Mario Retires AGAIN
Mario Lemieux announced his second retirement Monday, unfortunately a victim of an irregular heartbeat/ Atrial fibrilation. I saw that they were considering surgery, which sets of warning lights in my head. Having HAD atrial fibrilation, I know this is an option only when it does not respond to medication.
It's too bad, but it seems Mario continues paying the price for his gifts on the ice: the back problems, which ARE genetic in his case, Hodgkin's/lymphoma and now this. Unfortunately I fear Mario, like Pistol Pete Maravich will be someone with tremendous talent who dies young because of their body.
Vinyl to Hard Drive
The project is now in full swing thanks to Dad; he happened to have an old [mid 90s] Pioneer amp and turntable which he is allowing me to 'borrow.' [nudge, nudge] Of course the Beatles and the Stones are the first serious project [Aerosmith Get Your Wings was first to give the system a test run].
Reviewing some of the early early Stones albums [England's Newest Hitmakers, 12x5, RS Now! and currently Out of Our Heads] I am surprised how little the Stones SOUND has changed over the years. It's gotten LOUDER, but I can hear this and I can still hear the blues and R&B roots in the Stones. Lots of covers on these records, some clunkers, but things like Don Covay's Mercy Mercy and Marvin Gaye's Hitch-Hike, Chuck Berry's Around and Around and especially Willie Dixon's Little Red Rooster... it can still send a chill through some old bones.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Strange rumbling in Penguin land...
In the space of three days, the Pens lost their leading scorer, Ziggy Palffy, to retirement [possibly a bum shoulder, though specifics are scares], traded for a hulking physical defenseman, Eric Cairns [6'6", 0g, 1a, 37 pims], possibly as a bodyguard for Sidney Crosby, and Mario Lemieux steps down as CEO of the team [but will remain as chairman of the board]. While they are for sale, Mario is trying to put in a clause that the team stay in Pittsburgh. Who is he kidding?
The Palffy thing is most troubling; Ziggy has wheels and is setting up people. Look for more rookies up with the Pens. Cairns is a Derian Hatcher starter kit, but is not going to be a plus player, I guarantee. Mario's ready to get his dough and move on. Who's next?
In the space of three days, the Pens lost their leading scorer, Ziggy Palffy, to retirement [possibly a bum shoulder, though specifics are scares], traded for a hulking physical defenseman, Eric Cairns [6'6", 0g, 1a, 37 pims], possibly as a bodyguard for Sidney Crosby, and Mario Lemieux steps down as CEO of the team [but will remain as chairman of the board]. While they are for sale, Mario is trying to put in a clause that the team stay in Pittsburgh. Who is he kidding?
The Palffy thing is most troubling; Ziggy has wheels and is setting up people. Look for more rookies up with the Pens. Cairns is a Derian Hatcher starter kit, but is not going to be a plus player, I guarantee. Mario's ready to get his dough and move on. Who's next?
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Media Madness, Deep Ellum Dead, Etc... [Or: Random Thoughts While Ripping the Joe Perry Project to My Hard Drive]
The Media:
The last couple of weeks have left a bitter taste in my mouth over the media in this nation. I am speaking specifically about the mine collapse tragedy in West Virginia but it points to a larger problem with news programming.
In the first case, the rush to be 'first with the story' led most media outlets to report the opposite of what was true - that 12 miners were found ALIVE after being trapped for days after the explosion. Whether some mine official ran to the media with what he heard, trying to save face for the company or one outlet jumped on a rumor forcing everyone else to follow is irrelevant. The fact that the media sits outside this mine and this town like vultures while the rescue is going on is... I don't know. It was one thing when there were the big three network news and some regional reporters for like AP, UPI and maybe the Washington or NY papers like in the 70s and you'd see the national news and your local at 6 and 10... now there's just rows of satellite trucks and 'pretty people' reporters all just vulturing over some families and a town waiting for news on their loved ones. And it's on 45 of 60 minutes on the 'News channels' like some TV death watch.... I'm just starting to find the whole thing disgusting and disheartening.
Just like the reports in the hurricanes recently or watching every two hour car chase on a California freeway... the problem with a large Nationally based media is that local issues get lost. We're relying too much on the Nationals and their take/spin. And according to the National media, we like watching tragedy unfolding. I mean I compare watching Penguins hockey games, which I cannot stop watching, no matter how hard I try, to watching a car crash or a slow motion train wreck, but that doesn't mean I like watching train wrecks [does it?].
Deep Ellum:
In recent weeks, two key clubs in Dallas' Deep Ellum 'Entertainment district' have closed and a couple of more are reported on the ropes, pretty much ending a 20 year run for the clubs and bars important to my youth. Trees and Club Dada, scenes of much drunken rowdiness and debauchery in my twenties are closing and Clearview [never the same after the big room was closed and split] is on the ropes AGAIN. Reports of apathy abound in the Observer [actually, Robert Wilonsky wrote a pretty fair eulogy in the current Observer, which I find ironic since the Observer used to be a relevant read every week and has not been [at least for I/me personally] in a long time.
