Jared’s Blog

I’m exhausted. It’s only Tuesday and I can hardly wait for the weekend to get here. Last weekend was the big move. On Friday, Rick’s parents came up to help with the move. The major reason they came was so that we could use the big trailer they had. Much easier than trying to take it all ourselves and much cheaper than renting a van.

About half of Friday was spent moving the non-essential boxes over to the new house. The second portion of the day, we painted. Leave it to me to procrastinate and not choose a color until the last minute. Considering that, I couldn’t be happier with the bold blue color I chose. It matches my comforter perfectly. At night, the room doesn’t glow through my eyelids like the white rooms I’ve lived in the past few years. We ended up doing 2 coats of paint because the paint wasn’t covering evenly enough with just one. It’s better to make it look right now than to live with it and hate it later.

On Saturday, while Rick’s mom and girlfriend tackled the rest of the painting, the boys, Rick, Rick’s dad, Karl, and I, headed back to grab the big stuff. I thought Friday was tiring, I had no idea how much Saturday was going to hurt. And it did. I woke up Sunday and was hardly able to move without feeling some sort of ache.

During all the commotion, I was somehow able to find a few minutes here and there to peek in on the Wild game Saturday night which they won by a score of 5-1. I was actually at the previous game which they also won. The team has looked fantastic in the final stretch of games this season. They’re playing well at the right time and they’re going to need to because their first round opponents are Anaheim. For those who are unfamiliar, Anaheim was the team everyone picked to win the Cup at the start of the season. They also have 2 of the best defensemen in Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. Guigere isn’t too bad of a goalie either. The last time the Wild met the Ducks, they were swept and only managed 1 goal all series. Though, as Jacque Lemaire said, “03. 04, 05, 06, 07.” In other words, they were different teams back then. Still, the Wild are the underdogs and that means they’re going to have to work hard. That’s ok, I know my boys can do it and I like cheering for the underdog more than I like cheering for the favorite anyway.

As a hockey fan, I tend to follow what is going on in the NHL pretty closely and the last few weeks have brought no shortage of news. In fact, I’d go so far to say the league is in some pretty deep trouble. It may not be the kind of trouble we saw with the CBA just a short while ago, but it is serious.

Pittsburgh is still debating whether or not they want to stick around town. A deal for a new stadium was proposed by the city and rejected. Honestly, I can’t blame them for wanting to move, but it’d be a crime to see that city without a professional hockey team especially with the history the Penguins have in Pittsburgh. The latest place I’ve heard is Houston. Please, no! I understand that the NHL is just as much of a business as it is a sport, but it kills me to see all these teams heading to southern markets.

There’s been talk of schedule changes and divisional realignment. The argument being the West has to travel farther and more often and this business of playing divisional opponents gets old quick. I don’t really have an opinion about the travel issues as that’s really more for the players, coaches, and personnel to decide. I can see the issue though. People don’t want to be away from their families if they don’t have to and it’s always nice to sleep at home instead of in a hotel bed. As far as schedule changes go, I fully agree there needs to be something done. Seeing the same teams over and over gets boring unless there’s some fierce rivalry. The hope was this schedule would make for more divisional rivalries, but I don’t think it’s doing the job. Rivalries are made in the playoffs. Why does Minnesota hate Vancouver so much? Because of the things players said when they met in the 2003 playoffs. Apparently the decision was made to stick with the current schedule through next season because no one could decide on an alternative. That’s a bullshit excuse!

Lastly are new jerseys. They were unveiled today and will be worn at the All-Star game tomorrow. They aren’t honestly as bad as I was thinking when I read about the changes. The thing is, I like how hockey jerseys currently fit. They’re comfortable. It’s my understanding that this is the sentiment of most of the players too. Why not keep the same shape and just use these new moisture retardant fabrics? I mean look at what happened to the NBA’s new balls. They made it, what, 3 months? I see the same sort of thing happening with these new jerseys. And you know as soon as the new jerseys are on sale, they’re going to sell like hotcakes because fans want to stay current. My biggest gripe is that 3rd jerseys are going away. I haven’t seen any confirmation of it, but I read and article from an Ottawa paper that stated as much. Shameful.

Save for the situation in Pittsburgh, I think these problems can be squarely placed on the shoulders of Mr. Commish, Gary Bettman. His “vision” for the NHL isn’t working and I think it’s time for some new leadership. From now on, in my right hand will be an “Impeach Bush” sign and in the left, will be an “Impeach Bettman” sign. The NHL isn’t more exciting these days, there are just more penalties, lower intensity, and more monotony. Something has gotta give.

Update: It looks like I’m not the only one who sees trouble on the horizon for the NHL. Mr. Aronow, I agree with you an all points except the removal of fighting.

I’ve found yet another who is equally displeased.

Is it October already? Geez, where did September go?

When Rick asked if I was planning on going up to St. John’s for homecoming, my first thought was “Why not?” I figured it’d be a perfect time to hang out with Brenna and maybe catch a few college friends.

Saturday’s weather was wonderful. After forecasts of rain, I was relieved to see blue skies with little white clouds as we made our way towards campus. Temperatures were in the 60’s. In fact the weather was a little too warm for how we were dressed. I in my black St. John’s hoodie and Kristi in her 4 layers of clothes found ourselves sweating bullets after only walking from where we parked to the stadium.

If there’s one word to be said about St. John’s football, it’s definitely ‘dominant‘. OK, 2 words, the other being tradition. I walked into Clemens Stadium to see the throngs of students, alumni, parents, kids, and fans draped in red. The legendary John Gagliardi still helms the ship. The entire roster suits up for every home game and takes the field together. As I told Kristi and Rick that day, “It feels like coming home.”

