It's about time.
After a pre-season in which not one second of gameplay was aired on MSG or MSG Plus, we finally get Islanders hockey. We've been waiting a long time for this season; believe it or not, the Islanders last played an official game six months ago. We deserve this. So let's have some fun.
I'm here with my wife (she hates hockey), my friend Leslie (a die-hard Islander fan), and little Kylie. Here's your gratuitous cute baby picture...
Aww.
Drinking game rules ARE in effect tonight, at least where I am. Follow along at your own pace. Tonight's wild card - every time you see the "hole in the throat" voice-box guy, drink. If he concludes his commercial with a line drenched in self-pity (i.e. "I am always afraid of bad news", "I used to love swimming"), chug. Again, sucks for that guy, but these ads are a bit much for my tastes. We don't need to see these five times a game.
Enough about that guy, though. We've got live hockey coming up tonight! Islanders and Devils! Let's get started with some random notes...
- I wore my Mike Comrie shirt to work today. Part of my motivation was for tonight's game, but there's something more. It was also to commemorate what was approximately my 10,000th viewing of his MVK NYC commercial. Let's make every ticket count! On a serious note, that's a pretty good cause Comrie has aligned himself with. If people would donate their tickets instead of bolstering the considerable profits of StubHub every time they couldn't make a game, maybe the game could grow a little more.
- As you watch the Devils tonight, keep this tidbit in mind, because it absolutely blew me away. Apparently, the Devils have a policy on their uniform numbers. Players only get to choose from numbers one through forty, with the only exceptions being marquee players. I found this out from, of all places, Kevin Weekes' Wikipedia page. Initially, I dismissed it as just another bogus Wikipedia fact. But then I thought about it, and I couldn't remember a Devils player ever wearing a number higher than 40 aside from Alexander Mogilny. Curious, I e-mailed noted Devils fan Greg Wyshynski. His response? "Absolutely true." He also pointed out that Doug Gilmour was another player who got to wear a high number because of his stature as an elite player. How about that?
- We're not entirely sure what to expect from tonight's broadcast, with one notable exception. Deb Kaufman/Placey is out as sideline reporter. Her replacement is the infamous C.J. Papa, formerly of the "C.J. Papa Intermission Report" which aired between periods at the Coliseum. It usually consisted of an awkward interview and some barely audible insight into the previous 20 minutes of play. Anyway, if you want a sneak preview of what to expect, check out this blog written by someone who claims to be C.J. Papa. We can only hope it's an impostor. Anyway, Deb is headed off to the greener pastures of MSG, NY, following in the hard-to-fill footsteps of Jonathan Coachman.
- Wonderful news, Islander fans! Since the Rangers are playing on MSG and the Devils' broadcast will be on MSG Plus, the Islanders' broadcast will be on the true home of hockey. That, of course, would be C-Span 2. Check your local listings to see if you even have this channel.
- Your former Islanders count for tonight is at a robust three - Michael Rupp, Kevin Weekes, and Brent Sutter. Drink one for Sutter, who was a total d-bag throughout the Isles' 2006 search for a head coach, swore he'd never leave Red Deer, then left for the Devils' job within a year.
- MSG is showing the Rangers' pre-game. MSG Plus is showing the Devils' pre-game. MSG Plus 2, as C-Span 2 is affectionately being called tonight, is showing speeches from the U.S Senate. From Thursday. Oy.
- As long as we're dumping on Sutter, let's point out this tidbit - the Devils, for all of their "run and gun" talk last year, actually scored fewer goals than they did in the 2003-04 season.
- Breaking news from the Devils' pre-game - Rick DiPietro is OUT for tonight. Joey MacDonald gets the start. Gulp.
- Interesting highlight package from the Devils' crew. They did a package of their returning players, highlighted by a Bobby Holik package in which he scored on Eric Fichaud and the fishermen-clad Islanders.
- 7:00 rolls around... and we still have political talk on C-Span 2. Yuck. Thankfully, we've already started drinking.
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