Be aware, Craig and I will be on TV tomorrow evening at the Caps/Avs game out here in Denver, unless the Caps get shut out, which is always a possibility.

I’ll probably rock the red, and CWJ will probably be in his old school (not oldest school) jersey. By old school I mean the white/blue/gold jersey.

Haven’t written about the NHL playoffs at all. Won’t write much, either.

I didn’t think we’d get past the Rangers, even when the series was 0-0. I thought this mostly because of goaltending – in the playoffs if you don’t have a solid goaltender you may as well not be there. Jose Theodore was a pretty average goaltender, with major flashes of ineptness. For instance, you could pin game one’s loss squarely on him. Routine saves weren’t made.

Was nervous about the new guy too – still am. The Rangers don’t have much of an offense, so all those rebounds and loose pucks that Varlamov allowed could come to bite him against a team like the Penguins.

And did I mention they’re playing the Penguins? In the playoffs? I know how well that usually goes.

And you may say, “the Caps didn’t lose to the Pens in the regular season!” And I will say, “they didn’t lose to the Rangers, either!”

Luckily, they don’t start up until Saturday. Give them some time to rest. The next series will be interesting – instead of a defensive minded, physical team, they’re playing another team that focuses on offense and speed. So I guess you could say they’re evenly matched!

1. Any city/region containing a NHL franchise that I live near will see that city/region’s franchise plummet to the depths of ineptitude and never finish above fifth to last in the overall standings.

Some history: Blacksburg is closer to Greensboro, NC than Washington DC. We used to go to the Hartford Whaler games when they were playing in Greensboro. The Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes were terrible. I guess they had one good year – but see their season listing here.

Then, after school, I moved back to the DC area. The Capitals sucked from that point on. See here, seasons 2001-2007.

Now, in Denver, the Avalanche have moved from perennial cup contenders to just about dead freakin’ last. See here.

This could be the beginning of a new career for me – if only the NHL were actually lucrative enough to have fans that cared. You could pay me to dispatch to cities, and I could destroy their team with my presence.

Glad he plays for my team. Click on “watch in HD” at the bottom right.

Beth got tickets to the Budweiser Booth in the Pepsi Center.  Her store sold a lot of Bud products.  They like to reward that.  I am rewarded by being her brother.  Here are some pictures.  I got rid of the spinny thing, and added another crazy thing.  Hope it works for you.

I am starting to notice that whenever I am geographically close to a NHL hockey team, that team starts to tank.  Coincidence?

I got 29 of 30.  Not telling you which team I forgot!

Remember when we all though Brett Favre was a class act because the TV told us that he was?  If this is true, I think it’s so long hall-of-fame legacy, and hello Roger Clemensville!

It’s kind of like how I thought Wayne Gretzky was this really nice class act. When I was a kid, my dad took me to a Caps/Kings game on February 22, 1988 (woo, wikipedia!), before I was really hockey saavy.  Dad bought me a Kings pennant, and we waited in the area between the Kings’ locker room and their bus in the hopes of getting an autograph.  Gretzky made no eye contact with any of handful (maybe ten people) of fans there, and just got on the bus.

Dad told me he was probably just mad because his team lost.  As a kid, I was willing to accept that.

Anna, stop reading.

Then, in 2000 I dated a girl whose brother worked security at Madison Square Garden, when his hockeyness was playing for the Rangers. She regaled me with stories of mistreatment, petulance, and other such asshattery you’d expect from someone who has been known as “The Great One” for his entire life.

It’s mostly hearsay, but I can believe it.  My favorite story was when he threw a holiday party for some of the MSG staff, etc.  and then cancelled it because people didn’t stand up when he entered the room, or something similarly stupid.  That’s like some serious Kim Jong Il stuff there, Gretzky!

On that note, I hope that we can never get the picture of “Sid the Kid” out of our heads.  When I think Sid the Kid, I think of a kid in a little sailor outfit with a bright blue ribbon-tail from the back of his hat, while he’s licking an enormous lollipop.  Precious! And now I hope you do, too!

Aw. I mean, I’m happy they’re winning … but that makes me a bit sad.

And in my unfettered pessimist state about Caps hockey (has worked so far!), ESPN has picked them to win in six games against the Flyers.  That is the kiss of death.  It was fun while it lasted.

I do take great joy in the fact that the Hurricanes are sitting at home for the playoffs after leading the division literally all season.

As usual, the Caps are doing just enough to keep my hopes up so that I’ll be disappointed.

Our friends Abbi and Matt got to watch this phenomenon firsthand during the ACC basketball tournament, where VT was leading the entire game only to lose in the last second.  The whole game I stayed detached, expecting UNC to win at any given point in time.  With five minutes left in the game, I was still very convinced we’d lose.  With two minutes and an eight point lead, I started to think – “hey, maybe…” With one minute it was close and I started to believe!  With 0.8 seconds, we were losing.  And then I spent the afternoon being pissed at myself for believing we could ever win.

The Caps were dead in the water starting at Thanksgiving, and with the coaching change at that time have been one of the best teams in hockey since.  The only problem was that they went ahead and lost most of their games, if not just about all of them in October and November to that point.  So they’ve been digging out of a hole ever since.

They’re perilously close to that eighth (or third!) playoff spot.  They’re 8-2-0 in the last 10, and past that they’re showing a strong 75% winning average.  The problem is that all of the teams they are chasing refuse to lose.  So they’re getting lots of points and wins, but not gaining any ground.  The problem was a few weeks ago when I started to believe they could catch division leading Carolina.  They still can, but it requires the Caps to win their next three games, and for Carolina to lose two of their next three.  That seems more likely than Philadelphia or Boston phoning it in.  It’s unlikely.

And, even if the Caps do make the playoffs, they’ll probably face the Penguins, whom I believe the Capitals always lose to in the playoffs.

The Caps play Carolina on Tuesday night.  If they win, they’re still alive.  If they lose, they’re done.  It’s that simple.  So hopefully they lose, and I can go on and watch the Rockies start by losing every game in March and April, only to have an improbable chance of postseason baseball, but enough of a chance that I might believe they can make it.

But I still think they can do it.  So they won’t! When will I learn?