A Great Day for Canada

We're in sudden death with Canada for the gold medal.  I had to break out a running diary.  We were inches from the gold medal in the third period when we sent the puck down the ice and hit the post on the empty net.  Then Canada scored to tie with less than a minute left.  Now we have 20 minutes of sudden death and then possibly a shootout.  Hopefully this won't turn out to be a disaster.

2:36- Here we go.

2:37- Both teams get decent chances early.

2:37- The US gets a few good chances.  We're controlling the play early in overtime.

2:38- Canada has come on a little bit.

2:39- Glove save by the US goalie.  Now that we have a stoppage, it's worth mentioning that I definitely couldn't name more than three of the American players.  I don't care.  I want to beat Canada and win the gold.

2:42- Canada has played better than us for the last few minutes.

2:43- Penalty on Canada.  Let's win a gold medal.  13:51 to play.

2:45- Our power play lasted five seconds.  Slashing penalty on the US.  The NBC broadcasters don't like the call.

2:46- Three on three.  Why do they play four on four in overtime?  That's silly.  If I remember correctly, it started in the NHL to open up the ice in overtime.  They also started making an overtime loss worth one point.  The purpose was to have fewer ties (open ice, a loss being the same as a tie so you might as well go for the win).  But then the NHL put in the shootout so there are no more ties anyway.  They should have gone back to five on five overtime.

2:48- The US takes a penalty to stop a breakaway.  I'm not sure why this isn't a penalty shot, but okay.  12:29 to play.  I'd settle for a shootout at this point.

2:50- Now this is weird.  Canada is going to end up with five players on the ice because of the way the penalties are going to shake out here.

2:51- Canada scores.  Heart breaking loss.

Do I really care about women's hockey?  No, of course not.  However, the United States and Canada are the only women's hockey powers in the world.  We beat Canada twice in the 1998 Olympics and those are the only Olympic games they've ever lost (women's hockey has only been an Olympic sport since 1998).  In men's hockey, a silver medal isn't terrible because there are several countries that are good.  But in women's hockey, a silver medal means we failed.  I'll forget about this pretty soon, but for today, it's disappointing.  Hopefully we'll get revenge tomorrow in men's hockey.  I'll be back later for the women's curling gold medal game.

5:01- Open wide for some curling!  I'm back for the women's gold medal game.  They just showed Eve Muirhead's shot to win the bronze.  Canada takes on Sweden for the gold.  The game happened in the morning and I was going to do this live, but they didn't show it on TV live.  I could have watched it on my phone, but I didn't want to do that.  I tried to avoid finding out what happened.  Unfortunately, I was not successful, but I'm still going to do this anyway.

5:02- They show how Canada lost to Sweden in 2010 in the gold medal game.  Up two in the tenth, you have to hold on and win that one.  We get a rematch tonight.  This is quite a curling rivalry.

5:07- We have bagpipes and everything to get us ready for this game.

5:08- Canada beat Sweden in eight ends earlier in the Olympics.  The teams are being introduced.  I haven't seen Sweden play at all.  Unfortunately, it looks like there's not much talent on the Swedish team.  Canada has Kaitlyn Lawes (not terrible) and Jennifer Jones (probably the most talented curler of this Olympics).

5:10- Canada is 3-2 against Sweden.  Like I said, this is quite a rivalry.  Canada had a choice between the hammer or color of stones as the higher seed.  That's an interesting choice.  Canada takes the hammer.  Sweden takes the red rocks.  I'm not happy about that because I don't like it when countries have yellow or red in their flag and then have the opposite colored rocks.  If they switched colors, both countries would have rocks that match their flags.

5:11- Sweden's skip throws first rocks and she starts by putting one on the button, but Canada takes it out right away.

5:17- Two rocks in the house with three rocks left for each team in the first end.

5:18- The sideline reporter tells us that the Swiss team was bike riding and looking sad after losing the bronze medal game.

5:19- Jennifer Jones is about to throw her first rock.  She has the best percentage of anybody who threw last rocks in the Olympics.  I have absolutely no idea how curling percentages are calculated.

5:21- Last rock for Sweden in the first end.  They have shot rock.  They knock a Canadian rock out of the house and they're lying three.  Canada will have to settle for one in the first end.

5:23- Good sweeping to get around a guard and Canada moves Sweden's shot rock out of the way to take one.

5:28- CNBC comes back from commercial and we're already halfway through the second end.  Really cool camera shot that followed the Canadian rock down the ice.  Canada has two rocks in the house.

5:31- Sweden misses with a shot.  They tapped Canada's shot rock closer to the button and gave it better protection from a few guards out in front of the house.

5:33- Sweden moves some guards around and gets one of their stones second closest to the button.

5:35- Jennifer Jones puts up a guard with her final rock of the second end.  Four rocks in the house.  Canada has shot rock.

5:36- I have no idea what Sweden's going to try here.

5:37- Nice shot to get one.  They hit a guard into a Swedish rock into the Canadian shot rock to tie the game.

5:41- I'm googling pictures of Jennifer Jones to find one to put in here.

There we go.  Like I said, the most talented curler of the 2014 Olympics.

5:43- We could have our first blank end.  One rock in the house with three to go in the end.

5:46- Last rock for Canada.  There's a Swedish rock in the house.  Jennifer Jones will try to get that out and blank the end.  And she nailed the shot.  1-1 after three.

5:51- Halfway through the fourth end, Sweden is lying two.

5:55- I just googled Cheryl Bernard (Canada's skip in 2010).

Canada had the most talented curler in 2010 also.

5:57- One Canadian rock and one Swedish rock in the house.  Canada is going to play the runback to get rid of the Swedish rock.

5:58- Jennifer Jones almost got rid of both rocks in the house, but the Canadian rock hangs on.

