Bruins win game one. 4-1. It was wonderful. Game two is Sunday. I can’t wait.

Today we have a tee ball game to go to. My first Padres game of the year. Later Jen and I are meeting with our wedding photographer, Pat. We’re going to set up a list of must have shots for our wedding photo album. Should be fun.

We should buy this house.

Bruins lead 1-0!!!

This has been the longest day ever. I just want to go home and WATCH the BRUINS SLAY THE WHALE!

Okay, over dramatic I know, but it has been a really long day.

Joe Corvo plays for the Hurricanes/Whalers. He is the prick of the universe. He is the only athlete on the planet Earth I honestly want to see suffer a career ending injury. He is scum.

When Ottawa went to the cup finals a couple of years ago I wrote extensively on the old myspace blog about what a piece of shit this guy is. I will reiterate some of the reasons for my distaste here.

This dates back to 2002 when the prick was playing for the Manchester Monarchs. I can’t seem to find any actual news stories so we’re going to have to go with the very poor reporting method of using second hand sources. Sorry.

This is a copy of a news story that was posted on the US College Hockey Online message board on November 15, 2002:

Saw this item on the Foster’s Daily Democrat (Dover, NH) website. Corvo played for WMU from 95-98, and now plays for the Manchester Monarchs.

=============================

BOSTON (AP) — A minor league hockey player from New Hampshire has been charged with punching and kicking a woman in a Boston nightclub.

Joseph Corvo, 25, of Manchester, N.H., was arraigned Wednesday on charges of assault and battery, indecent assault and battery, and assault with a dangerous weapon. He was released on $5,000 bail.

Corvo, who plays for the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, was at Trio’s nightclub early Wednesday morning when he grabbed the buttocks of a 34-year old Boston woman, Suffolk prosecutors said.

Trio’s employees told Corvo to leave the club but he allegedly returned, approached the woman near a bathroom, punched her in the face, then kicked her when she fell to the ground, prosecutors said.

The woman had bruises and swelling on her face and had to be treated at Massachusetts General Hospital, authorities said.

Corvo, of Oak Park, Ill., left the scene but was arrested at another bar a short time later.

Corvo, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound defenseman, is the Monarchs’ leading scorer this season with five goals and 14 points in 12 games. He is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 25 for a pretrial conference.

Phone calls to the Monarchs, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, were not immediately returned Thursday evening.

What a swell guy, huh? Nice roll model for the kids of New Hampshire (and Los Angeles, and Ottawa, and all of Carolina)

Here’s another bit from his wikipedia page…. the fact that there is a Joe Corvo wikipedia page makes me want to vomit:

Corvo was arrested in November 2002 in Boston after he grabbed a 34-year-old woman’s buttocks in a restaurant. Restaurant staff told him to leave, but Corvo returned, punched the woman and then kicked her when she fell to the ground, police said. Corvo was given a three-year suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to assault. Corvo was also suspended for three games by the Kings.

A three year suspended sentence for beating the shit out of a woman… big tough athlete that he is… and a three game suspention by the LA Kings (Manchester’s parent club).

Read that again… his only punishment for brutally assaulting a woman was a three game suspention. Your justice system at work.

He is lower than scum.

Root for the Bruins to beat the Hurricanes.

Do not root for this piece of shit to advance any further than he has.

Joe Corvo is a prick.

Go Bruins!

Tonight it begins.

Bruins vs Whalers at the Boston (whateverthehelltheycallitnow) Garden!

Glory to the Black and Gold!

cannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwait

There is so much hype and bullshit out there that I don’t know who to believe or what.

I read this, it could be complete bullshit too, but I’m going to link it anyway.

Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic – Fact or Fiction?

Add that to another thing I keep seeing today… that despite the deaths in Mexico (and the one US death that was a Mexican citizen visiting the US) people catching the swine flu are recovering quickly and it looks like the flu is pretty mild. You get sick for a few days, you get better, you get on with your life.

Hopefully I’m not wrong.

Can’t really think of anything to write this morning. I’m too busy looking for updates on swine flu and reading the same outdated recycled crap that was useless to me yesterday.

What a game! How about those Carolina Hurricanes! Boy don’t I wish I got to see it!

