*channels her inner Rockapella* Where In the World Is Cuba Gooding Jr.?

That's not as catchy as "Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?"*, is it?

But, ol' Cuba *was* in a Southern California location last night...specifically, the locker room celebration held by the Anaheim Ducks after their much coveted AND maligned Stanley Cup win.

Per Yahoo/Associated Press: "Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. sipped beer in the victorious dressing room."

Y'know, when I did my Stanley Cup picture book thing last year (which I'd link to, but unfortunately, a lot of the pictures are now gone...including the one of Cuba and Ray Whitney... (sighs) ), I thought I was kidding about Gooding Jr. being there for the Bud Light. o_O

Unfortunately, I could not find any picture proof of the said actor being there...so I'll post the following, making us wonder whether the dude on the left was there too or not...


Current Music: "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction

* - One of my latest geek trips has been rediscovering a precious gem from my childhood in the greatest kids game show ever, EVER made: Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, which was based on a just as brilliant computer game series (before The Learning Company came along and messed it up).

To check it out for yourself, just click here to access my YouTube Favorites, where you'll see that my most recent favorited videos are from the aforementioned show. Simply a paradise for not only geography geeks, but also music and entertainment ones too...god, I love Rockapella. At least their 90's incarnation, anyway.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ANAHEIM DUCKS!!!

Congrats to the Ducks...who, with their winning good ol' Lord Stanley, have completed an interesting coincidence. Like the Canes making up for their 2002 loss with their 2006 win, the Ducks made up for their 2003 loss with tonight's win.

Oh, Senators...maybe, MAYBE I would have pity for you if it weren't for a certain shot that your Captain did in Game Four. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

Current Music: "Phantom Lord" by Metallica

Scott Walker Offered Three Years, Bret Hedican To Possibly Stay If Healthy

According to the Raleigh News and Observer...

"The Carolina Hurricanes were waiting for Bret Hedican to make a big decision. Turns out he already made it almost a year ago.

Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said Monday that after the team reviewed its files, it discovered Hedican picked up his $2.4 million option for the 2007-08 season last year during the Stanley Cup finals.

"It's not that it slipped through," Rutherford said. "He had from that date until June 1 to exercise his option. He did it within two days after he could, while we were still playing."

Now the only questions are about his health. Hedican, 36, underwent hip surgery last summer and never fully recovered, missing a total of 16 games over the first four months of the season and the final 16 games of the season."

__________________________________

"While the Hurricanes will make most if not all of their player decisions during their meetings June 4-7, Rutherford said a three-year offer remains on the table for Scott Walker and he expected to meet with Rick Curran, the agent for Cam Ward and Glen Wesley, "within the next two weeks." Ward is a restricted free agent while Wesley is an unrestricted free agent."

As much as I like Heddy, I cannot help but be on the "Please retire now!" bandwagon regarding him. He was hurt and out a lot this past season...seemed like every other game or so Bret would be in the press box.

If Hedican can stay healthy this upcoming season, then I'm all for his coming back to the Canes. But, if it is going to be like last season, I'm not sure I want him taking up space on the blueline.

_____________________________

Outside of the Canes, there is other NHL news I cannot help but rejoice at...the Red Wings have gotten flushed out of the Playoffs by the Ducks!!

And what better way to celebrate than with our friend, the Toilet Duck!

:D

Current Music: "Caribbean Nights" by Bob James

Cake Or Death?

That pretty much sums up how I feel about the upcoming NHL Conference Finals...with the Ducks being 'Cake' and those other three teams being 'Death'. Knowing my darned luck, the Cake will run out before it comes around to me, I.E. makes the Stanley Cup Finals. And folks, if it comes down to Detroit/Buffalo or Ottawa (no lesser of two evils on my side of the continent and NHL..sorry), chances are that I will not lay an eye upon a single game of this season's SC Finals for the very first time in my five year NHL fandom career. Sorry, but I *really* do dislike those three teams *that much*.

But, it won't be like I will not have anything to do...especially with my ever-growing Adventure Quest addiction. Of course, you'd be addicted too if you were doing as well at the game as I am doing. And if you're wondering what the heck all those items I currently possess are...well, read a book.