5:59- Jennifer Jones is at 96% for the game.  She's thrown seven rocks so far.  I have no idea how you get 96% out of seven.

6:00- Sweden goes for a double with their last rock, but they can only get one Canadian rock out of the house.  This should be an easy two for Canada.  Canada scores at least two 51% of the time with the hammer.  The Americans did not score two 51% of the time with the hammer.

6:01- Some vigorous sweeping gets the rock into the house easily and Canada scores two.  They lead 3-1.

6:02- Which picture of Cassie and Jamie Johnson should I use to show the most talented curlers in Olympic history?

USA! USA! USA!  I miss them.

6:04- I put on the Starters on NBATV.  I do love Leigh Ellis's Australian accent (the Aussies clearly have the best accent).  They're talking about the Pacers trading for Evan Turner.  I'm definitely rooting for Larry Bird's Pacers to win the championship this year.

6:07- Pretty cool Coca-Cola commercial right now.

6:09- Nice shot by Sweden to bump a Canadian rock that was shot rock.  Sweden is lying two in the fifth end.

6:10- Jill Officer and Kaitlyn Lawes are struggling for Canada, but Officer just came up with a nice shot to get rid of both Swedish rocks in the house.  Canada is lying two now.

6:11- Bad shot by Kaitlyn Lawes.  She's down to 47%.

6:13- Another bad shot for Lawes.  We get an "eh" from Jennifer Jones.  I mentioned how I love the Aussie accent.  The Canadians don't really have an accent that's distinguishable from my accent, they just say words wrong.  If I just heard a Canadian, I wouldn't be able to tell they were Canadian until they said something like "aboot" or "organ-eye-zation" or "eh."

6:14- Sweden is lying three with skip stones still to come in the fifth.

6:17- "Never ever ever ever."  Jennifer Jones was not happy with that shot.

6:18- Big shot by Sweden.  They're lying three again and both countries have one rock left.

6:20- Good shot by Jennifer Jones.  Sweden is lying one, but if they can get a double here, they'll score four.

6:23- Sweden can't get the double.  They score two to tie the game 3-3 after five ends.

6:31- After the fifth end break, Sweden starts the sixth end by putting their first rock very close to the button.

6:34- I just googled Pyeongchang, which is the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics.  They're fourteen hours ahead.  Sochi is nine hours ahead.  Nine hours ahead wasn't too bad.  Tomorrow's hockey game is at noon.  That's pretty good (especially since I don't have work).  We've had hockey games at 7:30 in the morning.  Not as good as noon, but not terrible.  If we're playing hockey games at 2:30 in the morning in four years, that's no good.

6:38- Good news for the 2016 Olympics.  Rio de Janeiro is two hours ahead.  That's going to be fantastic.

6:39- Canada blanks the sixth end.  Sweden would love to force Canada to take one in the seventh and get the hammer back for the even ends.

6:41- It looks like Canada wants to blank this end also.  Kaitlyn Lawes leaves a rock out in front of the house.

6:42- No rocks in play after Sweden takes out Canada's rock.

6:43- Canada puts one in the house, but Sweden will get rid of it.  The play by play guy points out that there aren't many team sports where you can't take out a player that is performing poorly.  The analyst points out that you can bring in the alternate at the start of an end, but that would be very unusual.

6:45- Jennifer Jones gets rid of the Swedish rock and we have another blank end.  Tied at three with three ends to play.

6:48- Canada is 8-1 when tied with three ends to go and with the hammer.  Sweden is 7-7 when they don't have the hammer in that situation.

6:49- We have some rocks in play early.  This won't be another blank end.

6:50- Big double for Jill Officer.

6:55- Another bad shot by Kaitlyn Lawes as Canada is looking to score in the eighth.  Sweden is lying one as we're down to skip stones.

6:57- Sweden puts another one in the house.

6:58- Nice shot by Jennifer Jones.  Canada has shot rock.

7:00- Jennifer Jones has one shot left.  Sweden just put another rock in the house and it's tough to tell which team has shot rock.  I think it's Canada, but I'm not sure.  We might get a measurement if nothing moves on this last shot.

7:02- Jennifer Jones comes up short.  We're going to have a measurement to see who gets one.

7:04- The measurement gives the point to Canada.  They lead 4-3 going to the ninth.

7:14- Sweden has a rock on the button.  They really want to score two.

7:15- Sweden's rock picked.  You could see it just turn to its left.  The analyst points out that you should always have one broom on the ice to keep that from happening.

7:16- Kaitlyn Lawes makes a big shot to get rid of a Swedish rock.  Canada is lying three.

7:20- Big miss by Sweden.  Canada is still lying three with skip stones left in the ninth.

7:22- Jennifer Jones puts one close to the button.  Canada is lying four.

7:26- Canada is strategizing.  As Vernon Davis says, there's more strategy in curling than football.

7:28- Jennifer Jones puts one right by the button.  Sweden will have to take one.

7:29- Huge miss by Sweden and Canada steals two.  Canada leads 6-3 with one end to play.  Sweden has the hammer, but I don't see them scoring three.  Canada will just keep the house clean.

7:34- Canada just throws their first rock right through the house.

7:35- Sweden puts up a guard, which Canada can't move for now because of the free guard zone rule.  Canada puts another one through the house.

7:36- Another guard for Sweden on the other side of the center line.  Canada peels it off.

7:37- Sweden puts a guard closer to the house.  Canada peels off the first guard.  Five rocks left for Sweden and they need three of them to score.

7:38- Another guard.  I'm certainly no expert on curling strategy, but I think you have to come into the house sooner.  You're running out of rocks.