Wilonsky shrewdly observed that in the old days we used to club hop because there would be two or three bands worth seeing every weekend at the different venues. Many weekends we'd start with a drink at Main Bar or the Elm Street Bar or July Alley, catch someone at Main Bar or Trees and then hustle over to Clearview or Galaxy for a late band. But those days parking was $ 5 and cover was like $ 5 - 10. And while it was a bitch to get around down there to park, you could get around.
Deep Ellum lost its appeal as I got older and less patient, though I would still head down to Gypsy Tea for a touring show, swallowing hard at an $ 8 parking fee... but one Friday I went down to see Jasper Stone and I got caught in 'The Cruise' down there: It took me 25 minutes to cover the five blocks from Good Lattimer to Malcom X on Commerce, and the whole time it was kids in their souped up Hondas with black lights and booming bass.. by the time I got past that, I was so pissed I just took Commerce all the way down to Fair Park and got on 30 and split. And apparently there was a lot of that going on down there in recent years.
We saw some ugly/weird/ freaky people down there in our years, but we didn't grope girls just passing on the street, we didn't shoot each other and get into gang fights. Maybe we went down there, got drunks, slam danced and shouted and worked our aggression out that way. I don't know. But the scene has moved on again, back up to Greenville, and Malcom Mayhew says, hopefully to Ft Worth.
I won't miss Deep Ellum as a place as I would miss a venue like the Bronco Bowl. I had some good, stupid times in the clubs down there, but I will remember the hassles down there more than some of those times.
Speaking of Watching Train Wrecks in Slo-Mo: The Pens
I have told many MANY people recently that I am going to quit watching the Pens on TV. But I can't. Well, I DO, after they get down by four or five goals. All you people who watched the 1-15 Cowboys in 1989 hoping, I understand. It's painful watching them get throttled by [a resurgent, buit still] Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, St Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks. Recent league doormat Washington Capitals are probablydrooling at the Pens on the calender: 'Yeah, we can beat them!'
Yes, this is a team who lost their leader when Mario Lemieux went out with irregular heartbeat, but it has also seen terrible production from a wealth of free agent signings: Ziggy Palfy is not scoring [though he is setting up goals], John LeClair, Mark Recchi and the much mailgned $ 5 milion dolar man, Sergei Gonchar, who used to light up the Pens from the Washington blue line [apparently he can only score against the Pens, but everyone has scored against the Pens for the last few years]. The goalie to tide over until the arrival of Marc-Andre Fluery, Chicago cast off Jocelyn Thibault is injured agains, as he has been so often the last three seasons. on the D, Ric Jackman is in the doghouse, Dick Tarnstrom may be trade bait and only journeyman Josef Mellichar and rookie Ryan Whitney are playing with any passion.
Sidney Crosby is creating problems. That's right. As soon as Michel Therrien took over as coach, he made the 18 yr old wunderkind an assistant captain. And Mario said it was a GOOD move, basically 'better now than later.' That's the kind of thinking that has the Pens where they are, which, come to think if it, is where they were in 84/85 when Mario broke in with the team [was he given such an important leadership position his rookie year? I don't think so!]. That little 'A' on his sweater is a designation of leadership, of responsibility and I don't think the kids is ready. TWICE in the last two weeks I have seen him get the extra two minutes for arguing calls with referees. You've gpt a wealth of real leaders on this team: Recchi, LeClair, Tarnstrom, Gonchar, Mellichar, Lyle Odelin. Let the kid just PLAY for a couple of years and learn by watching and playing with those people. Even if he IS the next great, don't force it.
Management's reaction so far seems to be Ho-Hum, another losing season. While I understand there's not a market for overpaid underproducers [yet], firing the coach has been the only move. Oh, well, one defenseman [Steve Poapst] for a forward, who is now injured [Eric Bouganiki]... whoo hoo. I have no doubt Mario is waiting for the lease to be up at Mellon Area to flip the team. And Craig Patrick must have naked photos of someone. Yes, Craig built the Cup winning teams A DECADE AGO, but the game has passed him by. The years of buying talent ala Detroit, Colorado, NY Rangers 94 are OVER. Detroit and Colorado and Philly all have deep, talented farm teams that produce gems from late round picks. The winning team down in Wilkes-Barre give hope, but it's a two years down the road hope. By then the team will be in Kansas City or Winnepeg, where they will put up with a couple more years of losing as the team gels.
Random NHL Thoughts:
The Bruins traded the franchise when they sent Joe Thornton to San Jose, and it's coming home to them now. What little scoring was there has dried up and injuries will have them battling the Pens for the basement. Joe T was NOT the problem, it was another managment attempting to buy a Cup with big name free agent signees who have not produced.
