GodsendJen

My morning blog surfing turned up some intersting theories about what makes a hockey team successful.  My favorite is from Uni-Watch (via Puck Update).  It seams that teams with a "target shaped" logo have goalies with higher save rates than teams with asymetrical logos.  The theory is that a rounded target on a goalie's chest has the unconscious effect of causing oposing players to shoot the puck directly at the goalie.  There aren't any real stats to back this up--or at least uni watch didn't provide any--but it could mean that changing to that new powder blue home sweater will give us a bump in the stats as well as in the marketing budget. As nice as that sounds I'm not sure the argument as a whole is that sound.  Just check out the stat sheet for the Sabres....I don't think of thier new slug logo as symetrical but they are blocking pleanty of shots.

The AJC is offering up a different prediction for what we are hoping is road success this year.  The switch from pizza and wings after road games to protein shakes and peanut butter on bagles. (I thought getting to eat like a college student forever was one of the great benefits of being in good shape.)

That's right.  You heard it here first.  (And I heard it on the radio this morning.) At least one NHL team is taking dead aim at the core NASCAR fan-base.  NASCAR is hugely popular and how has hockey decided to tap into it?  By celebrating mullets!  On October 21st the Vancouver Canucks will be in Nashville taking on the Predators. Its not unusual for the Preds to have country music stars sing the National Anthem.  They even have a whole web page listing all the crooners who have come to Honky Tonk at their Gaylord areana. Fans at the Canucks game will be treated to the musical stylings of Billy Ray Cyrus who will also judge a "Best or Worst Mullet" contest between periods. I'm not a Billy Ray fan but I think this might beat the heck out of the junk we get on the jumbotron at Philips.

Announcement on Billy Ray's Website.

Wednesday marks Coach Beamers 60th birthday.  Boy do I hope none of our players decides to shoplift a gift for him.  We have a couple of wide receivers who haven't been suspended for a game yet.  I just hope they aren't feeling left out.  Of course petty theft isn't something our boys are known for.  We get DUIs, mouth off to police and break windows on vehicles.  Maybe I shouldn't dwell on such things...but it isn't like there are any recent stats I would prefer to mention.  Two but-whoopings and 6 personal fouls so far this year.  So much for the effectiveness of fining players a portion of their bowl stipend for such fouls.  Aaron Rouse is up to 3 personal fouls all by himself.  What happens when his fines exceed the stipend?  Does he need to hold up a McDonalds and start paying out of pocket? 

So just how bad are we doing?  The four teams we beat so far this year have 6 wins between them (3 of those wins belong to the Cincinatti Bearcats).  Our next 4 opponents have 19 wins between them.  Then we face 6-1 Wake Forrest. (And oh what a sad year it will be if we loose to the Demon-Decons!)  All kinds of proud "trends" are ending.  For some time Frank has held claim to being the 3rd Most Winning Active coach.  Last weekend Jim Tressel tied him for that mark.  With the way Ohio State is playing we can expect Tressel to pass us with our next loss.  We hadn't lost an ACC road game since joining the conference...until last Thursday. We had also posted 11 straight Thursday night wins on ESPN.  We've dropped from the rankings in both the AP and the USA Today coaches poll.  We aren't included in the BCS rankings either--and Tulsa and Rutgers are listed. 

So who is to blame?  Is it the "757" for giving us players with a week work ethic and a penchant for getting into trouble?  Is it the 4 new coaches on our staff?  Maybe Bryan Stinespring for our lack of offense? Or whomever continues to play "consistent passer" Sean Glennon at QB instead of using "very athletic but with off field issues" Ike Whitacker? (Though rumor is Ike is getting more reps in practice this week...so maybe a change is in the works.) Spin the wheel and take your pick. 

Me, I'm blaming Daryl Tapp.  For years we've been hearing about and seeing that blasted lunch pail our defense passes around to reward work ethic.  Tapp kept it for most of the last two years...so what did he do after getting drafted?  He took it out to Seattle where it probably sets in his locker.  We have 25 former players who are active on current NFL rosters and as far as I know Tapp is the first one who thought it would be "ok" to take that lunch pail with him. I don't care the Foster gave it to him.  It was a bad move and Daryl should rectify it.  Sure, we got a replacement tin can....but it obviously lacks the mojo the previous one had.  So please Daryl, for the love of God, fed-ex that lunch pail back to Frank with a birthday card.  I think we need it.

In our most successful years the Hokies have won with excellent defense and special team, assisted by a two back running game on offense.  This year circumstances have forced us into an offensive scheme where we use a single back and several wide receivers.  The problem isn't that Brandon Ore isn't good enough to go it alone.  The sophomore is in his first year as a starter, but he's capable of getting some big runs and reliably picking up 3 or 4 yards on other caries. 

The problem we face is two-fold.  Because he's the only back we can't run as often as we have in the past.  Even with great durability you don't want to push your luck with your only running back--and lets not forget he had shoulder surgery in the offseason.  Even more troubling, imho, is that having a single back makes the oposing defense's job so much easier.  Two backs usually means two running styles.  One back will be the speedster who makes the big runs.  The other is the locomotive who might not be as fast but is strong enough to pick up yards with a couple of defenders hanging onto his leg.  The defense has to work harder and either shift plans based on the offensive personel or play a more generic defense that would do an ok job of defending against either back but not a great job against either.  Our opponents don't have to worry about that this year.  They can count on Ore being the only runner to stop and plan accordingly.  Through in some problems getting the passing game to work reliably and you have the makings of a really crappy season, at least by our standards.