7:39- Canada peels a guard.  Sweden puts a shot through the house with the help of some sweeping by Jennifer Jones.  Sweden has to score all of their last three rocks.  That's not going to happen.

7:40- Canada peels Sweden's last guard.  Sweden will put one in the house and Canada will get rid of it and win the gold.

7:42- Jennifer Jones is cleaning the bottom of the rock.  She can win the gold medal with this shot.

7:43- There it is.  Canada wins.  Somewhere, Stephen Abootman is very proud.

Congratulations, Stephen.

Olympic Hockey Diary

We have two hockey games and figure skating right now.  I really really don't care about figure skating, so let's hope these hockey games are good.  It's time for a running diary.

12:00- What's the deal with the schedule?  The last two days, they've played games at 3:30, 7:30, 12:00, and 12:00.  Why not stagger those last two games?

12:04- Jaromir Jagr is playing for the Czech Republic.  I knew he was still around, but it blew my mind yesterday when I heard Petr Nedved was playing for the Czech Republic also.  And Sandis Ozolins is playing for Latvia.  What year is this?

12:06- We're underway.  The Czech Republic is wearing their flag jerseys (that are mostly red on the back).  The US is wearing their white jerseys that they wore against Slovakia.  The white jerseys that we wore against Slovenia (kind of a throwback look) were the best jerseys that we've worn so far.

12:07- James van Riemsdyk stuffs one home to give the US a 1-0 lead.  That's a really annoying name to type.  The Czech Republic is also really annoying to type.

12:09- They show T.J. Oshie warming up before the game.  I love that guy.  And no, I had no idea who he was a week ago.

12:11- A scramble in front of the US goal leads to a goal for the Czech Republic.  They had to show about five replays before I actually saw the puck go in.  This is one of the reasons why hockey isn't more popular in the US.  Sometimes it's hard to see what's going on.  Tied at one.  Nuts.

12:17- The Czech Republic just hit the post.  They're controlling the game right now.

12:18- Still no score in the Canada-Latvia game.  George Costanza and Latvian Orthodox people everywhere are rooting for Latvia.  It's 12-2 in shots on goal in favor of Canada.

12:22- The US just hit the post.  And we just had another really good chance.

12:23- Canada just scored.  Game over.

12:25- The Olympic game is better than the NHL game.  Why not play on the wider rink when they play outdoor games?  Football fields and baseball fields have plenty of room.

12:27- Beautiful goal by Dustin Brown.  David Backes made a great pass.  2-1 USA.

12:30- I just checked my last running diary.  It was about the Notre Dame-Air Force game and Game 3 of the World Series.  I also made fun of Matt Millen a decent amount.

12:36- Patrick Kane and Zach Parise had a nice two on one chance, but couldn't connect on the pass.

12:38- David Backes scores with 1.8 seconds left in the period.  Huge goal.  3-1 USA.

12:39- That's the end of the first period.  Can we get a couple of goals in the second and put this one away?  I'll be back for the second.

12:54- We're back for the second period.

12:57- One thing I forgot to mention in my last post with random February thoughts.  I hate that we have messed up Washington's birthday, but one nice thing is the week off that schools in New York and some other places get in February the week of Washington's Birthday.  If we celebrated this holiday a week later (like we should), I'd be off on a really boring week with nothing going on.  It's pretty awesome to have the Olympics going on during my week off.  Last week, I was watching as much as I could at work, but that's nowhere near as good as just being off and being able to watch as much as I want.

1:01- It's 1-1 in the Canada-Latvia game.  It looks like I jumped the gun with my game over proclamation.

1:02- I was waiting for Canada to score as I typed that, but it didn't happen.  Actually, Latvia had a decent scoring chance, but couldn't score.

1:03- Speaking of other games, it was nice of Finland to beat Russia.  Of course, I want the US to win the gold, I can live with any of the countries that are left winning the gold medal.  Russia winning would have been like the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl.  Russia isn't our biggest enemy (just like the Seahawks aren't my biggest NFL enemy), but I despise Vladimir Putin about as much as I despise Pete Carroll.  Speaking of Finland and Russia, one thing I liked about their hockey uniforms was that they had their country names in their own language.  I actually did some research about this.  Russia is spellied P-O-C-C-backwards N-backwards R.  That's pronounced pretty close to the way we pronounce Russia.  (P is R, O is O, C is S, backwards N is I, and backwards R is Ya).  Our word for Russia is an anglicized version of their word for Russia.  But Finland is spelled and pronounced Suomi in Finnish.  How do we get Finland from Suomi?

1:06- Zach Parise scores on the power play.  Things are looking good for the U, S, and A.  4-1.

1:13- Play has resumed after a glass issue.

1:15- Now we have an ice issue.  Still 1-1 in the other game.

1:16- Since I hope this is Jaromir Jagr's last Olympic game (although if Petr Nedved is playing, maybe we'll see Jagr again in four years), it's worth mentioning that one of his heroes was Ronald Reagan.  He kept a picture of Reagan in his wallet.  It drives me nuts any time I hear people giving Gorbachev credit for the end of the Cold War.  He was trying to save communism and realized he couldn't and agreed to lose.  But he agreed to lose because Reagan and John Paul II did what was necessary to defeat communism.  At best, we can give Gorbachev credit for not being as evil as Stalin or Khrushchev or Brezhnev, but he was not the reason the Cold War ended.  People who lived under communism and hated the Soviets realize this.

1:23- I'm not paying much attention to the game.  I'm cool with that.  The Czech Republic is on the power play.

1:24- Their power play only lasted 28 seconds as T.J. Oshie just drew a penalty.  OOOOOOOO-SHHHHHHIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1:28- I just did some googling, I kind of want to buy this, but they're out of stock.  Not surprising.

