Merry Christmas!

Don't eat yellow snow.

This is where I get ice. #LAKings

Vacation

I'm grateful for my job, but very happy about taking the next two weeks off! I plan on being busy, going and doing with the family, visiting friends, working on the house & car, and busy doing nothing. No guarantees on how much blogging will happen. The Kings have a hiccup in their schedule, and don't play again until the 26th. So if I don't get a chance to get this out, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

This Year's Christmas Card

2 Days Later

Today, the Kings sit first in the West. They are on a 4-game road
trip, losing to Vancouver on Monday and beating Edmonton last night.
Also on Monday night the Senators fell to Toronto. Going down with
them was Spezza, who apparently tore his MCL and looks to be out 6-8
weeks. This will be a stiff test for the Senators, as Spezza is
expected to proved a lot of offense. He's a typical slow starter and
this year is no different, but I have to think that losing a sniper
like Heatley on the wing is the real reason for his lack of
production. Foligno was out of practice. This is bad. He's been very
good since being a healthy scratch. A guy like him took the benching
personally and he has elevated his game since. I'd hate to see him out
of the lineup.
It is also a great opportunity. With an under performing Spezza out of
the lineup, a guy like Hennessey gets a chance to strut his stuff. I
guess he's been tearing it up in the AHL. We'll see what he's got.
On the downside you have a defenseman, Campoli, potentially playing
the wing. Granted, he will do less damage as a forward, but isn't
there another player to call up instead of having a defenseman play
out of his natural position? The salary cap has the Senators options
limited. So, I guess that's why you make do with the guys you have.

Who's on First?

The LA Kings are first in the Western Conference! (Actually, tied with
the Sharks, but more wins = first place). I'm not saying that they
hold this position until playoff time. But, their early success is not
a fluke, yet. The past 15 games have been tough. Injuries to Scuderi,
Smyth, and various other starting with "S". But the Kings are grinding
out wins regardless. Some nights it's an 8-round shootout. Good teams
find a way to win. The Kings are becoming a good team. I don't think
the playoffs are an unrealistic goal at this point. Smyth needs to
come back strong. Scuderi shores-up the defense. Keep rolling.
The Senators are hanging around the Eastern Conference playoff
picture. Which is not the greatest feat in sports, since the East is
pretty weak. As it stands, four points separate 7th from 14th place.
So, a lot of teams are still in it and Ottawa is a losing streak away
from the bottom of the East. But, like Los Angeles, the Senators are
much improved from last season. I see changes in the roster coming.
Spezza is still under performing and Kovalev is a joke. I think the
only reason they haven't had him as a healthy scratch, is that he is a
pouter. So, that right there says he should never had been acquired
over this summer. Kovalev did have a hattrick last game (after
coasting around the previous 30 games). I say, trade him NOW while
there is a spike in his value.

UFC 107 - What we learned...

I thought it was a pretty good UFC fight card this last weekend.
Struve is a young, interesting, specialty heavyweight submission
artist. I say give him time to improve his striking and maybe gain
some weight. Fitch ground out a decision, but not without a late 3rd
round scare. Mir backed-up all that smack talk, which was a tall
order; given that he REALLY pissed-off Kongo trashing his game. But,
Mir proved that he is indeed motivated after the loss to Lesnar, and a
motivated Mir is dangerous. Same can be said for Penn. These two are
remarkably similar, they can be quite mouthy and got by on talent
alone for the first half of their respective careers. BJ is taking his
career seriously and looked to be in top form. He basically
neutralized Sanchez and picked his spots, counter-punching. I thought
it was over in the first round, but Herb Dean made a wise choice in
letting it go. Penn never tired and Sanchez also never altered his
ineffective game plan. Diego has a nasty souvenir on his forehead to
forever remember this fight. BJ took no damage at all. In a 23 minute
championship fight, that's pretty impressive or terrible matchmaking.
I would say a bit of both.
Which leads to the next steps. Who's next for Penn? The lightweight
challengers are all but mopped up. I think the best lightweight
challengers are outside the UFC right now. Maybe Aoki or Alvarez can
be brought it? For Mir, I think he will get the first Interim
Heavyweight Champ shot. I figure Lesnar can't defend until late in
2010 at best. In the meantime, I see an Interim Champion fight
happening. It will be between: Mir, Carwin, and/or the
Nogueria/Velasquez winner. Probably Mir vs. Carwin.

Nothing says Christmas like cookies

(& dinosaur sprinkles!)

UFC 107, cookies & Christmas

The weather is supposed to be horrible; rain all weekend. Getting around will be a nightmare, and the kids will be cooped-up all weekend. I'm pretty excited. Why? Well, I'm going to the see the UFC 107 fight on Saturday. That's always a good time. Boy's Night Out. Hopefully a good fight card.
Also, this weekend we're doing the Christmas cookie bake-off. I actually have nothing to do with the baking, but it smells great. The whole family is excited about mixing, licking and decorating. I think the cold and rain will provide even more of an excuse for hot cocoa; and running the oven all day will at least help to heat the house.
I'm glad that my wife loves to really get into Christmas. Baking 6 to 8 different types of cookies for the friends and neighbors is becoming tradition. We already put the tree up, but that is met with quite a bit of fanfare, holiday music and Christmas movies.
My Mom loved Christmas as well. I feel that it is my responsibility to make the holidays something special for my kids and pass on the tradition. It meant the world to her that the family be together at Christmas. So, it means a lot to me. A weekend indoors will do just the trick.