We came home and I turned on VS to catch the end of the Rangers/Capitals game/series. just a few seconds before that Sergei Federov had scored what would, a few seconds later, become the series clinching goal for Washington. It was beautiful watching New York blow a three games to one lead in the series. I would have liked to have met them in the second round, but I just felt dirty rooting for New York.

After the game VS switched to the New Jersey/Carolina game which was early in the third. The Devils were up 3-2 but it was looking like a good game. I leaned back to get comfy for what I thought would be a fun third period or desperation from the ‘Canes…

And VS went back to the studio saying that due to contractual obligations they were unable to show the rest of the game.

Huh? Contractual obligations? Aren’t you the affiliate network for the entire National Hockey League and isn’t this the post season and wasn’t it a game seven? Huh? VS: you suck.

So we went back to the Red Sox game for a while and saw that they had blown a 7-3 lead to the Indians that would eventually lead to the end of their 11 game winning streak. Damn it. I was shocked and a little pissed off to hear Don Orsillo announce that Carolina had taken the game and the series by scoring twice in the last 80 seconds of the game to stun New Jersey.

Shocked because… well.. it was shocking… 80 seconds? C’mon, that’s pretty shocking. Pissed because, as previously mentioned, VS sucks.

Also I was happy. Happy because the Bruins will play the Hurricanes (the last team they beat in a playoff series prior to ousting the cousin pokin’ Montreal Canadiens last week) and they were 4-0 against them in the regular season.

So it’s time to recap my predictions for round one. In a word: Suck. VS sucks, Joe Thornton sucks, and I suck when it comes to predicting playoff series (partly because, as previously mentioned, Joe Thornton sucks.)

In the East…
Boston vs Montreal = Correct! (extra happy about that one, obviously)
Washington vs New York = Correct
New Jersey vs Carolina = Correct? I had to go back to the original post to see who I picked and was surprised I picked the Whale. I really did. Look it up yourself. Maybe I didn’t suck as bad as I thought (in the East at least)
Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia = Correct. I was 100% in the East? Somehow I got my head and my heart mixed up and thought I had picked New Jersey and Philly. Wow, maybe I don’t suck as bad as Joe Thornton.

In the West however…
San Jose vs Anaheim = Fuck you Joe Thornton, you suck = Incorrect.
Detroit vs Columbus = Correct. Duh. Again, no offense to the Blue Jackets.
Vancouver vs St. Louis = Incorrect. The first of two failed longshot picks.
Chicago vs Calgary = Incorrect. The second longshot pick that failed.

So I picked 5 out of 8 for a winning rate of 62.5%. Not very good, but above 50% which is my meager goal each year. I thought it was worse than that.

Now on to the second round! Here’s the schedule (taken from NHL.com):

SERIES I	#1 vs. #6
Friday, May 1	at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 3	at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 6	at Carolina, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 8	at Carolina, 7:30 p.m.
*Sunday, May 10	at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
*Tuesday, May 12	at Carolina, 7:00 p.m.
*Thursday, May 14	at Boston, TBD
SERIES J	#2 vs. #4
Saturday, May 2	at Washington, 1:00 p.m.
Monday, May 4	at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 6	at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, May 8	at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.
*Saturday, May 9	at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
*Monday, May 11	at Pittsburgh, TBD
*Wednesday, May 13	at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
SERIES K	#2 vs. #8
Friday, May 1	at Detroit, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 3	at Detroit, 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 5	at Anaheim, 10:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 7	at Anaheim, 10:30 p.m.
*Sunday, May 10	at Detroit, 5:00 p.m.
*Tuesday, May 12	at Anaheim, TBD
*Thursday, May 14	at Detroit, TBD
SERIES L	#3 vs. #4
Thursday, April 30	at Vancouver, 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 2	at Vancouver, 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 5	at Chicago, 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 7	at Chicago, 8:00 p.m.
*Saturday, May 9	at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m
*Monday, May 11	at Chicago, 9:00 p.m.
*Thursday, May 14	at Vancouver, TBD

* – if necessary

Now… who to pick?

