*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.

Gary Bettman Is Evil

OR, David Stern is evil...you make the call.*

"Everyone has a favorite conspiracy theory about the NBA. Some like the idea that David Stern fixed the 1984 draft lottery. Others favor his supposed secret suspension of a star player for gambling problems.

Mine dates back to the early 1990s, when the NHL was white hot with fans and never better on the ice. Wayne Gretzky was in Los Angeles. Mark Messier was with the New York Rangers, who were on the verge of ending their Stanley Cup drought. Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy and many others were hitting their prime.

Anyone who doesn't think hockey can work in America is forgetting this era. All of a sudden, hockey was challenging, if not beating, the NBA in a number of major U.S. markets – including New York. It's almost impossible to imagine now, but it happened.

As the conspiracy theory goes, Stern sensed the potential trouble in 1993 while the NHL was in search of a new commissioner. So he looked around his own office for someone so incompetent that if they got the job, the NHL would be marginalized by their mismanagement and never again be a threat to the NBA.

Naturally, Stern recommended one of his assistants, Gary Bettman, for the job."

Ever since I became a Canes/NHL/hockey fan in 2002, I have always known about Bettman's coming from the NBA and all. But, I never thought about him coming because of David Stern being worried about "that Canadian sport" ousting his precious band of hoopsters. It is something to think about...afterall, as the article points out, the NHL had a top of the line product before Bettman got his filthy mitts on it.

I am well aware that if it weren't for Bettman and his reign, Raleigh, NC would not have an NHL team to call their own. But, that's the only good thing I can say about the one that so many hockey afficionados "lovingly" call "Buttman"...though, I realize that quite a few Hartforders would not really agree with me on that.

Current Music: "Willie the Pimp" by Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart

* - I love giving my readers a sense of deja vu... ;P

The Only Reason I *Might* Be Watching the All-Star Game...

...is because I want to see AND hear the following being played after every goal scored.

"grr...oo oooh oo ohhhhhooo oohhh oo oooh oooohhhhhoo oooh oo ohhhhh..."

I know I'm much more than likely the only one AND at the risk of sounding like I have a dirty mind, the thought of a "song" like that being played whenever someone scores strikes me as an arena control room in-joke sort of thing. In addition to how funny it must sound (for at least the first two or three goals, anyway), the thought of the A/V nerds sounding strangely like Beavis and Butthead as that "song" rings throughout the arena makes me cannot help but snicker on and off myself.

Of course, I could be taking such a thing way out of context, and the "song" could turn out to be a "today's version" of "Papa Oom Mow Mow"...which would be more annoying than funny.

Speaking of annoying, I think the only other real noteworthy thing about the All-Star Game/Event (besides the fact that Williams, Staal, AND the East overall did quite well in the Skillz Competition) is that Gary Bettman seems to constantly prove that he is very much the most easy to make fun of guy in the universe. And for those of you who actually care, here is my part of the mayhem...

And now for something completely different...a very cool tidbit posted at The Score Boards Canes MB this morn: When you live in Raleigh AND know the (former) coach of your absolute favorite NFL team*, life is pretty danged good OR (to take a cue from Rocky and Bullwrinkle's show) Reason #31 Why Raleigh Rocks. Roll over Cleveland, rock on Pittsburgh! Starbucks...wait-a-minute, they don't have a slogan, do they? Rats. But, at least they have damn good coffee...which probably means that the Starbucks in Twin Peakes is probably the most damn good coffee in all of the world.

Yes, I'm bored...and insane. But, in all honesty, that's really nothing new and has been for sometime. ;P

Current Music: "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals

* - GO STEELERS!! That is, whenever they're not facing my homestate AND NFC favorite Panthers. As for right now, GO BEARS!! We must not let the Peyton Manning reign of terror begin...Tom Brady's was/is bad enough.

New All-Star Uniforms Revealed

Again, a day late on this...but as I say a bit, better late than never.

Yo, Sid, get in here!




As some of you more frequent visitors/readers of mine know, I've been quite the fervent complainer about Reebok's proposed new uniforms. So when I first saw the above pic yesterday, I was rather pleasantly surprised. Still am upon further glances...the only real drastic changes are the material of the jerseys (something more "high-tech/futuristic" than mesh), the hockey shorts (seemingly less bulky than the hockey pants being used AND have been used for sometime...don't see how the players will turn the new ones down), and socks. Unlike one or two, I don't have a problem with the socks if the players don't. As much as I like the traditional socks (heck, I own a pair of Canes (red with a black and white stripe) ones), let's face it, they would not look all that great with the new jersey, especially with the new material of which the jersey is comprised.

But, all of that said, I'm reserving my real judgement for when the Canes, Pens, and Leafs' new clothes are revealed.

Current Music: "Unerasable Sin" - Fullmetal Alchemist's Second Closing Theme

Edit as of 5:25 PM: Even though I'm starting to somewhat like the unis, the mean girl in me will find it hilarious if the following words, mentioned in The Toronto Sun, blow up in a certain infamous NHL commissioner's face:

"The NHL's new uniforms are about player comfort and not fan merchandising. It was about getting the players into a uniform that would be better, that would enable them to have a better range of motion (and) would keep them cooler."

Current Music as of the edit: "TV Dinners" by ZZ Top