Links of the Week

Crayons are my favorite coloring tool. I don’t like to use the normal named colors though. I like the weird named ones. Ever wonder what crazy names there are? (Crayola).

After a rant about how much I hate Facebook chat emoticons, my friend gave me this amazing website. I’m now obsessed with using a shark in Facebook chat (FB Smileys).

It’s pretty much mandatory I mention hockey in these links. Check out Bleacher Report’s list of the top 50 fights of all time (Bleacher Report).

I love shoes a lot. I need a pair from this web site. (CLP Studio).

My new favorite hobby is searching weird shirts on Amazon and reading the comment section. This one is by far my favorite but just look at the related items and read those comments too (Amazon).

Hat Tricks are Awesome

Is there really any equivalent to hat trick in the other of the big four sports in the United States? Grand slams are cool in baseball but imagine how many people would crush you for throwing something onto the field at Fenway Park. Three pointers in basketball seemingly just warrant the announcer yelling “THREEEEE” but if players hit a three pointer so often it’s kind of boring. And football, well, there’s too many people there to really throw stuff.

Take That Environment

Bang. Look at that.

I get so much garbage when I proclaim that Andrew Ference is one of my favorite Bruins. It always throws people off because he might not be the best player on the team but I’m still such a fan. To cite my fandom, I have to share that this….THIS is why I love him:

Prior to that game I had never had excellent seats. I managed to have center ice seats five rows back for this penalty minute addled game. It is probably my favorite Bruins game I’ve ever been to, maybe aside from the Winter Classic or a playoff game. It was so fun and I distinctly remember my favorite Elton John song “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” being played A LOT at this game. And so I approve.

Why I Haven’t Blogged Lately

Man oh man have I been busy!

Despite my lame excuse, I’m going to try my best to update my blog more often so I can teach myself how to properly use it. That’s another lame excuse to why I haven’t written lately.

The particular and actual reasons this has been neglected is because I have been writing! A lot! I picked up the beat for my University’s newpaper The Huntington News and cover women’s ice hockey every other week. Read some of my stuff! (I’m Kathryn).

Marty Helps Keep Win Streak Alive

Other than that, you should check in every week to the sports section of the Huntington News and look for my name!

My love for hockey and obsession with Twitter has also helped me to be a contributer to Something’s Bruin blog. It’s an awesome, awesome hockey blog. It covers Hockey East, the NHL (mostly Boston Bruins hockey) and the AHL. The AHL is where I come in, recapping a week’s worth of game for the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.

All of this is so fun! I love writing! I wouldn’t exactly say I’m swamped with homework here so I like to fill my time. I’ve got those two writing jobs then I also have a real life work job. Alright, not THAT real life yet but a job regardless.

You ever heard of Matthews Arena? That’s right, THAT Matthews Arena as in the original home of the Boston Bruins. What’s even cooler is that it is the oldest surviving indoor hockey rink. That being the coolest is a lie actually. What is the coolest ever (possibly in the history of cool) is that I pretty much have the run of that building. I work as a ticket taker there which allows me into the foyer as well as the front offices. And when I interview players I go into locker rooms. Lastly I even get to sit in the press box. I haven’t done that quite yet but tomorrow is my first time.

I’m hoping to squeeze in time to get my voice on the radio, WRBB. I did radio at my previous University but just talked. Hey, it was fun being the only girl on a sports talk show. So I’m trying to get involved here with sports radio but I keep having other stuff to do! We’ll see when my voice can be epically heard.

Well those are my other lame excuses as to why I haven’t been blogging here. But expect a blogging BOOM. Coming your way.

I Hate NHL Premiere Games

Starting the NHL season overseas has to be one of my least favorite things about the NHL. Empty seats, weird times and a home opener three weeks later than the season before.

Firstly, who made the decisions on who to send overseas? Quite honeslty I don’t know who has gone overseas before for these games because it has not been the Bruins but this year I actually cared. So we have the Bruins vs. the Coyotess, the Sharks vs. the Blue Jackets and the Hurricanes vs. the Wild. Really NHL? Really? The last match up is such a joke I forgot to laugh. As they’ve said, the NHL is trying to grow an overseas market but it honestly will not happen when sending teams with lagging ticket sales to a place where their die hard fans cannot even go. I understand sending the Bruins as they’re an Original Six team. That is good marketing. The Sharks was even a good choice because they’re so good. The rest was entirely over my head. Sometimes I even forget the Blue Jackets exist. No one is watching them in the States/Canada. (I’m not even going to go in to how the Bruins had NONE of their European preseason games shown. But I will say I think it was to try and expose the teams no one cares about like the Blue Jackets.)

Secondly, why did they not try and get smaller arenas? I don’t know about you but watching hockey games with empty seats is almost depressing especially if I would die to be there (i.e. when the Bruins played Carolina this year). It looked SO bad to see how empty the arenas were and then to see that four thousand more people could have been there is heart wrenching.

Lastly, way to go Tyler Seguin, you got to score your first career goal in front of a bunch of people that didn’t really care. Like I feel like that stinks on a bunch of levels. It was an arena that could have fit four thousand more people in it and the people you did score in front of were people who might not like the NHL, might not like either team player and just kind of wanted to see what was up. (But then again, it was his first NHL goal, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t care less who he scored in front of, if anyone at all.) On another level it stink for the fans. The Bruins could have opened in California or Ottawa for all I care but it would mean more to those fans especially if they follow hockey. If it were at the Garden? Forget it. It would have been treated like a hat trick and I’m pretty sure people would have thrown themselves onto the ice.

Maybe you disagree with this (or the last part, it sounds pretty dumb re-reading it) but whatever. Thanks NHL, now there’s people in Europe that don’t care about you too. Focus on making the game popular in the United States and getting it broadcast on ESPN again. College basketball draws higher rating for goodness sake.