summer won't be the same without you, tiger

i have to admit, that i was pretty upset when tiger woods downplayed hockey. here is the main reason. he can be totally indifferent to hockey, i don't really care about that. he's got the right to his own opinion, and to share it. but there is a time and place. woods was on the verge of playing in a tournament that was being featured on the same station (nbc) that was featuring the stanley cup finals. without major television networks, woods would have never been able to reach this level of popularity. every golf commentator talks about tiger woods in terms that no other player even approahes. it borders on creepiness, if you ask me. so woods needs to repay their investment in him by helping them showcase a product that isn't popular - in my opinion - because the average person just doesn't quite understand what's going on. if woods had talked about the finals in even a slightly positive note, i think a few more folks would have tuned in.

in the end, it doesn't quite matter to me what woods says. i love to watch the guy get out there on a golf course and compete. so i'm pretty sad that he'll be missing the rest of the golf season. i hope that he makes a full recovery and comes out dominating again. but everyone talks about how his swing puts a lot of pressure on that knee. so i have some doubts about whether the guy will own golf again the way he has. any changes he would make to protect the knee would have to take some bite out of the old big dog.

apparently knee surgery rehabs involves trashing other sports

come on tiger....seriously. you haven't played in a tournament for quite some time while rehabbing from knew surgery. but seriously?

when asked about the epic 3ot game 5 of the cup finals (yeah you know the one. it would be the game that made the next day a complete wash), tiger responded as follows:

"I don't really care," he said with an impish smile. "It's all about the Dodgers. I don't think anyone really watches hockey anymore."

come on man...seriously? nobody cares about hockey? thanks tiger, for giving some support to another sport.

google reader strikes again

still basking in that sykora wrister, i decided to check my google reader before going to bed. google reader has pretty much changed the way that i use the internet. with all of my feeds organized on a central page, i find myself spending less time online going from one website to another. and i get to keep track of a lot more feeds, especially music feeds. live music blog turned me on to a website called black cab sessions.

it is pretty sweet, a nice way to wind down after that epic game.

at least they got one thing right

as i try to get my heart rate under control for the third period, i keep thinking that versus and nbc have done a pretty pathetic job broadcasting the nhl playoffs. from unnecessary and lengthy graphics to confusing camera angles to terrible broadcasters to constant reminders to buy dockers and edge shave gel, the networks have not done very good job 'selling' hockey to the casual hockey fan.

but at least they made this commercial, which is one of the sickest ads i've ever seen:



go pens

some sunset pics

we get some pretty decent sunset views from our apartment. here are a few...

the A is for awesome

just in time for the series shift back to philly, my gonchar jersey got here via ups today. gonch must have known i was in serious anticipation, as he tallied 3 assists in last night's game 2 victory. the jersey is sweet, here is a pic of the front and back:






gonch had a great season, and it ended up being a basic no brainer when i decided to buy a pens jersey.

defense wins championships

For those who haven't heard, I just wanted to let everyone know that last Friday, May 9th, I successfully defended my Master's Thesis here at Penn State. It only took a small amount of bribing on my part, so all in all I would say it went pretty well. Once I submit all of the paperwork and turn in the final draft, the thesis will be available for viewing through the Penn State libraries. I'll post a link once that happens.

It has been quite an academic journey to get to this point, and it was a great feeling to get those signatures on the Masters approval page. I celebrated by watching the Pens dominate the Flyers in game one, while also attempting to drink all of the alcohol in State College. I was also lucky enough to get my economic stimulus check right about the time of my defense, which allowed me to buy myself some presents. My Gonchar jersey still hasn't arrived (it should be here tomorrow), and that was the big present to myself. I'll post a pic of that when it gets here. I'll also be traveling to Denver in a few weeks for a good friend's wedding, and I'm really looking forward to that trip.

Now I have a week off to enjoy this feeling before summer session starts and I have to teach a 6 week course (everyday for about an hour). At some point during this week it would probably be a good idea to write a syllabus...

I'd also like to wish my Mom a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Without a doubt, I have the best parents around. There is no way that I would have gotten to this point without all of your emotional and financial support. So a big part of this MA is definitely yours.