Musings of a Bored Blogger

As i cruise along at a a stately 520mph, i have given up on getting a nap. Its dark out, and the cities below look like tiny specks of glitter on a black velvet surface. I cant get enough of the world from 39,000 feet. There are those who do not share my affinity for flying, like fellow blogger Tyler Deveraux (of the Triple Deke). He would very likely be stuffing an old sock in his mouth to stifle the howl of terror that lies just under the surface... Tyler doesn't like to fly.

Anyways, enough about that. We should talk about goaltenders. I think at this point its safe to say that Jimmy Howard is having an off year. I don't like putting that in print, because i pretty much sang his praises in my blog last year. All three entries. Now we have Jonas Gustavsson and he's having a pretty damn good year so far. All his numbers are better than Howard, and he looks pretty good in the shoot outs, so at what point do we start using language like "he's a threat to Howard"... or maybe stop using the word "backup". I dunno....just seems like Coach could be riding this wave rather than sticking Jimmy in there. Besides, its much harder for opposing fans to get under Gustavssons skin by chanting his name. I mean seriously, its too long of a name for 10,000 drunken fans to sync up with 10,000 non-drunken fans for an effective chant.

Coach has said before that if someone is flying high, he would keep him in there until the luck/magic/pixie dust wore off. It seems that Gustavsson is still hot, so..... Coach?

Also, there should be some concern about what/who is coming up through the Griffins. Who do the Wings have? Mrazek (sp?) Looks pretty good but after that? There shouldnt be a lot of freaking out or anything, but what if Jimmy and Jonas both end up on the IR, and Mrazek has to come start, who backs up?

All these questions should be answered prior to next season.

Or by todays game. That would be better.

In the "It's a Small World" department (the theory, not the creepy ride at Disney), my pilot today is none other than JD Dickinson. Of course that means nothing to you, but for me it makes me feel that much more secure in this aircraft (which I didn't get to do a preflight inspection on), because this particular pilot was my pilot while we were in the Navy. We have many hundreds of flight hours in many different fantastic/seedy/classified locations around the world. Guess I will just have to through Portland (or KPDX for you aviator types) more often.

Back to the Grindstone

So as you can tell, I don't blog a whole lot anymore...I swear to all two of my followers that I will start up again all the time, then I have to go to work. Or something more interesting comes up, like that episode of Family Guy that I have only seen 4 times. I think I am ready to start again.

Why?

Because, that's why. I don't need a reason, which is the beauty of having your own blog. In any case, my motivation for starting up again is not important, but I do have a few things to say.

1. If the Wings can win without Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Helm in the lineup, why do they struggle when they are? I mean, It may not actually be struggling, per se, but could they get a W at home? Please?

2. If Gustavsson is 8-1-1, has a GAA of 2.05 and a SV% of .930, and Jimmy Howard is 6-8-7 with 2.35 and .910, then why isn't Gustavsson the starter? Im not knocking Jimmy, his numbers or solid. There are goalies out there that would punch their own grandma in the face for a .910 SV%, but it looks like Gustavsson is having better luck. And sometimes that's all it takes.

3. This home ice thing. Yeah yeah I hear it all the time about how the Wings lost pretty much every home game(or whatever) in 97 and still brought the Cup to Detroit, but it cant last. How dumb would it look to drop the Wings playoff streak in their first year in the East? Its supposed to be soooo much simpler, right? Right?

4. Does anybody actually know what a healthy Red Wings team looks like?

5. IRT #3, how long before we start seeing empty seats at the Joe? More empty seats that is...

Anyways.... for some reason, the Wings are still the 4th seed in the playoffs if they started tomorrow. Which is more than I can say for Kenny Jenzen's 9th seed Rangers (15-16-1) and Johnny Long's 10th seed Stars (14-10-5). However....the playoffs DO NOT start tomorrow, we are not even halfway through the season. So all of that could change.

Red Wings at Boston

I don't normally do games live, but when I do, its pretty crappy.
I recommend you don't even read this.
The game started much like the last time the Wings met the B's... and a lot like the Tigers game last night. Jimmy Howard sat due to a bruised hand, and good lord Chris Osgood is in the studio...this...this might go well. Although I didn't know he had a stuttering issue...