1:31- 4-1 at the end of the second period.  I'll be back for the third.

1:46- The third period gets started.  Let's wrap this up.

1:47- There was a scrum in front of the US goal that went on way too long before the whistle was blown.  I've never seen that many players in the crease at once.

1:49- Phil Kessel just scored.  Great pass by Ryan Kesler.  Game over.

1:51- Canada is still tied with Latvia.  It would be awesome for us to beat Canada, but I'm cool if the Latvians do it for us.  I'm watching this game from now on.

1:54- Canada gets a good scoring chance, but can't take advantage.  Hang in there, Latvia.

1:55- Canada thinks they scored, but it appears that they didn't.

1:56- Wow, that was close.  The puck was crossing the goal line, but a Latvian defender pulled it back.  It should be a penalty shot.

1:58- They reviewed the play and no goal.  Supposedly, they couldn't review whether or not it should be a penalty shot.  It definitely didn't completely cross the goal line, which is probably all that they reviewed.  Good break for Latvia.

2:01- Delayed penalty on Latvia.  They need to touch the puck here.

2:02- That took long enough.  Canada has a power play with 8:51 to play.  Back in my hockey video game days, the good thing about killing penalties was you could try long passes without worrying about icing.  A shorthanded goal would be nice.

2:06- Big save by Latvia.  They're 17 seconds away from killing this penalty.  The goalie is shaken up.

2:07- The Latvian goalie has faced 52 shots and allowed one goal.  That's ridiculous.

2:07- Now he's faced 53 shots and allowed two goals.  Nuts.  Shea Weber scores.  Game over.

2:08- 6:46 to go, but I don't have much confidence in Latvia to score.

2:11- Canada is putting more pressure on.  Latvia's getting nothing going right now.

2:12- Two shots blocked by Canada.  And then a save.  When does Latvia pull the goalie?  3:33 to play.

2:14- In 1936, Canada beat Latvia 11-0.  That was the only other time these two countries played in the Olympics.

2:16- 1:38 to play.  Face off in the Canadian zone.  Time out called by Latvia.

2:18- Latvia won the face off, but Canada blocked a shot.  They've pulled their goalie.

2:19- 43.9 to play.  Face off in the Canadian zone again.  Time out called by Canada.

2:20- The US won 5-2.

2:20- Latvia kept Canada from scoring on the empty net.  Latvia brings it in offside.  25.2 left.

2:21- Icing by Latvia with 10.1 left.

2:22- Great effort by Latvia, but Canada wins.

2:23- 57-16 in shots on goal.  Amazing that Latvia only lost by one.

Well, that's it for hockey today.  We take on Canada tomorrow in women's hockey for the gold.  And we play them in the semifinals in men's hockey on Friday.  It would be so nice to win both, but I'd settle for just the men winning.  It's been 34 years since we won a gold medal in men's hockey.  It's time.

Random February Thoughts

I had planned on doing a running diary of today at the Olympics starting with the women's semifinal curling game between Britain and Canada.  Part of the appeal was doing a kegs (or bottles) and eggs kind of thing and blogging about curling and hockey.  The problem is that I didn't wake up until about 6:20.  I wasn't committed enough to this idea to set an alarm.  Anyway, after a shower, I did make myself scrambled eggs and I'm drinking a Sam Adams Octoberfest right now (only a few more left).  As for the eggs, it was the first time I've ever made a breakfast for myself that was more complicated than putting a bagel in the toaster and then putting butter on it (I'm 30 years old).  I watched several Youtube videos about how to make scrambled eggs.  Most people whisk them before putting them in the pan.  A couple of videos said to whisk them right in the pan as they're cooking.  That's what I went with.  I got off to a rocky start when I got some of my first eggshell in the pan.  I was able to get it out and my eggs actually turned out to be pretty good.

Anyway, we're in the tenth end of Canada-Britain now.  I think I'll just have to come back tomorrow morning and do a running diary of the gold medal game.  It's at 8:30 so I should be able to get up for it.  Britain is down to their last rock right now.  And Eve Muirhead just hit an amazing double.  Jennifer Jones has a draw on her last shot to win.  She should make this one.  And she does.  Canada is going to the gold medal game.  I was a little conflicted about this game.  On the one hand, Jennifer Jones is the most talented curler of the Olympics (second straight Olympics that Canada has had the most talented curler).  On the other hand, Britain does have some talent and they're America's most important ally (Australia is our most important ally, but Britain is more important).  Either way, I was rooting for one of these teams to win the gold and the other one to win the bronze.  I have nothing against Sweden and Switzerland, but they'll have to settle for the silver and fourth place (I hope).

Speaking of curling, I was reading yesterday some stories about how the United States is going to reconsider how we select our curling teams.  The only time I'm ever jealous of Canada is when I watch curling, so we probably should reconsider how we select our Olympic teams.  My answer is focus on winning medals in men's curling (Pete Fenson is an American Olympic hero for winning bronze in 2006) and focus on having the most talented women's team.  Our 2006 team was amazing.  Cassie and Jamie Johnson were the two most talented curlers.  They were so talented that I didn't even notice Jessica Schultz (easily our most talented curler this year).  Sadly, Cassie and Jamie are both married now, but they should still should have been on our Olympic team.

Some random thoughts:  February is usually an awful month once the Super Bowl is over.  And it would have been this year with Notre Dame's crappy basketball team.  The Winter Olympics really help.  I love the Winter Olympics.  And the only sports I really like in the Winter Olympics are curling, hockey, and short track.  There are other sports that I can watch (alpine skiing, bobsleigh, freestyle skiing, luge, ski jumping, snowboard, speed skating), but I don't get upset if I miss them.  The Summer Olympics have a lot of sports that are easy to get into:  basketball, beach volleyball, handball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track, volleyball, and water polo.  And there are a few others that I don't mind watching if they're on TV.  Despite that, I think I like the Winter Olympics more.  I don't need the Summer Olympics.  They're nice, but the summer is great anyway.  (What I don't need either, but what would be totally awesome is America's Team Olympics.  Go to about the 6:30 mark to hear them talk about it).  I need the Winter Olympics.  If they happened in January, I wouldn't care too much.  But they are perfectly timed after football season.