Another GM who had pics, the Teflon GM, 'Mad Mike' Milbury has FINALLY stepped down on Long Island. In the last decade, he's traded Todd Bertuzzi, Zedno Chara, Jason Spezza, Roberto Luongo, Wade Redden, Bryan McCabe and Jason Spezza... granted, all but Spezza had taken a couple extra years to develop to the talents they are now [Zedno Chara was terrible in his years on LI... I wouldn't have traded a roll of tape and a bag of pucks for him then!]. What does that say about the Islanders other than they cannot develop talent? He's also handcuffed the team the the underperforming Alexei Yashin with a 10 year, $ 80 million contract, and Yashin has down NOTHING since arriving. Additions of Miro Satan and Alexei Zhitnik this summer created some interest, and the team plays hard every night, but it's another train wreck out there that's going to take years to straighten out.
Jeremy Roenick says he will root for Canada since he was not picked for the US Olympic squad. This is the same JR who has 6 goals and 7 assists in 32 games this year? Enjoy some Tim Hortons, JR. Bill Guerin is going to the Olympics despite a massive scoring drought [8g, 15a], and he should not be. Milan Hejduk is also having a horrible year in Colorado [11g, 20a]. Is it anyone who was locked into a high contract, or just people who didn't play hockey last year? I vote the latter because Jaromir Jagr is having a resurgent year in NYC [29g, 40a].
The Media:
The last couple of weeks have left a bitter taste in my mouth over the media in this nation. I am speaking specifically about the mine collapse tragedy in West Virginia but it points to a larger problem with news programming.
In the first case, the rush to be 'first with the story' led most media outlets to report the opposite of what was true - that 12 miners were found ALIVE after being trapped for days after the explosion. Whether some mine official ran to the media with what he heard, trying to save face for the company or one outlet jumped on a rumor forcing everyone else to follow is irrelevant. The fact that the media sits outside this mine and this town like vultures while the rescue is going on is... I don't know. It was one thing when there were the big three network news and some regional reporters for like AP, UPI and maybe the Washington or NY papers like in the 70s and you'd see the national news and your local at 6 and 10... now there's just rows of satellite trucks and 'pretty people' reporters all just vulturing over some families and a town waiting for news on their loved ones. And it's on 45 of 60 minutes on the 'News channels' like some TV death watch.... I'm just starting to find the whole thing disgusting and disheartening.
Just like the reports in the hurricanes recently or watching every two hour car chase on a California freeway... the problem with a large Nationally based media is that local issues get lost. We're relying too much on the Nationals and their take/spin. And according to the National media, we like watching tragedy unfolding. I mean I compare watching Penguins hockey games, which I cannot stop watching, no matter how hard I try, to watching a car crash or a slow motion train wreck, but that doesn't mean I like watching train wrecks [does it?].
Deep Ellum:
In recent weeks, two key clubs in Dallas' Deep Ellum 'Entertainment district' have closed and a couple of more are reported on the ropes, pretty much ending a 20 year run for the clubs and bars important to my youth. Trees and Club Dada, scenes of much drunken rowdiness and debauchery in my twenties are closing and Clearview [never the same after the big room was closed and split] is on the ropes AGAIN. Reports of apathy abound in the Observer [actually, Robert Wilonsky wrote a pretty fair eulogy in the current Observer, which I find ironic since the Observer used to be a relevant read every week and has not been [at least for I/me personally] in a long time.
Wilonsky shrewdly observed that in the old days we used to club hop because there would be two or three bands worth seeing every weekend at the different venues. Many weekends we'd start with a drink at Main Bar or the Elm Street Bar or July Alley, catch someone at Main Bar or Trees and then hustle over to Clearview or Galaxy for a late band. But those days parking was $ 5 and cover was like $ 5 - 10. And while it was a bitch to get around down there to park, you could get around.
Deep Ellum lost its appeal as I got older and less patient, though I would still head down to Gypsy Tea for a touring show, swallowing hard at an $ 8 parking fee... but one Friday I went down to see Jasper Stone and I got caught in 'The Cruise' down there: It took me 25 minutes to cover the five blocks from Good Lattimer to Malcom X on Commerce, and the whole time it was kids in their souped up Hondas with black lights and booming bass.. by the time I got past that, I was so pissed I just took Commerce all the way down to Fair Park and got on 30 and split. And apparently there was a lot of that going on down there in recent years.
We saw some ugly/weird/ freaky people down there in our years, but we didn't grope girls just passing on the street, we didn't shoot each other and get into gang fights. Maybe we went down there, got drunks, slam danced and shouted and worked our aggression out that way. I don't know. But the scene has moved on again, back up to Greenville, and Malcom Mayhew says, hopefully to Ft Worth.
