Bruins over Seas...

These are the signs that worry us... When multiple and continually our players sign overseas in Europe and Russia in international leagues which is a key indicator that the negotiations are no where near close and you should not expect hockey until Jan/Feb 2013 or possibly even the loss of a whole season... I've listed the following Bruin's players who have signed overseas since the lockout begun just 2 weeks ago... I hope you all like D1 hockey (we have one of the best markets in the country for it too) because that's the only competitive hockey you're going to be seeing for the rest of 2012

• Zdeno Chara (Prague)
• Patrice Bergeron (Switzerland)
• Tukkaa Rask (Czech Republic)
• Tyler Seguin (Switzerland)
• Dennis Seidenberg (Germany)
• David Krejci (Czech Republic)
• Andrew Ference (Czech Republic)
• Anton Khudobin (Russia)
• Rich Peverley (Finland)
• CSNBC - Finland's Stock Market jumped 38% in the glass-pane industry after hearing Mr. High-Off-Glass signed with the team...

Shenanigan's Fight Back...

I will not typically be posting about my men's league hockey team, but last night deserves some recognition... Against our rivals (JHF) we were down 4-1 to start the 3rd period, and got it to 4-2 with 4mins left... We scored a goal at 3:15 to make it 4-3 and pulled the goalie with 45 seconds left and netted a tying goal with only 18 seconds left (and almost scored again with 5 seconds left), to pull out a 4-4 tie and keep a loss off the record (1-0-1 record)... We had a new addition to the team (Kris Houriham) in first game in 4yrs helping to anchor the defense which played another good game, and as advertized, Shenanigans is hard to beat in the first few weeks of each season... The question is if we can prevent the slide

Gaming (Assassins Creed Spoilers, you have been warned)

As was posted in another blog submission in the Pink Hat blog-osphere, most sports fan of our generation are avid gamers. Whether you play primarily Sports, FPS (Shooters), RPG, or some good ole never get boring hack and slashes. I can only speak on my opinion for games and not for what everyone else thinks. I will give a little bit of a review of games, either whats to come, what I own, or what I want to own.

Mike has already brought up Assassins Creed 3. I will go a little further into this in this post. And if you haven't played any of the games and don't want it to be ruined for you don't go any further.

In these games you play as Desmond Miles. A man who is the descendant of many important Assassins. In the first game you are captured by the Templars, a group of people bent on obtaining special objects known as the pieces of eden to gain power and rule the world. Eventually you are freed by one of their employees who does not see eye to eye with their goals.

Assassins Creed is a story of a league of assassins. They follow a simple creed, "Nothing is True, Everything is permitted" Basically they followed a rule of not killing unnecessarily as you will find during game play if you "Accidentally" kill some walker by that is not a guard.

In the first game you Altair, an Arab assassin who follows the orders of his Mentor. Through this first game you learn of the pieces of eden and their tremendous power. In following with what the creed is set up to do, create peace, you find that your mentor has become corrupt and you need to set the balance and eventually dethrone this mentor of the Creed.

In the Second, Brotherhood, and Revelations installment you play as Ezio Auditore. You grow up to find out your father was once an assassin and following his death you yourself become an assassin. You find out about the pieces of eden and their power even more than Altair did, as far as you know by this point. You learn of what the true intention of the Templar's search for power.


Now we come to Assassins Creed 3. You play as a native American that becomes an Assassin. But there's one catch, you're caught in the middle of a war between English and Colonial English (Americans). You have to choose between two Evils, the British or the Americans (Lets face it, we end up stealing their land, we are kinda evil in that fact). You choose to help the Americans in their struggle against the British, who, since the game has not yet been released and by the point all the commercials make, must be laden with Templars. And the best part of it all, it seems to start off and have a great deal to due with Boston. Ya they mention New York but who cares.

For me this game is a double edged sword. Not only does it have a good play to it, in the fact that it is a strategy fighting as well as an stealth play style, but it also has a Historical twist that we can call back to from our classes in grade school. Just like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, its good to see someone taking a historical figure or event and spin it to involve with something deeper and have a different view to it. Below are two of my favorite trailer for the game, I've already reserved my special "I shouldn't be spending this much on just one game" edition version of the game, I recommend you pick up a copy for yourself.

Celebration? Really?

I write this as I sit in my room and see my Red Sox hat hang from my bed post. When  I look at it I remember when my team use to play with their all and as a team. I remember sitting next to my brother and father and enjoying a game at Fenway. But that was then and this is now.

