Explore the Concrete Beach

Last night as many people know, the Chicago Blackhawks won teh Stanley Cup. Which means the NHL season is officially over.

This saddens me.

Now I have to wait until October to watch hockey. But there are a few things coming up hockey wise, like the draft and Free Agent Frenzy.

The win by the Blackhawks also officially ended the Pittsburgh Penguins as Stanley Cup champions (eventhough the Pens went out in the middle of May). The cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports and the Blackhawks deserved to win.

Actually anyone but Philadelphia deserved to win. Haha!

Wow! It’s only 2 days until Christmas.

Where does time go?

Last night I decided to bake, don’t know why I did since there will be way too much food Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but I decided to anyway. I had frozen sugar cookie dough in the freezer.

They came out just the way I like them with a nice doughy center so that when you reach the middle it’s like eating only the cookie dough.

Nom, nom, nom!

After that, I watched the Penguins game hoping for better results then Saturday’s massacre. Early on it didn’t look too good being down 0-2. Yes, once again, they rally in OT to beat the Buffalo Sabers, with a bunt from Sidney Crosby to win 3-4.

Dear Neil Huntington,

Please sign Sidney Crosby to a contract so he can teach your team to bunt. He’ll probably work out better than those to reality stars from India. I think it’s worth the investment.

Thanks!

Mark

What’s up with the commercials during the game? Versus, of course, is a horrible place to show hockey. From the announcers, the “We love Philly” mantra, thanks to Comcast, and the awful commercials we must endure to watch the game.

I can’t believe they can get away with the “Bob the Enzyte” commercials. Did you notice the arrows kept point to wood? Or how they said, “This chubby Santa?” A little disturbing, but it could make a good drinking game. The ‘BOD’ commercials needed to stop too. What demo are they going after?

Oh, well too bad the radio is not in sync with the HD feed, or I would have listened to the radio. I hate when the radio is ahead or behind, it just ruins it for me.

As an early Christmas gift to myself, I’m going to the game tonight to see the Pens take on Tampa Bay. I actually bought the tickets at the beginning of the season since just about half of Tampa’s team is ex-Penguins.

I wish Barry Melrose was still the coach because that would have been awesome to see him stand there and pretend to coach.

I don’t really blame Melrose for being pissed. The owners just signed a crap load of new people and thought it would work. May I point out that was the Penguins philosophy the year after the lockout. We all remember how that all turned out.

That’s all for now.

Later!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

That’s the only way I could describe this morning with the 4 degree temps and -22 wind-chill that settled in on Pittsburgh.

 

I should’ve worn thicker pants to work as when I walked from my parking garage to my building my legs were freezing. And if it’s this cold I want to see snow and lots of it.

 

 

A lot of things seemed frozen this weekend.

 

The Penguins put on a pitiful performance at Mellon Arena Saturday getting crushed by the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3. Pathetic. It amazes me how the Penguins can look so good one game and the next play like a pee-wee midget team that doesn’t know how to pass or protect the puck. Hopefully they get a boost by getting defenseman Ryan Whitney back. I will be at the game Tuesday against “Pittsburgh South” AKA the Tampa Bay Lightning.

 

We’ll see how that goes.

 

Then yesterday the Steelers played a pathetic game against the Tennessee Titans, losing 14-31. Ben Roethlisberger needs to learn to be the QB he once was and the offensive line just needs to learn what an offensive line is suppose to do, which in case they need to know is protect the QB and open up holes for the running backs.

 

I remember listening to a radio show a few weeks ago when a player from the offensive line was complaining that when they do something good you don’t hear about it, you only hear about the bad. Um…yeah…hello it’s like me saying, “You never hear a thing when I do my job right at work, only when I screw up.” It’s your job, so when you don’t hear anything about how you’re playing, your doing well.

 

I also ventured out to the mall this weekend. It was a pain to get to and park, but the mall itself wasn’t crowded. Looked like a normal Saturday to me. Some stores, like Brookstone, were busier than others, but nothing to bad.

 

I’m now going to hole myself in a conference room and input test scripts into a computer. I have to go hide in a conference room because, if I don’t, I will be bothered at my desk all day by the co-worker who lacks common sense, sneaks up behind me, and asks awkward questions that can be answered by the person who sit directly across from him.

 

OK, time to hide for the day.

 

Later.

Yeah, so the Penguins have an agreement with Consol Energy to name the new arena.

 

The official name will be The Consol Energy Center. That sounds very similar to the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota, but non-the-less we are stuck with it for 21 years when the center opens in 2010. Consol also owns the naming rights to the Washington Wild Things stadium call Consol Energy Park.

 

 

 

So as Pittsburgh-ers we like to give things nicknames (ex. Civic Arena/Mellon Arena = The Igloo), so I posed the question to people at work and here are the responses to “What will eventually call this place?”

 

“The new arena

The arena

CEC

C Center

The EC

The Energy Center

The Crosby Center”

 

“How about the Coal Center”

 

“You could go with “The House that Sid Built”, but given it’s location in uptown and close proximity to the hill district, I’m gonna call it… “Target practice”.”

 

“The New Igloo?  Igloo 2?  The Coal Mine?  Why does a coal company sponsor things?  Does their advertising convince people to go buy a sack of their brand of coal?”

 

I figured people will just call it “the new arena” for a long while because some people in Pittsburgh still give directions on things that aren’t there anymore.

 

I like “The Coal Mine” for some reason. It’s catchy. I have a feeling we will have to wait for the thing to be built and open before we can officially provide a nickname for the Consol Energy Center AKA TBD.

 

So what’s your nickname for the Consol Energy Center?

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

Glad everyone is enjoying the SNL videos on the site.

 

Today we talk hockey, as the Pens win in a shoot out in Boston.

 

So let’s open (or in this case click open, as the NHL has gone paperless with media guides) the media guide and do a small recap.

 

But this is no ordinary recap this is a getting to know you sort of recap to help you fair readers get acquainted with your Pittsburgh Penguins. Ok let’s click this open. Like the virtual cover?

 

 

So Miroslav Satan had the lone regulation goal. Let’s take a look at him without a helmet.

 

 

He reminds me of one of my college roommates must be the chin hair.

 

And what person information did he share with us?

 

 

The guy likes Italy, Italian food and French food. So all the “snow bunnies” line up in your best French maid outfit and bring your best ziti.

 

The man last night was Danny Sabourin

 

 

Um…nice hair.

 

He shares some info with us.

 

 

Tennis? Interesting.

 

Orpik had this to say about his performance

 

 

And just so you know this man’s eyes are SCAREY, just look.

 

 

:shudder:

 

Well after several shots in the shoutout, Geno puts one in.

 

 

What deep dark personal information will you share Geno?

 

 

The “Mummy?!” Seriously? Not like Yo Gabba Gabba, I know you watch it with Gonchar’s little girl.

 

Who knew?

 

Pens win 2-1 in a Shot Out! Woo!

 

Ok that’s it for now, I hoped you like getting to know your Pittsburgh Penguins.