Mark down January 13, 2009 as a success for me.
Awkward moment involving a young child and myself during the game: CHECKAlmost get into a fight in the bathroom: CHECKA delicious pretzel twist: CHECK (although around the midway point of it, it magically turned from very hot to ice cold)Two points for the Rangers: CHECKAn All-Star performance from Henrik Lundqvist: CHECKIslanders coming hard at the Rangers: CHECKAn awful third period by the Islanders: CHECK (excluding the last 94 seconds)An Islander getting injured: CHECK (be sure to note that I don't wish them injuries - far from it - but it seems that every game or every two games, someone is getting hurt)Rangers shooting from the perimeter and making even 3rd-string goaltenders look like Jacques Plante: CHECKGuy next to me commenting if Scott Gomez was still a Ranger: CHECK (hey, Gomez had one good shot today, that's a start)A spirited effort by Petr Prucha: CHECKAn abundance of Nikolai Zherdev jerseys: CHECKMe and the lady in front of me decreeing that Martin Straka was a warrior: CHECKGuy behind me yelling "SUCKS" after we chanted "Hen-Rik!": CHECKMe saying that he did not indeed suck, and that he was a top 3 goalie in the league: CHECK
On a different note, does anybody want to assist me in a letter writing campaign to Newsday? Now, I know that the print media is nearly a dead form because of the Internet, and to be honest, I don't read the hockey articles much because I know what they'll say. However, today's Newsday featured about 4 pages on the Knicks, 4 on the Giants, 2 on the Jets, and articles on the Mets and a full page devoted to Ricky Henderson and Mark McGwire. Uh, is this 1998?
The only mention of the Islander-Ranger game was an advertisement put in by the Islanders. Not one beat writer had a story published about the game. Not one. Yet, the Knicks, the laughingstock of a stupid, corrupt, boring league, get back AND front page mentions and multiple pages.
You KNOW that the well-fought rivalry game that happened tonight will not be back-cover-worthy tomorrow and instead it will be Eddy Curry thinking about suing the driver who claimed he was sexually?harassed?by Curry.
Despicable. We have a good sport here that is infinitely more entertaining that baseball and basketball. Ah, if only fantasy hockey was as fun as fantasy football. Imagine that?
Back to the original topic. A good night at the Coliseum, and the only thing missing was a vocalist during the National Anthem. That silent version was sort of awkward.

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If you click?this link, you will see a picture of my friend Tom (in the blue Drury jersey) and me (in the white Girardi). For some reason, the Islander site wanted our picture, and some kid questioned it. We offered him to sit on my lap for a photo and smile, and he obliged. Quite happily, as well. (I'm pictures 19 and 20.)
I would've put the picture on this blog but I'm having trouble doing it.