They did it AGAIN

I made it home in time to see the last 10 minutes of play.

%^*%^*%!

Important Observations about Hair

(I'm afraid I don't have a twinge of regret about missing tonight's game against Anaheim. I have tickets to see Neko Case at a good venue in Austin, and well... no contest.)

Apropos of tonight's game, I would like to make an observation about Anaheim that I started noticing around the time of the All-Star game. Players go there, and then their hair starts to flee. CFP's included. What is it about this team that makes a man's hair give up and go into retreat?

Meanwhile, Sheldon "greasy" Souray, despite my speculations that his contract included hefty quantities of under-the-table Rexall-brand hair gel, got a fairly decent haircut... for him...

Which is more than Tom Gilbert can say. I know the performance won an Academy Award, but really, is modeling your "look" on Heath Ledger as The Joker really such a great plan?

Yes, it's come to talking about matters tonsorial. Because really, do we even want to talk about the playoffs today?

Worse for hockey, fashion, or movies? You decide.

"Despite the controversies, Mr. Avery’s star seemed on the rise last year. Beau Flynn, a Hollywood producer (and Ms. Flynn’s brother), sold a movie idea to New Line Cinema focusing on Mr. Avery’s time at a fashion magazine. The working title: “Puckface.”"

Hey, I interned with a high-profile fashion magazine house too! I wonder if he felt as much pressure to develop an eating disorder as I did?

"But Mr. Avery’s bankability took a hit last December, when, before a game with the Calgary Flames in Canada, he sought to stir the pot by alluding to a Flames defenseman who was dating a former girlfriend of his — the actress Elisha Cuthbert — as well as to a Kings player who was dating the model Rachel Hunter, whom Mr. Avery had also gone out with."

Oh, I missed the part where he insulted Jarret too. Keep it Klassy, Sean.

"He has invested in a new restaurant and bar, Warren 77, with Mr. Abramcyk and Chris Miller, a former art dealer. Mr. Abramcyk, who played hockey as a teenager, said he met Mr. Avery at Smith & Mills, a night spot Mr. Abramcyk co-owns in TriBeCa. The two became friends, and Mr. Avery invited him to play hockey at a rink on the property of Mr. Robbins and Susan Sarandon in Pound Ridge, N.Y.

“Out of the blue,” Mr. Abramcyk said, “I was down and he was on top of me pushing his stick down on me like you see hockey players doing on TV.”

Mr. Avery was only pretending to be angry, Mr. Abramcyk said during a tour of their new spot, which will have a vintage sports theme, on Warren Street.

Originally, Mr. Avery had planned to invest in a different project with Mr. Abramcyk and his brother. The plans went awry, Mr. Abramcyk said, when Mr. Avery egged the two on when they got into a dispute about working on New Year’s eve.

“The old Sean is crazy,” Mr. Abramcyk said. “I didn’t speak to my brother for three months.”"

Hahahaha! Good times! I would totally go ahead and invest with him after that!

"Later, in the locker room, he described the few seconds when both players had shed their helmets and gloves and were poised to exchange blows.

“It’s the most honest moment of clarity I have on any level of life, as funny as that sounds,” he said. “Before I went away and after I went away, it’s still the quietest time I ever have in my head — when I’m about to engage someone in that manner.”

“You know,” he added, “everything kind of goes quiet.”"

Is he saying he usually hears voices? Because honestly, given the way this peach behaves, I always imagined something close to silence all the time, maybe with a faint whistling sound.

For more of these sparkling anecdotes, check out today's NYTimes article.

An Open Letter

Dear Craig MacTavish,

Any time you want to come over to our apartment and swear for a few hours, you are welcome to. Depending on what would make you more comfortable, we can discreetly vacate the premises, or we can stick around and join in. Whatever you please. We have some nice mini-quiches from Costco in the freezer we could heat up, and I'll make dessert--strawberries are in season, and since we buy those at Costco too, and the whipping cream, I'm certain there'll be enough to go around.

The thing is, MacT, it's clearly good when you let it out. Case in point would be Friday's game against Anaheim. You looked like you were freakin' out on the bench, and somehow the team pulled out a tortuous win, despite many of the copper and blue looking distressingly unfamiliar with the business end of a hockey stick. Maybe you simply intimidated the voices that pester Roli, maybe Roli became inspired by what he thought was your similar plight, but whatever happened, it was ultimately for the good.

Tonight? You had that introverted, resigned look I've been noticing of late, and the team--well, I don't know what they were, but they weren't exactly fired up. And against the Minnesota Christmas Elves, really they should be.

I'll level with you, MacT. I was really hoping to be watching the playoffs in HD, with the Oilers in them. Can't we work something out? Because tonight, doing my taxes was the consolation for having to watch a hockey game, instead of the right way round.

Thanks,
marriedtotheoil