The Red Sox for me are ranked number four when compared to all other teams in the Boston area. I'd rather watch the revolution play soccer at an empty stadium in Foxboro. There is a key reason to this, and it is not because I hate baseball, I like the sport, even though it doesn't move as fast as hockey does, I still enjoy the product. But, and theres a big but to this, The Red Sox have cared more about their brand than the sport in the past two or three years. This has only been made worse by the fact that this year the Red Sox are having a losing season. As I'm typing this the Red Sox win percentage is .434. For those of you that are not too bright or not Asian enough to be good at math that is below 50%. How can you celebrate anything and not look like a jackass when you lost more games than you have won.

With that history lesson on to the celebration. The Pesky celebration is not what I am referring to. I am referring to the celebration for the 2004 world series win. Really? I don't mean to be redundant but Really? How can you celebrate 8 years after winning the breaking of the curse during one of the worst seasons in recent history. I understand it was because this year is the 100th year anniversary, but now is not the time. This to me, and in my opinion, just shows how bad it has gotten in Fenway. Maz from the Felger and Maz show on 98.5 the sports hub said it right today. He said something along the lines of "Most teams when they win the world series celebrate it once and then move on". And this should be the case. I understand 86 years is a long time with no victory at the big game, I understand the park is 100 years old now, but for god sake have some humility.

Now I don't claim to be speaking for every sports fan, nor do I expect everyone to accept my opinion on this. I accept contrary beliefs to this. But take this into consideration. Do you think that if you did half the work that you were suppose to at your job that you would have a steady income for much longer. No and to think you would, would just be ignorant. So I say to you, oh fenway faithful, oh rouser of the green monster, should we really celebrate anything this season? (Other than Pesky, because both he and we need to celebrate his life.)

Patriots + Bills = Smooshy

Once again the New England Defense leads by big Vince Wilfork, saved the day as Buffalo was about to take a 3 TD lead into the half... Dont'a Hightower's fumble-casuing hit on RB CJ Spiller on the Pats' 1 yard line saved what would've been a 28-7 lead for Buffalo heading into the half, and kept it at 21-7 for the Pats...

The Patriots stayed balanced and ran the ball effectively to open the 2nd half up while posting 35 unanswered points on their way to a 52-28 throttling of the Bills on Sunday, putting them from 3rd to 1st in the AFC East standing (NYJ lost Santonio Holmes, This Guy, and their game 34-0  at home vs SF)

By The Numbers:

• 580 Total Offensive Yards
• 7 Touchdowns
• First Time there has ever been 2 100-yard rushers and 2 100-yard receivers in a single game
• Improves NE record to 2-2 with a 1-0 division record

What Happened? Europe retains Ryder Cup

Well, that sucked. Team Europe headed into Sunday's individual pairings down 10-4, the same exact margin the American's faced in 1999 at The Country Club in Brookline. The pulled off the "Miracle at Medinah" late in the afternoon after a series of events that silenced the raucous home crowd of USA. 

To get the mushy bull-shit out of the way I'll quickly mention that Team Europe was outwardly playing for their late fallen Ryder Cup hero- Seve Ballestros. They had his silhouette on their sleeves, and clearly used it as motivation to get the W.

Seve on the sleeves 

Luke Donald vs Bubba Watson

Donald took control of this match early and never looked back. Bubba made a late push but came up short. The Euros stacked their lineup with their 5 best players in the first 5 matches, clearly a winning strategy since they WON ALL FIVE and took an 11-10 lead. 

Ian Poulter vs Webb Simpson

We know Poulter is a gamer. My friend Bill said it perfectly- Poulter's the guy you hate on the other team but love on your own. Brad Marchand, if you will. Anyway Webb started great but Poulter would not be denied and played exceptional golf down the stretch to win the match. I think it was a tweet from Trey Wingo but he said something along the lines of "Every 2 years, Poulter's the best player in the world, right on cue"



Masterful 2012 Ryder Cup by the world's #1

Rory McIlroy vs Keegan Bradley

What a matchup. Rory was actually late to the course- he was confused about his tee time and almost missed the Tee. Unfortunately he made it, and like he said it may actually have been an advantage becuase he didn't have time to over think anything. If Bradley were to have pulled off this win, he would have capped off the greatest performance in Ryder Cup history, beating the #1 player in the world and going undefeated. That didn't happen. Rory ended Bradley's incredible run. After the victory, Rory took a bow to the crowd and that's the moment I started worrying about the American lead. I wish McIlroy was American SO BAD. He's such a boss.