Speaking of February, George Steinbrenner said it best.

The World War I veterans got Veterans Day fixed.  Can't we get Washington's Birthday fixed?  I would put it on February 22 every year (we can observe it on Monday if it falls on a weekend), but I could live with celebrating it on the fourth Monday in February every year.  At least that way the holiday could fall on Washington's actual birthday.

Sweden won the other semifinal game in curling.  Sweden-Canada tomorrow at 8:30.  I'll say goodbye to my favorite sport of the Winter Olympics with a running diary.  Which gives me an idea.  Jim's favorite sport power rankings:

10.  Swimming- Michael Phelps.  This might get bumped for track or something in 2016 since we might not dominate it the way we have for the last few Olympics.

9.  Short Track Speed Skating- Regular speed skating is boring, short track is intense.

8.  Beach Volleyball- Not many things say summer like beach volleyball.

7.  Soccer- I could get into the World Cup if the US was good, but Notre Dame has been good at least.

6.  Tennis- Wimbledon was a lot of fun and I want to go to a US Open.

5.  Hockey- It might rank higher if I went to more games.  It's a great sport to watch in person.

4.  Curling- I'm totally serious. I look forward to curling more than any other sport in the Olympics.

3.  Basketball- I played more basketball than anything else growing up.

2.  Football- I care about the Notre Dame football team more than any other team I root for.

1.  Baseball- My first love.

By the way, CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC all have their own sports networks (and in the case of Fox and ABC, multiple sports networks).  How do we not have America's Team Olympics yet?  And how do we not have women's curling on TV regularly yet?

Finland leads Russia 2-1 in hockey going into the first intermission.  I'm definitely rooting for Finland.  Beating Russia on Saturday was awesome.  Beating them in the gold medal game would be like the Celtics beating the Lakers in Los Angeles to win the NBA Finals.  However, Putin is a scumbag.  I don't want Russia to win a medal.  I also don't feel confident about beating Russia twice in Russia.  So if Finland or Sweden want to take care of the Russians for us, that's totally fine.  Of course, the United States has business to take care of.  Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I would have preferred ending up with the 3 seed (switching places with Canada).  I'd rather play Latvia than the Czech Republic.  I'd be shocked if Canada lost today.  I wouldn't be shocked if we lost to the Czech Republic.

I meant to do a running diary today.  I'll be back at noon with a running diary of our hockey game with the Czech Republic.

First Win

A year and a half ago, I wrote about the beginning of my coaching career.  I wasn't really coaching.  I was just standing on the sidelines wearing a suit and managing substitutions.  Last year, I was the assistant coach of my school's basketball team.  It was a good experience.  I learned a lot and I felt like I could actually coach a team going into this year.  In September, last year's head coach asked me if I wanted to take over the head coaching job this year.  So now I'm coaching a team on my own.

Our team last year was all eighth graders except for two seventh graders.  We were pretty good and finished 8-4.  This year, I was worried with only two returning players.  We had some practices in October and November and I was somewhat optimistic.  We were a deeper team than last year.  The end of our bench is better than it was last year.  The problem is that our best players aren't nearly as good as they were last year.  We have two players that are about six feet tall.  So far we've played two teams with kids that were at least five inches taller than anybody we have (and they could play).  We have no chance against teams like that.  We played one team that we were very evenly matched with in December.  We had a shot at the buzzer that would have won the game, but it didn't go in and we lost by one.  One mistake I made was sticking with a zone press too long.  It worked fairly well at first, but then they started to break it and get some easy baskets.  I called it off for the fourth quarter, but I shouldn't have waited that long.

Another problem has been that we didn't practice for the entire month of December.  Between games and the gym not being available for other reasons, we played some games, but we couldn't practice.  That came into play last week.  We were hanging in there in a road game.  We got off to a slow start, but got it down to two by the end of the third quarter.  Between quarters, I told the team to press after we scored our first basket in the fourth quarter.  It worked, but it was still a mistake.  We scored, got a turnover off the press, and scored again to take the lead.  But once the other team scored, they pressed us for the first time.  I had spent some time way back in November working on a zone press break and they were pretty good at it, but we hadn't practiced a man to man press break.  We couldn't handle the press and we lost.  Maybe they would have pressed us anyway, but I feel like my decision to press is what led the other team to press.  In fact, in the game before, I purposely didn't press the other team because I didn't want them to press us.  It kind of worked in that game.  We scored our most points of the season and we only lost by six, even though the other team had the three best players.  The other team could have beaten us by a lot, but I think they held back a little because I wasn't overaggressive.  I should have kept that in mind.

I knew today was an opportunity to win.  We were playing the other winless team.  We have played well against lesser talent when our opponents take out their starters.  We've outscored the other team in the second half of two of our games.  Unfortunately, they always outscored us by a lot more in the first half than we outscored them by in the second half.  Today, we got off to a slow start.  The other team got out to a 7-2 lead.  We cut it to 7-6 by the end of the first quarter.  We led by one at halftime and two at the end of the third quarter.  We dominated the fourth quarter and ended up winning 42-28.  I had one regret.  I pulled all my best players in the last minute, but I should have done it a little earlier.  I took out my two big guys about halfway through the quarter, but then the other team went on a little run and I put them back in.  I probably should have gotten everybody out with about two minutes left.  We scored a couple of late baskets off turnovers that we didn't need to score.

