Scattered Thoughts
I haven't posted lately for two reasons:
1. I wanted to bring some focus to my big ol' Nine Reasons To Be Positive piece.
2. Laziness.
Probably about equal parts of 1 and 2. In the meantime, I've had all kinds of junk floating through my head and I have no great use for them.
The Blues are so freakin' bad, that I can't even believe it. If you check my early, early post on the Blues' chances and my prediction for the Division standings, I'm clearly on the record that I thought the Blues were in big trouble this year.
But, I never thought that it'd be like this.
I watched the Jackets v Panthers game tonight, mainly because I think those teams are going in the right direction. But, both of those teams are terrible; teams that I thought the Blues could beat. But, watching them play, I thought, "there is no way the Blues finish anywhere above dead last."
As craptacular as those two teams are, they are both way better than the Blues at this point. The Blues are basically Doug Weight, Keith Tkacuk (whenever available), a couple of young (hopefully improving) goalies, and not much else.
From time to time, Barret Jackman, Eric Brewer and Dennis Wideman look like they'll be solid. And other times they look like they'll be better when the Blues add one or two more really good defensemen and take some of the heat off of them.
And, bottom line, that's not enough. Not enought to beat a few teams to finish anywhere other than last. How many games will this team win this month? Another two? Maybe?
How many ghosts are on this team? I saw Mark Rycroft in a play the other day and thought, "Rycroft is having the quietest season ever."
Then I saw Jay McClement. Is Jay McClement going to score some points? Ever? He's gotten some time with prime-time players. He has a good number (9), and he was drafted in a decent position (2nd round). Why isn't he doing more? He seems to have some speed and some hands. Why isn't he EVER around the puck?
Simon Gamache was supposed to be a big junior scorer who could flourish if given the right situation. After playing with Tkachuk and Weight, he found himself in the pressbox. Hard to score goals up there.
Peter Cajanek? Holy crap, he's actually playing! I see that guy every now and then, and he's usually shaking his head after another pass is broken up. Cajanek has the ability to be great if he's a second liner who has two better-than-him wingers. He's the Jan Hrdina of St. Louis.
Dean McAmmond does not play for Calgary anymore. That's right, he's here in the STL. He's the guy wearing number 37, who causes you to always say, "who the hell is number 37?" As Sports Overdrive host Brian Stull (WGNU 920 AM) asked me before the last home game, "are those the quietest 12 goals ever?"
Absolutely. He's scored ONE in the last 11 games and the others have been spread out in insignificant ways. I see the Blues stats all the time doing this job, so I get the idea that 35 points (Weight) and 14 goals (Sillinger) are good totals. Then I see that guys like Ales Hemsky (Edmonton) has 34 assists. Who? There are teams that have three or four guys who have more goals than our top guy. We suck worse than I can even start to comprehend.
And what about Scott Young? No one expected 40 goals from him, but I thought he still had a wrister. Not so. back in the '98-'00 years, Young had a crazy whippy wrister. Now, that thing is crazy whippy if you play in a rec league. He's never open, but even when he is, he never seems to get a good shot off anymore. It's just another ghost in the Note.
No and No.
John Buccigross of ESPN has suggested that after the team gets sold and they get the first draft pick and they move on from this trainwreck of a season that they change the uniforms (keeping the Note). I have to disagree. I like Buccigross' stuff and agree with him on plenty of the issues, but changing the uni is wrong. The Note is a great logo (which he admits), but these togs are great, too. I've always liked the whites better than the blues, so I didn't like the switch to "home wears dark", but the dark ones have grown on me. Plus, they have classic lines and simplicity.
Of course, compared to the slanty numbers and trumpets on the shoulders version of the 90's, almost anything would look better. But these uniforms are nice. And when the team is good again, I want to see those uniforms with the nice lines and solid colors leading the way.
Blues Go To Carolina
The boys in blue are in NASCAR country today, and will probably lose. I'm guessing that they start their bachup netminder and that Cory "Stanley Cup Ring" Stillman sticks it to his former team. But I'll be thinking about a fan in the stands.
I ran into a guy during some game here in St. Louis who was a transplant living in the Technology Triangle of Raleigh-Durham. He was saying that he was going to wear his Blues jersey to the game in Carolina. So I gave him my copy of GT that I had with me. I told him that he'd probably like it, since he's the type of guy to wear blue in enemy territory. Especially when the Blues will probably get beaten. And he might get beaten by a bunch of guys who are just waiting around until cras start racing or NC plays Duke. Good luck, brother. I hope we get a win so you can talk some trash.
Be Back Soon.
I'll try to post again before the Devild show on Tuesday. In the meantime, let's go Bears. As my homeown football team trys to win a playoff game for the first time since the SuperBowl Shuffle was cool, I think some of the St. Louis football fans could get on board, too. I mean, Lovie Smith did everything he could for the Rams while he was here. Plus, former Bear player and Smith defense disciple and possible future Ram head coach Ron Rivera is the d-coordinator there. So bear down, Chicago Bears!
And someday soon I'll explain how I can be such a St. Louis fan, despite being a Chicago kid. I swear.