BTW, is it just me (and Best Week Ever), or does this highly-anticipated-for-over-ten-years Guns 'N' Roses release, "Chinese Democracy", sound like a horrible Godsmack tribute band? o_O

And I'm saying that based on the one Godsmack song I heard on MTV2 one day and kinda liked when I was in late middle school/early high school. Looking back on that, the only conclusion I can draw was that I'd had a *really* rotten day at school that day, and that song (I wanna say it was called "Leave Me Alone", but don't hold me up to that) summed up my mood perfectly.

Current Music: "The Pilgrim" by Wishbone Ash

Answering the Call

I.E. Yours truly somewhat goes Patti Smith on the Caniac Nation (or at least the members who happen to hang out at the Score Boards)...film at eleven.

I woke up to seeing the following posted at my most frequented Canes MB this morning...

OK, perhaps I'm missing something here--why does it seem that Debi and I are about the only ones here who wouldn't mind the Sens winning the Cup?

Did we suddenly develop a group hate-on for the Sens when I wasn't looking or something?

Naturally, everyone posted "Nope." and "Me too." or something of similar clique-like ilk...making me state that the following has been my opinion for sometime, without the need or want of being different from everyone else:

I don't want Ottawa winning the Cup.

And before I proceed with the following, I've met and I know nice Ottawa fans. But, I have my reasons and/or observations...

*insert canned Beatlemaniac and Elvis fan screams here* - In a phenomenon I have yet to be able to fully grasp in all five years thus far of being a Caniac/NHL fan/etcetera, the Ottawa Senators seem to be THE one opposing NHL team that bring out the inner puckbunny in the Caniac Nation. While I do have my tendencies in that vein (I *am* a female AND only human, afterall), I have just never found the Sens to be all that and a bag of a chips in those regards.

I can only imagine how much louder the swoons would get if Jose Theodore joined the Sens, be it as their star or just a mere backup (most likely behind Emery)... o_O

I Pity the Fools Who Pull For Dany Heatley - Well, maybe I'm being a little extreme in calling his fans "fools", but I just cannot pull for the dude who used to be such a thorn in the side of the Canes during his tenure with the Thrashers. Not to mention a certain accident I'm not supposed to mention again...and even though I know Heater highly regretted what he did, I still think he should have been penalized one way or another instead of simply being let go to play another day.

I Don't Like Daniel Alfredsson, Sam I Am - I won't go into elaborate detail on this...I just do not care for the guy. He tends to grate on my nerves as much as another so-called great captain in the Sabres' Daniel Briere. And just like the Sabres, the only thing Danny-Boy (Batman's butler-sson) is good for, besides crying a river at certain times, is Fantasy Hockey...

Actually, when one thinks about it, the Senators are basically Canada's Buffalo Sabres. Just without the mouthy coach and hoardes of drunks invading the opposing team's arena in addition to their own team's.

Anyways...with the Penguins out (no thanks to the Senators...as mentioned, I *am* only human), I am very hardpressed to find someone I *really* want to pull for in this year's playoffs. Between Ottawa and New Jersey, and Buffalo and the Rangers*, there is really no lesser of four evils in the East...leaving the West to look to. And therefore, only two teams I can really care for...Anaheim and Vancouver. The Canucks I'm willing to back up a little more thanks to knowing at least one friend in British Columbia's hub. The Ducks are appealing too, especially with my fond memories of backing them up in 2003...if only they didn't have that pukey and minor league-ish logo and uniforms... *sighs*

Despite fashion taste differences, I still say that this should be the Ducks' anthem.

Current Music: "Gates of Babylon" by Rainbow

* - The only good thing about that particular playoff series is that it constantly makes me think of one of Billy Joel's finer songs in "New York State of Mind"...

December 28th and 29th, 2006 - Canes @ Sabres AND vs. Ducks: Random Musings and Observations

When this season is all said and done, and people ask me why was I so frustrated with my Canes at times during it, I will simply point towards these past couple of weeks and say "That's why.".