We have eight more games.  Obviously, we won't have a very good record this year, but I'm enjoying it.  Hopefully I'll learn from my mistakes.  Three of our top six players are in sixth or seventh grade.  The problem is that all of our height is in eighth grade.  Maybe some of the other players will grow a lot.  The one sixth grader I have on my team is going to be really good when he gets older.  His older brother was our best player last year and he definitely will be by the time he's in eighth grade (he might even be next year).  To make a cross-sport comparison, he's like Clayton Kershaw in 2008 or 2009.  He's young and he has flashes of brilliance, but he's not quite there yet.  I am completely confident that he will get there.  Also like Kershaw, he's left-handed.  And like Kershaw is my favorite baseball player, he's one of my favorite students ever (I had him in class last year).  It will be a fun team to coach in two years if I can find some other players to put around him.

So I kind of had two wins as coach of the legendary Swamp Donkeys back in the day (although I actually dressed for both of those games because we were missing a couple of players).  But today I got my first real win as a coach.  The next step is to take Butler to two consecutive National Championship Games and then become the head coach of the Boston Celtics.

I love this guy.  I can't wait until Danny Ainge gets him some good players with all those draft picks.  Go Celtics!

Actually, I'm just kidding.  I like coaching, but I wouldn't make it a career.  But if I did, what would be my ideal job if I could have any basketball coaching job?  Obviously, it would be between Notre Dame and the Celtics.  You might find this surprising, but I actually care about the Celtics more than the Notre Dame basketball team (whereas the Jets don't come anywhere close to the Notre Dame football team for me).  But if I was qualified and had my choice of jobs, it would be the Notre Dame job.  It would be so much less stressful and I'd have to work much less.

Quick tangent to finish up.  The benefits of moderate alcohol consumption are well documented.  I would say I have a beer four or five nights a week usually.  Either Friday or Saturday night, I'll often drink a little bit more.  With my 20s coming to an end, my alcohol consumption would be described as more than moderate for the last couple of weeks.  I went out this past Friday and stayed out until about 3:00 in the morning.  Since then I haven't had a drink (like I said, I don't usually drink a lot, but five straight days without a single drink is a long time for me).  Until tonight.  I'm definitely enjoying a victory Sam Adams tonight.

Frozen Fenway

I met my friend Kyle nine years ago today when we transferred to Notre Dame.  We celebrated our nine year anniversary a little early with a trip to Boston for Frozen Fenway.  I really like Boston.  Let's review my Boston history:

Summer 1995- My brothers went to look at colleges in Boston.  I went with them and my dad.  Mo Vaughn hits a grand slam seven years before starting his career as a bouncer at Finnegan's (Pete got that joke).

December 2008- I went to John's Christmas party.  Despite the fact that I had to put up with Boston College fans a month after they had beaten Notre Dame for the sixth straight time, it was really fun.  Vin, Molly, and Darryl were there as well.  We wanted to go to the Sam Adams brewery, but none of us could get up early enough after the Christmas party to get there before they had reached capacity.  We went to the Harpoon brewery instead.  Fun, but it's not Sam Adams.  We also went to a comedy show and then we all drove back to New York together.

Darryl and me at John's Christmas party.  I mean, it was a good weekend.

July 2009- John took me on a Freedom Trail drinking tour and I got to Fenway Park for the first time in fourteen years.

February 2010- I planned to go to Boston to see the Celtics play at home for the first time in my life.  The game was on a Saturday afternoon, but 20 inches of snow in New York cancelled my bus on Friday night.  So I had to take the first bus on Saturday morning to get there in time.  To get to Penn Station in time, I had to take a train at about 3:45.  Let me tell you, Penn Station is a weird place to be at 5:00 on a Saturday morning.  What was also weird was that the storm that cancelled my bus was all rain in Boston and there was no snow on the ground.  John took me to the Green Dragon Tavern (where the Boston Tea Party was planned) and we had a few pints of Sam Adams before going to see the Celtics lose to a bad Nets team.  I was convinced the Celtics weren't going anywhere that year.  John and I watched Olympic curling that night (it's coming back soon, finally).

June 2010- Just two days after the Celtics lose Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals against the Lakers, I went to Boston for Dodgers-Red Sox.  Manny Ramirez hit a home run for the Dodgers, but the Red Sox won.

August 2011- I went to John's wedding in Beverly (north of Boston).  At some point at the reception, Darryl told me that I have to drive him to the airport the next morning.  Because of that, I stopped drinking at when the afterparty started.  Still, I wasn't 100% sure I was driving him to the airport until he called me as I was about to pass out around midnight and told me he needed to sleep in my room.  I had to get up around 6:30 to drive him to Logan.  He had just gotten back from Afghanistan, so really, I couldn't complain about anything.

And that's it.  I love Boston.  Fenway Park is my favorite baseball stadium.  With Notre Dame playing Boston College in hockey at Fenway and Kyle going to grad school at Dartmouth, we had to make this happen.

Once again, the weather was against me.  This time, New York got 6.4 inches of snow and Boston got 17.8 inches.  My Friday bus was once again cancelled.  That was probably good news because it was 8 degrees in New York City that night (ridiculously cold by New York standards) and 1 degree in Boston.  The game was Saturday night, but I was determined to make it to Boston early so that I could finally get to the Sam Adams brewery.