It was pretty boring thru the first 10 minutes or so(although the Wings were doing better than last time, and Justin Abdelkader DID have a pretty good hit on Brad Marchant). Then Pavel Datsyuk stole the puck from a careless Bruin, undressed Zdeno Chara, flipped it over a diving defenseman to Henrik Zettterberg who tucked it between Rask and the short side post and off the far side post for the goal. This game didn't start out particularly hard hitting, either. The Wings then continued their nasty habit of giving up a goal right after they scored, with Louie Ericsson tipping in a Johnny Boychuk shot from the point, leaving everyone bewildered about how that got in. Mickey Redmond also continued his habit of repeating what the rink announcer has to say as if the TV audience cant hear it.

Play picked up in the 2nd, and something happened that I like to see. Danny DeKeyser taking shots from the point while Todd Bertuzzi screens the goalie....this could work later as DeKeyser gains power and accuracy. If only we had Tomas Holmstrom back! Of course, then half of DeKeyser's goals would be disallowed....sooo.... Datsyuk totally made Bergeron look like a rookie on one play down the ice causing Bergeron to start talking to himself on the ice. The up and back played continued until finally Franzen hit Weiss across the crease for a tap in. Wings lead 2-1. I cant wait until this Bertuzzi/Chara match up blows up and Big Bert kicks the crap out of Chara... OK a full minute has gone by, can I breathe?? OH WAIT CLEARY SCORES INSTEAD OF THE BRUINS!!! Why the hell is Cleary wearing number 71? 3-1 Wings.

I don't know how the Bruins are going to get anything past Gustavsson that dude is HUGE. Even in the butterfly his shoulders are above the crossbar. I also just realized that Danny Alfredsson is on the THIRD line...Holy crap how would you like to be on this team?? Of course, I like the Yzerman/Hull/Robataille line a lot better, but this will work until technology advances far enough to bring those three back to the ice.

So the Wings are on a steady parade to the box, and are you really going to tell me that the BRUINS have committed no infractions this game? Or am I not paying attention? Oh I see, Krejci is in the box and it's a little 4 on 4 to start the 3rd. I swear if any of the FSD announcers say "spin-o-rama" one more time...

Aaaaaaand here we go with the 5-on-3 that was bound to happen since Detroit is dominating the game (this for the "Referees Hate the Wings" conspiracy theorists), as Cleary is binned for "tripping". I guess that's what its called when somebody steps on your stick and falls down. Also Kronwall is in for whatever reason, so the Bruins get a two man advantage for almost the full two minutes. The upside is that the Wings only have to kill 2 minutes. And a crazy two minutes it was! Of course the interference wasn't called on the Bruins (More conspiracy fodder), and Ken Daniels started talking like Yoda. "Not all of that did Ericsson get" he said...

And late in the 3rd the game sort of settled into a regular season game, with one tense moment as Bertuzzi's face hit the post and the ice on the same play (he's OK folks) and then Afredsson went off for boarding. The Wings of old were on the ice, it seemed, as they held Boston to no shots over about a ten minute stretch until the boarding call, and during the PK the Bruins seemed confused on the subject of setting something up in the offensive zone. The 3rd period continued to bleed away and then Pavel Datsyuk decided to put on a clinic in stickhandling, dancing around with the puck and even putting between Sidenbergs feet! This picked up the pace as Abdelkader skated around Chara only to set up a three way collision between the two aforementioned players and Tukka Rask. The crowd hollered for a call, but there was none to be made unless you count interference by Chara, who hauled Abdelkader down prior to the collision. The Bruins managed to tally another goal before the last minute and 15 seconds of intense activity which resulted in no more goals for the B's and the Wings win 3-2 in regulation.

I think that about covers it for In Game blogging...

Not the Red Wings, but still Red and White

So today there was no hockey. But...

There was another team in Red and White that played, and they were 7th and 8th grade girls. Tough ones too, what with all the flying elbows, collisions at mid-court, and "boxing out" which sometimes involved hip checks that would make Vladimir Konstantinov proud. There were pre-teen girls flying all over the place.

