Monday, December 26, 2011

Plus/Minus: The most wonderful whine of the year

Hockey was kind of frustrating, and there was a holiday to celebrate, so this Plus/Minus is a little erratic. Then again, what isn't erratic about Habs Nation these days?

NICE

+ Jerome Simpson's flip (and perfect landing) is the coolest thing I've seen since... last week, I guess, when Al Montoya jumped over Petteri Nokelainen.
+ San Francisco 49er Braylon Edwards gave $10, 000 scholarships to 79 college students. That's about equal to the salary that he made this season. Amazing.
+ Basketball is back!
+ Scratching P.K. Subban, even though the team lost to Winnipeg, was a good call. The poor guy needed his rest, and will probably benefit from the perspective he got by watching the game instead of being on the ice for half of it.

+ I've been thinking for a while about how sports fans tend to let their love for a team supercede other things, and if being one of those people makes you a good fan. So Dave Stubbs tweeting "Life is what matters, Habs and hockey are just a game" really hit home with me. And the girl who attended this week's Green Bay Packers game holding a "My Cheating Ex-Boyfriend Is Watching From Couch Instead" sign just made me laugh.
+ Christmas is about so much more than children and toys, but if you'll allow me a brief "kids and toys" moment: The little girl in this video is so adorable, and so right. I may have liked pink princess toys when I was a kid, but I still know exactly how she feels.



NAUGHTY (and not in a cheeky way)
On Wednesdays we wear pink
- Le Journal de Montréal continues to be pulpy, prejudiced, and just downright stupid when it comes to talking about hockey these days. Oh, crap, did I just write that in English? Désolée, J de M.
- Why on earth would one of the NHL's most lucrative franchises need to start selling ad space on its practice jerseys?
- ESPN's In Memoriam montage didn't include any of the hockey players that passed away this year? The only consolation is that hockey fans mourned them, and will continue to remember them.
- I know that fans are upset with the Canadiens, but there should be a limit to just how angry we (as fans) get with our own players and team. I wish there was a way for everyone to be angry without being ridiculous.

- First of two 24/7-related Minuses: Peter Laviolette was really frickin' upset with a game official when the Flyers were in Montreal last week. That happens all the time - but accusing him of being biased toward the Canadiens, and stupidly calling it "typical Montreal"? Can someone explain that to me? Laviolette knows that every referee makes bad calls, and that every team thinks that the refs are biased against them? And that, as far as I know, the referees work for the league, not the city they're working in that night?
- Second 24/7-related Minus: Why doesn't Jaromir Jagr want to eat lunch with Ilya Bryzgalov? Are we in high school again?

- Every player in the NBA looks like he forgot to shave his lockout beard. Why are all these lockout beards the same weird shape? Am I behind on the latest facial hair trends? Don't answer that.

Here's hoping that this year's World Juniors are as exciting as ever, and that Habs fans are even more rested than the players after Christmas break.

3 comments:

  1. Lavi obviously thought Habs told his players to throw the puck out of the rink twice (of which they were only penalized once). And obviously was cool with Chris Lee being a douche, taking away Pleky's goal that was a goal and not calling worse interference on Price. Yea. Typical Montreal.

    I personally think these guys are hamming it up for HBO. Especially after seeing that Rangers/Devils game and all those meaningless fights...

    Maybe the extra ad-space is to help cover the cost of Gomez? Sucks to be him but his cap hit has to go somehow. I also think it's to pay for Bettman's floundering sun belt franchises... Noticed more of those tv-glass ads. They're everywhere now.

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  2. You might be right, Number31. Unfortunately, you can only keep a camera on someone for so long until they start hamming for it.

    And can't someone, like, ask the Rangers for some kind of damage money because they gave us Gomez?

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  3. The Rangers didn't give you Gomez; the Canadiens wanted him. Trying to bring back the Gionta-Gomez magic. Sometimes these things work; sometimes they don't.

    Pat

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