I won't miss Deep Ellum as a place as I would miss a venue like the Bronco Bowl. I had some good, stupid times in the clubs down there, but I will remember the hassles down there more than some of those times.
Speaking of Watching Train Wrecks in Slo-Mo: The Pens
I have told many MANY people recently that I am going to quit watching the Pens on TV. But I can't. Well, I DO, after they get down by four or five goals. All you people who watched the 1-15 Cowboys in 1989 hoping, I understand. It's painful watching them get throttled by [a resurgent, buit still] Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, St Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks. Recent league doormat Washington Capitals are probablydrooling at the Pens on the calender: 'Yeah, we can beat them!'
Yes, this is a team who lost their leader when Mario Lemieux went out with irregular heartbeat, but it has also seen terrible production from a wealth of free agent signings: Ziggy Palfy is not scoring [though he is setting up goals], John LeClair, Mark Recchi and the much mailgned $ 5 milion dolar man, Sergei Gonchar, who used to light up the Pens from the Washington blue line [apparently he can only score against the Pens, but everyone has scored against the Pens for the last few years]. The goalie to tide over until the arrival of Marc-Andre Fluery, Chicago cast off Jocelyn Thibault is injured agains, as he has been so often the last three seasons. on the D, Ric Jackman is in the doghouse, Dick Tarnstrom may be trade bait and only journeyman Josef Mellichar and rookie Ryan Whitney are playing with any passion.
Sidney Crosby is creating problems. That's right. As soon as Michel Therrien took over as coach, he made the 18 yr old wunderkind an assistant captain. And Mario said it was a GOOD move, basically 'better now than later.' That's the kind of thinking that has the Pens where they are, which, come to think if it, is where they were in 84/85 when Mario broke in with the team [was he given such an important leadership position his rookie year? I don't think so!]. That little 'A' on his sweater is a designation of leadership, of responsibility and I don't think the kids is ready. TWICE in the last two weeks I have seen him get the extra two minutes for arguing calls with referees. You've gpt a wealth of real leaders on this team: Recchi, LeClair, Tarnstrom, Gonchar, Mellichar, Lyle Odelin. Let the kid just PLAY for a couple of years and learn by watching and playing with those people. Even if he IS the next great, don't force it.
Management's reaction so far seems to be Ho-Hum, another losing season. While I understand there's not a market for overpaid underproducers [yet], firing the coach has been the only move. Oh, well, one defenseman [Steve Poapst] for a forward, who is now injured [Eric Bouganiki]... whoo hoo. I have no doubt Mario is waiting for the lease to be up at Mellon Area to flip the team. And Craig Patrick must have naked photos of someone. Yes, Craig built the Cup winning teams A DECADE AGO, but the game has passed him by. The years of buying talent ala Detroit, Colorado, NY Rangers 94 are OVER. Detroit and Colorado and Philly all have deep, talented farm teams that produce gems from late round picks. The winning team down in Wilkes-Barre give hope, but it's a two years down the road hope. By then the team will be in Kansas City or Winnepeg, where they will put up with a couple more years of losing as the team gels.
Random NHL Thoughts:
The Bruins traded the franchise when they sent Joe Thornton to San Jose, and it's coming home to them now. What little scoring was there has dried up and injuries will have them battling the Pens for the basement. Joe T was NOT the problem, it was another managment attempting to buy a Cup with big name free agent signees who have not produced.
Another GM who had pics, the Teflon GM, 'Mad Mike' Milbury has FINALLY stepped down on Long Island. In the last decade, he's traded Todd Bertuzzi, Zedno Chara, Jason Spezza, Roberto Luongo, Wade Redden, Bryan McCabe and Jason Spezza... granted, all but Spezza had taken a couple extra years to develop to the talents they are now [Zedno Chara was terrible in his years on LI... I wouldn't have traded a roll of tape and a bag of pucks for him then!]. What does that say about the Islanders other than they cannot develop talent? He's also handcuffed the team the the underperforming Alexei Yashin with a 10 year, $ 80 million contract, and Yashin has down NOTHING since arriving. Additions of Miro Satan and Alexei Zhitnik this summer created some interest, and the team plays hard every night, but it's another train wreck out there that's going to take years to straighten out.
Jeremy Roenick says he will root for Canada since he was not picked for the US Olympic squad. This is the same JR who has 6 goals and 7 assists in 32 games this year? Enjoy some Tim Hortons, JR. Bill Guerin is going to the Olympics despite a massive scoring drought [8g, 15a], and he should not be. Milan Hejduk is also having a horrible year in Colorado [11g, 20a]. Is it anyone who was locked into a high contract, or just people who didn't play hockey last year? I vote the latter because Jaromir Jagr is having a resurgent year in NYC [29g, 40a].