The Coupeville Middle School Wolves faced off against the Granite Falls Tigers tonight, and the JV Wolves for 8th grade took a fleecing, which we wont mention. The JV 7th graders lost by one measly point. Then the Varsity teams took the court.

In the 8th grade Varsity game, you started to get the idea that the future of Coupeville girls basketball could be getting a little brighter. Powerhouse players Skyler Lawrence and Tiffany Briscoe set the tone in the key, grabbing nearly every rebound from the Tigers. Now, before we go further, we should get something straight about Skyler Lawrence. You see, if she wants the ball, she will get it. It doesn't matter if you think you have the ball or not. As if it wasn't enough that she's stronger than you, she's quick. More than one opposing girl was fooled because upon looking at Skyler, you might make the mistake of thinking shes slower than you. She isn't. If you underestimate her (as many do) she will make you pay. Many Tiger girls found out the hard way that you can't often make it around Skyler, and you certainly aren't going through her, unless you have a death wish. More often than not, the Tiger girls found themselves empty handed and had to catch up to the play going the other way. Jump ball? I don't think so.

While Skyler and Tiffany were dominating in the rebound and physical play departments, Carlie Rosenkrance was putting the biscuit in the basket enough to ensure victory for the Wolves. She touched the ball nearly every play, and made as many assists to Valen Trujillo and Mattea Miller as she scored points. Wolves defense was stifling, especially with tough Jaelynn Levine throwing checks like she was in a hockey game (despite giving up as much as a foot in height) and offense was more than enough to get the "W".

Photo courtesy of Justine McGranahan

If the 8th grade game got you thinking about the future, the 7th grade Varsity game really made you feel good. From the time that Katrina McGranahan (#11, pictured) won the opening tip, the outcome was never in doubt. Tigers 7th graders didn't see the scoreboard tick over to the number "2" until well into the second quarter, and would only break into the double digits at the very end of the game. That's right, the 7th grade Varsity "D" only allowed 10 points. Katrina wasn't done though. Apparently, winning the opening tip lit a fire, and she scored 7, dragged down a few rebounds and got in the way of many Tiger plays by picking off passes. Now, everyone knows you cannot win a game with only one person doing well. So its a good thing that the rest of the team was doing just as well. Kyla Briscoe found her stride (and a good place to shoot from), and drained 3 scores in short order. Speedy Payton Aparicio ensured that the ball was well into the Tigers zone. Bruiser Mia Littlejohn made sure that Tiger girls knew that getting the ball into the Wolves zone was going to hurt, and if that wasn't demoralizing enough, she stole the ball enough to cause the Tigers coach to start looking around for law enforcement. Whatever player Mia couldn't stop, ran squarely into Sage Renninger, who would remind Tiger players that scoring (or even keeping the ball) in the Wolves zone is expressly forbidden. In addition to speed, the 7th graders have some size. Half the team is over 5 foot 6 (these are 12 year olds, mind you).

So when High School rolls around, you can watch all the girls mentioned above play on the same team. Yes, the future looks very bright indeed.

Detroit M*A*S*H Unit

Since I haven't blogged in a while, I figure this game, against the Predators, is as good as any to start.

The injury report was put up on the screen for tonights game and I had to put on my reading glasses to read it since the print on my 60 inch TV was so small. Problem is, I don't wear reading glasses. That didn't include the injuries this game, which include Kronwall and Howard and up until a few minutes ago, Cory Emmerton. Since he came back, I'm not counting that one. I don't want to have to take my shoes off. Likewise, I'm not counting Kronwall either, since he has showed back up on the bench.

It's a weird game anyway. The Wings had to put Gustavsson in for Howard, and hopefully this is better than the Mrzak experiment the other night.Within a few min, he gets a penalty for delay of game for covering the puck, allegedly outside the goalies playing area. The good thing is that the guy is HUGE. On his knees in front of the net, his shoulders are still pretty close to the crossbar. Not a lot of net to shoot at when hes standing there, which is a good thing for the Wings right now.

