"Easy, Breezy, Cover Boy!"

As revealed out in Canes message board land, 850 The Buzz, and by the Canes' own Mike Sundheim, Eric Staal has been made the cover boy for the 2008 edition of Electronic Arts' NHL series of video/computer games.

Not surprisingly, there are a few crying "Curses!" at this news...and for semi-good "reason", as featured in Mike Chen's blog:

"The first game to feature just one player on the cover was NHL 97. Previously, the other games just had action shots of several players. This game was coming off of Florida's rat-tastic run to the Cup Final, so naturally, they put the John Vanbiesbrouck on the cover. While the Beezer actually had a pretty good season, his Panthers did not, bowing out in five games to Wayne Gretzky and the New York Rangers. Curse? Probably not, though his stats went way down hill the next season. But one thing to keep in mind -- a few years later, the Beezer he went nuts on a crazy racist tirade to junior players and he had to quit his job and sell his part of the team. More on this later.

The next season was NHL 98 (1997-1998) with Peter Forsberg on the cover. Forsberg actually had a great year that year -- 91 points in 72 games. However, keep in mind that a few years later, his spleen exploded and he missed an entire regular season doing some soul searching/rehabbing in Sweden.

NHL 99 (1998-1999) was the infamous Year of the Cyber Athlete with Cyber-Lindros on the cover (accompanied by Rock You Like A Hurricane on the commercials). In April 99, Lindros had a collapsed lung; the following year, he was riddled with concussions and other injuries.

NHL 2000 (1999-2000), besides being the coolest sounding hockey video game title of all time, had towering defenseman Chris Pronger on the cover. A few seasons later, Pronger missed all but five games with injuries.

NHL 2001 (2000-2001) featured one of my least favorite players Owen Nolan on the cover. Not only did Nolan miss the majority of the 2003-2004 season with a variety of injuries (in addition to the chronic back and groin issues that slowed him down post-EA Sports), he was entangled in a lengthy legal battle with the Maple Leafs.

NHL 2002 (2001-2002) came right after Mario Lemieux's amazing comeback season, so of course, it was natural to put Le Magnifique on the cover. In three of the next four seasons, various ailments -- from back problems to hip problems -- limited him to less than 30 games each. Finally, a heart condition caused him to retire for good. You see where I'm going with this?

NHL 2003 (2002-2003) featured Jarome Iginla after his breakout 52-goal season. Iginla hasn't suffered any devastating injuries yet, though his post-EA Sports total hasn't come close to his 52-goal campaign (he was pretty amazing, though, during the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs).

NHL 2004 (2003-2004) had current NHL golden boy Dany Heatley on the cover. Shortly after the games release, Heatley was involved in the horrific car accident that claimed Dan Snyder's life. Heatley came back late in the season after serious knee injuries related to the crash, though the emotional damage caused him to request a trade.

NHL 2005 (2004-2005) was the lockout season. A game was still produced with Markus Naslund on the cover. Like Iginla, Naslund's one post-EA Sports campaign was disappointing to say the least, but at least he hasn't been hit with a freak injury.

NHL 2006 (2005-2006) put defending Stanley Cup Champion/World Cup MVP Vincent Lecavalier on the cover. Lecavalier had a disappointing season, but no crazy injuries to report."

Good news to those who are getting ready to jump on me for posting all of that: My personal take on a good chunk of the above is that a lot of it is *really* a stretch. To me, a "curse" would be solidified by the bad things happening to the cover boys in the season that their respective EA game is supposed to represent, NOT a few seasons later.

Therefore, the only ones who have actually fallen victim to the "curse", according to my rule, are Eric Lindros in 1998-99, Mario Lemieux in 2001-02, and Dany Heatley in 2003-04. And the former two of the three are *really* no shock AND should not be counted as part of the "curse", given their injury track record and all. Making the only truly freakish incident in the history of the "curse" be the infamous and life-theatening auto accident into which Heatley got himself.

So if anything comes out what turns out to be a bit a hogwash for Eric, it will most likely be another mediocre season in point production...something that will not surprise me, unfortunately, given how the Canes' lineup is currently looking at the moment. Of course, the off-season is still young...

Current Music: "Johnny, Let's Dance" - World Heroes 2 Image Album

Random Crap

- Well, since everybody and their cousin admitted to it on Television Without Pity's Jeopardy! forum, I took the online Jeopardy! test a couple of weeks ago. Don't think I did good enough to get selected for an audition this year. But, be it this year, or sometime in the distant future, if there is one game show I hope to make an appearance on, it's definitely Jeopardy!.

- Believe it or not, got a couple of more drink recipes to share...

I'll start off with an old standby most lovers of the demon drink will be quite familiar with, be it through hearing about it and/or having a taste of it.