I'm not ready to burn my tickets yet, but I sure am less enthused about watching them right now. Unfortunately I get the same feeling about our defense.  They are so unenthused by what the offense can do to keep us in the game that they are slacking off and not bringing the pain on every play.

I'm all for any kind of novelty that helps get buts in the seats at home games.  Really I am.  But this one just makes me laugh.  For tomorrow's game on Friday the 13th the team is giving away Goalie Masks. This can't be the first time an NHL team has done this kind of promotion.  Of course this year what should really give other teams pause isn't stands filled with horror movie bad guys.  It's that we have the league leader in GAA, Points, +/- and have the best record in the NHL East....all while Ilya Kolvachuck hasn't even scored a point yet.

Meanwhile if thoughts of Horror movies and Halloween have you itching to reminisce about your favorite horror flicks check out this cute "find the hidden scary movie" game over at the  M&Ms website.

Last night I was faced with a choice.  Watch Monday Night Football or watch Hockey...and I didn't choose the football.  This is strange for me, and probably an indication that I've let my friends get me too caught up in this.  The problem is the game was really excellent last night.  Everyone said that the team focused on improving defense in the off season and that defense looked incredible against Tampa Bay.  I was yelling happy things at my tv after the finished the 2 minutes of 5 on 3 penalty kill. Kari made some great saves and everyone else was there doing everything they could to help protect him.  We are only 3 games into the season, but I'm starting to see why there has been so much talk about Kari's potential.  Lets just hope the team can keep it up, and maybe even find a little offense to go with that mad D.

NHLRecap
AJC Game Recap

Season Two of the Great Hockey Experiement officially got underway at Philips.  Its the first time I've gone to a game without taking someone more knowledgable along with me. Instead I embraced the notion that you don't need a man to watch hockey and convinced the girls to join me.  This left me as the group expert on the the Thrashers and hockey in general and I think I was able to rise to the occasion. 

The game itself was good but a bit of a disapointment.  The arena was only half full despite it being opening night.  From my perspective that place should be full for opening night even if it means giving away the tickets.  Our passing and puckhandling is much better than it was at the beginning of last season.  I think it was after the olympic break before we started passing the puck successfully. I'm glad it isn't taking us that long to get our act togather this year.  The first game went to a shoot out and left me very perplexed by our choices.  Hossa wasn't one of our designated shooters.  Why would one of our best offensive players not take a turn?  Instead Jon Sim got a shot and we failed to score at all.

Other highlights of our outing included

• An enterprising friend getting ahold of multiple giveaway scarfs and selling them to people at the game.  I know people sell their extras on Ebay all the time, but I'd never considered selling them at the game.  Really, how hard was it for anyone to get an "extra" scarf?
  
  
• The amazing discovery that going to the game dateless opens up the door for any number of men to buy you beer.  Unlike a bar--where men buy you beer to hit on you--these folks were just being nice.  Three cheers for free beer and many thanks to the anonymous pony-tailed dude for offering to buy me Bass and then making his friend buy when he realized he had no money.
  
  
• Girls breed drama.  There really isn't a good excuse for this, it just follows us around. During the course of the game we lost girls and were convinced an aspiring bf was stalking someone.

4:13
Someone sent Bryan Stinespring a memo.  It reads "Hey Bryan, did you know we are allowed to run the football on offense?"  Brandon Ore follows with a rushing touchdown to get us on the board.  21 - 7 with 20 seconds left in the first quarter.

4:05
Touchdown #3 for Georgia Tech. 4:12 remains in the first quarter.

4:02
They blocked our punt and take over on our 25 yard line.

4:00 pm
Three possessions into the big showdown with Georgia Tech and I'm not sure if I can continue.  We are down by 14 with 7 minutes left in the first quarter. Our offense is not designed to play from behind.  But then our defense isn't designed to put us in this position either.

As a former Orioles ticket holder I can appreciate the sentiment some fans express during Thursday's day game at Camden.  Organized by Sports Talk 1570 in Baltimore a group of fans attended Thursday's game and walked out in protest 1 hour into the proceeding.  The protest was against Peter Angelos, the Orioles owner who is perhaps the worst owner in baseball after the Tribune Company.  The fans want new ownership, a better team, or to at least "get some players in here who want to be part of the community, who understand what a crab cake is."

From a fan's perspective good business men make lousy owners because they usually put the bottom line ahead of winning percentage.  Its precisely that characteristic of Angelos that guarantees this type of protest would never work with Angelos.  He is a business man and while you were "protesting" you did it without impacting his bottom line.  If you want to make a statement in Baltimore stop buying tickets.  Don't renew your season tickets.  Don't buy yet another Orioles hat.  Don't even wear the Orioles hats you have.  Stop watching the Orioles on television. If you really want to protest do it outside Camden.  If he can't sell tickets and can't sell advertising during the games....that is the kind of protest the Angelos would understand.  Of course the real problem here is that Baltimore, as much as any city I've spent time in, is a baseball town.  They love the game and they will keep buying tickets even if it is only to see another team win 9 games out of 10.  And you know what....I suspect Mr. Angelos knows this too.

Baltimore Sun Story