My brilliant plan was to take Amtrak at 2:40 in the morning from Penn Station and get to Boston at 8:00.  I got to Penn Station in plenty of time, but my train didn't leave until about 3:45.  Being an hour late wasn't a big deal because Kyle wasn't supposed to get to Boston until 9:30.  Not realizing it, I sat near two babies on the train.  One was really chill and the other one wasn't.  Kyle, I hope your baby is really chill.  I got some sleep, but not as much as I could have.  We were moving along well enough until we made it to Rhode Island.  Then we stopped.  And waited.  And waited.  They told us that we needed rescue engines to tow us to Boston.  It was almost two hours before we were moving again.  All part of the story.

I wanted to get to Boston as early as possible because the Sam Adams website says the brewery usually reaches capacity around noon on Saturdays.  I made it to Boston around 10:50.  Kyle was there waiting for me.  We went to the hotel and then took a cab to the Sam Adams brewery.  I guess weather kept people away because we got there right around noon and didn't have to wait long at all for our tour.  The brewery is much smaller than i was expecting.  There's not much to the tour.  Our tour guide was really good.  He explained that a lot of the brewing done there is experimental.  Most of the beer that they sell is brewed in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania or Cincinnati.  Anyway, they take you to an area where they go through the main ingredients that are used.  They give you some different grains that you can eat and then you take a handful of hops and rub your hands together and then your hands smell like beer.  After that, you go to another area and they go through the brewing process and the machinery that's used.  The last part is a tasting room.  The tour guide talked a lot about the Sam Adams glass.  One thing I didn't realize is that you're supposed to hold it down low on the narrow part of the glass to reduce heat transfer.  He also taught us how UV rays come down from space to kill beer.  We got to sample Boston Lager, Winter Lager, and Rebel IPA.  The tour guide talked about the proper way to drink beer.  You're not supposed to drink it out of the bottle (much more difficult to get the sense of smell involved) and you're supposed to let your entire tongue taste the beer.  I actually kind of instinctively figured out that you have to let your entire tongue taste the beer many years ago.  The last stop is the gift shop.  I bought a Summer Ale shirt.  Of course I did.  Much like I had to get to the Guinness brewery in Dublin, I needed to get to the Sam Adams brewery.  I don't know how it took me this long.  You should go if you're in Boston.  I would have paid probably $20 to see where the magic happens, but it's free (except for a suggested donation of $2 that goes to local charities).

Sam Adams bottles from the beginning up until today

Kyle and me at the brewery

After the brewery, there's a trolley that takes people to Doyle's, which was the first bar to serve Sam Adams on tap.  Apparently, there have been a few movies with scenes shot in Doyle's, but I hadn't seen any of them.  The trolley driver was something right out of a Saturday Night Live skit.  Amazing Boston accent.  He also really loved Doyle's.  He told us that it was the third best clam chowder in the city (I had it, it was very good).  He also said their burgers are better than Five Guys.  I like Five Guys, but Kyle and I both thought that was setting the bar pretty low.  We had Sam Adams Brick Red, which I think is only available in the Boston area.  If you bring your tour ticket (which is a label for one of their bottles) to Doyle's, you get the Sam Adams pint glass for free.  I already have one, so I didn't bother taking it, but Kyle got one.

Clam chowder at Doyle's

From there, we were ready to go to Fenway.  We still had a few hours until our game, but we figured we'd walk around for a little bit and go to a bar and drink and have some dinner before the game.  We started walking north toward Fenway.  We were a few miles away, but we figured we'd reduce our cab fare by heading in that direction.  We ended up walking a good mile and a half before we got a cab.  The cold was tolerable (perhaps because of the alcohol), but walking in the snow was annoying.  We got to Fenway, picked up our tickets, and said hi to John.  We tried to go to Cask 'n Flagon, but it was too crowded.  We went to another bar and watched some of the Chiefs-Colts game, the first hockey game (Merrimack vs. Providence), drank, and ate dinner.  Kyle and I talked about how it was nice to go to a game that we didn't really care about too much.  If we go to a football game and we lose, it ruins my week (or entire fall, whatever the case may be).  But I can't say that I care very much about Notre Dame hockey.  I probably won't watch another game unless we get to the Frozen Four.  It would be nice to beat Boston College, but I wasn't going to be too upset if we didnt.  The first hockey game went to overtime, pushing our start time back.  When it ended, we left and headed into the park.

We definitely didn't realize how much time there would be between games.  We got in with about 55 minutes until the start of the game.  We walked around Fenway a bunch to try to keep warm.  I had never walked around the inside of the park that much.  I never truly appreciated how weird Fenway is until this weekend.  You have all these randomly placed ramps and stairs all over the concourse.  It's such an oddly designed ballpark.  Anyway, our seats were supposed to be out in right field (very far from the rink, not a good view), but we could pretty much sit anywhere we wanted on the lower level.  The best views were higher up, but they wouldn't let you up to the second level without a ticket.  Despite the bad views from many seats, I'm totally in favor of outdoor hockey, especially at a place like Fenway.  The snow on the field added a nice touch.  We sat behind one of the goals for the first period.  That wasn't a bad view because it was reasonable close to the ice.  Boston College took a 2-0 lead.  John got done working and took Kyle and I on a little tour.  He took us up to the Green Monster seats.  Those were pretty good seats.  John left before the start of the second period.  I couldn't blame him since he had been standing out in the cold for several hours.  Kyle and I watched the second period from the Green Monster.  It was colder up there.  The temperature for the game was around 25 degrees.  According to the box score, the Notre Dame-Syracuse game in 2008 was 27 degrees.  It was also the most miserable sporting event I've ever been to.  This hockey game was probably colder, but I was much better prepared.  I wore six layers (undershirt, two thermal long sleeve shirts, another t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and heavy jacket).  After the second period, we couldn't handle the Green Monster anymore, so we went down to the concourse behind home plate where it was fairly warm during the intermission.  With the game tied at 2, we went back behind one of the goals for the third period.  Boston College scored, we scored, and then they scored again.  With Boston College leading 4-3, we left halfway through the third period.  We had seen enough.  If Notre Dame had come back and I had missed it, I could have lived with that, but it didn't happen.  The final score was 4-3.  So that was the end of my three consecutive Saturdays of three different Notre Dame sports.  We went 1-2, but fortunately the win was in football.

