A familiar (painful) SENSation

In the lotteries for happiness you have available to you rooting for a sports team isn’t an intelligent bet. In the NHL there is a 1/30 chance that your team is going to come out on top. Of course it isn’t quite a roll of the dice, some teams have overcome mere odds to be dominating forces. The Devils, Avalanche and Red Wings pretty much owned the 90s and turn of the century, the Oilers and Islanders had their chunk of the 80s, then before that Montreal owned just about everybody. Since their debut in the 92-93 season the modern incarnation of the Senators have had a pretty great record as a team. Sure they were last place in the NHL for 4 seasons running… but after that they’ve made the playoffs 10 times consecutively and have captured the presidents trophy and top place in their division numerous times. I probably didn’t “really” start becoming a Senators fan until 2000. When I was living in Newfoundland I actually was a fan of the New Jersey Devils. I used to play as them in NHLPA 93 for the Super Nintendo and oddly enough grew fond of the team. It was exciting watching them in the playoffs both as the bridesmaid to New York’s Cup and the big winner after that. Once I moved to Ontario I finally felt a connection of having a “Local Team” and of course that was Ottawa because Toronto isn’t a hockey team it’s an investment strategy. Since then there have been lots of highs during the regular season, especially devastating the Maple Leafs game after game, but the lows always came in the Playoffs, especially getting dumped by the underskilled Maple Leafs 4 times. Over the past 10 years we’ve developed the reputation as the “Choke Team”, all the talent all the momentum but no delivery in the playoffs.

This year it really felt different, from Game 1 against Pittsburgh the Senators have looked poised, determined and damn near unstoppable against 3 (debatably) “better” teams. We even demolished the #1 ranked Buffalo Sabres in 5 games. Now unfortunately the tides have turned for the worse. 2 Games in to the Stanley Cup Finals the Senators have yet to show up to play. The fire and ferocity that we’ve seen up to this point has seemed to have been snuffed by the suffocating defense of this Anaheim team. Saturday night’s game will undoubtedly be huge, it is realistically a “Must Win” although the same was probably true of last night’s game. Perhaps Ottawa can find a way to turn around and take it to the Ducks, but I am not blind to the fact that there is a possibility that Anaheim is simply the better team.

I really hope Ottawa can complete the Cinderella story. I want to see guys like Fisher, Neil and Corvo hoisting the cup. I want a Ottawa Senators 2007 Stanley Cup Champions hat. I want to be able to laugh at all the Leafs fans and say “Who’s choking now?” However, I think in the end I’m going to end up reflecting on another season of almost. That said I think the Senators really showed a lot of character this year regardless of the outcome and I am very proud of their accomplishments. If the cup isn’t to be this year, then I’ll hold on for another year when maybe it will happen. Thus is the cross we bare as fans. Good or bad they’re you’re team…. Until the Hamilton Predators start playing.

I wonder how many Senators flags we’ll see disappearing from cars next week?

Aurevoir... fuckers

Wow! Paris was quite the experience. Let me say in summary the trip was awesome, the Eiffel Tower at night, viewing works of art like the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo at the Louvre, the Architecture, the pastries . That said... people in Paris fucking suck! Fuck! I mean seriously you go in with a certain amount of forewarning about the Parisian attitude but seriously it was unreal. I actually like French, I even like speaking it whenever I get the chance but visiting Paris makes me want to format the part of my brain that learned French and put German there instead.

I realize my French is sketchy but if I say "Quatre" and you repeat "Deux?" back to me you're just trying to piss me off. Most cultures take it as a compliment if you try to speak their language, sure you sound like a retard but at least you're making an effort. French people clearly don't look at it this way, it's almost as though your mispronunciation is an insult to them. So fine your French sucks, lets just speak English... ya that doesn't work either basically you speak perfect French or you fuck off and die toute de suite!

I actually started to get pretty discouraged after about a day and really only my loving wife's reassurance convinced me to keep trying to talk with the people there. There was one guy who spoke to me entirely in French and didn't seem frustrated at my limited vocabulary and horrible accent. However, he was the dood working at the sandwich shop down the street from our hotel and he was actually Greek if I'm not mistaken. Either way he said my French was "Pretty Good" which was a nice change of pace. After that though it was just asshole after asshole.

After a week I was quite happy to go back to Canada. Oh and by the way French Food? Highly overrated!

In conclusion I'd say Paris was my favourite place to visit in the world...

After Edinburgh, Montreal, London, Cleveland, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Toronto, Phoenix, Baltimore and St. Louis (perhaps tied with Barrie)

Bonjour Paris!

If you'd like some comic relief for the day take the following post and churn it through the French > English Translator over at Altavista. I'm sure it'll be amusing if not comprehensible.

Aujourd'hui, ma marieé et moi ont voyages a France pour notre vacances. Quand J'etais jeune j'ai aimé essayer parler Francais. Les autres etudients n'aime pas Francais. Je toujours essais practiquer ma Francais, quand les autres ne veut pas. Quand j'etais en College j'ai pris une cours de "Francais Conversationnelle" parce que je veut souviens comment dire Francais. J'ai essai n'oublie pas le chose que j'ai apris mais je pense ma Francais maintenant est horrible. J'espere que le gens en Paris est plus gentil que les histoires, mais je pense il irais faut que je demande, "Parle-tu l'anglais monsieur?"

Je suis desolé

We don't talk like we used to

Wow sorry blog it’s been a while. We don’t talk quite as much as we used to huh? This weekend TheWife and I were talking and we discussed how much time we spend on our computers watching tv/surfing the weeb/playing video games and we realized it’s way too much time. At least the Wife is using her time on her rather successful blog instead of just wasting time. Me I’m mostly wasting my time on the computer. I decided for this week I’m going to use my time more effectively. That includes doing some yardwork, running errands, doing laundry, playing guitar, working on my French, and in general just avoiding sitting on my duff doing nothing.

However, you’ll have to note that when the hockey game is on all bets are off! And I’ll be sitting with my duff planted firmly on the couch yelling at referees and cheering for goals. Definitely noticing a lot more Senator's flags around these days. *cough* Bandwagon *cough*. By the way, who are these guys and what did they do with our Senators?

Whoever they are I think I like them a lot better.

Reality Shows

Well I got to admit it, when the wife first started watching Dancing with the Stars I was not particularly impressed. It became "Go study" time for me when I'd retreat to the kitchen to work on my university course. Silly me I should have learned to keep my distance. All of a sudden I'm dazzled with Apollo Ono's footwork and I find Ian's stance rigid and lacking in fluidity. The fact that they paired up Laila Ali with a guy still surprises me a little because if you hear her talk it's obvious she's actually a man.

While I'll admit a weakness for dancing wash-ups, I definitely have a resistance to all other forms of Reality crap. I took a glance at the new bachelor tonight. Whoa! They really must've emptied the supply of willing (albeit mentally defective) hotties in favour of some pug fuglies. I mentioned to my wife they could really spice up the Bachelor if they upped the ante a little. I suggested roses for the winners and a dagger for the women that don't quite measure up. Sure it'd be brutal... but it'd be interesting telly!

Susan, we had a really nice time and it was nice to meet your family but *STAB* *GURGLE*