ESPN kinda blows

So the one nice thing about traveling this much for work (well, two nice things -- I just got to spend a weekend in San Francisco), is that I get to watch some TV. I'm not really a huge TV watcher in my normal life (normal life = being home 95% of the time) but spending this much time in hotels and airports means I watch a LOT of TV. And since most hotel TVs give you HBO, 4 channels of ESPN or CNN, ESPN seemed like the best choice. HBO always that Bunny Ranch show on, and while I'm sure plenty of people enjoy it, its not really my thing. CNN just annoys me...Wolf Blizter has got to be the worst fake anchor name of all time.

I stopped watching ESPN a handful of years ago, when they decided beach volleyball and bowling where more important to broadcast then hockey. But even when I stopped watching, I had no idea that it had so completely gone down the tubes. ESPN kinda blows.

Problem 1: They have nothing on hockey. Fine, self explanatory. Its summer, and they really dont cover hockey anyway.

Problem 2: ESPN is like CNN's stepchild. Everything is on loop. Constantly. I started putting ESPN on in the mornings, and in the hour it takes for me to shower, put on make up, and slap some gunk in my hair, they repeat the same news, the same teasers, the same commericals, over and over. Nothing original whatsoever. By the time I left California, I could perfectly imitate Jeremy Schaap's voice saying, "Why Joe Torre isnt upset over Manny being Manny...coming up next". Except it never came up next. They just looped back to same news stories they showed 15 minutes earlier.

And this isnt just on ESPN news...its every ESPN channel. And when they arent busy looping the same news, its either those SportsCenter commercials (can I recommend that they spend less time on the commercials and more time on original programming?) or beach volleyball. Or lacrosse. Or college wrestling.

Problem 3: The jokes. Oh, the jokes. I know the jokes are supposed to be aimed at the audience in some sort of "I mean this ironically but not really if you laugh and no one is as smart as I (an ESPN writer) so even if you dont laugh, I am laughing at you for not laughing" kind of way. Yes, I can discern all that from the smirks on the faces of these anchors when they deliver their not funny jokes. But seriously, stop it with the jokes. It's a little pathetic.

I am moving back to HBO. When they dont have Bunny Ranch on, they have Generation Kill on loop, and at least I kinda like that show. Much better then watching Jeremy Schaap preen at the camera, AGAIN.

PS: I know many of you already came to this conclusion long ago, so pardon me for being a little slower to get there. I really didnt watch it until the past couple months or so and I'll probably never watch it again. Until I am in an airport next week.

Now we just need Mike Comrie!

So the Caps signed Jose Theodore. I can only say...that's hot.

Photo from thesuperficial.com

I miss hockey.

I'm re-posting here what I blogged about on HLOG about three months ago. Its even more appropriate to my life now.
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In the past few months, the whole blogging vs. job that pays me money argument has taken up a considerable amount of room in my thoughts. Granted, my thoughts usually revolve around hockey, Chipotle and if I can get away with another day of not shaving my legs.

What brought about this internal argument was a career change. I recently started a new job that has long hours, lots of travel (to weird places with no hockey teams) and is 100% consuming of my time at work. The perk to my old job was that while some days were high stress, I still had time during the day to read hockey blogs, comment on them, and post on Capital Addiction, even if just on my lunch hour. My weekends are typically spent away from the computer so I dont have much time to post then either.

The question I have been struggling with is what makes a good hockey blogger (who posts the most?), and how do you assauge your guilt over not tending quite as diligently to your blog as you may have in the past? Or in other words, how the heck do I have a crazy job, season tickets to the Caps, soemthing of a social life, and still find time to be a good hockey blogger?

To give some perspective to this argument, I'll note here that I used to post about 1-2 day at least. Currently, I am lucky to post 2 times a week on my blog.