The ceremonial puck drop

The view from on top of the Green Monster

The next morning, I went to mass right by Harvard and the walked around the Harvard campus for a bit.  Fortunately, the students weren't back yet so there weren't a bunch of hippies around.  I went to Yale four times when I was in high school and I don't really remember their campus.  Harvard didn't impress me much.  Actually, of all the college campuses I've been to (which isn't a huge number, but probably like 15), the campuses that really impressed me were Notre Dame and Virginia (I'd probably put Georgetown third on my list of favorite campuses).  At least I can say I've seen Harvard.  It was an adventure getting there, but it was well worth it.  I'm not going back to Boston in the winter, though.  Thanks again, John and Kyle.  I'll have to get back to Boston when the weather is good.

The gates to Harvard.  If I could trade my Notre Dame degree for a degree from Harvard, there's no way I would make that trade.

I've been to 20 of the largest 77 cities in the United States and two foreign cities.  Quickly, here's my city power rankings:

5.  Pittsburgh.  Yes, Pittsburgh.  I saw my first college football game there.  Notre Dame won and it was a great night.  They also have a great baseball stadium.

4.  Dublin.  It was the first foreign city I visited.  The Guinness brewery was great.  Temple bar was great.  Notre Dame beat Navy.  And the Irish accent is my second favorite foreign accent (a distant second to the Australian accent).

3.  London.  I had wanted to get to London for a long time.  I spent five days there last summer.  The history is amazing.  Going to the Churchill War Rooms was one of my favorite touristy things I've ever done.  Wimbledon was a lot of fun.  The tube is really easy to use.  The only drawbacks are how expensive it is and the fact that the queen lives there.

2.  Boston.  Like London, the history is great.  It's the home of one of my heroes, John Adams, and my favorite beer, Sam Adams.  My favorite basketball team plays there.  My favorite game of all time in any sport happened there (Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals).  I've already said how much I love Fenway Park.

1.  Los Angeles.  If I was rich, I'd have three homes.  One on Long Island, one somewhere close to Notre Dame, and one in Los Angeles.  I would absolutely be a Dodgers season ticket holder.  I've had travel issues with Boston.  I've actually had travel issues in Los Angeles.  But that was because of a hurricane in New York pushed back my return flight three days, not terrible.  Los Angeles weather is never a problem.  Dealing with Laker fans and USC fans might be rough, but the Dodgers and the weather would make it worth it.

Happy Birthday Bart Starr!  He's a really underrated quarterback (he should be easily considered top 10 all time), but this is gone on long enough so I'll try to tackle that another time.

I'm Really Upset about the 19th Spot in the AP Poll

I still have to work on a post on Frozen Fenway.  I'll get there, but first some final thoughts on the 2013 college football season.

Last night's game was really good, but I will always hate Florida State for 1993.  Notre Dame deserved the National Championship that year.  If you don't know the history, we beat them and both schools finished with one loss.  They had the good fortune of losing first so they were given the championship.

Florida State's football team's graduation rate is 58%.  That is shameful.  They're good, but they don't have 42% of their players leaving early for the NFL.

I did really like Florida State's game winning touchdown.  They had guys coming out of the backfield running toward the sidelines and opening up the middle for their big tall wide receiver for the touchdown.  Brian Kelly loves the fade and empty backfields too much.  That throw was so much easier for a quarterback to make than the fade.

But the real reason for this post is that the final AP rankings had me upset.  Nope, I don't care about the top 5 or the top 10.  I'm upset about spots 19 (USC), 20 (Notre Dame), and 21 (Arizona State).  I'm not going to tell you that Notre Dame was underrated, but these rankings don't make sense.  I happened to see Notre Dame play those other two teams in person.  Notre Dame went 2-0 in those games.  Arizona State beat USC.  Now, there's a lot more to the season than just those three games among those three teams.  In fact, I wouldn't have ranked Notre Dame the best out of those three.  Let's review.

USC:  10-4 (got to play an extra game because they played at Hawaii), 1-3 against teams that finished the season ranked (teams that finished with an average ranking of 17), impressive wins against Stanford and Fresno State, really bad loss against Washington State.

Notre Dame:  9-4, 3-2 against ranked teams (teams that finished with an average ranking of 12, wins over Michigan State, Arizona State, and USC), really bad loss against Pittsburgh, bad loss against Michigan.

Arizona State: 10-4 (played an extra game because they won the Pac-12 South, but played an FCS team also), 4-3 against ranked teams (teams that finished with an average ranking of 17.7, wins over Wisconsin, USC, Washington, and UCLA), bad loss against Texas Tech.

Based on all of that, Arizona State was the best of those three teams and USC was the worst.  Arizona State won its division, played the most ranked teams, and spanked USC.  Sure, some bad officiating at the end helped them beat Wisconsin, but there's no guarantee that they would have lost if the game had been properly officiated.  Notre Dame played more games against ranked teams than USC and won two more games against ranked teams.  The ranked teams that we played were clearly better than the ranked teams that USC played.  USC had a good win against Stanford and we lost to Stanford, but we beat USC, so don't give me any transitive property nonsense.  Out of USC, Notre Dame, and Arizona State, Notre Dame was the only team with a win against a top 5 team (or a top 10 team for that matter).

So Notre Dame was properly rated.  The problem was that USC was overrated and Arizona State was underrated.  We'll just have to beat USC again next year.  Go Irish!