The Johnnies got off to their usual breakneck pace scoring a touchdown on their 3rd play of the game. Carlton followed up on the next drive with a touchdown of their own, but the defense managed to block the extra point. That’s my Johnnies! As the dust settled at halftime, the score was 14-12 Johnnies. The Knights missed a crucial field goal that would have put them up by a point right before the end of the half.

The second half, was all Johnnies. They racked up another 15 points while only allowing 7 points bringing the final score to 29-19. All without their injured starting quarterback. According to Brenna, they are 5-0 on the season.

I guess I wasn’t wearing enough red because by the end of the game, my face was showing red from being in the sun all afternoon. A small price to pay for a good game.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out with Brenna which included a trip to Chipotle in St. Cloud. I also arranged to take her laptop and stop it from “sounding like an airplane” as well as fixing a few other ailements it’d accumulated since I shipped it off to school with her. My geek pride took a hit knowing that my own sister is less than proficient with computers. On the ride home, I once again realized I’d forgotten to buy a SJU window decal for my car. I swear, one of these times, I’m going to remember to buy one.

The NHL season opener is just around the corner (next Wednesday!), and I can’t wait. The Wild are looking better than ever with all their offseason pickups. I’ve been following their preseason (they’re 2-1 so far), and I’d be lying if I said I was excited. Nope, I can hardly fricken contain myself!

The Slovakian Super Friends, Gaborik and Demitra, look to be really connecting on the ice. I can’t help but think Doug Risebrough made a genius trade. O’Sullivan may have been a great player and he probably will be for LA in the near future, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the chemistry wasn’t there. My biggest gripe about having a player like Gaborik on the team was that he was the only quick offensive player. He could fly down the ice, but rarely had someone to dish that perfect pass to him. From what I’ve been reading, it’s like him and Demitra have a 6th sense about where each other is on the ice. Let’s hope one of those 2 streaking down the side and feathering a pass past the helpless goalie becomes a familiar sight.
Rick and I have been gearing up for the season by playing NHL 2K7 on the 360 almost daily. I have to say I’m a little dissapointed in the game. There’s only been minor improvements over NHL 2K6 on the 1st generation Xbox and I don’t think it was worth $60. I’ve heard good things about NHL 07, but I can’t bring myself to buy an EA game now that they’ve tried to gain a monopoly in their sports franchises.

Last night after watching, 40 Year Old Virgin (IMDB), Rick flipped the TV back over to cable and we were blindsided by ESPN2’s college football coverage of Florida vs. Florida State.

Instead of the normal football format, the screen was split into 8 screens, each of them showing a part of the game. Think BloombergTV.

There were dedicated cameras on each head coach, dedicated cameras on each quarterback, and 4 different angles of the field. Overkill? I say yes.

Why do I need to see what the coaches are doing during every moment of the game? Similarly, why does there need to be a camera on the quarterback whose defense is on the field? Do we really need to see him drinking his Gatorade?

After a few minutes they did go to a 6 camera format, but it was still way too much going on at once. I sure hope this type of coverage doesn’t start making it’s way to NFL games or I’m going to have a headache after watching the first quarter.

I made a quick representation of what it looked like for visual reference. See for yourself if this would make you go nuts too.

They’re falling one by one. My old roommate, Grew, got hitched last weekend up in Virginia. Target was nice enough to finally inform me last Monday they’d allow me to switch my days off so I could attend. Took em long enough! I shouldn’t complain though, at least I got the days off so I could make it.

With that said, I headed up Saturday morning. All was going well until I started thinking, “Hey, did I forget a belt?” Which then turned into “Did I grab my dress clothes?” Crap. Yep, I left them at home. I had a thought to turn around to go get them, but I figured by the time I made it all the way back and then drove all the way there again, it would be too late. I ended up making a quick trip to the mall to pick up pants and a shirt. In the end it worked out OK and I even got a few compliments on my shirt. Go me!

The wedding ceremony was really short. In fact I couldn’t even tell it started. The couples just started down the aisle. And 20 min later, it was over. My old pastor Frank did the ceremony and, as always, opted for the non-traditional route. He didn’t give a sermon so much as he just had a few words for the bridge and groom. His prop was a spoon. The message being that if you look at the bottom of the spoon, you see yourself upside down; a distorted view. Then if you look at the other side, you see yourself right side up. A cool message, I thought. Of course there was all the other religous mumbo-jumbo, but it was kept to a minimum. I was surprised to see Chris even got married in a church. He’s an athiest and has some pretty solid views on religion. I’m sure he just bit the bullet and went for it though.

On to the fun part, the reception. After a quick stop at the nearest bar (literally, it was a block from the church). The whole crew headed out to Giants Ridge for the rest of the night. I was actually pleased to find Jamie didn’t have a date since I didn’t either. We drank and danced the night away. I ended up horfing up some beer pretty early in the night and pretty much quit drinking after that. I also caught most of the Wild game at the bar. They lost. Again! I’m just hoping they aren’t a repeat of last season.

Sunday I stopped by the parents house to spend some time with them. Hannah was gone camping, so I didn’t get a chance to see her. As usual my mom couldn’t spend enough time talking to me. Though I have to say it is nice to talk to them even if they do parent me a little too much for my liking. I’m 24 and I’ve been an adult for quite a few years now. As painful as it is to watch me make mistakes, let me make them. It’s the only way I’m going to figure things out.

The Burns’ (and dog) caught a ride back to Minneapolis with me. It almost felt like going back to college. Packing all kinds of stuff into one car, the fall weather. It almost would have if they still lived next door. Anyway, I dropped them off at their house and was back to my place around 6.