, i must say as well as the red wings have been playing all season, the blue jackets have a point to prove. so i’m thinking upset in seven games. the rest, i guess i’m being conservative, but in the east boston has been playing well as of late, washigton has ovechkin (enough said), new jersey is running with a goalie that is on top of his game given the records he set this year, and then pittsburg for some reason or another has been playing better and better in the last few weeks. as far as the west goes, san jose has a point to prove given the last few years of failed playoff showings, columbus i’m thinking will try to make the best of their first appearance in the playoffs in a long time (i think it’s their first overall), the canucks got luongo (and this guy could potentially win a series all by himself) and then the calgary flames can’t seem to be consistent while chicago is playing amazingly well.

the tv schedules are up, and here’s the one for the canucks with times in pacific time, for the rest see the link to the nhl website:

Wednesday, April 15 at Vancouver, 7:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
Friday, April 17 at Vancouver, 7:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
Sunday, April 19 at St. Louis, 4:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS
Tuesday, April 21 at St. Louis, 5:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS
*Friday, April 24 at Vancouver, 7:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
*Sunday, April 26 at St. Louis, 5:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
*Tuesday, April 28 at Vancouver, TBD CBC, VERSUS, RDS

and so it ends…

with disgrace, disgust and disappointment. disappointment for an entire country. a country, who’s last hopes of entertainment and dreams were shattered by a corrupt system that clawed its way into a beautiful sport. a system that has infected a country…entered a sport…it entered football and the effects seem to be long-lasting. until now there was somewhat of a trace of hope…even if that hope was based on the stupidity of the most overrated star in romanian history (yes…i am talking about drug-struck mutu). a team lead by an injury prone defender (too bad you came to late chivu), a goalkeeper who can’t seem to be more than a bench-warmer outside of romania, and a drug-user in the attack. anyone else that plays well outside of romania does not have a place on the field for romania in the eyes of the worst player to ever put on a national jersey (yes…we still remember the gambling, the arrests, the dumb comments and the overall idiotic attitude piturca…).

what happened? it’s simple…quite too simple actually…it starts from the top…with the federation’s ‘leader’…a shady double-faced character…by the name of sandu…the same guy that runs the romanian football federation as if he wants it to fail. the same guy that changes his word depending on who’s words are sweeter (given the ‘favorable’ referring romanian received after sandu screwed over the uefa president a few years ago). regardless…it’s not as if he will step down…so we can at least not dream about it.

lack of professionalism from the coach…on top of that…there’s a clear lack of dignity (let’s not forget he wont’ resign because getting him fired…will pot him around half a million euros)…and on top of that a clear lack of contact with reality. after the loss against serbia…he stated quite calmly…’that serbia passed the center line just 6 times’…why would they need to pass it more often if they played most of the game in the romanian half? better yet…why worry to pass it more often if they scored 3 goals with those 6 times?…that’s a 50% efficiency…quite a different team if you’d ask me?

after the austria game…he states ‘we lost a game…that’s all’. obviously…everyone knows romania lost a game and with destroyed mutu’s dream at snorting coke off a south african woman…the question is will he take responsibility? probably not…and thus the eternal pain will continue for a country that simply has nothing else to look forward to. at least until now…football was something to look for in order to forget the corruption of the system…now the system took over football…

the best joke today on april 1st…is that the romanian ‘national team’ showed up for a game…