The Grand Rapids Griffins coach is very likely pulling his hair out right now, because pretty much all of his two way players are dressing in the Red Wings locker room. This means that the Griffins are not going to be doing much in their league, unless the Toledo Walleye team has a few hidden gems. At this rate, the Walleye players will be wearing the Winged Wheel as they approach the playoffs. Starting to wonder if this is the year when the Wings don't make it, and though they will have the record for consecutive appearances, it will be a small consolation prize for Wings fans used to sitting in the Joe at playoff time.

I still cannot believe its only 2-1 since the Wings have had a constant parade of players to the penalty box. 12 minutes spent shorthanded. If not for Gustavsson and Pavel Datsyuk, the score would be somewhere north of a slaughter.

So just when the game shouldn't be any weirder, Jordin Tootoo bounces his first goal as a Red Wing off the skate of a Nashville player, and before I got done typing this, the Predators score to re-establish their lead. Where are the hockey gods that reward heart and desire? Oh, there they are. Datsyuk scored just as quick to tie it again.

This is why I don't blog during the game. As we head into OT, I can only wonder what tomfoolery will result in the winning goal. Another thing is that Ken Daniels is already factoring in "games in hand". And now the game is over, 44 seconds into overtime as two Wings get tangled up and Gustavsson finds himself out of position. See you next time. Predators beat Griffins 4-3 in OT.

On Flying, for Tyler

OK. We all know that flying can be stressful. You get into a metal tube with 200 (or more) other people, you have no control over anything except your drink selection, and you have to trust a pair of pilots that you never met before to fly you safely to your destination. A lot of you out there are slightly apprehensive about this. Others are scared, their palms sweat, they close their window and tough it out. Still others, and this is where Tyler comes in, are absolutely petrified. So, Tyler of The Triple Deke, here is your long awaited post about flying.

What, you may ask, makes moi such an expert? Well here's my flying resume: Close to 4000 hours in Naval aircraft as a crewman (that means not a pilot), flying in aircraft that rolled off of Lockheed Martin's assembly line anywhere from 1986 (new plane smell) to 1968. That would be the P-3 Orion (right). A four engine turboprop aircraft that some consider to be one of the most reliable planes around. We flew them after Soviet submarines in the Cold War and against the Taliban in Afghanistan. This includes a few hours here and there in helicopters (which, mathematically, aren't even supposed to fly) and the venerable S-3 Viking (not pictured). For those of you who cant wrap your mind around "4000 hours", it roughly translates into 166 days in the air. Or, with an average flight time of 4.5 hours, I climbed into an airplane about 800 times, and I didn't even die once. Here's why Tyler shouldn't be scared:

1. Your chances of dying in an airplane are astronomical. In fact, you have a better chance of dying on an airplane from non-crash related complications, such as heart attack or choking to death. In 2009, 45 people died in aircraft related deaths in the USA. There were roughly 9 million flights. NINE MILLION. You have a better chance to win the lottery. I used 2009 because there were NO deaths in the surrounding years. Note: These statistics are for airlines, not climbing into a 1944 vintage WWII warplane with your blind drunk Great Uncle Rory.

2. Airplanes are tough. I mean really tough. That bumping around you feel is nothing for an airplane. As we have seen in war and some in flight accidents, aircraft can take a HIDEOUS amount of punishment and keep flying. I mean, this is really hard to explain, so lets go to the pictures:

As you can see, in the first picture, half of the roof peeled off. This is Aloha Airlines flight 243. The plane obviously was in a considerable amount of distress, but as you can also plainly see, its sitting on its landing gear, which means it landed safely. There was one unfortunate fatality of the flight attendant, who was standing at the time and blown out of the aircraft (Not sucked out, as the news reported. The plane wasn't in SPACE for Christ's sake). This is why you keep your seat belt on. Always. ALWAYS. In the second picture, the airplane is missing an entire engine. It's gone. Fell off. Not powering the aircraft. Judging from the distance to the ground, the airliner is significantly north of 20,000 feet. The sky and ground are in their rightful positions. The only thing wrong with the picture is that the engine fell off, lending evidence that it is much more dangerous on the ground, what with 10 ton aircraft engines suddenly falling out of the sky at 600 miles per hour. People in the plane: Alive. People hit with aircraft engine on ground: Paste. The B-52 on the upper right lost the entire tail and still landed. Of course those are highly trained military pilots. The airlines get these pilots when they get out of the Air Force, Navy, etc. Hence pilots are highly trained.