I still dont have all the answers, but in thinking about this, I've come to a few conclusions. Yes, I would love to be paid to write about hockey all day. But I'm not, people still pay attention to John Buccigross more then me, and I have to pay the rent, so life goes on. I havent found a solution to the guilt I feel over leaving my blog without new content for days at a time (the closest feeling I can compare it to is feeling like a bad mommy). My hockey blog is incredibly important to me, definitely not as much as a child, but it remains a fulfilling part of my life.

I've also realized that if I forced myself to post as much as I used to, the consequence would be poorer quality of posts, not to mention some growing resentment towards something that was a valued hobby. As much as I would like to post at least 30 times a month, perhaps its better that I write 15 good posts a month?

As I mentioned, I dont have all the answers on this one. As hockey bloggers who are also mothers, students and career jugglers, many of us are facing this same struggle. I imagine that some hockey bloggers out there, male or female, might be facing the same internal struggle and guilt, so I thought I would share my thoughts on this.

Originally posted to HLOG on March 30, 2008.

Bear with me...

I'm almost back, I promise! To the lovely folks who have emailed me, I havent gotten hit by a bus or diappeared completely, just working. In the meantime ... Go Penguins. Yes, really.

Also, cant figure out if I am happy that the Flyers have gotten so far because that "justifies" the Caps early knock out, or if I am still just disgusted.

Heartbreak

I have had a work project for the last few weeks that has kept me in the office about 18 hours a day. Not a lot of time for blogging in there. I managed to catch most of the Caps games on TV, and all of them in person.

I suppose I thought the forced days of hockey exile would inoculate me a bit if the Caps lost tonight. That's not the case, at all. Like every other Caps fan, I am heartbroken. I'm grateful for the most amazing season of hockey that I have ever seen. I'm grateful to have seen Alex Ovechkin undoubtedly take over as the super star of the NHL, have my heart lift at the sight of Sergei Federov flying around the ice one more time, and watch Olie during what will probably be his last season in Washington. And most of all I am grateful for the amazing effort that every member of the Caps put forward.

But my heart is still a little cracked.

From flying high to crashing low, all in one weekend

Hm. I was too hung over to post anything about the Caps edge-of-your-seat win on Friday night. And now I am glad I didnt.

As I have mentioned, there are some aspects of the Capitals' collective game that make them successful. Consistent play and a good forecheck are the two most present factors in the Capitals wins. Unfortunately, neither of these two showed up for very long on Sunday (if at all), and the Capitals lost an important game on home ice. They now go into Tuesday's game in Philadelphia under the gun -- they have to win at least one on Philly's turf in order to return to DC with the series even. A much better prospect then returning with three losses, and their head on the chopping block if they should lose one more game.

Here is what sticks out for me the most:

I've got to give it to the Flyers, they found a way to shut down Ovie, sneak some past Huet and keep the game under their control. The Caps looked as nervous as a virgin on prom night, which certainly helped the Flyers keep their game going.

Give me Steve Eminger over John Erskine. John Erskine has got two inches and six pounds on Steve Eminger. Steve Eminger has got a brain. I'll take Eminger, please.

It was pretty plain to see that the Flyers were picking on Cristobal Huet. In the third period, Huet was finally fed up and tossed around some healthy shoves. Good for him, but the Caps d-men need to do a better job of kicking those Flyers out of the crease. Scott Hartnell was parked there for so long, I memorized every wrinkle in the back of his jersey.

Ovie might have been shut down offensively, but defensively he did a pretty good job. In that category, he is a ton better then he was last season.

Milan Jurcina. Not sure what to do with him. When he uses his huge size, he is scary and effective. But more often then not, I see him playing too tentatively for a guy who is 6'4 and 230 lbs. Consistency and confidence issues are what got him booted out of Boston, lets hope they dont continue to haunt him here.

I would give anything to see Scott Hartnell stop being a little bitch and actually fight Donald Brashear. It would be the ass kicking of a lifetime.

So, anyone braving Philly for a game?

Flyers vs. Capitals, Game 1

LETS GO CAPS!