Long Island Iced Tea

1/2 oz. Vodka
1/2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. Rum
1/2 oz. Tequila
1/2-1 oz. Triple Sec
1 oz. (Sweet and) Sour Mix
Shake or stir. (I prefer stir, but like Martinis, it's whichever you feel makes for a better drink.)
Top with Cola. (Coca-Cola being most recommended.)
Garnish with a Lemon Slice. (Optional)

This and Sex On the Beach round out my pair of absolute favorite cocktails. SOtB being great for when I want something sweet, and this being wonderful for when I want something not as sweet (despite its containing cola) and/or with more tangyness. Depending upon how strong you tend to fix your drinks, I only recommend ONLY one or two Long Islanders, for a simple buzz and nothing more, as I prefer anyway.

With the heavy lemon flavor thanks to the Sweet and Sour Mix, I cannot help but wonder if Limoncello (Italian Lemon Liquor) would make for a nifty addition to the Long Islander. Just hafta cut down on the S&SM.

This other drink you are not going to find in most, if not all bartending books...I created it one night not super long ago when I craved a Mai Tai to go with an Asian meal I fixed. And, I wasn't going to let not having all of the required ingredients stop me...

Mock Mai Tai

2 oz. Rum
Equal parts of Pineapple Juice and Orange Juice.
Dash of Cranberry (Cocktail) Juice.
Dash of Grenadine.
1/2 oz. Triple Sec (Optional)
Stir or shake.
If shaken, fill glass with ice, and pour.

Tastes very similar to Sex On the Beach, yet a bit more citrusy, especially with the Orange Juice and Triple Sec. If you like, add a little more Cranberry Juice and/or Grenadine to make for that rather unique Mai Tai flavor. And as I mentioned, this goes GREAT with Asian food, especially of the hot and spicy variety.

- Not that the following is new in the blogging world...but have you seen that new Orville Redenbacher commercial? Actually, there are two versions of it...

Exhibit A: The commercial as it was first presented on the Internet, courtesy of the official Orville Redenbacher (Gourmet) Popcorn site.

Exhibit B: The commercial as it is currently being presented on TV.

Lack of screen recording software aside, note the HUGE difference between the two versions in the syncing of "Orville's" voice. What the h-e-double hockey sticks made the commercial's producers think that making the sound tape seem as if it was straight out of a Godzilla film would enhance the ad?!

Speaking of Godzilla, I pretty much agree with what the overall online community has said about "Orville", or Zombie Orville, as he is more lovingly called: Ohhhhhhh no, they say he's got to go, oh no.

Zombie Orville is uber-creepy. He brings back not-so-fond memories of when I was a wee one, and his visage peering out from the box of microwave (gourmet) popcorn would somehow give me the willies. Yes, as stupid as it sounds now, Orville Redenbacher, at least on the box, was to me what the Quaker Oatmeal guy was/is to Chuckie Finster.

But anyway, not to mention how it is just cold to "bring someone back from the dead" AND ESPECIALLY present them as if they have never died AND ALSO as if they dig iPods (or similar...many have said that's a Creative Zen Orville's holding, then prompting a few to wonder if ConAgra had been planning a MP3 player contest, only to ditch it at the last minute) AND hip-hop. Listen to that drum and bass pumping out from Zombie Orville's headphones...and then watch him grooving to it at the end. I don't know whether to go "Oh my god!" or "Oh brother...".

- Speaking of commercial boogeymen...this happens to be my most favorite ad from this year's Super Bowl:

- Is it just me, or does Mario Lemieux look like he is saying "Pull my finger!" on this Czech Stadion card?

Current Music: "Over My Head" by King's X

Mario Lemieux Has A Glass of Whine

Which is nothing extremely new...and I say that as a fan of the Penguins and their history. But, in this instance, Mario doing such sampling is rather infuriating...

In this corner: Mario is 'very disappointed' in the arena deal.

And in this corner: Pittsburgh politician(s) say that it's the best deal they can conceive AND they could get the NHL to intervene if Pens reject offer.

I may be just a fan and blogger, and not the most business savvy person in the universe, but wouldn't it not be a bad idea for Mario and the Pens to take what they can get at this point? I cannot help but think they better...especially if #66 wants to keep the boulevard in the middle of Steeltown named after him.

At this point, I don't see how taking the offer could be any worst a business decision than any one made by Howard Baldwin. Isn't it ironic that BOTH teams ever owned by the guy have fallen victim to the threat of moving, one way or another? Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm..."...

That said, the biggest difference I see between Hartford and Pittsburgh is that the Pens have a bit more history AND Stanley Cups won than the WhalerCanes did at the time of their exodus from Hartford. Should the NHL have to intervene, I hope they keep Pitt's history AND TV ratings (top 20 in the country, beating out Kansas City, who's in the top 35) in mind.

Current Music: "Foolin'" by Def Leppard