1. I wanted to bring some focus to my big ol' Nine Reasons To Be Positive piece.
2. Laziness.
Probably about equal parts of 1 and 2. In the meantime, I've had all kinds of junk floating through my head and I have no great use for them.
The Blues are so freakin' bad, that I can't even believe it. If you check my early, early post on the Blues' chances and my prediction for the Division standings, I'm clearly on the record that I thought the Blues were in big trouble this year.
But, I never thought that it'd be like this.
I watched the Jackets v Panthers game tonight, mainly because I think those teams are going in the right direction. But, both of those teams are terrible; teams that I thought the Blues could beat. But, watching them play, I thought, "there is no way the Blues finish anywhere above dead last."
As craptacular as those two teams are, they are both way better than the Blues at this point. The Blues are basically Doug Weight, Keith Tkacuk (whenever available), a couple of young (hopefully improving) goalies, and not much else.
From time to time, Barret Jackman, Eric Brewer and Dennis Wideman look like they'll be solid. And other times they look like they'll be better when the Blues add one or two more really good defensemen and take some of the heat off of them.
And, bottom line, that's not enough. Not enought to beat a few teams to finish anywhere other than last. How many games will this team win this month? Another two? Maybe?
How many ghosts are on this team? I saw Mark Rycroft in a play the other day and thought, "Rycroft is having the quietest season ever."
Then I saw Jay McClement. Is Jay McClement going to score some points? Ever? He's gotten some time with prime-time players. He has a good number (9), and he was drafted in a decent position (2nd round). Why isn't he doing more? He seems to have some speed and some hands. Why isn't he EVER around the puck?
Simon Gamache was supposed to be a big junior scorer who could flourish if given the right situation. After playing with Tkachuk and Weight, he found himself in the pressbox. Hard to score goals up there.
Peter Cajanek? Holy crap, he's actually playing! I see that guy every now and then, and he's usually shaking his head after another pass is broken up. Cajanek has the ability to be great if he's a second liner who has two better-than-him wingers. He's the Jan Hrdina of St. Louis.
Dean McAmmond does not play for Calgary anymore. That's right, he's here in the STL. He's the guy wearing number 37, who causes you to always say, "who the hell is number 37?" As Sports Overdrive host Brian Stull (WGNU 920 AM) asked me before the last home game, "are those the quietest 12 goals ever?"
Absolutely. He's scored ONE in the last 11 games and the others have been spread out in insignificant ways. I see the Blues stats all the time doing this job, so I get the idea that 35 points (Weight) and 14 goals (Sillinger) are good totals. Then I see that guys like Ales Hemsky (Edmonton) has 34 assists. Who? There are teams that have three or four guys who have more goals than our top guy. We suck worse than I can even start to comprehend.
And what about Scott Young? No one expected 40 goals from him, but I thought he still had a wrister. Not so. back in the '98-'00 years, Young had a crazy whippy wrister. Now, that thing is crazy whippy if you play in a rec league. He's never open, but even when he is, he never seems to get a good shot off anymore. It's just another ghost in the Note.
No and No.
John Buccigross of ESPN has suggested that after the team gets sold and they get the first draft pick and they move on from this trainwreck of a season that they change the uniforms (keeping the Note). I have to disagree. I like Buccigross' stuff and agree with him on plenty of the issues, but changing the uni is wrong. The Note is a great logo (which he admits), but these togs are great, too. I've always liked the whites better than the blues, so I didn't like the switch to "home wears dark", but the dark ones have grown on me. Plus, they have classic lines and simplicity.
Of course, compared to the slanty numbers and trumpets on the shoulders version of the 90's, almost anything would look better. But these uniforms are nice. And when the team is good again, I want to see those uniforms with the nice lines and solid colors leading the way.
Blues Go To Carolina
The boys in blue are in NASCAR country today, and will probably lose. I'm guessing that they start their bachup netminder and that Cory "Stanley Cup Ring" Stillman sticks it to his former team. But I'll be thinking about a fan in the stands.
I ran into a guy during some game here in St. Louis who was a transplant living in the Technology Triangle of Raleigh-Durham. He was saying that he was going to wear his Blues jersey to the game in Carolina. So I gave him my copy of GT that I had with me. I told him that he'd probably like it, since he's the type of guy to wear blue in enemy territory. Especially when the Blues will probably get beaten. And he might get beaten by a bunch of guys who are just waiting around until cras start racing or NC plays Duke. Good luck, brother. I hope we get a win so you can talk some trash.
Be Back Soon.
I'll try to post again before the Devild show on Tuesday. In the meantime, let's go Bears. As my homeown football team trys to win a playoff game for the first time since the SuperBowl Shuffle was cool, I think some of the St. Louis football fans could get on board, too. I mean, Lovie Smith did everything he could for the Rams while he was here. Plus, former Bear player and Smith defense disciple and possible future Ram head coach Ron Rivera is the d-coordinator there. So bear down, Chicago Bears!
And someday soon I'll explain how I can be such a St. Louis fan, despite being a Chicago kid. I swear.
posted by gallagher @ 12:35 AM
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