Boston vs Carolina:
Who do you think. Boston lead the season series 4-0, but that was before the Whalercanes end of the season rush to storm into the playoffs. Tim Thomas against Cam Ward. It should be an awesome series. Boston will win it but it won’t be easy. A minor upside to this series is that I once again get to root against that prick Joe Corvo. Hey Joe, beat up and waitresses lately? Ya prick! Go Bruins

Washington vs Pittsburgh:
The folks in the NHL marketing offices are pissing themselves with glee over this. Ovetchkin and the Caps against Crosby and Malkin and the Penguins. Quite possibley the three best players in the league, the poster boys for the future, all in the same series. The league has been drooling over this possibility since the lock out ended. Now they have it. It should be awesome. But who to pick? Pittsburgh looked strong against the Flyers in the first round. Washington did everything humanly possible to blow it against the Rangers before getting their shite together and taking the series. Rookie goalie Varlarmov (sp?) verses proven goalie Flurey. Who the hell knows? This one could go either way. I have no idea who to pick. ummm… Okay, I am going with Washington only because they are the higher seed. I just hope that the Bruins can win their match up while this one goes seven games with massive injuries to both sides.

Detroit vs Anaheim:
This should be no sweat for Detroit. Then again I said the same thing about San Jose and look what those assholes did to me (again). Joe Thornton, you suck. My brain is telling me to pick Detroit so I will. My gut wants to go with Anaheim but it’s not being objective. I am projecting to a possible future with Boston in the finals and I want the better Western teams to go away before then. That’s why I will be rooting for the Ducks even though I am picking the Red Wings.

Vancouver vs Chicago:
The two teams I showed no respect to are meeting in the second round… figures. Like Pitt/Washington this one could go either way for me. Vancouver has Luongo and that might give them the edge, but Chicago is a hell of a team. I am going to pick Chicago as my one 2nd round lower-seed-wins upset prediction. Really because I am still projecting a possible Bruins-in-the-finals scenario and it would be cool to see Boston vs Chicago. So this one I pick with my gut and not my brain.

I cannot get overly optimistic with the Bruins though. One game at a time. I expect them to come out rusty in game one, and I sort of expect the Whale to beat them on Friday. Cautious optimism. Fingers crossed. One-game-at-a-time.

Go Bruins!

The long awaited (brief) return of iPhone astrophotography! The moon
last night.

Go Bruins!

…and now I hate them back. There is probably going to be swearing in this one, just so ya know.

Choke. Suck. San Jose. Three synonyms.

Best team in the regular season. Dominate from wire to wire. Ousted in 6 games by a #8 seed. Fucking ridiculous. Me, the idiot who last season picked them to win the cup only to see them fall in the 2nd round for, what, the third straight year, swore never to pick them again… then I saw the first round match up and thought the collapse would wait until the 2nd round yet again.

Nope, they lost in the first.

People are talking about how shocking it is. I disagree. The shock was losing games one and two. After that the series loss was inevitable. Nothing shocking anymore. Thornton, Marleau, Nabokov, all of you can spend the rest of your lives being known for sucking hard when it matters most. There are some cup winners in the lineup who will have great careers tarnished by the inability to show up in the playoffs this year. Sorry Rob Blake, I’ve always been a big fan, (how can you not be a fan of a guy who throws ass checks like Johnny Bucyk?) but your rep definitely takes a hit here.

This was hands down the best team in the NHL from day one right through the end of the regular season. No offense to Detroit or to my hallowed Boston Bruins, both of whom are just awesome teams, but you guys weren’t in their league. They were clearly the best team. Top to bottom.

And now they are nothing but a bunch of Montreal flavored losers.

The part that hurts the most is that my days of rooting for Joe Thornton are officially over. You suck Joe. I’ve been singing your praises since day one, but when the great players need to step up you disappear. You suck Joe. It hurts me to say that, but you suck. I hope looking at your huge regular season numbers makes you feel better about yet another poor post season showing, and yet another missed opportunity to put a Stanley Cup ring on that finger. I’m done with you.

To cap off the bad hockey night, the Flames were ousted by the Blackhawks as well. Two more first round predictions that I got wrong. I don’t blame the Flames though, they at least played as hard as their injury plagued line up could. It was a long shot to pick them over Chicago anyway. The Hawks are a good team.

Tonight the East playoffs end with two game sevens. Will Boston play New York, Carolina, or Pittsburgh in the second round? We’ll know at some point tonight. I am ready to start rooting for a team that didn’t lie down and die in the first round like a bunch of wimps. Good riddance San Jose. You fucking suck.

Go Bruins

PS: The Boston Red Sox earned their 11th straight win last night to move into a tie with Toronto for first place in the American League East. There’s a team that loves me as much as I love them.

My sweetie