Justin Rose vs Phil Mikelson

This was a great back and forth matchup where the lead changed hand a few different times. Phil ended up losing on great green-play by Rose toward the end. Mikelson was back down to earth today after playing with Bradley all week. Those 2 guys clearly fed off each other and both desperately could have used the other yesterday. Phil somehow thought it was funny or cool that he lost am I'm sure he catching a ton of shit for his reaction to Rose' winning putt:

Paul Lawrie vs Brandt Snedeker

This was a blow out. Lawrie won 5 & 4 and Snedeker never had a chance. I knew this whole week would be tough for Snedeker, he was so high after his FedEx cup win just last week and his 2012 Ryder cup record was an ugly 1-3 record.

Nick Colsaerts vs Dustin Johnson

Finally a W for the Americans. Johnson played very good on Sunday, maybe USA's best player, and he silenced the Ryder Cup rookie Colsaerts with a clean victory, never trailing. It was nice to see someone actually hold a lead and close out their match.

Graeme McDowell vs Zach Johnson

Apparently we should only have selected golfers with the last name Johnson. Zach handled McDowell, who had a rough week, pretty well. ZJ never trailed and like DJ, he actually had the stones to close out his match.

At this point the score was 12-9, USA leading. Needing 2 1/2 points to retain the cup, USA was still looking good.

Sergio Garcia vs Jim Furyk

Here's where the US lost it. Furyk, arguably USA's strongest player in this format, blew it hard. On the 17th tee Furyk was  1 up. He proceeded to lose the last 2 holes and couldn't even salvage half a point. This was bad. When Garcia won this match (with a makeable par miss by Furyk on 18) I knew team USA's bus was approaching Choke-City. Also, Furyk was a captain's choice for the team so DLIII might catch heat for this one.

Peter Hanson vs Jason Dufner

The last full point the Americans would earn came from Dufner. He went wire-to-wire and never trailed in his match. It was nice to see this rookie come through for the Americans... Hopefully next Ryder Cup Dufner makes the team and builds on this performance. This match was rarely showed on TV so I didn't get to see much and also I don't now if I technically even saw Peter Hanson all weekend.

Lee Westwood vs Matt Kuchar

This was a blood bath. Kooch was manhandled by Westwood down the stretch, losing the last 3 holes. I feel bad because I think Kooch lipped out like 4 times yesterday but no excuses. Westwood played better than earlier in the week and when that guy is no top of his game, he is tough to beat.

Kaymer after winning it for Europe 

Martin Kaymer vs Steve Stricker

Ahhhh. Steve Stricker. Captain's pick. Winless in the tourny. Ouch. The match was all square going into 17 and at this point in time, the US needed 1 win and 1 tie in the last 2 matches. With Tiger as our anchor, Stricker only needed to halve the last 2 holes with Kaymer to let Tiger win it. What happened? Stricker lost 17 and had a poor effort on 18. Kaymer sunk the 6 foot putt to retain the cup for Europe.

Francisco Molinari vs Tiger Woods

Well Molinari beat Tiger on Sunday LAST Ryder cup, so this re-match could have been great. As I mentioned Kaymer won it for the Euros on the 18th green while Woods and Molinari were in the fairway waiting to hit their approach shots. Even though Euro had won, I guess they played out the last hole and halved the match, so Tiger also went winless all week. 0-3-1. That brings Tiger's all time Ryder cup record to 13-17-3. That's so gross.  I wanted SO BADLY for the Ryder Cup to come down to Tiger on 17 or 18, but unfortunately we blew it before Woods had a shot. I'm confident he would have came through with the Cup on the line. Too bad we never got to see it.

In Conclusion, Team Europe deserved the Win for their dominating performance on Sunday. They won 8 of the first 11 matches to bury the Americans. It was an incredibly deflating day for the Medinah crowd- they deserved better. This tournament was so, so great. I love how golf can be a team-game, and even if you are not a golfer or golf fan I believe you could have tuned in all weekend and been instantly captivated. 

PS- Anyone wanna go crazy and make the trip to Scotland in 2014 for the Ryder Cup? I'm in. And our American team should be very strong in 2014... we had a lot of younger guys gain some very valuable experience in this worst collapse of all time.

Pats Cut Winslow, Hernandez Back?

ESPN is reporting that the Patriots have cut Kellen Winslow at his request.  Word on the street is Aaron Hernandez has been seen back in the Pats locker room.  This doesn't mean he'll definitely be back this week, but it does mean he is healing faster than planned.  Good for Kellen Winslow for knowing to jump ship before Hernandez returns and he tumbles down the depth chart.  This could be some great news for Gronk fantasy owners, like me.  If Hernandez is back it's, much harder to double up Gronk, which means more fantasy points for all of us.  I guess it's also good news for all you suckers who got stuck with the lesser Pats TE.  Here's to hoping Hernandez has been eating enough Gronk Flakes to facilitate a comeback as early as this week.