3. Pilots are highly trained individuals. At this time in history, the vast majority of commercial airline pilots have spent time doing things with airplanes that would make most people attempt to curl up in the fetal position (tough to do with the seat belt on) and cry like a little girl. Like pull 10 G's(10 times the force of gravity). Or dodge an surface to air missile. Or perform a combat approach into an airfield surrounded by pissed off people with guns trying to kill them. This can only be experienced in Chicago in the US. This involves getting to the ground as fast as possible without crashing the plane. I have done several of these in the P-3. Starting at 28,000 feet, the pilot pitches the aircraft forward and plunges towards the ground at the maximum safe speed of the aircraft. That means the fastest the plane can fly without coming apart. Then you level out, chop the power to slow down, and (hopefully) get to the end of the runway and be slow enough to land safely. Pilots do not do this in airliners. Except, as I mentioned, when on approach to any airport in the Chicago area.

4. Turbulence is just air. While smaller planes are subject to damage in heavy turbulence, airliners have to go through some pretty hefty stuff to sustain damage. Pilots do not like turbulence either, and at the first sign of it will be pestering the air traffic controllers for another altitude to fly at to reduce the bumps. There are scientific aircraft that fly into hurricanes and typhoons to study air currents. The only special modifications are to the inside of the plane and that is to the electronics. The turbulence you feel when you start shaking around is less than 2 G's. Most aircraft can handle a lot more than that. When you see the wings moving up and down, it is acting as a shock absorber for the rest of the plane. The 787 Dreamliner wings are designed to have a total travel of over 20 feet. Note that the plane that ditched in the Hudson River retained its wings even though the plane, for all purposes, crashed. The force of the ditching ripped one engine completely off the wing, but the wing stayed on.

5. The Lamestream  Mainstream media. When a plane crashes, the media shows it over and over for weeks. They do NOT show the other 8,999,999 flights landing safely. In contrast, if the news reported on every single automobile wreck, you would need ten channels showing accidents non stop 24/7/365 without commercials to fit them all in. The news doesn't report car accidents unless its a 200 car pileup, something weird, or NASCAR. They show plane crashes because they are rare, but they want you to believe that planes simply fall from the sky for no reason. Trust me, there is a reason every time.

SO, Tyler, as you can see, there is really no reason to fear flying. In addition to the aforementioned 800 or so flights I have been on, there have been probably 100 civilian airliner flights. Still alive. I have personally been on an airplane in the following in-flight situations: Struck by lighting, anti-aircraft fire, severe turbulence, multiple bird strikes, engine fires, engine explosion, on board fire, rapid decompression, hit by lava (seriously), sudden loss of all power, and smoke filled cabin. Still alive. The hit by lava incident happened in the Philippines, when my crew assisted in the evacuation of people from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Also the scene of several lightning strikes to the aircraft and severe turbulence. The plane looked like it had been machine gunned when we finally parked it, and it took months to fix.

But it still flew.

They're back....who are these guys?

So...Hockey's back.

Has anyone seen the Red Wings? Not the team, or the arena, but, I mean, who the hell are those peopl on the roster? Maybe I didn't read up on hockey too much during the lockout (read: Blatantly ignored all hockey news), but...what? I look at the current roster and I am wondering if the Red Wings streak of making the playoffs is in jeopardy, even with a shortened season. Basically this season will be a 48 game run to the playoffs.

Samuelson is back, don't know if that is a good thing or not yet. The Wings have one goalie, no real backup. Of course, that's What we all thought about Jimmy Howard, and now look at him. Then the rest of the roster is, admittedly a LITTLE familiar, with names like Tatar and Mursak and ... and...oh, Brendan Smith, there's another one.

The Wings are not the feared "Our 4th line could be a first line on nearly every other team" team that is was before, but maybe some youth is what they need. I wonder how the lines will stack up once Datsyuk and (new Captain) Zetterberg are placed? Are they going to have another Grind Line type line with Bertuzzi, Smith, Tootoo and Abdelkader? Or speed with the likes of Helm and Mursak?

Who Knows? I'll be back, I'm going to go get Mickey Redmond's take on all this.