As delighted as I've been with the Canes' five game winning streak and saving Festivus and Christmas in the process, I have found it a little hard to be enthused, because, well, it's not like the Canes beat a Buffalo or an Anaheim during all of that. They played the dismal Flyers, and the mediocre Lightning, Islanders, and Panthers (twice). Ok, I realize that the Islanders have been a little more than mediocre as of late, BUT they are still highly beatable...as proven by the Canes finally beating them 5-1, making for the best game during the streak AND quite possibly the best game of the season.

That said, if there was anyone the Canes should have pulverized, it's the Flyers. It pains me to see the rest of the League killing the orange and black ones, AND the Canes barely eek out a 2-1 win. So yeah, as evidenced by the above rant, I'm still bitter about that.

BUT ANYWAY, regarding these past two games...the Canes can't beat the second League-best Buffalo, but they can run/skate with AND beat the League-best Anaheim?! I wouldn't go as far as saying that's wacked...BUT, I will go as far as saying that if the Canes had played the game they played against the (Mighty) Ducks, they may not have been swept by the Swords and/or could have at least made Thursday's game score a little more respectable than it was.

- Admittedly, I didn't really watch a whole lot of the Canes @ Sabres game, because DirecTV gave me the Sabres MSG feed, as predicted, thanks to it being an away game.

Thanks to Turner South no longer existing, the MSG Buffalo crew is now officially my pick for the most excruciatingly annoying broadcast team, at least for this season. I can't decide who grates on my nerves more: The play-by-play announcer who makes Howard Cosell and Brent Musburger sound rather tolerable, even if combined together in some mad scientist's experiment; OR Rob Ray, who immediately makes me clamour for Tripp Tracy and his prattlings about food and groins.

Note to the Canes: Don't give the/a color commentating job to an ex-goon. At least an ex-goon like RR, anyway.

- After last night's game, it's actually funny AND ironic that I compare Rob Ray and Tripp...y'see, RR is the ice level color commentator for the Sabres, and Tripp got a taste of the same position last night while the Canes bouted with the Ducks. Things that make you go hmmmmm...could it be that John Forslund is getting a new partner in the booth soon? Guess we'll find out on a future episode of "As the Storm Turns".

- Don't worry Brindy worshipers, I have not forgotten about your golden boy's big night...

Last night was Rod Brind'Amour Night, during which, Brindy was honored for reaching the 1,000 point mark a few games ago. Many congrats to the guv'nor.

That led to a nitpick that, really, will be no different from my gripings about the beginning of the second and third period interviews with Laviolette and McCarthy, respectfully...so, you've been warned.

John, Tripp, and FSN South, ever since 2002, everybody, their brother, sister, and cousin throughout the Caniac Nation had Brindy pegged to be the next Captain after Ronnie Francis, and therefore practically knew he would eventually be Captain. There was absolutely no need to make it sound like Rod had to win a freakin' lottery to get the position.

I swear I lost count of how many times I uttered "(Brindy) was SLATED to be Captain!!" to the TV during that moment.

And hey, what do I know? Especially since I was not in Lavy's head when he made the decision in 2005. BUT, if Brindy still wasn't a gimme for the Captainancy by then, color me highly surprised.

- It *still* scares me that the two absolute best teams in the League are the ones already wearing Reebok's proposed buttugly jerseys for the remainder of the League, which are supposed to make their grand debut at the All-Star Game/Event later next month.

Then again, what we are seeing the Sabres and Ducks wearing are apparently mere prototypes. 'Cause even though the jerseys have that form-fitting look to them (at least they do to me), the Ducks and Sabres look comfortable wearing them. That cannot be said for one of the Ducks' neighbors to the north, who got to try out the new duds recently.

I was getting ready to post a quote or two from that article, but there are too many good ones in there...making me prompt you to read the article ASAP. It's nice to know that we fans aren't the only ones who feel the new streamlined and form-fitting "jerseys" are going to be crap. Unfortunately, a player made it clear that he thought the new "jerseys" are ok...hint: He used to be a Teddybear. That said, when I read his comment, I was not surprised. But other than him, I don't think his teammates know what to think overall.

I will conclude by saying what gives me hope about the new "jerseys" not having a long life is remembering how the "Cooperalls" a.k.a. hockey pants in the early 80's were promoted as THE new look for NHLers, only to barely last a season.

Current Music: "Fiesta" by The Pogues