UFC 107 & Hendo

Free agent fighter Dan Henderson finally signed with Strikeforce after
negotiations with the UFC could not be finalized. Dana White has said
that Hendo wanted too much money, to be the top paid fighter in the
UFC, and that the UFC doesn't need him, etc. I have yet to see a
negotiation that Dana White felt he lost. I've read that Hendo admits
he wanted more money, but that White and Co also strong-armed Dan, by
banning his Clinch Gear brand from the Octagon. They also gave his
title shot to Vitor Belfort to diminish his bargaining power. To me,
that's kinda lame. Does the UFC need Hendo? No. Is he near the end of
his career anyway? Yes. So why all the hardball tactics?

I will watch Hendo in Strikeforce and wish him well. I think the plan
is for him to continue to fight at two weight classes. I think he can
take Jake Shields for the middleweight title. Gegard Mousasi will be a
tough challenge at light-heavy, but it's an interesting fight. This
may actually be the best thing for Hendo's career anyway. I think
there are more fights for him with Strikeforce. In the UFC it was
Marquardt, then a title re-match against Silva. While he did as well
or better than anyone against Anderson, arguably winning a round, I
dont think anyone can beat Silva right now. Only time will tell.

But I have to think that Dana White's ego, while responsible for the
success of the UFC, may also one day be it's undoing. You don't have
to trash every business deal/partner/competitor when things don't go
your way. Not every business deal is a fight to be won or lost.
Obviously the guy hates to lose. But a savvy competitor may just take
advantage of White's ego one day.

I watched the UFC 107 Countdown show. I can't help myself. All of
these shows are the same. They highlight each fighter's camp and their
buddies tell the camera how much improved, stronger, smarter, faster
their guy is. There's the obligatory trash talking. But I always get
sucked into these shows, especially this time since it featured Penn
and Mir. These two guys can run their mouths (& back it up,
unfortunately). I still like these guys despite the obvious character
flaws.

Highlights? Anything with Diego Sanchez. That guy is a little off.
Crazy. Weird. But intense, if nothing else. I love his intensity, but
don't think he can hold a candle to Penn. Didn't buy the hype on this
part of the show. Mir was in good form. His smack talk was as sharp as
ever. Physically, he's put on 20 pounds of muscle. Apparently the
beatdown by Lesnar has left him quite motivated. He's obviously
looking past Congo, which could be a mistake. But I see Mir subbing
out Congo, quickly.

Role Models

Tiger has taken quite a beating lately. I used to respect his requests
for privacy from the media. But now it appears that he has plenty to
keep hidden. So, can Tiger ever be a spokesman again? How will this
effect his brand and Nike or Gatorade/Tigerade? It will be interesting
to see.

People can do things which are nearly impossible to recover from. Once
you start to associate a person with a specific trainwreck-type event,
it overwhelms their personality and alters your impression of them. It
erodes all respect and replaces it with anger and disgust. I feel that
an explanation and meaningful apology would go a long way to start
some recovery. Not the halfhearted and coded message that Tiger put
out. But most of all, you are disappointed that all the positive
memories are now clouded. Will things ever be the same, probably not.
A new chapter is unfolding. We'll have to see how it unfolds, but it
doesn't look good. I'm at the point where I don't want any more
details to come out. I've kinda given-up on the guy for now. It's up
to him to win back my respect, if that is even possible.

Gingerbread Houses

A new holiday tradition for the family is making gingerbread houses at
Uncle Ryan's house. It is quite a bit of fun for young and old. Our
kids get some help with inital framing and construction; as that is
the trickier part of the whole process. Once the structure is up and
stable, the kids pile on the decorative candy. It's a blast. My son
always ends up covered in icing. Which is interesting, because every
piece of candy on his house is meticulously placed. If only he spent
as much attention to staying clean. My daughter usually spends time on
making a complete winter scene; with people walking outside, snowman
in the yard, a frozen pond outside the house. Good stuff.

Rivals

Haven't been up to the task on blogging lately. Not for lack of NHL
action. Last week saw the Kings beat the Ducks. It was at Anaheim.
Have I mentioned how much I hate the Ducks broadcast team, especially
Bryan Heyward? TOTAL Homers. Anyway, the Kings won so it was nice to
hear the various excuses they could come up with. Then it was
Kings/Senators. I was actually pulling for the Sens a bit more. They
need the points more and were floundering on the road. A sloppy game
to say the least. Hard to watch either team play so poorly. Kings won
6-3. Then Ottawa took on the Coyotes. Much was made of the game being
telecast, yet the broadcast looked like a replay of a 1984-era game.
Text only scoreboard, almost black & white looking video quality.
Ottawa lost to go 0-3 on their West Coast swing. Next up was the Sens
v Ducks. Again I had to hear Heyward bad mouth Ottawa's 0-3 roadtrip.
Well, the Sens won in a shootout.

Kings are running at 0.500 since they lost Ryan Smyth to injury. Can't
seem to string together the wins. Kopitar and Williams don't look the
same. We need that guy back, pronto.

Gingerbread Tree at Uncle Ryan's

Trade Bait

Well, the Senators face the Sharks tonight, and it will be the first
time Ottawa plays against Heatley in a different uniform. So far, the
Sharks have gotten the far better of that forced trade deal. Heatley
is on pace for 60 goals. Michalek and Cheechoo's numbers combined
haven't matched Dany's production. And to top it off, Spezza is off to
one of the slowest starts in his career.

I will say that Spezza is limiting his turnovers and can actually be
spotted on the penalty kill. Michalek has shown flashes of brilliance,
and had a few shorthanded goals that Heatley would never provide.
Still, you can't replace a sniper like Heatley. And a team like San
Jose was only missing a pure finisher.

If nothing else, it will be nice to have a little extra drama in a
regular season, non-conference game.