the dwfma blog.

Puck Daddy talks hockey and movies with director Kevin Smith.

Looking at his filmography, hockey has been as much a part of director Kevin Smith’s films as candid language, comic books, “Star Wars” references and Jason Mewes.

The rooftop hockey atop the Quick Stop in “Clerks.” Hockey violence as a metaphor during a frank sexual discussion in “Chasing Amy,” not to mention Jason Lee’s questioning of the Hartford Whalers’ sexuality in the same film. And the roller hockey demons in “Dogma.”

“Cole’s pretty good, man,” Manuel said with his own touch of Cali-cool.
“I’m glad he’s pitching for us.”
100 wins down.  3 more to go, Phil Sheridan.

Go Phillies!

So, a football player named Jones (Adam) walks into a bar …

The player is on a team owned by a guy also named Jones (Jerry).  Surely an article referencing both men would have some first names throughout?  Nah.

In a sitdown interview with ESPN just before the start of the NFL season, Jones explained his decision to provide Jones with a four-man security detail at the team’s expense.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3633432

It gets worse.  The article in question was about how Jones (the player) got into a fight with a member of that security detail.  According to other articles (including this one in the Dallas Morning News), the guard’s name is, of course … Jones (Tommy).

Don Cherry is railing on his usual anti-non-Canadian rants, so you know what that means … it’s almost hockey season!  About Russian phenom Alexander Ovechkin, he muses:

He’s not going to get any better. I don’t think he’ll do as good as last year … He was doing things he shouldn’t do. He was always cutting into the middle and he got away with it … There will be a lot of guys waiting for him this year. He’s not going to be running around like a bull in a china shop.

This will be Oveckin’s fourth season in the National Hockey League.  He ran away with the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) and has not looked back.  This sort of “warning” comes out every year, and every year Ovechkin simply continues to amaze.  The league was at a loss when Ovechkin was a one-man show in Washington; now that he has a decent supporting cast — Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Mike Green, even Viktor Kozlov and Michael Nylander — the league will suddenly have an answers?

Cherry goes on:

Cherry also spoke with disdain about the Vancouver Canucks appointing goalie Roberto Luongo as team captain … “How are you going to have three alternate captains?  It’s silly.”

This system has worked for the New Jersey Devils and Minneosta Wild, though Cherry’s distaste for both organizations has been cemented over the years.

Arizona must be in a different national baseball network, because they had a some other game on Fox yesterday. I was on the phone with Skatt yesterday just as the Rollins / Utley / Howard double play went down. It was amazing.

William Daniels was the voice of KITT in the ’80s; that auspicious duty has been taken over by Val Kilmer, which tells you a little something about how his career is going.  (Tom Shales, WaPost.)

Ouch.

How do you not get excited about this news?

The Chicago Blackhawks announced today that for the 2008-09 season the organization has surpassed its previous franchise record of 13,425 season ticketholders established in 1994-95, during the inaugural campaign at the United Center.

Especially when you take into account …

Season ticket sales for the 2008-2009 Blackhawks season have increased 300% from October 2007 when the base was 3,400. The increase for the upcoming campaign marks one of the biggest one-year turnarounds in sports ticket sales history for a team that did not qualify for the postseason.

Go ‘Hawks!

(Quotes taken from blackhawks.nhl.com)

From writer Ken Campbell, complaining in the September 16 issue of The Hockey News.

EVERYONE GETS A TROPHY DAY

Lou Lamoriello For continuing to find creative new ways to circumvent the CBA by placing players on injured reserve, in the minors and in Europe. First it was Alexander Mogilny, then Richard Matvichuk. This season, he’s lopped $1.8 million off his salary cap by “allowing” Vitaly Vishnevski to play in Russia while still paying him for the next two seasons.

Campbell forgot to mention the trade of Vladimir Malakhov two summers ago, a move which turned a $3.6 million line item into smoky air.

The Pine Barrens, a largely undeveloped area of South Jersey, has produced many stories. Among them is the long-standing tale of the Jersey Devil, and some people are still looking for the creature.  By DAN BARRY
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/us/08land.html?ex=1378612800&en=7ef9d020d4bdf9dd&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Pembleton: Now I remember why I left this dump.

How hard is this to do in other cities … namely, Baltimore?

BART Expands Service
September 7, 2008
According to their web site, BART will run longer trains on Monday, September 8, to accommodate fans attending The Oakland Raiders vs. Broncos game at McAfee Coliseum. Kickoff is at 7:15 p.m. BART also will add trains after the Raiders game for fans leaving the Coliseum.
http://www.raiders.com/Common/Article.aspx?id=51852

Last week I stood on the platform in Washington, trolling for a MARC train home, while clowns with guns walked rough and talked tough.  Commuters, baseball fans (for or from Oakland, coincidentally) waited for news, updates, anything besides the bluster banter of “get back inside the station”.